Exosome secreted by MSC reduces myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

Human ESC-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-conditioned medium (CM) was previously shown to mediate cardioprotection during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury through large complexes of 50–100 nm. Here we show that these MSCs secreted 50- to 100-nm particles. These particles could be visualized by electron microscopy and were shown to be phospholipid vesicles consisting of cholesterol, sphingomyelin, and phosphatidylcholine. They contained coimmunoprecipitating exosome-associated proteins, e.g., CD81, CD9, and Alix. These particles were purified as a homogeneous population of particles with a hydrodynamic radius of 55–65 nm by size-exclusion fractionation on a HPLC. Together these observations indicated that these particles are exosomes. These purified exosomes reduced infarct size in a mouse model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, MSC mediated its cardioprotective paracrine effect by secreting exosomes. This novel role of exosomes highlights a new perspective into intercellular mediation of tissue injury and repair, and engenders novel approaches to the development of biologics for tissue repair.     

Restorative effects of Chrysin pretreatment on oxidant–antioxidant status,inflammatory cytokine production,and apoptotic and autophagic markers in acute paracetamol‐induced hepatotoxicity in rats: An experimental and biochemical study

Paracetamol (PC) is a widely used analgesic and antipyretic drug, but it leads to acute hepatotoxicity at high doses intakes. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of Chrysin (CR) on hepatotoxicity constituted at high doses of PC in rats. Rats were subjected to oral pretreatment of CR (25 and 50 mg/kg b.w.) via feeding needle for 6 days against hepatotoxicity induced by a single dose of PC (500 mg/kg b.w.) administered orally via feeding needles. Although PC increases lipid peroxidation and liver enzyme activities, it has led to reduction of antioxidant enzyme activities. PC induced inflammatory responses by increasing the levels of TNF‐α and IL‐1β. Furthermore, PC caused apoptosis and autophagy by increasing activity of Caspase‐3 and LC3B level. On the other hand, CR therapy significantly regulated these values in rats. This study demonstrated that CR possesses restorative effect against PC‐induced hepatotoxicity by suppressing oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptotic and autophagic tissue damage.     

Disruption of PTPRO causes childhood-onset nephrotic syndrome

Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS) is a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, and edema. Because it typically results in end-stage kidney disease, the steroid-resistant subtype (SRNS) of INS is especially important when it occurs in children. The present study included 29 affected and 22 normal individuals from 17 SRNS families; genome-wide analysis was performed with Affymetrix 250K SNP arrays followed by homozygosity mapping. A large homozygous stretch on chromosomal region 12p12 was identified in one consanguineous family with two affected siblings. Direct sequencing of protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor type O (PTPRO; also known as glomerular epithelial protein-1 [GLEPP1]) showed homozygous c.2627+1G>T donor splice-site mutation. This mutation causes skipping of the evolutionarily conserved exon 16 (p.Glu854_Trp876del) at the RNA level. Immunohistochemistry with GLEPP1 antibody showed a similar staining pattern in the podocytes of the diseased and control kidney tissues. We used a highly polymorphic intragenic DNA marker-D12S1303-to search for homozygosity in 120 Turkish and 13 non-Turkish individuals in the PodoNet registry. This analysis yielded 17 candidate families, and a distinct homozygous c.2745+1G>A donor splice-site mutation in PTPRO was further identified via DNA sequencing in a second Turkish family. This mutation causes skipping of exon 19, and this introduces a premature stop codon at the very beginning of exon 20 (p.Asn888Lysfs*3) and causes degradation of mRNA via nonsense-mediated decay. Immunohistochemical analysis showed complete absence of immunoreactive PTPRO. Ultrastructural alterations, such as diffuse foot process fusion and extensive microvillus transformation of podocytes, were observed via electron microscopy in both families. The present study introduces mutations in PTPRO as another cause of autosomal-recessive nephrotic syndrome.     

The investigation of the secondary structure propensities and free-energy landscapes of peptide ligands by replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations

The conformational states of two peptide sequences that bind to staphylococcal enterotoxin B are sampled by replica exchange molecular dynamic (REMD) simulations in explicit water. REMD simulations were treated with 52 replicas in the range of 280–501 K for both peptides. The conformational ensembles of both peptides are dominated by random coil, bend and turn structures with a small amount of helical structures for each temperature. In addition, while an insignificant presence of β-bridge structures were observed for both peptides, the β-sheet structure was observed only for peptide 3. The results obtained from simulations at 300 K are consistent with the experimental results obtained from circular dichroism spectroscopy. From the analysis of REMD results, we also calculated hydrophobic and hydrophilic solvent accessible surface areas for both peptides, and it was observed that the hydrophobic segments of the peptides tend to form bend or turn structures. Moreover, the free-energy landscapes of both peptides were obtained by principal component analysis to understand how the secondary structural properties change according to their complex space. From the free-energy analysis, we have found several minima for both peptides at decreased temperature. For these obvious minima of both peptides, it was observed that the random coil, bend and turn structures are still dominant and the helix, β-bridge or β-sheet structures can appear or disappear with respect to minima. On the other hand, when we compare the results of REMD with conventional MD simulations for these peptides, the configurations of peptide 3 might be trapped in energy minima during the conventional MD simulations. Hence, it can be said that the REMD simulations have provided a sufficiently high sampling efficiency.     

May TLR4 Asp299Gly and IL17 His161Arg polymorphism be associated with progression of primary measles infection to subacute sclerosing panencephalitis?

SSPE is a progressive neurological disorder of children. Only some of the children who are infected with measles virus develop SSPE, which supports individual variation. TLR-2 and TLR-4 play an important role in innate immunity by recognizing envelope proteins of MV. Another important cytokine that plays an important role in orchestrating innate immune function is IL-17. The purpose of our study is to elucidate whether the TLR2, TLR4, IL17F and IL17A gene polymorphisms are susceptibility genes for the development of SSPE.     

Wear Behavior of Plasma Oxidized CoCrMo Alloy under Dry and Simulated Body Fluid Conditions

In this study, CoCrMo alloy was oxidized in plasma environment at the temperatures of 600 ℃ to 800 ℃ for 1 h to 5 h with 100% 02 gas and its tribological behavior was investigated. After the plasma oxidizing process, the compound and diffusion layers were formed on the surface. XRD results show that Cr203, a-Co and ε-Co phases diffracted from the modified layers after plasma oxidizing. The untreated and treated CoCrMo samples were subjected to wear tests both in dry and simulated body fluid conditions, and normal loads of 2 N and 10 N were used. For the sliding wear test, alumina balls were used as counter materials. It was observed that the wear resistance of CoCrMo alloy was increased after the plasma oxidizing process. The lowest wear rate was obtained from the samples that were oxidized at 800 ℃ for 5 h. It was detected that both wear environment and load have significant effects on the wear behavior of this alloy, and the wear resistance of oxidized CoCrMo alloy is higher when oxide-based counterface is used. The wear rates of both untreated and plasma oxidized samples increase under high loads.     

Molecular identification and distribution of Anopheles maculipennis complex in the Mediterranean region of Turkey

The present study was set to identify the members of An. maculipennis complex, which includes effective malaria vectors, throughout the Mediterranean region of Turkey using the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA (rDNA-ITS2) sequences from 200 specimens. Resulting sequences of this complex from the Mediterranean region revealed the presence of three species belonging to the An. maculipennis complex, namely An. sacharovi, An. maculipennis s.s. and An. melanoon. The lengths of ITS2 region were 284, 294 and 306 bp in length for An. maculipennis s.s., An. melanoon and An. sacharovi respectively. While no sequence divergence was observed within any species, An. sacharovi was the most distantly related species from An. maculipennis s.s. and An. melanoon with a sequence divergence of 15.1% and 15.4%, respectively. While An. melanoon was the rare species, An. maculipennis s.s., was the most abundant and An. sacharovi was the most wide spread one.     

Parasitic Bacteria and Fungi on Common Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) and Their Potential Application in Biocontrol

This study was carried out to identify pathogenic bacteria and fungi on mistletoe (Viscum album L.) and investigate their potential use in biological control of this parasitic plant. For this purpose, a total of 48 fungal isolate and 193 bacterial strains were isolated from contaminated V. album during the summers 2005–2006. The isolated bacterial strains and fungal isolates were identified by using the Sherlock Microbial Identification System (MIS; Microbial ID, Newark) and microscopic methods, respectively. The bacterial strains that induced hypersensitive reaction (HR) on tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and fungal isolates were tested for pathogenicity on young shoots of mistletoe by using injection methods. The pathogenic bacterial strains and fungal isolates were also tested for their activity against mistletoe using spray methods. Five bacterial strains (two Burkholderia cepacia, one each of Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus pumilus and Pandoraea pulminicola) were HR and pathogenicity positive when injected but none of them when sprayed on mistletoe. When fungi were injected, 32 isolates were pathogenic but only thirteen when sprayed on mistletoe. Alternaria alternata VA?‐202, VA?‐205, VA?‐217 and Acremonium kiliense VA‐11 fungal isolates were the most effective ones and caused strong disease symptoms on mistletoe. The present study is the first report on the efficiency of potential biocontrol agents against mistletoe in Turkey.     

Curcumin ameliorates doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxicity by abrogation of inflammation,apoptosis, oxidative DNA damage,and protein oxidation in rats

Doxorubicin (DXR) is a highly effective drug for chemotherapy. However, cardiotoxicity reduces its clinical utility in humans. The present study aimed to assess the ameliorative effect of curcumin against DXR‐induced cardiotoxicity in rats. Rats were subjected to oral treatment of curcumin (100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) for 7 days. Cardiotoxicity was induced by single intraperitoneal injection of DXR (40 mg/kg body weight) on the 5th day and the rats sacrificed on 8th day. Curcumin ameliorated DXR‐induced lipid peroxidation, glutathione depletion, decrease in antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) enzyme activities, and cardiac toxicity markers (CK‐MB, LDH, and cTn‐I). Curcumin also attenuated activities of Caspase‐3, cyclooxygenase‐2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and levels of nuclear factor kappa‐B, tumor necrosis factor‐α, and interleukin‐1β, and cardiac tissue damages that were induced by DXR. Moreover, curcumin decreased the expression of 8‐OHdG and 3,3′‐dityrosine. This study demonstrated that curcumin has a multi‐cardioprotective effect due to its antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties.