Antimalarial activity and mechanisms of action of two novel 4-aminoquinolines against chloroquine-resistant parasites

Chloroquine (CQ) is a cost effective antimalarial drug with a relatively good safety profile (or therapeutic index). However, CQ is no longer used alone to treat patients with Plasmodium falciparum due to the emergence and spread of CQ-resistant strains, also reported for P. vivax. Despite CQ resistance, novel drug candidates based on the structure of CQ continue to be considered, as in the present work. One CQ analog was synthesized as monoquinoline (MAQ) and compared with a previously synthesized bisquinoline (BAQ), both tested against P. falciparum in vitro and against P. berghei in mice, then evaluated in vitro for their cytotoxicity and ability to inhibit hemozoin formation. Their interactions with residues present in the NADH binding site of P falciparum lactate dehydrogenase were evaluated using docking analysis software. Both compounds were active in the nanomolar range evaluated through the HRPII and hypoxanthine tests. MAQ and BAQ derivatives were not toxic, and both compounds significantly inhibited hemozoin formation, in a dose-dependent manner. MAQ had a higher selectivity index than BAQ and both compounds were weak PfLDH inhibitors, a result previously reported also for CQ. Taken together, the two CQ analogues represent promising molecules which seem to act in a crucial point for the parasite, inhibiting hemozoin formation.     

Exercise Training Restores Cardiac Protein Quality Control in Heart Failure

Exercise training is a well-known coadjuvant in heart failure treatment; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying its beneficial effects remain elusive. Despite the primary cause, heart failure is often preceded by two distinct phenomena: mitochondria dysfunction and cytosolic protein quality control disruption. The objective of the study was to determine the contribution of exercise training in regulating cardiac mitochondria metabolism and cytosolic protein quality control in a post-myocardial infarction-induced heart failure (MI-HF) animal model. Our data demonstrated that isolated cardiac mitochondria from MI-HF rats displayed decreased oxygen consumption, reduced maximum calcium uptake and elevated H₂O₂ release. These changes were accompanied by exacerbated cardiac oxidative stress and proteasomal insufficiency. Declined proteasomal activity contributes to cardiac protein quality control disruption in our MI-HF model. Using cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes, we showed that either antimycin A or H₂O₂ resulted in inactivation of proteasomal peptidase activity, accumulation of oxidized proteins and cell death, recapitulating our in vivo model. Of interest, eight weeks of exercise training improved cardiac function, peak oxygen uptake and exercise tolerance in MI-HF rats. Moreover, exercise training restored mitochondrial oxygen consumption, increased Ca²⁺-induced permeability transition and reduced H₂O₂ release in MI-HF rats. These changes were followed by reduced oxidative stress and better cardiac protein quality control. Taken together, our findings uncover the potential contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction and cytosolic protein quality control disruption to heart failure and highlight the positive effects of exercise training in re-establishing cardiac mitochondrial physiology and protein quality control, reinforcing the importance of this intervention as a non-pharmacological tool for heart failure therapy.     

Analysis of energetically biased transcripts of viruses and transposable elements

RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural endogenous process by which double-stranded RNA molecules trigger potent and specific gene silencing in eukaryotic cells and is characterized by target RNA cleavage. In mammals, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are the trigger molecules of choice and constitute a new class of RNA-based antiviral agents. In an efficient RNAi response, the antisense strand of siRNAs must enter the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) in a process mediated by thermodynamic features. In this report, we hypothesize that silent mutations capable of inverting thermodynamic properties can promote resistance to siRNAs. Extensive computational analyses were used to assess whether continuous selective pressure that promotes such mutations could lead to the emergence of viral strains completely resistant to RNAi (i.e., prone to transfer only the sense strands to RISC). Based on our findings, we propose that, although synonymous mutations may produce functional resistance, this strategy cannot be systematically adopted by viruses since the longest RNAi-refractory sequence is only 10 nt long. This finding also suggests that all mRNAs display fluctuating thermodynamic landscapes and that, in terms of thermodynamic features, RNAi is a very efficient antiviral system since there will always be sites susceptible to siRNAs.     

Role of catalase on the hypoxia/reoxygenation stress in the hypoxia-tolerant Nile tilapia

The specific contribution of each antioxidant enzyme to protection against the reoxygenation-associated oxidative stress after periods of hypoxia is not well understood. We assessed the physiological role of catalase during posthypoxic reoxygenation by the combination of two approaches. First, catalase activity of Nile tilapias (Oreochromis niloticus) was 90% suppressed by intraperitoneal injection of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATZ, 1g/kg). In ATZ-injected fish, liver GSH levels, oxidative stress markers, and activities of other antioxidant enzymes remained unchanged. Second, animals with depleted catalase activity (or those saline-injected) were subjected to a cycle of severe hypoxia (dissolved O(2) = 0.28 mg/l for 3 h) followed by reoxygenation (0.5 to 24 h). Hypoxia did not induce changes in the above-mentioned parameters, either in saline- or in ATZ-injected animals. Reoxygenation increased superoxide dismutase activity in saline-injected fish, whose levels were similar to ATZ-injected animals. The activities of glutathione S-transferase, selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase, and total-GPX and the levels of GSH-eq, GSSG, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances remained unchanged during reoxygenation in both saline- and ATZ-injected fish. The GSSG/GSH-eq ratio in ATZ-injected fish increased at 30 min of reoxygenation compared with saline-injected ones. Reoxygenation also increased carbonyl protein levels in saline-injected fish, whose levels were similar to the ATZ-injected group. Our work shows that inhibition of liver tilapia catalase causes a redox imbalance during reoxygenation, which is insufficient to induce further oxidative stress. This indicates the relevance of hepatic catalase for hypoxia/reoxygenation stress in tilapia fish.     

A miRNA signature in leukocytes from sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and seriously disabling adult-onset neurological disease. Accumulating evidence indicates that various miRNAs, expressed in a spatially and temporally controlled manner in the brain, play a key role in neuronal development. In addition, misregulation of microRNAs contributes to some mental disorders and neurodegeneration diseases. Here, we analyzed the expression profiles of 911 human miRNAs using microarray technology in leukocytes, the most readily available human tissue cells, obtained from 8 patients affected by sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) and 12 healthy controls. An independent group of 14 sALS patients and 14 controls was used for validation by TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. We identified 8 miRNAs that were significantly up- or downregulated in sALS patients as compared to healthy controls. The significant variations in miRNAs profiles detected in leukocytes have been related to miRNAs predominantly expressed in the nervous system. One of these miRNAs, miR-338-3p, has previously been shown to be de-regulated in ALS brains. This study, for the first time, detected specific microRNAs disease-related changes at an earlier stage of sALS. We suggest that miRNAs profiles found in the peripheral blood leukocytes from sALS patients can be relevant to understand the pathogenesis of sALS and/or used as biomarkers of the disease.     

Geographical patterns of turnover and nestedness-resultant components of allelic diversity among populations

The analysis of geographical patterns in population divergence has always been a powerful way to infer microevolutionary processes involved in population differentiation, and several approaches have been used to investigate such patterns. Most frequently, multivariate spatial patterns of population differentiation are analyzed by computing pairwise genetic distances or F_ST (or related statistics, such as ?_ST from AMOVA), which are then correlated with geographical distances or landscape features. However, when calculating distances, especially based on presence-absence of alleles in local populations, there would be a confounding effect of allelic richness differences in the population differentiation. Moreover, the relative magnitude of these components and their spatial patterns can help identifying microevolutionary processes driving population differentiation. Here we show how recent methodological advances in ecological community analyses that allows partitioning dissimilarity into turnover (turnover) and richness differences, or nestedness-resultant dissimilarity, can be applied to allelic variation data, using an endemic Cerrado tree (Dipteryx alata) as a case study. Individuals from 15 local populations were genotyped for eight microsatellite loci, and pairwise dissimilarities were computed based on presence-absence of alleles. The turnover of alleles among populations represented 69?% of variation in dissimilarity, but only the richness difference component shows a clear spatial structure, appearing as a westward decrease of allelic richness. We show that decoupling richness difference and turnover components of allelic variation reveals more clearly how similarity among populations reflects geographical patterns in allelic diversity that can be interpreted in respect to historical range expansion in the species.     

Inferences from Genomic Models in Stratified Populations

Unaccounted population stratification can lead to spurious associations in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and in this context several methods have been proposed to deal with this problem. An alternative line of research uses whole-genome random regression (WGRR) models that fit all markers simultaneously. Important objectives in WGRR studies are to estimate the proportion of variance accounted for by the markers, the effect of individual markers, prediction of genetic values for complex traits, and prediction of genetic risk of diseases. Proposals to account for stratification in this context are unsatisfactory. Here we address this problem and describe a reparameterization of a WGRR model, based on an eigenvalue decomposition, for simultaneous inference of parameters and unobserved population structure. This allows estimation of genomic parameters with and without inclusion of marker-derived eigenvectors that account for stratification. The method is illustrated with grain yield in wheat typed for 1279 genetic markers, and with height, HDL cholesterol and systolic blood pressure from the British 1958 cohort study typed for 1 million SNP genotypes. Both sets of data show signs of population structure but with different consequences on inferences. The method is compared to an advocated approach consisting of including eigenvectors as fixed-effect covariates in a WGRR model. We show that this approach, used in the context of WGRR models, is ill posed and illustrate the advantages of the proposed model. In summary, our method permits a unified approach to the study of population structure and inference of parameters, is computationally efficient, and is easy to implement.     

Somatic embryogenesis of a wild passion fruit species Passiflora cincinnata Masters: histocytological and histochemical evidences

The characterization of cellular changes that occur during somatic embryogenesis is essential for understanding the factors involved in the transition of somatic cells into embryogenically competent cells and determination of cells and/or tissues involved. The present study describes the anatomical and ultrastructural events that lead to the formation of somatic embryos in the model system of the wild passion fruit (Passiflora cincinnata). Mature zygotic embryos were inoculated in Murashige and Skoog induction media supplemented with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 6-benzyladenine. Zygotic embryo explants at different development stages were collected and processed by conventional methods for studies using light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Histochemical tests were used to examine the mobilization of reserves. The differentiation of the somatic embryos began in the abaxial side of the cotyledon region. Protuberances were formed from the meristematic proliferation of the epidermal and mesophyll cells. These cells had large nuclei, dense cytoplasm with a predominance of mitochondria, and a few reserve compounds. The protuberances extended throughout the abaxial surface of the cotyledons. The ongoing differentiation of peripheral cells of these structures led to the formation of proembryogenic zones, which, in turn, dedifferentiated into somatic embryos of multicellular origin. In the initial stages of embryogenesis, the epidermal and mesophyll cells showed starch grains and less lipids and protein reserves than the starting explant. These results provide detailed information on anatomical and ultrastructural changes involved in the acquisition of embryogenic competence and embryo differentiation that has been lacking so far in Passiflora.     

Susceptibility to persistent breeding-induced endometritis in the mare: relationship to endometrial biopsy score and age, and variations between seasons

The objectives were to: (1) investigate the associations of age and endometrial biopsy score with uterine fluid retention after insemination; and (2) determine if a strict classification of susceptibility to persistent breeding-induced endometritis (PBIE) based on biopsy score, endometrial cytology, and fluid retention after inseminations, is consistent over subsequent breeding seasons. In Experiment 1, 57 mares were inseminated with 10⁹ freeze-killed sperm during estrus and evaluated for uterine fluid retention 48 h and 96 h after insemination. Comparisons were made between fluid retention and biopsy score or age. In Experiment 2, a subset of 14 mares was classified for susceptibility to persistent breeding-induced endometritis in two subsequent breeding seasons. Biopsy score and age were associated with fluid retention (P < 0.001). In addition, age was related to biopsy score (P < 0.001). Of the mares examined for susceptibility, 36% (5 of 14) changed status during subsequent seasons. Three mares changed to a more severe classification (intermediate to susceptible, or resistant to intermediate), whereas two mares changed to a less severe classification (susceptible to intermediate).