Testing alternatives: the use of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells to slow neurodegeneration in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease

Molecular Biology Reports - Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of anti-Parkinson treatments gradually diminishes owing to the...     

Antiprotozoal activity of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles against Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts

Outbreaks of Cyclospora cayetanensis infection have been linked to consumption of food and water contaminated by oocysts that can survive both physical and chemical disinfectants. Magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) can be potentially used in food as bactericides. In this study, C. cayetanensis pre- and post-sporulated oocysts were exposed to MgO NPs with different doses ranging from 1.25–25?mg/ml. With comparison to control, the antiprotozoal activity of MgO NPs was evaluated by identifying the median effective concentration dose (EC₅₀), lethal concentration dose (LC₉₀), microscopically changes on treated oocysts and rates of sporulation. Among pre- and post-sporulated oocysts, MgO NPs?≥?EC₅₀ was observed after 24?h at concentrations 10 and 12.5?mg/ml, respectively, while?≥?LC₉₀ was observed after 24?h, 48?h and 72?h at concentrations 15, 12.5 and 10?mg/ml, respectively. MgO NPs treated oocysts showed abnormal morphological changes such as an increase in size, wall injury, deposition of vacuolated homogenous particles in the cytoplasm, evacuation of oocyst's contents, and collapse. Sporocysts of treated oocysts were noticed to be peripherally shifted. Sporulation failure of treated oocysts achieved ≥90% after 24?h and 72?h of incubation with 15 and 12.5?mg/ml, respectively, while it was 10.1% among non-treated. All the differences were statistically significant. Our results demonstrated that MgO NPs has a significant anti-Cyclospora effect on both unsporulated and sporulated oocysts, especially considering that it could be biologically synthesized, that way it can be used safely as a preventive agent in food and water disinfectant treatment.     

Engineering the Optical and Dielectric Properties of the Ga2S3/In/Ga2S3 Nanosandwiches via Indium Layer Thickness

Plasmonics - In this study, the effect of the nanosandwiched indium slab thickness (20–200 nm) on the performance of the Ga2S3/In/Ga2S3 interfaces is explored by means of X-ray...     

Interleukin-1α (IL-1α) production by alveolar macrophages in patients with acute lung diseases: the influence of zinc supplementation

In vertebrate retina, rod outer segment is the site of visual transduction. The inward cationic current in the dark-adapted outer segment is regulated by cyclic GMP. A light flash on the outer segment activates a cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase resulting in rapid hydrolysis of the cyclic nucleotide which in turn causes a decrease in the dark current. Restoration of the dark current requires inactivation of the phosphodiesterase and synthesis of cyclic GMP. The latter is accomplished by the enzyme guanylate cyclase which catalyzes the formation of cyclic GMP from GTP. Therefore, factors regulating the cyclase activity play a critcal role in visual transduction. But regulation of the cyclase by some of these factors — phosphodiesterase, ATP, the soluble proteins and metal cofactors (Mg and Mn) — is controversial. The availability of different types of cyclase preparations, dark-adapted rod outer segments with fully inhibited phosphodiesterase activity, partially purified cyclase without PDE contamination, cloned rod outer segment cyclase free of other rod outer segment proteins, permitted us to address these controversial issues. The results show that ATP inhibits the basal cyclase activity but enhances the stimulation of the enzyme by soluble activator, that cyclase can be activated in the dark at low calcium concentrations under conditions where phosphodiesterase activity is fully suppressed, and that greater activity is observed with manganese as cofactor than magnesium. These results provide a better understanding of the controls on cyclase activity in rod outer segments and suggest how regulation of this cyclase by ATP differs from that of other known membrane guanylate cyclases.This work was supported by the grants from the National Institutes of Health (EY07158, EY 05230, EY 10828, NS 23744) and the equipment grant from Pennsylvania Lions Eye Research Foundation.