In vivo inhibition of inducible nitric oxide and evaluation of the brain tissue damage induced by Toxocara canis larvae in experimentally infected mice

Nitric oxide (NO) is known to be produced by macrophages, endothelial cells and neurons and synthesized by an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Various effector mechanisms and infections can affect the NO production. Excessive amount of NO will lead to biochemical reactions, which cause toxic effects. In this study the role of NO has been evaluated in larval toxocarosis, which is a systemic parasite infection caused by T. canis larvae. Infection was established in the Balb/c mice with or without inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibition and the effects of infection and NOS inhibition were observed according to the results of SOD and LPx measurements in brain tissue and NADPH-diaphorase (NADP-d) histochemistry. Results of NADPH-d histochemistry indicate that iNOS inhibition has protective effect on the brains of infected mice and that larval T. canis infection could be related to oxidative stress, and NO production and iNOS inhibition can protect the tissue from damage in this infection.     

Ultrasound‐assisted dilute acid hydrolysis of tea processing waste for production of fermentable sugar

Lignocellulosic materials that are the most abundant plant biomass in the world have the potential to become sustainable sources of the produced value added products. Tea processing waste (TPW) is a good lignocellulosic source to produce the value added products from fermentable sugars (FSs). Therefore, the present study is undertaken to produce FSs by using ultrasound‐assisted dilute acid (UADA) and dilute acid (DA) hydrolysis of TPW followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. UADA hydrolysis of TPW was optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) at maximum power (900 W) for 2 h. The optimum conditions were determined as 50°C, 1:6 (w/v) solid:liquid ratio, and 1% (w/v) DA concentration, which yielded 20.34 g/L FS concentration. Furthermore, its DA hydrolysis was also optimized by using RSM for comparison and the optimized conditions were found as 120°C, 1:8 solid:liquid ratio, and 1% acid concentration, which produced 25.3 g/L FS yield. Even though the produced sugars with UADA hydrolysis are slightly less, but it can provide significant cost saving due to the lower temperature requirement and less liquid consumption. Besides, enzymatic hydrolysis applied after pretreatments of TPW were very more economic than the conventional enzymatic hydrolysis in the literature due to shorter time requiring. In conclusion, ultrasound‐assisted is a promising technology that can be successfully applied for hydrolysis of biomass and can be an alternative to the other hydrolysis procedures and also TPW can be considered as suitable carbon source for the production of value‐added products like biofuels, organic acids, and polysaccharides. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:393–403, 2016     

Otolith chemistry of Champsodon nudivittis (Ogilby, 1895) and Nemipterus randalli (Russell, 1986) in Iskenderun Bay,Turkey

The study objective was to investigate the chemical composition of otoliths of two Lessepsian fish migrants, namely, Champsodon nudivittis and Nemipterus randalli, which thrive in the Iskenderun Bay, Turkey. The study specifically investigated the age structure and explored differences in chemical otolith composition in relation to age. Samples were collected using a traditional Mediterranean bottom trawl (mesh size 44 mm) at depths of 45 to 90 m. A total of 78 Champsodon nudivittis (size range, 6.0 to 14.0 cm) and 60 Nemipterus randalli (size range, 6.1 to 17 cm) were captured in May 2012. Age readings were carried out (sectioning technique). Additionally, the concentrations of Na, K, Li, and Ca were determined using flame photospectrometry. The results revealed that the concentrations of Na (5.70 mg/g) and K (4.45 mg/g) in otoliths of Nemipterus randalli were predominant elements after Ca (128.71 mg/g). The concentration of Li in otoliths was also statistically different in the two species. This study contributes to the knowledge of the otolith chemistry in the two Lessepsian fish species now living in the same (but new) geographical region.     

The role of CX3CL1 in fetal-maternal interaction during human gestation

abstract

Embryo implantation and subsequent placentation require a fine balanced fetal-maternal cross-talk of hormones, cytokines and chemokines. Amongst the group of chemokines, CX3CL1 (also known as fractalkine) has recently attracted attention in the field of reproductive research. It exists both as membrane-bound and soluble isoforms. On the basis of current experimental evidence, fractalkine is suggested to regulate adhesion and migration processes in fetal-maternal interaction at different stages of human pregnancy. Expressed by uterine glandular epithelial cells, predominantly during the mid-secretory phase of the menstrual cycle, fractalkine appears to prime the blastocyst for forthcoming implantation. After implantation, fractalkine is suggested to regulate invasion of extravillous trophoblasts by altering their expression profile of adhesion molecules. With onset of perfusion of the intervillous space at the end of first trimester, fractalkine present at the apical microvillous plasma membrane of the syncytiotrophoblast may mediate close interaction of placental villi with circulating maternal blood cells.     

CSF Proteomics Identifies Specific and Shared Pathways for Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Subtypes

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated, neuro-inflammatory, demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) with a heterogeneous clinical presentation and course. There is a remarkable phenotypic heterogeneity in MS, and the molecular mechanisms underlying it remain unknown. We aimed to investigate further the etiopathogenesis related molecular pathways in subclinical types of MS using proteomic and bioinformatics approaches in cerebrospinal fluids of patients with clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing remitting MS and progressive MS (n=179). Comparison of disease groups with controls revealed a total of 151 proteins that are differentially expressed in clinically different MS subtypes. KEGG analysis using PANOGA tool revealed the disease related pathways including aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption (p=8.02x10^-5) which is important in the immune cell migration, renin-angiotensin (p=6.88x10^-5) system that induces Th17 dependent immunity, notch signaling (p=1.83x10^-10) pathway indicating the activated remyelination and vitamin digestion and absorption pathways (p=1.73x10^-5). An emerging theme from our studies is that whilst all MS clinical forms share common biological pathways, there are also clinical subtypes specific and pathophysiology related pathways which may have further therapeutic implications.     

Lipoprotein lipase gene sequencing and plasma lipid profile

Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) plays a crucial role in lipid metabolism by hydrolyzing triglyceride (TG)-rich particles and affecting HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. In this study, the entire LPL gene plus flanking regions were resequenced in individuals with extreme HDL-C/TG levels (n = 95), selected from a population-based sample of 623 US non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals. A total of 176 sequencing variants were identified, including 28 novel variants. A subset of 64 variants [common tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNP) and selected rare variants] were genotyped in the total sample, followed by association analyses with major lipid traits. A gene-based association test including all genotyped variants revealed significant association with HDL-C (P = 0.024) and TG (P = 0.006). Our single-site analysis revealed seven independent signals (P < 0.05; r² < 0.40) with either HDL-C or TG. The most significant association was for the SNP rs295 exerting opposite effects on TG and HDL-C levels with P values of 7.5.10⁻⁴ and 0.002, respectively. Our work highlights some common variants and haplotypes in LPL with significant associations with lipid traits; however, the analysis of rare variants using burden tests and SKAT-O method revealed negligible effects on lipid traits. Comprehensive resequencing of LPL in larger samples is warranted to further test the role of rare variants in affecting plasma lipid levels.     

Multi-site-specific 16S rRNA methyltransferase RsmF from Thermus thermophilus

Cells devote a significant effort toward the production of multiple modified nucleotides in rRNAs, which fine tune the ribosome function. Here, we report that two methyltransferases, RsmB and RsmF, are responsible for all four 5-methylcytidine (m⁵C) modifications in 16S rRNA of Thermus thermophilus. Like Escherichia coli RsmB, T. thermophilus RsmB produces m⁵C967. In contrast to E. coli RsmF, which introduces a single m⁵C1407 modification, T. thermophilus RsmF modifies three positions, generating m⁵C1400 and m⁵C1404 in addition to m⁵C1407. These three residues are clustered near the decoding site of the ribosome, but are situated in distinct structural contexts, suggesting a requirement for flexibility in the RsmF active site that is absent from the E. coli enzyme. Two of these residues, C1400 and C1404, are sufficiently buried in the mature ribosome structure so as to require extensive unfolding of the rRNA to be accessible to RsmF. In vitro, T. thermophilus RsmF methylates C1400, C1404, and C1407 in a 30S subunit substrate, but only C1400 and C1404 when naked 16S rRNA is the substrate. The multispecificity of T. thermophilus RsmF is potentially explained by three crystal structures of the enzyme in a complex with cofactor S-adenosyl-methionine at up to 1.3 Å resolution. In addition to confirming the overall structural similarity to E. coli RsmF, these structures also reveal that key segments in the active site are likely to be dynamic in solution, thereby expanding substrate recognition by T. thermophilus RsmF.     

Effects of pH profiles on nisin production in biofilm reactor

Apart from its widely accepted commercial applications as a food preservative, nisin emerges as a promising alternative in medical applications for bacterial infection in both humans and livestock. Improving nisin production through optimization of fermentation parameters would make nisin more cost-effective for various applications. Since nisin production by Lactococcus lactis NIZO 22186 was highly influenced by the pH profile employed during fermentation, three different pH profiles were evaluated in this study: (1) a constant pH profile at 6.8 (profile 1), (2) a constant pH profile with autoacidification at 4 h (profile 2), and (3) a stepwise pH profile with pH adjustment every 2 h (profile 3). The results demonstrated that the low-pH stress exerted during the first 4 h of fermentation in profile 3 detrimentally affected nisin production, resulting in a very low maximum nisin concentration (593 IU ml⁻¹). On the other hand, growth and lactic acid production were only slightly delayed, indicating that the loss in nisin production was not a result of lower growth or shifting of metabolic activity toward lactic acid production. Profile 2, in which pH was allowed to drop freely via autoacidification after 4 h of fermentation, was found to yield almost 1.9 times higher nisin (3,553 IU ml⁻¹) than profile 1 (1,898 IU ml⁻¹), possibly as a result of less adsorption of nisin onto producer cells. Therefore, a combination of constant pH and autoacidification period (profile 2) was recommended as the pH profile during nisin production in a biofilm reactor.     

Studies on hydrazone derivatives as antifungal agents

The increasing clinical importance of drug-resistant fungal pathogens has urged additional need to fungal research and new antifungal compound development. For this purpose, some N-(1-benzyl-2-phenylethylidene)-N'-[4-(aryl)thiazol-2-yl]hydrazone (1a-e) and N-(1-phenylbutylidene)-N'-[4-(aryl)thiazol-2-yl]hydrazone (2a-e) derivatives were synthesised and evaluated for antifungal activity. Their antifungal activities against standard and clinical strands of Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida utilis, Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei, Candida zeylanoides, and Candida parapsilosis were investigated. A significant level of activity was observed.