Luteolin confers renoprotection against ischemia–reperfusion injury via involving Nrf2 pathway and regulating miR320

Molecular Biology Reports - This work aims to evaluate the renoprotective effect of luteolin on expression of Nrf2 and miR320 in ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. Thirty rats were...     

Computer controlled fed-batch fermentation of the methylotroph Pseudomonas AM1

Summary A simple on-line computer control strategy based on dissolved oxygen level readings has been developed to control methanol addition during a fermentation of the methylotroph Pseudomonas AM1. This strategy has led to significant and reproducible improvements in the performance of the fermentation.     

Implementation of reflex loops in a biomechanical finite element model

In the field of biomechanics, the offer of models which are more and more realistic requires to integrate a physiological response, in particular, the controlled muscle bracing and the reflexes. The following work aims to suggest a unique methodology which couples together a sensory and motor loop with a finite element model. Our method is applied to the study of the oscillation of the elbow in the case of a biceps brachial stretch reflex. The results obtained are promising in the purpose of the development of reactive human body models.     

Homology Modeling and Molecular Docking Studies of Glutamate Dehydrogenase (GDH) from Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), which is present in most bacteria and eukaryotes’ mitochondria, plays an important role in amino acid metabolism. In g     

The Effect of Carrier Distribution on Performance of ENZ-Based Electro-Absorption Modulator

Recently, epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) has been emerging as an important field of research which is the study of light-matter interactions in the presence of materials with zero permittivity. Since in many scientific works the uniform model of carrier distribution of Indium tin oxide (ITO) has been utilized, we want to investigate ENZ effect in ITO material and the effect of accurate carrier distribution on the performance of a modulator. For this reason, an electro-absorption (EA) modulators with a new configuration based on silicon slot modulator with indium thin oxide material is proposed. To study the effect of ENZ effect in ITO, the semiconductor model (realistic model) is utilized to model the carrier distribution in the ITO material. In this model, there is not any assumption. As a result, by applying the gate voltage, the insertion loss is increased 1.61 dB/μm in comparison with unbiased conditions. Also, the uniform model is used. Compared with the realistic model, the extinction ratio and figure-of-merit significantly enhance based on the uniform model, but the trends of results like insertion loss are so far from the realistic model. It can be found that the realistic model is reliable and the results are closer to reality.

     

Cell engineering method using fluorogenic oligonucleotide signaling probes and flow cytometry

Objective

Chromovert® Technology is presented as a new cell engineering technology to detect and purify living cells based on gene expression.

Methods

The technology utilizes fluorogenic oligonucleotide signaling probes and flow cytometry to detect and isolate individual living cells expressing one or more transfected or endogenously-expressed genes.

Results

Results for production of cell lines expressing a diversity of ion channel and membrane proteins are presented, including heteromultimeric epithelial sodium channel (αβγ-ENaC), sodium voltage-gated ion channel 1.7 (NaV1.7-αβ1β2), four unique γ-aminobutyric acid A (GABA_A) receptor ion channel subunit combinations α1β3γ2s, α2β3γ2s, α3β3γ2s and α5β3γ2s, cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR), CFTR-Δ508 and two G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) without reliance on leader sequences and/or chaperones. In addition, three novel plasmid-encoded sequences used to introduce 3′ untranslated RNA sequence tags in mRNA expression products and differentially-detectable fluorogenic probes directed to each are described. The tags and corresponding fluorogenic signaling probes streamline the process by enabling the multiplexed detection and isolation of cells expressing one or more genes without the need for gene-specific probes.

Conclusions

Chromovert technology is provided as a research tool for use to enrich and isolate cells engineered to express one or more desired genes.

     

Gap junction blockers: a potential approach to attenuate morphine withdrawal symptoms

Background

The exact mechanisms of morphine-induced dependence and withdrawal symptoms remain unclear. In order to identify an agent that can prevent withdrawal syndrome, many studies have been performed. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of gap junction blockers; carbenoxolone (CBX) or mefloquine (MFQ); on morphine withdrawal symptoms in male rat.Adult male Wistar rats (225 – 275 g) were selected randomly and divided into 10 groups. All groups underwent stereotaxic surgery and in order to induce dependency, morphine was administered subcutaneously) Sc) at an interval of 12 hours for nine continuous days. On the ninth day of the experiment, animals received vehicle or CBX (100, 400, 600 μg/10 μl/rat, icv) or MFQ (50, 100 and 200 μg/10 μl/rat, icv) after the last saline or morphine (Sc) injection. Morphine withdrawal symptoms were precipitated by naloxone hydrochloride 10 min after the treatments. The withdrawal signs including: jumping, rearing, genital grooming, abdomen writhing, wet dog shake and stool weight, were recorded for 60 minutes.

Results

Results showed that CBX and MFQ decreased all withdrawal signs; and the analysis indicated that they could attenuate the total withdrawal scores significantly.

Conclusion

Taking together it is concluded that gap junction blockers prevented naloxone-precipitated withdrawal symptoms.