Morinda citrifolia mitigates rotenone-induced striatal neuronal loss in male Sprague-Dawley rats by preventing mitochondrial pathway of intrinsic apoptosis

Objectives: Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting mainly the motor system, as a result of death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The present scenario of research in PD is directed to identify novel molecules that can be administered individually or co-administered with L-Dopa to prevent the L-Dopa-Induced Dyskinesia (LID) like states that arise during chronic L-Dopa administration. Hence, in this study, we investigated whether Morinda citrifolia has therapeutic effects in rotenone-induced Parkinson’s disease (PD) with special reference to mitochondrial dysfunction mediated intrinsic apoptosis.

Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were stereotaxically infused with rotenone (3?µg in both SNPc and VTA) and co-treated with the ethyl acetate extract of Morinda citrifolia and levodopa.

Results: The results revealed that rotenone-induced cell death was reduced by MCE treatment as measured by decline in the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins. Moreover, MCE treatment significantly augmented the levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl2 and blocks the release of cytochrome c, thereby alleviating the rotenone-induced dopaminergic neuronal loss, as evidenced by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunostaining in the striatum.

Discussion: Taken together, the results suggest that Morinda citrifolia may be beneficial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases like PD.     

Differential activation of eIF2 kinases in response to cellular stresses in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2 (eIF2) is an important mechanism mitigating cellular injury in response to diverse environmental stresses. While all eukaryotic organisms characterized to date contain an eIF2 kinase stress response pathway, the composition of eIF2 kinases differs, with mammals containing four distinct family members and the well-studied lower eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing only a single eIF2 kinase. We are interested in the mechanisms by which multiple eIF2 kinases interface with complex stress signals and elicit response pathways. In this report we find that in addition to two previously described eIF2 kinases related to mammalian HRI, designated Hri1p and Hri2p, the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe expresses a third eIF2 kinase, a Gcn2p ortholog. To delineate the roles of each eIF2 kinase, we constructed S. pombe strains expressing only a single eIF2 kinase gene or deleted for the entire eIF2 kinase family. We find that Hri2p is the primary activated eIF2 kinase in response to exposure to heat shock, arsenite, or cadmium. Gcn2p serves as the primary eIF2 kinase induced during a nutrient downshift, treatment with the amino acid biosynthetic inhibitor 3-aminotriazole, or upon exposure to high concentrations of sodium chloride. In one stress example, exposure to H₂O₂, there is early tandem activation of both Hri2p and Gcn2p. Interestingly, with extended stress conditions there is activation of alternative secondary eIF2 kinases, suggesting that eukaryotes have mechanisms of coordinate activation of eIF2 kinase in their stress remediation responses. Deletion of these eIF2 kinases renders S. pombe more sensitive to many of these stress conditions.     

Richness and abundance of stream fish communities in a fragmented neotropical landscape

Environmental Biology of Fishes - Environmental conditions influence ecological processes that shape stream community diversity and abundance. Deforestation has the potential to limit available...     

Decreased UDP-GlcNAc:Glycopeptideβ-2-N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase II activity in a ricin-resistant mutant of baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells

The ricin-resistant mutant baby hamster kidney (BHK) cell line RIC^R21 is unable to make the sialylated bi- or triantennary complexN-glycans found in wild type cells and accumulates instead non-bisected hybrid structures containing three Man residues and one or two sialylated antennae (Hugheset al 1983, Carbohydr Res 120215-34). Specific assays forN-acetylglucosaminyltransferases I, II, III and IV were applied to Triton X-100 extracts of wild type BHK, RIC^R14 and RIC^R21 cells. It was shown that RIC^R21 cell extracts had a decreasedN-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II specific activity (17 to 27% of wild type values). It is suggested that in wild type cellsN-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II action proceeds quickly, leading to complexN-glycan synthesis, while in RIC^R21 cells potential substrates forN-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II move into the trans-Golgi compartment before the transferase can act, thereby leading to hybrid structures.     

Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in rhesus macaques following antibiotic treatment of disseminated infection

The persistence of symptoms in Lyme disease patients following antibiotic therapy, and their causes, continue to be a matter of intense controversy. The studies presented here explore antibiotic efficacy using nonhuman primates. Rhesus macaques were infected with B. burgdorferi and a portion received aggressive antibiotic therapy 4-6 months later. Multiple methods were utilized for detection of residual organisms, including the feeding of lab-reared ticks on monkeys (xenodiagnosis), culture, immunofluorescence and PCR. Antibody responses to the B. burgdorferi-specific C6 diagnostic peptide were measured longitudinally and declined in all treated animals. B. burgdorferi antigen, DNA and RNA were detected in the tissues of treated animals. Finally, small numbers of intact spirochetes were recovered by xenodiagnosis from treated monkeys. These results demonstrate that B. burgdorferi can withstand antibiotic treatment, administered post-dissemination, in a primate host. Though B. burgdorferi is not known to possess resistance mechanisms and is susceptible to the standard antibiotics (doxycycline, ceftriaxone) in vitro, it appears to become tolerant post-dissemination in the primate host. This finding raises important questions about the pathogenicity of antibiotic-tolerant persisters and whether or not they can contribute to symptoms post-treatment.