What can we Predict Before it's Implanted?

1985 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald F. Gibbons

ABSTRACTThe material factors which relate to the degradation and/or leaching of ions or molecules are described and the possible biological pathways which they may activate are described, i.e. cytotoxic, immune, tumor and nonspecific inflammatory response. Cytotoxicity is the only biological response which may be measured with high sensitivity by an in vitro assay prior to implantation. All other biological pathways require some degree of in vivo involvement. Three examples of biological response to material factors associated with devices which require evaluation by in vivo assays are discussed, namely: surface topology (texture), mechanically induced factors at the device/tissue interface caused by differences in compliance, and dystrophic calcification in connective tissue and vascular devices.

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 712-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiene Costa Carneiro ◽  
Aroldo Vieira de Moraes-Filho ◽  
Amanda Silva Fernandes ◽  
Suzana da Costa Santos ◽  
Daniela de Melo e Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Damián Muruzabal ◽  
Julen Sanz-Serrano ◽  
Sylvie Sauvaigo ◽  
Bertrand Treillard ◽  
Ann-Karin Olsen ◽  
...  

AbstractMechanistic toxicology is gaining weight for human health risk assessment. Different mechanistic assays are available, such as the comet assay, which detects DNA damage at the level of individual cells. However, the conventional alkaline version only detects strand breaks and alkali-labile sites. We have validated two modifications of the in vitro assay to generate mechanistic information: (1) use of DNA-repair enzymes (i.e., formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase, endonuclease III, human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase I and human alkyladenine DNA glycosylase) for detection of oxidized and alkylated bases as well as (2) a modification for detecting cross-links. Seven genotoxicants with different mechanisms of action (potassium bromate, methyl methanesulfonate, ethyl methanesulfonate, hydrogen peroxide, cisplatin, mitomycin C, and benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide), as well as a non-genotoxic compound (dimethyl sulfoxide) and a cytotoxic compound (Triton X-100) were tested on TK-6 cells. We were able to detect with high sensitivity and clearly differentiate oxidizing, alkylating and cross-linking agents. These modifications of the comet assay significantly increase its sensitivity and its specificity towards DNA lesions, providing mechanistic information regarding the type of damage.


Author(s):  
Hongli Zhou ◽  
Minyu Zhou ◽  
Yue Hu ◽  
Yanin Limpanon ◽  
Yubin Ma ◽  
...  

AbstractAngiostrongylus cantonensis (AC) can cause severe eosinophilic meningitis or encephalitis in non-permissive hosts accompanied by apoptosis and necroptosis of brain cells. However, the explicit underlying molecular basis of apoptosis and necroptosis upon AC infection has not yet been elucidated. To determine the specific pathways of apoptosis and necroptosis upon AC infection, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis for gene expression microarray (accession number: GSE159486) of mouse brain infected by AC revealed that TNF-α likely played a central role in the apoptosis and necroptosis in the context of AC infection, which was further confirmed via an in vivo rescue assay after treating with TNF-α inhibitor. The signalling axes involved in apoptosis and necroptosis were investigated via immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. Immunofluorescence was used to identify the specific cells that underwent apoptosis or necroptosis. The results showed that TNF-α induced apoptosis of astrocytes through the RIP1/FADD/Caspase-8 axis and induced necroptosis of neurons by the RIP3/MLKL signalling pathway. In addition, in vitro assay revealed that TNF-α secretion by microglia increased upon LSA stimulation and caused necroptosis of neurons. The present study provided the first evidence that TNF-α was secreted by microglia stimulated by AC infection, which caused cell death via parallel pathways of astrocyte apoptosis (mediated by the RIP1/FADD/caspase-8 axis) and neuron necroptosis (driven by the RIP3/MLKL complex). Our research comprehensively elucidated the mechanism of cell death after AC infection and provided new insight into targeting TNF-α signalling as a therapeutic strategy for CNS injury.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-221
Author(s):  
Jiafeng Wan ◽  
Xiaoyuan Zhang ◽  
Kai Zhang ◽  
Zhiqiang Su

Abstract In recent years, nanomaterials have attracted lots of attention from researchers due to their unique properties. Nanometer fluorescent materials, such as organic dyes, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), metal nano-clusters (MNCs), carbon dots (CDs), etc., are widely used in biological imaging due to their high sensitivity, short response time, and excellent accuracy. Nanometer fluorescent probes can not only perform in vitro imaging of organisms but also achieve in vivo imaging. This provides medical staff with great convenience in cancer treatment. Combined with contemporary medical methods, faster and more effective treatment of cancer is achievable. This article explains the response mechanism of three-nanometer fluorescent probes: the principle of induced electron transfer (PET), the principle of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and the principle of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), showing the semiconductor QDs, precious MNCs, and CDs. The excellent performance of the three kinds of nano fluorescent materials in biological imaging is highlighted, and the application of these three kinds of nano fluorescent probes in targeted biological imaging is also introduced. Nanometer fluorescent materials will show their significance in the field of biomedicine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Daniela Costa ◽  
Rui M. Tavares ◽  
Paula Baptista ◽  
Teresa Lino-Neto

An increase in cork oak diseases caused by Biscogniauxia mediterranea and Diplodia corticola has been reported in the last decade. Due to the high socio-economic and ecologic importance of this plant species in the Mediterranean Basin, the search for preventive or treatment measures to control these diseases is an urgent need. Fungal endophytes were recovered from cork oak trees with different disease severity levels, using culture-dependent methods. The results showed a higher number of potential pathogens than beneficial fungi such as cork oak endophytes, even in healthy plants. The antagonist potential of a selection of eight cork oak fungal endophytes was tested against B. mediterranea and D. corticola by dual-plate assays. The tested endophytes were more efficient in inhibiting D. corticola than B. mediterranea growth, but Simplicillium aogashimaense, Fimetariella rabenhorstii, Chaetomium sp. and Alternaria alternata revealed a high potential to inhibit the growth of both. Simplicillium aogashimaense caused macroscopic and microscopic mycelial/hyphal deformations and presented promising results in controlling both phytopathogens’ growth in vitro. The evaluation of the antagonistic potential of non-volatile and volatile compounds also revealed that A. alternata compounds could be further explored for inhibiting both pathogens. These findings provide valuable knowledge that can be further explored in in vivo assays to find a suitable biocontrol agent for these cork oak diseases.


Blood ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 930-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
SJ Szilvassy ◽  
PM Lansdorp ◽  
RK Humphries ◽  
AC Eaves ◽  
CJ Eaves

Abstract A simple procedure is described for the quantitation and enrichment of murine hematopoietic cells with the capacity for long-term repopulation of lymphoid and myeloid tissues in lethally irradiated mice. To ensure detection of the most primitive marrow cells with this potential, we used a competitive assay in which female recipients were injected with male “test” cells and 1 to 2 x 10(5) “compromised” female marrow cells with normal short-term repopulating ability, but whose long-term repopulating ability had been reduced by serial transplantation. Primitive hematopoietic cells were purified by flow cytometry and sorting based on their forward and orthogonal light-scattering properties, and Thy-1 and H-2K antigen expression. Enrichment profiles for normal marrow, and marrow of mice injected with 5-fluorouracil (5- FU) four days previously, were established for each of these parameters using an in vitro assay for high proliferative potential, pluripotent colony-forming cells. When all four parameters were gated simultaneously, these clonogenic cells were enriched 100-fold. Both day 9 and day 12 CFU-S were copurified; however, the purity (23%) and enrichment (75-fold) of day 12 CFU-S in the sorted population was greater with 5-FU-treated cells. Five hundred of the sorted 5-FU marrow cells consistently repopulated recipient lymphoid and myeloid tissues (greater than 50% male, 1 to 3 months post-transplant) when co-injected with 1 to 2 x 10(5) compromised female marrow cells, and approximately 100 were sufficient to achieve the same result in 50% of recipients under the same conditions. This relatively simple purification and assay strategy should facilitate further analysis of the heterogeneity and regulation of stem cells that maintain hematopoiesis in vivo.


1970 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. TROELSEN

Forage of six pure species was harvested for hay at several maturity stages during four years. The digestible energy content of 102 different lots of hay was determined by feeding to four groups of sheep during the same period, and by in vitro digestions and energy analysis of the undigested residues. The relationship between digestible energy content assayed by the two methods was highly significant (r = 0.85) and did not differ between years and species. Exclusion from regression of the hays containing less than 2 or more than 3 digestible kcal/g revealed that the in vitro assay could reproduce the in vivo digestible energy value with a standard deviation of 0.31 in over 70% of the hays. This represented the maturity and quality range of forage commonly fed to cattle and sheep. The in vitro assay therefore appeared promising for commercial quality determinations.


Microbiology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 160 (10) ◽  
pp. 2157-2169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudarson Sundarrajan ◽  
Junjappa Raghupatil ◽  
Aradhana Vipra ◽  
Nagalakshmi Narasimhaswamy ◽  
Sanjeev Saravanan ◽  
...  

P128 is an anti-staphylococcal protein consisting of the Staphylococcus aureus phage-K-derived tail-associated muralytic enzyme (TAME) catalytic domain (Lys16) fused with the cell-wall-binding SH3b domain of lysostaphin. In order to understand the mechanism of action and emergence of resistance to P128, we isolated mutants of Staphylococcus spp., including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), resistant to P128. In addition to P128, the mutants also showed resistance to Lys16, the catalytic domain of P128. The mutants showed loss of fitness as shown by reduced rate of growth in vitro. One of the mutants tested was found to show reduced virulence in animal models of S. aureus septicaemia suggesting loss of fitness in vivo as well. Analysis of the antibiotic sensitivity pattern showed that the mutants derived from MRSA strains had become sensitive to meticillin and other β-lactams. Interestingly, the mutant cells were resistant to the lytic action of phage K, although the phage was able to adsorb to these cells. Sequencing of the femA gene of three P128-resistant mutants showed either a truncation or deletion in femA, suggesting that improper cross-bridge formation in S. aureus could be causing resistance to P128. Using glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion peptides as substrates it was found that both P128 and Lys16 were capable of cleaving a pentaglycine sequence, suggesting that P128 might be killing S. aureus by cleaving the pentaglycine cross-bridge of peptidoglycan. Moreover, peptides corresponding to the reported cross-bridge of Staphylococcus haemolyticus (GGSGG, AGSGG), which were not cleaved by lysostaphin, were cleaved efficiently by P128. This was also reflected in high sensitivity of S. haemolyticus to P128. This showed that in spite of sharing a common mechanism of action with lysostaphin, P128 has unique properties, which allow it to act on certain lysostaphin-resistant Staphylococcus strains.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 4028-4038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shen-Hsi Yang ◽  
Alex Galanis ◽  
Andrew D. Sharrocks

ABSTRACT Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase-mediated signalling to the nucleus is an important event in the conversion of extracellular signals into a cellular response. However, the existence of multiple MAP kinases which phosphorylate similar phosphoacceptor motifs poses a problem in maintaining substrate specificity and hence the correct biological response. Both the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) subfamilies of MAP kinases use a second specificity determinant and require docking to their transcription factor substrates to achieve maximal substrate activation. In this study, we demonstrate that among the different MAP kinases, the MADS-box transcription factors MEF2A and MEF2C are preferentially phosphorylated and activated by the p38 subfamily members p38α and p38β2. The efficiency of phosphorylation in vitro and transcriptional activation in vivo of MEF2A and MEF2C by these p38 subtypes requires the presence of a kinase docking domain (D-domain). Furthermore, the D-domain from MEF2A is sufficient to confer p38 responsiveness on different transcription factors, and reciprocal effects are observed upon the introduction of alternative D-domains into MEF2A. These results therefore contribute to our understanding of signalling to MEF2 transcription factors and demonstrate that the requirement for substrate binding by MAP kinases is an important facet of three different subclasses of MAP kinases (ERK, JNK, and p38).


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