scholarly journals Research of the developed gel intracorneal colored implants for keratopigmentation based on various materials. Experimental study

Author(s):  
S.B. Izmailova ◽  
◽  
S.A. Borzenok ◽  
O.Y. Komarova ◽  
D.S. Ostrovkiy ◽  
...  

Purpose. Evaluation of the impact of the developed intracorneal gel stained implants for keratopigmentation based on various materials on the donor human cornea during organotypic cultivation. Material and methods. Three experimental samples of intracorneal gel stained implants were investigated: sample 1 based on sodium hyaluronate with organic pigment, sample 2 based on collagen hydrolyzate with inorganic pigment, and sample 3 based on hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) with organic pigment. To determine the toxicity of the studied implants the apoptosis of keratocytes was determined in cryostat sections of the cornea. The method of immunohistochemistry was used to study apoptosis. Scanning electron microscopy was used to visualize the corneal structures in the presence of implants. Results. During the investigation we showed that a gel implant based on a collagen hydrolyzate and a pigment with an inorganic toner (28% in the composition) causes a weak expression of the initiator proteins of apoptosis Caspasa 8 and Cytochrome C, and there is no expression of the BAX and effector proteins Caspasa 3/7. It was revealed that samples No. 1 and No. 3 undergo partial dissolution and washout from the intrastromal tunnel, sample No. 2 based on collagen hydrolyzate has a dense structure and remains in the corneal tunnel throughout the entire cultivation period, for at least 7 days, which is showed using an electron-scanning microscopy. The proposed collagen hydrolyzate gel implant can be considered compact and non-toxic. Conclusion. As a result of organotypic cultivation for 7 days showed the best results intracorneal colored implant № 2 based hydrolyzate of collagen and inorganic toner. Intracorneal colored implant based on collagen hydrolyzate has a more compact and dense structure than the accompanying experimental samples. Key words: keratopigmentation, aniridia, intracorneal colored implant.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Gabriela Wiergowska ◽  
Dominika Ludowicz ◽  
Kamil Wdowiak ◽  
Andrzej Miklaszewski ◽  
Kornelia Lewandowska ◽  
...  

To improve physicochemical properties of vardenafil hydrochloride (VAR), its amorphous form and combinations with excipients—hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)—were prepared. The impact of the modification on physicochemical properties was estimated by comparing amorphous mixtures of VAR to their crystalline form. The amorphous form of VAR was obtained as a result of the freeze-drying process. Confirmation of the identity of the amorphous dispersion of VAR was obtained through the use of comprehensive analysis techniques—X-ray powder diffraction (PXRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), supported by FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The amorphous mixtures of VAR increased its apparent solubility compared to the crystalline form. Moreover, a nearly 1.3-fold increase of amorphous VAR permeability through membranes simulating gastrointestinal epithelium as a consequence of the changes of apparent solubility (Papp crystalline VAR = 6.83 × 10−6 cm/s vs. Papp amorphous VAR = 8.75 × 10−6 cm/s) was observed, especially for its combinations with β-CD in the ratio of 1:5—more than 1.5-fold increase (Papp amorphous VAR = 8.75 × 10−6 cm/s vs. Papp amorphous VAR:β-CD 1:5 = 13.43 × 10−6 cm/s). The stability of the amorphous VAR was confirmed for 7 months. The HPMC and β-CD are effective modifiers of its apparent solubility and permeation through membranes simulating gastrointestinal epithelium, suggesting a possibility of a stronger pharmacological effect.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C826-C826
Author(s):  
Abbas Maqbool ◽  
Richard Richard ◽  
Tolga Bozkurt ◽  
Yasin Dagdas ◽  
Khaoula Belhai ◽  
...  

Autophagy is a catabolic process involving degradation of dysfunctional cytoplasmic components to ensure cellular survival under starvation conditions. The process involves formation of double-membrane vesicles called autophagosomes and delivery of the inner constituents to lytic compartments. It can also target invading pathogens, such as intracellular bacteria, for destruction and is thus implicated in innate immune pathways [1]. In response, certain mammalian pathogens deliver effector proteins into host cells that inhibit autophagy and contribute to enabling parasitic infection [2]. Pyhtophthora infestans, the Irish potato famine pathogen, is a causative agent of late blight disease in potato and tomato crops. It delivers a plethora of modular effector proteins into plant cells to promote infection. Once inside the cell, RXLR-type effector proteins engage with host cell proteins, to manipulate host cell physiology for the benefit of the pathogen. As plants lack an adaptive immune system, this provides a robust mechanism for pathogens to circumvent host defense. PexRD54 is an intracellular RXLR-type effector protein produced by P. infestans. PexRD54 interacts with potato homologues of autophagy protein ATG8 in plant cells. We have been investigating the structural and biochemical basis of the PexRD54/ATG8 interaction in vitro. We have purified PexRD54 and ATG8 independently and in complex from E. coli. Using protein/protein interaction studies we have shown that PexRD54 binds ATG8 with sub-micromolar affinity. We have also determined the structure of PexRD54 in the presence of ATG8. This crystal structure provides key insights into how the previously reported WY-fold of oomycete RXLR-type effectors [3] can be organized in multiple repeats. The structural data also provides insights into the interaction between PexRD54 and ATG8, suggesting further experiments to understand the impact of this interaction on host cell physiology and how this benefits the pathogen.


Cornea ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 942-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gian Marco Tosi ◽  
Davide Marigliani ◽  
Tommaso Bacci ◽  
Angelo Balestrazzi ◽  
Gianluca Martone ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Baltrus ◽  
Qian Feng ◽  
Brian H Kvitko

Integrative Conjugative Elements (ICEs) are replicons that can insert and excise from chromosomal locations in a site specific manner, can conjugate across strains, and which often carry a variety of genes useful for bacterial growth and survival under specific conditions. Although ICEs have been identified and vetted within certain clades of the agricultural pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, the impact of ICE carriage and transfer across the entire P. syringae species complex remains underexplored. Here we identify and vet an ICE (PmaICE-DQ) from P. syringae pv. maculicola ES4326, a strain commonly used for laboratory virulence experiments, demonstrate that this element can excise and conjugate across strains, and contains loci encoding multiple type III effector proteins. Moreover, genome context suggests that another ICE (PmaICE-AOAB) is highly similar in comparison with and found immediately adjacent to PmaICE-DQ within the chromosome of strain ES4326, and also contains multiple type III effectors. Lastly, we present passage data from in planta experiments that suggests that genomic plasticity associated with ICEs may enable strains to more rapidly lose type III effectors that trigger R-gene mediated resistance in comparison to strains where nearly isogenic effectors are not present in ICEs. Taken together, our study sheds light on a set of ICE elements from P. syringae pv. maculicola ES4326 and highlights how genomic context may lead to different evolutionary dynamics for shared virulence genes between strains.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Chen ◽  
Yin ◽  
Ma ◽  
Tu ◽  
Shen

Azithromycin (AZI) eye drops containing sodium hyaluronate (SH) were developed to improve the bioavailability of AZI. Interaction between AZI and SH in the AZI-SH formulation was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses. Moreover, advantages of using SH as an excipient were investigated by comparing physiological properties and pharmacokinetic behaviors of SH-containing AZI eye drops with that of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)-containing formulation. In addition, safety of the developed AZI-SH eye drops was evaluated by in vitro 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-Thiazyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide assay (MTT assay) and neutral red uptake assay as well as in vivo eye irritation test and acute toxicity test. The results indicated that AZI formed a complex with SH under a slightly acidic condition. The area under the curve (AUC) of AZI in SH-containing formulation was 1.58-fold higher (P<0.01) than that in HPMC-containing formulation due to the interaction between the amine group of AZI and the carboxyl group of SH, despite of the higher viscosity of HPMC-containing formulation. Safety evaluation showed that AZI-SH eye drops caused no obvious eye irritation and acute toxicity. In conclusion, the developed SH-containing AZI formulation possessing advantages of longer retention time and higher drug availability was a promising drug formulation for topical ocular therapy.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishi Thakkar ◽  
Amit Raviraj Pillai ◽  
Jiaxiang Zhang ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Vineet Kulkarni ◽  
...  

This research demonstrates the use of fill density as an effective tool for controlling the drug release without changing the formulation composition. The merger of hot-melt extrusion (HME) with fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based 3-dimensional (3-D) printing processes over the last decade has directed pharmaceutical research towards the possibility of printing personalized medication. One key aspect of printing patient-specific dosage forms is controlling the release dynamics based on the patient’s needs. The purpose of this research was to understand the impact of fill density and interrelate it with the release of a poorly water-soluble, weakly acidic, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMC-AS) matrix, both mathematically and experimentally. Amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) of ibuprofen with three grades of AquaSolveTM HPMC-AS (HG, MG, and LG) were developed using an HME process and evaluated using solid-state characterization techniques. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), and polarized light microscopy (PLM) confirmed the amorphous state of the drug in both polymeric filaments and 3D printed tablets. The suitability of the manufactured filaments for FDM processes was investigated using texture analysis (TA) which showed robust mechanical properties of the developed filament compositions. Using FDM, tablets with different fill densities (20–80%) and identical dimensions were printed for each polymer. In vitro pH shift dissolution studies revealed that the fill density has a significant impact (F(11, 24) = 15,271.147, p < 0.0001) and a strong negative correlation (r > −0.99; p < 0.0001) with the release performance, where 20% infill demonstrated the fastest and most complete release, whereas 80% infill depicted a more controlled release. The results obtained from this research can be used to develop a robust formulation strategy to control the drug release from 3D printed dosage forms as a function of fill density.


2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Joseph ◽  
Adrienne E. Pohl ◽  
Theodore J. Ball ◽  
Troy G. Abram ◽  
David K. Johnson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Legionella pneumophila, the etiological agent of Legionnaires’ disease, employs an arsenal of hundreds of Dot/Icm-translocated effector proteins to facilitate replication within eukaryotic phagocytes. Several effectors, called metaeffectors, function to regulate the activity of other Dot/Icm-translocated effectors during infection. The metaeffector Lpg2505 is essential for L. pneumophila intracellular replication only when its cognate effector, SidI, is present. SidI is a cytotoxic effector that interacts with the host translation factor eEF1A and potently inhibits eukaryotic protein translation by an unknown mechanism. Here, we evaluated the impact of Lpg2505 on SidI-mediated phenotypes and investigated the mechanism of SidI function. We determined that Lpg2505 binds with nanomolar affinity to SidI and suppresses SidI-mediated inhibition of protein translation. SidI binding to eEF1A and Lpg2505 is not mutually exclusive, and the proteins bind distinct regions of SidI. We also discovered that SidI possesses GDP-dependent glycosyl hydrolase activity and that this activity is regulated by Lpg2505. We have therefore renamed Lpg2505 MesI (metaeffector of SidI). This work reveals novel enzymatic activity for SidI and provides insight into how intracellular replication of L. pneumophila is regulated by a metaeffector.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 4643-4653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Wang ◽  
Chengyu Liu ◽  
Yuejie Chen ◽  
Alan (Donghua) Zhu ◽  
Feng Qian

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo J. D. Dalio ◽  
John Herlihy ◽  
Tiago S. Oliveira ◽  
John M. McDowell ◽  
Marcos Machado

Plant–pathogen interactions are controlled by a multilayered immune system, which is activated by pathogen recognition in the host. Pathogens secrete effector molecules to interfere with the immune recognition or signaling network and reprogram cell structure or metabolism. Understanding the effector repertoires of diverse pathogens will contribute to unraveling the molecular mechanism of virulence and developing sustainable disease-control strategies for crops and natural ecosystems. Effector functionality has been investigated extensively in only a small number of pathogen species. However, many more pathogen genomes are becoming available, and much can be learned from a broader view of effector biology in diverse pathosystems. The purpose of this review is to summarize methodology for computational prediction of protein effectors, functional characterization of effector proteins and their targets, and the use of effectors as probes to screen for new sources of host resistance. Although these techniques were generally developed in model pathosystems, many of the approaches are directly applicable for exploration and exploitation of effector biology in pathosystems that are less well studied. We hope to facilitate such exploration, which will broaden understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the biological diversity of plant–pathogen interactions, and maximize the impact of new approaches that leverage effector biology for disease control.


2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (18) ◽  
pp. 8314-8327 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Deaton ◽  
J. V. Dzimianski ◽  
C. M. Daczkowski ◽  
G. K. Whitney ◽  
N. J. Mank ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe regulation of the interferon type I (IFN-I) response has been shown to rely on posttranslational modification by ubiquitin (Ub) and Ub-like interferon-stimulated gene product 15 (ISG15) to stabilize, or activate, a variety of IFN-I signaling and downstream effector proteins. Unlike Ub, which is almost perfectly conserved among eukaryotes, ISG15 is highly divergent, even among mammals. Since zoonotic viruses rely on viral proteins to recognize, or cleave, ISG15 conjugates in order to evade, or suppress, innate immunity, the impact of ISG15 biodiversity on deISGylating proteases of the ovarian tumor family (vOTU) from nairoviruses was evaluated. The enzymatic activities of vOTUs originating from the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Erve virus, and Nairobi sheep disease virus were tested against ISG15s from humans, mice, shrews, sheep, bats, and camels, which are mammalian species known to be infected by nairoviruses. This along with investigation of binding by isothermal titration calorimetry illustrated significant differences in the abilities of nairovirus deISGylases to accommodate certain species of ISG15. To investigate the molecular underpinnings of species preferences of these vOTUs, a structure was determined to 2.5 Å for a complex of Erve virus vOTU protease and a mouse ISG15 domain. This structure revealed the molecular basis of Erve virus vOTU's preference for ISG15 over Ub and the first structural insight into a nonhuman ISG15. This structure also revealed key interactions, or lack thereof, surrounding three amino acids that may drive a viral deISgylase to prefer an ISG15 from one species over that of another.IMPORTANCEViral ovarian tumor domain proteases (vOTUs) are one of the two principal classes of viral proteases observed to reverse posttranslational modification of host proteins by ubiquitin and interferon-stimulated gene product 15 (ISG15), subsequently facilitating downregulation of IFN-I signaling pathways. Unlike the case with ubiquitin, the amino acid sequences of ISG15s from various species are notably divergent. We illustrate that vOTUs have clear preferences for ISG15s from certain species. In addition, these observations are related to the molecular insights acquired via the first X-ray structure of the vOTU from the Erve nairovirus in complex with the first structurally resolved nonhuman ISG15. This information implicates certain amino acids that drive the preference of vOTUs for ISG15s from certain species.


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