scholarly journals Characterization of Fibrous Mordenite: A First Step for the Evaluation of Its Potential Toxicity

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Di Giuseppe

In nature, a huge number of unregulated minerals fibers share the same characteristics as asbestos and therefore have potential adverse health effects. However, in addition to asbestos minerals, only fluoro-edenite and erionite are currently classified as toxic/pathogenic agents by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Mordenite is one of the most abundant zeolites in nature and commonly occurs with a fibrous crystalline habit. The goal of this paper is to highlight how fibrous mordenite shares several common features with the well-known carcinogenic fibrous erionite. In particular, this study has shown that the morphology, biodurability, and surface characteristics of mordenite fibers are similar to those of erionite and asbestos. These properties make fibrous mordenite potentially toxic and exposure to its fibers can be associated with deadly diseases such as those associated with regulated mineral fibers. Since the presence of fibrous mordenite concerns widespread geological formations, this mineral fiber should be considered dangerous for health and the precautionary approach should be applied when this material is handled. Future in vitro and in vivo tests are necessary to provide further experimental confirmation of the outcome of this work.

Author(s):  
Gabriela Geronimo ◽  
Eneida de Paula ◽  
Gustavo Henrique Rodrigues da Silva ◽  
Lígia Nunes de Morais Ribeiro

Although bupivacaine (BVC) is one of the most widely used anesthetics worldwide, improving its therapeutic efficacy without increasing the clinical doses may open possibilities for new applications for this drug. In this study, we prepared innovative formulations: nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) functionalized with beeswax, lavender or melaleuca oil in order to increase the anesthetic efficiency of BVC. For this, after preparation and characterization of the NLC by dynamic light scattering and determination of the encapsulation efficiency (% EE), stability was monitored during 12 months. The NLC showed appropriate physical-chemical features, with high %EE and stability. The developed formulations proved to be good candidates to increase the therapeutic efficacy of BVC so that further in vitro and in vivo tests are under course to evaluate their advantages, in comparison to the commercial BVC formulation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Prakash ◽  
Travis Lantz ◽  
Krupal P. Jethava ◽  
Gaurav Chopra

Amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients primarily consists of amyloid beta 1-42 (Ab42). Commercially, Ab42 is synthetized using peptide synthesizers. We describe a robust methodology for expression of recombinant human Ab(M1-42) in Rosetta(DE3)pLysS and BL21(DE3)pLysS competent E. coli with refined and rapid analytical purification techniques. The peptide is isolated and purified from the transformed cells using an optimized set-up for reverse-phase HPLC protocol, using commonly available C18 columns, yielding high amounts of peptide (~15-20 mg per 1 L culture) in a short time. The recombinant Ab(M1-42) forms characteristic aggregates similar to synthetic Ab42 aggregates as verified by western blots and atomic force microscopy to warrant future biological use. Our rapid, refined, and robust technique to purify human Ab(M1-42) can be used to synthesize chemical probes for several downstream in vitro and in vivo assays to facilitate AD research.


Carbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 291-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Ettorre ◽  
Patrizia De Marco ◽  
Susi Zara ◽  
Vittoria Perrotti ◽  
Antonio Scarano ◽  
...  

Microbiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 152 (7) ◽  
pp. 2129-2135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taku Oshima ◽  
Francis Biville

Functional characterization of unknown genes is currently a major task in biology. The search for gene function involves a combination of various in silico, in vitro and in vivo approaches. Available knowledge from the study of more than 21 LysR-type regulators in Escherichia coli has facilitated the classification of new members of the family. From sequence similarities and its location on the E. coli chromosome, it is suggested that ygiP encodes a lysR regulator controlling the expression of a neighbouring operon; this operon encodes the two subunits of tartrate dehydratase (TtdA, TtdB) and YgiE, an integral inner-membrane protein possibly involved in tartrate uptake. Expression of tartrate dehydratase, which converts tartrate to oxaloacetate, is required for anaerobic growth on glycerol as carbon source in the presence of tartrate. Here, it has been demonstrated that disruption of ygiP, ttdA or ygjE abolishes tartrate-dependent anaerobic growth on glycerol. It has also been shown that tartrate-dependent induction of the ttdA-ttdB-ygjE operon requires a functional YgiP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1107
Author(s):  
Wonho Choi ◽  
Yoshihiro Yamaguchi ◽  
Ji-Young Park ◽  
Sang-Hyun Park ◽  
Hyeok-Won Lee ◽  
...  

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a pathogen of various plants which transfers its own DNA (T-DNA) to the host plants. It is used for producing genetically modified plants with this ability. To control T-DNA transfer to the right place, toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems of A. tumefaciens were used to control the target site of transfer without any unintentional targeting. Here, we describe a toxin-antitoxin system, Atu0939 (mazE-at) and Atu0940 (mazF-at), in the chromosome of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The toxin in the TA system has 33.3% identity and 45.5% similarity with MazF in Escherichia coli. The expression of MazF-at caused cell growth inhibition, while cells with MazF-at co-expressed with MazE-at grew normally. In vivo and in vitro assays revealed that MazF-at inhibited protein synthesis by decreasing the cellular mRNA stability. Moreover, the catalytic residue of MazF-at was determined to be the 24th glutamic acid using site-directed mutagenesis. From the results, we concluded that MazF-at is a type II toxin-antitoxin system and a ribosome-independent endoribonuclease. Here, we characterized a TA system in A. tumefaciens whose understanding might help to find its physiological function and to develop further applications.


mAbs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1954136
Author(s):  
Sujatha Kumar ◽  
Srimoyee Ghosh ◽  
Geeta Sharma ◽  
Zebin Wang ◽  
Marilyn R. Kehry ◽  
...  

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 473
Author(s):  
Dilyana Gospodonova ◽  
Iliana Ivanova ◽  
Todorka Vladkova

The aim of this study was to prepare TiO2/Ag/Cu magnetron co-sputtered coatings with controlled characteristics and to correlate them with the antimicrobial activity of the coated glass samples. The elemental composition and distribution, surface morphology, wettability, surface energy and its component were estimated as the surface characteristics influencing the bioadhesion. Well expressed, specific, Ag/Cu concentration-dependent antimicrobial activity in vitro was demonstrated toward Gram-negative and Gram-positive standard test bacterial strains both by diffusion 21 assay and by Most Probable Number of surviving cells. Direct contact and eluted silver/coper nanoparticles killing were experimentally demonstrated as a mode of the antimicrobial action of the studied TiO2/Ag/Cu thin composite coatings. It is expected that they would ensure a broad spectrum bactericidal activity during the indwelling of the coated medical devices and for at least 12 h after that, with the supposition that the benefits will be over a longer time.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4221
Author(s):  
Aage Kristian Olsen Alstrup ◽  
Svend Borup Jensen ◽  
Ole Lerberg Nielsen ◽  
Lars Jødal ◽  
Pia Afzelius

The development of new and better radioactive tracers capable of detecting and characterizing osteomyelitis is an ongoing process, mainly because available tracers lack selectivity towards osteomyelitis. An integrated part of developing new tracers is the performance of in vivo tests using appropriate animal models. The available animal models for osteomyelitis are also far from ideal. Therefore, developing improved animal osteomyelitis models is as important as developing new radioactive tracers. We recently published a review on radioactive tracers. In this review, we only present and discuss osteomyelitis models. Three ethical aspects (3R) are essential when exposing experimental animals to infections. Thus, we should perform experiments in vitro rather than in vivo (Replacement), use as few animals as possible (Reduction), and impose as little pain on the animal as possible (Refinement). The gain for humans should by far exceed the disadvantages for the individual experimental animal. To this end, the translational value of animal experiments is crucial. We therefore need a robust and well-characterized animal model to evaluate new osteomyelitis tracers to be sure that unpredicted variation in the animal model does not lead to a misinterpretation of the tracer behavior. In this review, we focus on how the development of radioactive tracers relies heavily on the selection of a reliable animal model, and we base the discussions on our own experience with a porcine model.


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