0000000000408680

AUTHOR

Katja Schmitz

Mechanical characterization of rose bengal and green light crosslinked collagen scaffolds for regenerative medicine

Abstract Collagen is one of the most important biomaterials for tissue engineering approaches. Despite its excellent biocompatibility, it shows the non-negligible disadvantage of poor mechanical stability. Photochemical crosslinking with rose bengal and green light (RGX) is an appropriate method to improve this property. The development of collagen laminates is helpful for further adjustment of the mechanical properties as well as the controlled release of incorporated substances. In this study, we investigate the impact of crosslinking and layering of two different collagen scaffolds on the swelling behavior and mechanical behavior in micro tensile tests to obtain information on its wearin…

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Regulation of human inducible nitric oxide synthase expression by an upstream open reading frame.

Abstract The human inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene contains an upstream open reading frame (uORF) in its 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) implying a translational regulation of iNOS expression. Transfection experiments in human DLD-1 cells revealed that the uORF although translatable seems not to inhibit the translation start at the bona fide ATG. Our data clearly show that human iNOS translation is cap-dependent and that the 5′-UTR of the iNOS mRNA contains no internal ribosome entry site. Translation of the bona fide coding sequence is most likely mediated by a leaky scanning mechanism. The 5′-UTR is encoded by exon 1 and exon 2 of the iNOS gene with the uORF stop codon located…

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Toxic Effect of Vancomycin on Viability and Functionality of Different Cells Involved in Tissue Regeneration

To prevent infections local delivery of antibiotics is a useful tool. Especially in bone fractures, vancomycin impregnated bone cements are often used allowing high concentrations of antibiotics at the infection side without high serum concentrations. However, besides potential pathogens, cells involved in tissue regeneration may also be affected by the drug. We investigated the effect of vancomycin on the viability and functionality on osteoblasts, endothelial cells, fibroblasts and skeletal muscle cells. Our results show that the viability of all cells analyzed was reduced by vancomycin and that the observed effects were time and concentration dependent. The most pronounced toxic effect w…

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Progranulin protects against exaggerated axonal injury and astrogliosis following traumatic brain injury

In response to traumatic brain injury (TBI) microglia/macrophages and astrocytes release inflammatory mediators with dual effects on secondary brain damage progression. The neurotrophic and anti-inflammatory glycoprotein progranulin (PGRN) attenuates neuronal damage and microglia/macrophage activation in brain injury but mechanisms are still elusive. Here, we studied histopathology, neurology and gene expression of inflammatory markers in PGRN-deficient mice (Grn-/- ) 24 h and 5 days after experimental TBI. Grn-/- mice displayed increased perilesional axonal injury even though the overall brain tissue loss and neurological consequences were similar to wild-type mice. Brain inflammation was …

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Post-transcriptional regulation of the human inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression by the cytosolic poly(A)-binding protein (PABP).

Affinity purification using the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the human inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA identified the cytosolic poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) as a protein interacting with the human iNOS 3'-UTR. Downregulation of PABP expression by RNA interference resulted in a marked reduction of cytokine-induced iNOS mRNA expression without changes in the expression of mRNAs coding for the major subunit of the RNA polymerase II (Pol 2A) or β2-microglobuline (β2M). Along with the mRNA also iNOS protein expression was reduced by siPABP-treatment, whereas in the same cells protein expression of STAT-1α, NF-κB p65, or GAPDH was not altered. Reporter gene analyses showed no …

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