Search results for " K"
showing 10 items of 22846 documents
A Comparison of Techniques to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Genome Editing
2018
Genome editing using engineered nucleases (meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases) has created many recent breakthroughs. Prescreening for efficiency and specificity is a critical step prior to using any newly designed genome editing tool for experimental purposes. The current standard screening methods of evaluation are based on DNA sequencing or use mismatch-sensitive endonucleases. They can be time-consuming and costly or lack reproducibility. Here, we review and critically compare standard techniques with those more recently developed in terms of reliability, time, cost, and ease of use.
Photobacterium malacitanum sp. nov., and Photobacterium andalusiense sp. nov., two new bacteria isolated from diseased farmed fish in Southern Spain.
2018
Three strains, H01100409BT, H01100413B, and H27100402HT, were isolated from several internal organs of diseased redbanded seabream (Pagrus auriga) reared in Andalusia (Southern Spain). All strains were studied by phenotypic, including chemotaxonomy, and genomic characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis based on concatenated sequences of six housekeeping genes (gyrB, ftsZ, topA, mreB, gapA, and 16S rRNA) supported the inclusion of the strains within the clade Phosphoreum of the genus Photobacterium, and two of the strains (H27100402HT and H01100409BT) formed a tight group separated from the closest species P. aquimaris. Genomic analyses, including average nucleotide identity (ANIb and ANIm) and…
Photobacterium toruni sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from diseased farmed fish.
2017
Three bacterial strains were isolated from liver and spleen of diseased farmed redbanded seabream (Pagrus auriga) in south-west Spain. Their partial 16S rRNA gene sequences clustered within those of the genus Photobacterium , showing high similarity (98.6–99.3 %) to the type strains of Photobacterium iliopiscarium , P. piscicola , P. kishitanii , P. aquimaris and P. phosphoreum . Multilocus sequence analysis using six housekeeping genes (gapA, topA, mreB, ftsZ, gyrB and 16S rRNA) confirmed the new strains as forming an independent branch with a bootstrap value of 100, likely to represent a novel species. To confirm this, we used whole genome sequencing and genomic analysis (ANIb, ANIm and i…
Bumetanide prevents brain trauma-induced depressive-like behavior
2019
AbstractBrain trauma triggers a cascade of deleterious events leading to enhanced incidence of drug resistant epilepsies, depression and cognitive dysfunctions. The underlying mechanisms leading to these alterations are poorly understood and treatment that attenuates those sequels not available. Using controlled-cortical impact (CCI) as experimental model of brain trauma in adult mouse we found a strong suppressive effect of the sodium-potassium-chloride importer (NKCC1) specific antagonist bumetanide on appearance of depression-like behavior. We demonstrate that this alteration in behavior is associated with a block of CCI-induced decrease in parvalbumin-positive interneurons and impairmen…
The activation of NMDA receptors alters the structural dynamics of the spines of hippocampal interneurons
2017
N-Methyl-d-Aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are present in both pyramidal neurons and interneurons of the hippocampus. These receptors play a key role in the structural plasticity of excitatory neurons, but to date little is known about their influence on the remodeling of interneurons. Among hippocampal interneurons, the somatostatin expressing cells in the CA1 stratum oriens are of special interest because of their functional importance and structural characteristics: they display dendritic spines, which change their density in response to different stimuli. In order to understand the role of NMDAR activation on the structural dynamics of the spines of somatostatin expressing interneurons in …
Alterations in Tau Protein Level and Phosphorylation State in the Brain of the Autistic-Like Rats Induced by Prenatal Exposure to Valproic Acid
2021
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by deficient social interaction and communication besides repetitive, stereotyped behaviours. A characteristic feature of ASD is altered dendritic spine density and morphology associated with synaptic plasticity disturbances. Since microtubules (MTs) regulate dendritic spine morphology and play an important role in spine development and plasticity the aim of the present study was to investigate the alterations in the content of neuronal α/β-tubulin and Tau protein level as well as phosphorylation state in the valproic acid (VPA)-induced rat model of autism. Our results indicated that maternal exposure to VPA indu…
Neuronal LRP4 regulates synapse formation in the developing CNS
2017
The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 4 (LRP4) is essential in muscle fibers for the establishment of the neuromuscular junction. Here, we show that LRP4 is also expressed by embryonic cortical and hippocampal neurons, and that downregulation of LRP4 in these neurons causes a reduction in density of synapses and number of primary dendrites. Accordingly, overexpression of LRP4 in cultured neurons had the opposite effect inducing more but shorter primary dendrites with an increased number of spines. Transsynaptic tracing mediated by rabies virus revealed a reduced number of neurons presynaptic to the cortical neurons in which LRP4 was knocked down. Moreover, neuron-specific kno…
Regulation of Dendritic Spine Morphology in Hippocampal Neurons by Copine-6.
2015
Dendritic spines compartmentalize information in the brain, and their morphological characteristics are thought to underly synaptic plasticity. Here we identify copine-6 as a novel modulator of dendritic spine morphology. We found that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - a molecule essential for long-term potentiation of synaptic strength - upregulated and recruited copine-6 to dendritic spines in hippocampal neurons. Overexpression of copine-6 increased mushroom spine number and decreased filopodia number, while copine-6 knockdown had the opposite effect and dramatically increased the number of filopodia, which lacked PSD95. Functionally, manipulation of post-synaptic copine-6 level…
beta-Adrenoceptor-mediated Relaxation of Urinary Bladder Muscle in beta 2-Adrenoceptor Knockout Mice
2016
Background and Objective. In order to characterize the β-adrenoceptor (AR) subtypes involved in agonist-stimulated relaxation of murine urinary bladder we studied the effects of (-)-isoprenaline and CL 316,243 on tonic contraction and spontaneous contractions in detrusor strips of wild-type (WT) and β2-AR knockout (β2-AR KO) mice. Materials and Methods. Urinary bladders were isolated from male WT and β2-AR KO mice. β-AR subtype expression was determined with quantitative real-time PCR. Intact muscle strips pre-contracted with KCl (40 mM) were exposed to cumulatively increasing concentrations of (-)-isoprenaline or β3-AR agonist CL 316,243 in the presence and absence of the subtype-selective…
SGLT-2 (Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2) Inhibition Reduces Ang II (Angiotensin II)-Induced Dissecting Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in ApoE (Apolipoprote…
2019
Objective: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a pathological condition of permanent vessel dilatation that predisposes to the potentially fatal consequence of aortic rupture. SGLT-2 (sodium-glucose cotransporter 2) inhibitors have emerged as powerful pharmacological tools for type 2 diabetes mellitus treatment. Beyond their glucose-lowering effects, recent studies have shown that SGLT-2 inhibitors reduce cardiovascular events and have beneficial effects on several vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis; however, the potential effects of SGLT-2 inhibition on AAA remain unknown. This study evaluates the effect of oral chronic treatment with empagliflozin—an SGLT-2 inhibitor—on dissecting …