Search results for "Assay"
showing 10 items of 2241 documents
A battery of toxicity tests as indicators of decontamination in composting oily waste.
2000
Heterogeneous oily waste from an old dumping site was composted in three windrows constructed from different proportions of waste, sewage sludge, and bark. The objectives of this pilot study were to examine the usefulness of composting as a treatment method for this particular waste and to study decontamination in the composting process by using a battery of toxicity tests. Five samples from the windrow having intermediate oil concentrations were tested with toxicity tests based on microbes (Pseudomonas putida growth inhibition test, ToxiChromotest, MetPLATE, and three different modifications of a luminescent bacterial test), enzyme inhibition (reverse electron transport), plants (duckweed …
Tobacco plants detect a decrease of environmental genotoxicity in Toulouse (France).
2003
Tobacco plants, heterozygous for two independent loci involved in the chlorophyll parenchyma differentiation, allow the genotoxic effects of the atmosphere of the industrial estate South of Toulouse to be estimated. Somatic spots of green cellular colonies on yellow-green background, were counted to calculate the cellular rates of reversion. Two experiments were carried out in 1981, and in 1997. A general decrease of genotoxic effects was observed. These observations were interpreted as being due to a general decrease of the air pollution evaluated by the development of the concentrations of three toxic gases before and after the implementation of cleanup devices. The results obtained demon…
Gliadin, zonulin and gut permeabilità: effects on celiac and non-celiac intestinal mucosa and intestinal cell lines.
2006
Objective. Little is known about the interaction of gliadin with intestinal epithelial cells and the mechanism(s) through which gliadin crosses the intestinal epithelial barrier. We investigated whether gliadin has any immediate effect on zonulin release and signaling. Material and methods. Both ex vivo human small intestines and intestinal cell monolayers were exposed to gliadin, and zonulin release and changes in paracellular permeability were monitored in the presence and absence of zonulin antagonism. Zonulin binding, cytoskeletal rearrangement, and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) redistribution were evaluated by immunofluorescence microscopy. Tight junction occludin and ZO-1 gene expression …
Mammalian glial cells in culture synthesize acetylcholine.
1997
In the present study we demonstrate that acetylcholine is synthesized by cultured mammalian glial cells identified by cell-type specific markers. Primary cultures of rat brain astrocytes or microglia contained 2.0 and 1.6 pmol acetylcholine/10(6) cells on average respectively. Astrocyte cultures established from neonatal mouse brain contained even more acetylcholine (about 80 pmol acetylcholine/10(6) cells). Primary cultures of rat brain astrocytes showed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) enzyme activity of 3 nmol/mg protein/h; ChAT activity was blocked by 10 microM bromoacetylcholine. In conclusion, these data demonstrate the synthesis of the "neurotransmitter" acetylcholine in cultured gli…
p53-Mediated downregulation of H ferritin promoter transcriptional efficiency via NF-Y.
2008
The tumor suppressor protein p53 triggers many of the cellular responses to DNA damage by regulating the transcription of a series of downstream target genes. p53 acts on the promoter of the target genes by interacting with the trimeric transcription factor NF-Y. H ferritin promoter activity is tightly dependent on a multiprotein complex called Bbf; on this complex NF-Y plays a major role. The aim of this work was to study the modulation of H ferritin expression levels by p53. CAT reporter assays indicate that: (i) p53 overexpression strongly downregulates the transcriptional efficiency driven by an H ferritin promoter construct containing only the NF-Y recognition sequence and that the phe…
Satb2 Regulates Callosal Projection Neuron Identity in the Developing Cerebral Cortex
2008
SummarySatb2 is a DNA-binding protein that regulates chromatin organization and gene expression. In the developing brain, Satb2 is expressed in cortical neurons that extend axons across the corpus callosum. To assess the role of Satb2 in neurons, we analyzed mice in which the Satb2 locus was disrupted by insertion of a LacZ gene. In mutant mice, β-galactosidase-labeled axons are absent from the corpus callosum and instead descend along the corticospinal tract. Satb2 mutant neurons acquire expression of Ctip2, a transcription factor that is necessary and sufficient for the extension of subcortical projections by cortical neurons. Conversely, ectopic expression of Satb2 in neural stem cells m…
The nucleosome remodeling factor ISWI functionally interacts with an evolutionarily conserved network of cellular factors
2010
Abstract ISWI is an evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor playing central roles in DNA replication, RNA transcription, and chromosome organization. The variety of biological functions dependent on ISWI suggests that its activity could be highly regulated. Our group has previously isolated and characterized new cellular activities that positively regulate ISWI in Drosophila melanogaster. To identify factors that antagonize ISWI activity we developed a novel in vivo eye-based assay to screen for genetic suppressors of ISWI. Our screen revealed that ISWI interacts with an evolutionarily conserved network of cellular and nuclear factors that escaped previous genetic…
Identification of volatile synomones, induced by Nezara viridula feeding and oviposition on bean spp., that attract the egg parasitoid Trissolcus bas…
2004
Bean plants ( Vicia faba L. and Phaseolus vulgaris L.) damaged by feeding activity of Nezara viridula (L.) ( Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), and onto which an egg mass had been laid, produced volatiles that attracted the egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae). Extracts of volatiles of broad bean and French bean plants induced by adults of N. viridula as a result of their feeding activity, oviposition activity, and feeding and oviposition activity combined were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and tested in Y-tube olfactometer bioassays as attractants for T. basalis females. In extracts from undamaged leguminous plants, green-leaf volati…
Protein Quantitation: Lowry Protocol
2003
Protein quantitation according to the protocol of Lowry. Keywords: protein quantitation; lowry; folin–ciocalteu; calorimetric quantification
Molecularly imprinted polymer-based device for field collection of oral fluid samples for cocaine identification.
2020
In this paper, a low-cost, rapid, easy, and potentially portable tool for the identification of cocaine and its semi-quantitative determination in oral fluid has been proposed. A field collection device has been designed, based on a cotton pad with an indicator and a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) sorbent, to selective retain cocaine from oral fluid components. After sample collection, cocaine is transferred by using phosphate buffer to the MIP and then eluted with 2-propanol. The obtained extract is analysed by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), providing a cut-off value of 20 µg L-1 that identifies 100 % true-positive and 95 % true-negative samples. The MIP-IMS procedure has been valid…