Search results for "Protection"
showing 10 items of 1623 documents
Stable polyplexes based on arginine-containing oligopeptides for in vivo gene delivery.
2004
In this study, we investigated to what extent the stability and transduction capacity of polyplexed DNA can be improved by optimizing the condensing peptide sequence. We have synthesized a small library of cationic peptides, at which the lysine/arginine ratio and the cation charge were varied. All peptides were able to compact DNA, at which polyplexes of short lysine-rich sequences were considerably larger than those of elongated or arginine-rich peptides (GM102 and GM202). In addition, the arginine-rich peptides GM102 and GM202 rendered the polyplexes resistant to plasma incubation or DNase I-mediated digestion. While all peptides were found to improve the transfection efficiency in HepG2 …
Mildronate enhances learning/memory and changes hippocampal protein expression in trained rats.
2013
Previously we demonstrated that mildronate [3-(2,2,2-trimethylhydrazinium) propionate dihydrate], a representative of the aza-butyrobetaine class of compounds, protects mitochondrial metabolism under conditions such as ischemia. Mildronate also acted as a neuroprotective agent in an azidothymidine-induced mouse model of neurotoxicity, as well as in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. These observations suggest that mildronate may stimulate processes involved in cell survival and change expression of proteins involved in neurogenic processes. The present study investigated the influence of mildronate on learning and memory in the passive avoidance response (PAR) test and the active condition…
Solving Man-Induced Large-Scale Conservation Problems: The Spanish Imperial Eagle and Power Lines
2011
[Background] Man-induced mortality of birds caused by electrocution with poorly-designed pylons and power lines has been reported to be an important mortality factor that could become a major cause of population decline of one of the world rarest raptors, the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti). Consequently it has resulted in an increasing awareness of this problem amongst land managers and the public at large, as well as increased research into the distribution of electrocution events and likely mitigation measures.
Delayed post-ischemic administration of CDP-choline increases EAAT2 association to lipid rafts and affords neuroprotection in experimental stroke
2007
Glutamate transport is the only mechanism for maintaining extracellular glutamate concentrations below excitotoxic levels. Among glutamate transporters, EAAT2 is responsible for up to 90% of all glutamate transport and has been reported to be associated to lipid rafts. In this context, we have recently shown that CDP-choline induces EAAT2 translocation to the membrane. Since CDP-choline preserves membrane stability by recovering levels of sphingomyelin, a glycosphingolipid present in lipid rafts, we have decided to investigate whether CDP-choline increases association of EAAT2 transporter to lipid rafts. Flotillin-1 was used as a marker of lipid rafts due to its known association to these m…
Induction of Cerebral Ischemic Tolerance by Erythromycin Preconditioning Reprograms the Transcriptional Response to Ischemia and Suppresses Inflammat…
2007
Background A single dose of the macrolide antibiotic erythromycin can induce tolerance against cerebral ischemia in vivo (pharmacologic preconditioning). This study identified potential mechanisms of tolerance induction by assessing effects of erythromycin preconditioning on the cerebral transcriptional response to transient global cerebral ischemia. Methods Preconditioned and nonpreconditioned rats were exposed to 15 min of global cerebral ischemia, and changes in cerebral gene expression were identified by complementary DNA expression array and quantified by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results Ischemia caused a widespread up-regulation of transcription in n…
Negative regulation of diacylglycerol kinase θ mediates adenosine-dependent hepatocyte preconditioning
2010
In liver ischemic preconditioning (IP), stimulation of adenosine A2a receptors (A2aR) prevents ischemia/reperfusion injury by promoting diacylglycerol-mediated activation of protein kinase C (PKC). By concerting diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) act as terminator of diacylglycerol signalling. This study investigates the role of DGK in the development of hepatocyte IP. DGK activity and cell viability were evaluated in isolated rat hepatocytes preconditioned by 10 min hypoxia followed by 10 min re-oxygenation or by the treatment with the A2aR agonist, CGS21680, and subsequently exposed to prolonged hypoxia. We observed that after IP or A2aR activation, a decre…
Biomonitoring exposure assessment to contemporary pesticides in a school children population of Spain
2013
The exposure to pesticides amongst school-aged children (6-11 years old) was assessed in this study. One hundred twenty-five volunteer children were selected from two public schools located in an agricultural and in an urban area of Valencia Region, Spain. Twenty pesticide metabolites were analyzed in children's urine as biomarkers of exposure to organophosphate (OP) insecticides, synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, and herbicides. These data were combined with a survey to evaluate the main predictors of pesticide exposure in the children's population. A total of 15 metabolites were present in the urine samples with detection frequencies (DF) ranging from 5% to 86%. The most frequently detec…
Search for Stroke-Protecting Agents in Endothelin-1-Induced Ischemic Stroke Model in Rats
2012
Background and Objective. Ischemic stroke may initiate a reperfusion injury leading to brain damage cascades where inflammatory mechanisms play a major role. Therefore, the necessity for the novel stroke-protecting agents whose the mechanism of action is focused on their anti-inflammatory potency is still on the agenda for drug designers. Our previous studies demonstrated that cerebrocrast (a 1,4-dihydropyridine derivative) and mildronate (a representative of the aza-butyrobetaine class) possessed considerable anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties in different in vitro and in vivo model systems. The present study investigated their stroke-protecting ability in an endothelin-1 (ET…
Changes in the Effect of Heat on Mortality in the Last 20 Years in Nine European Cities. Results from the PHASE Project
2015
The European project PHASE aims to evaluate patterns of change in the temperature–mortality relationship and in the number of deaths attributable to heat in nine European cities in two periods, before and after summer 2003 (1996–2002 and 2004–2010). We performed age-specific Poisson regression models separately in the two periods, controlling for seasonality, air pollution and time trends. Distributed lag non-linear models were used to estimate the Relative Risks of daily mortality for increases in mean temperature from the 75th to 99th percentile of the summer distribution for each city. In the recent period, a reduction in the mortality risk associated to heat was observed only in Athens,…
FTY720 reduces post-ischemic brain lymphocyte influx but does not improve outcome in permanent murine cerebral ischemia.
2011
Background The contribution of neuroinflammation and specifically brain lymphocyte invasion is increasingly recognised as a substantial pathophysiological mechanism after stroke. FTY720 is a potent treatment for primary neuroinflammatory diseases by inhibiting lymphocyte circulation and brain immigration. Previous studies using transient focal ischemia models showed a protective effect of FTY720 but did only partially characterize the involved pathways. We tested the neuroprotective properties of FTY720 in permanent and transient cortical ischemia and analyzed the underlying neuroimmunological mechanisms. Methodology/Principal Findings FTY720 treatment resulted in substantial reduction of c…