Search results for "toxins"
showing 10 items of 799 documents
Triclosan-Evoked Neurotoxicity Involves NMDAR Subunits with the Specific Role of GluN2A in Caspase-3-Dependent Apoptosis
2018
Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial agent that is used extensively in personal care and in sanitising products. A number of studies have shown the presence of TCS in different human tissues such as blood, adipose tissue, the liver, brain as well as in breast milk and urine. N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are glutamate-gated ion channels that are widely expressed in the central nervous system and which play key roles in excitatory synaptic transmission. There is, however, no data on the involvement of NMDAR subunits in the apoptotic and neurotoxic effects of TCS. Our experiments are the first to show that TCS used at environmentally relevant concentrations evoked NMDA-dependent effe…
Ephestia kuehniella tolerance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Aa is associated with reduced oligomer formation
2016
The basis of the different susceptibility of Ephestia kuehniella to the Cry1Aa and Cry1Ac δ-endotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki BNS3 was studied. Both toxins bound specifically to the BBMV of E. kuehniella. The result of the ligand blot showed that Cry1Ac bound to three putative receptors of about 100, 65 and 80 kDa and Cry1Aa interacted only with a 100 kDa protein. Pronase digestion of the BBMV-bound toxins was used to analyze the toxin insertion. Both toxins inserted into the BBMV as monomers however, a 14 kDa peptide of α4-α5 which correspond to the oligomeric form of this peptide was detected in case of Cry1Ac only. Analysis of the in vitro oligomerisation of these toxins in…
MycoKey Round Table Discussions of Future Directions in Research on Chemical Detection Methods, Genetics and Biodiversity of Mycotoxins
2018
MycoKey, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, includes a series of “Roundtable Discussions” to gather information on trending research areas in the field of mycotoxicology. This paper includes summaries of the Roundtable Discussions on Chemical Detection and Monitoring of mycotoxins and on the role of genetics and biodiversity in mycotoxin production. Discussions were managed by using the nominal group discussion technique, which generates numerous ideas and provides a ranking for those identified as the most important. Four questions were posed for each research area, as well as two questions that were common to both discussions. Test kits, usually antibody based, were one major focus of the…
Evaluation of Alternaria mycotoxins in strawberries: quantification and storage condition
2016
Alternariol (AOH), alternariol methyl ether (AME) and tentoxin (TEN) are Alternaria mycotoxins produced by the most common post-harvest pathogens of fruits. The production of these metabolites depends on several environmental factors, mainly temperature, water activity, pH and the technological treatments that have been applied to the product. In this study, the occurrence of AOH, AME and TEN was evaluated in strawberries samples stored at different temperatures ranges (at 22 ± 2 or 6 ± 2°C) and different periods (up to 1 month) simulating the current practice of consumer's storage conditions. Sample extraction was performed using a liquid-liquid extraction method prior to LC-MS/MS analysis…
Dissecting the role of ADAM10 as a mediator of Staphylococcus aureus α-toxin action
2016
Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bacterial infections in humans, including life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia and sepsis. Its small membrane-pore-forming α-toxin is considered an important virulence factor. By destroying cell–cell contacts through cleavage of cadherins, the metalloproteinase ADAM10 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10) critically contributes to α-toxin-dependent pathology of experimental S. aureus infections in mice. Moreover, ADAM10 was proposed to be a receptor for α-toxin. However, it is unclear whether the catalytic activity or specific domains of ADAM10 are involved in mediating binding and/or subsequent cytotoxicity of α-toxin. Also, it is not k…
Antibiotic Resistance Profiling, Analysis of Virulence Aspects and Molecular Genotyping of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated in Sicily, Italy
2018
Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is the major cause of foodborne diseases worldwide. In this retrospective study, 84 S. aureus strains were characterized. The collection comprises 78 strains isolated during 1998 and 2014 from dairy products and tissue samples from livestock bred for dairy production in Sicily. One isolate was obtained from a pet (dog), one from an exotic animal (a circus elephant), and four human isolates were obtained during a severe food poisoning outbreak that occurred in Sicily in 2015. All the strains were characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), for antibiotic resistance and presence of toxin genes. PFGE results showed 10 different pulsotypes, with thre…
Formyl-peptide receptor 2 governs leukocyte influx in local Staphylococcus aureus infections
2017
Leukocytes express formyl-peptide receptors (FPRs), which sense microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) molecules, leading to leukocyte chemotaxis and activation. We recently demonstrated that phenol-soluble modulin (PSM) peptides from highly pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus are efficient ligands for the human FPR2. How PSM detection by FPR2 impacts on the course of S. aureus infections has remained unknown. We characterized the specificity of mouse FPR2 (mFpr2) using a receptor-transfected cell line, homeobox b8 (Hoxb8), and primary neutrophils isolated from wild-type (WT) or mFpr2−/− mice. The influx of leukocytes into the peritoneum of WT and mFpr2−/− mice was analyzed. We demonstrat…
Fasting regulates EGR1 and protects from glucose- and dexamethasone-dependent sensitization to chemotherapy
2017
Fasting reduces glucose levels and protects mice against chemotoxicity, yet drugs that promote hyperglycemia are widely used in cancer treatment. Here, we show that dexamethasone (Dexa) and rapamycin (Rapa), commonly administered to cancer patients, elevate glucose and sensitize cardiomyocytes and mice to the cancer drug doxorubicin (DXR). Such toxicity can be reversed by reducing circulating glucose levels by fasting or insulin. Furthermore, glucose injections alone reversed the fasting-dependent protection against DXR in mice, indicating that elevated glucose mediates, at least in part, the sensitizing effects of rapamycin and dexamethasone. In yeast, glucose activates protein kinase A (P…
Characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates by their insecticidal activity and their production of Cry and Vip3 proteins.
2018
WOS: 000449027600099 PubMed ID: 30383811 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) constitutes the active ingredient of many successful bioinsecticides used in agriculture. In the present study, the genetic diversity and toxicity of Bt isolates was investigated by characterization of native isolates originating from soil, fig leaves and fruits from a Turkish collection. Among a total of 80 Bt isolates, 18 of them were found carrying a vip3 gene (in 23% of total), which were further selected. Insecticidal activity of spore/crystal mixtures and their supernatants showed that some of the Bt isolates had significantly more toxicity against some lepidopteran species than the HD1 reference strain. Five isolate…
Closed-Locked and Apo-Resting State Structures of the Human α7 Nicotinic Receptor: A Computational Study
2018
International audience; Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, belonging to the Cys-loop super-family of ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs), are membrane proteins present in neurons and at neuromuscular junctions. They are responsible for signal transmission, and their function is regulated by neurotransmitters, agonists and antagonists drugs. A detailed knowledge of their conformational transition in response to ligand binding is critical to understand the basis of ligand-receptor interaction, in view of new pharmacological approaches to control receptor activity. However, the scarcity of experimentally derived structures of human channels makes this perspective extremely challenging. To contri…