Mitochondria are double membrane-bound organelles with pleiotropic roles in the cell, including energy production through aerobic respiration, calcium signaling, metabolism, proliferation, immune signaling, and apoptosis. Dysfunction of mitochondria is associated with numerous physiological consequences and drives various diseases, and is one of twelve biological hallmarks of aging, linked to aging pathology. There are many distinct changes that occur to the mitochondria during aging including changes in mitochondrial morphology, which can be used as a robust and simple readout of mitochondrial quality and function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScale-up isolation of (+)-(5)-(8)-(14)-mycothiazole () from Vanuatu specimens of to semisynthesize (+)-(5)-(8)-8--acetyl-(14)-mycothiazole () revealed a new diastereomer, (-)-(5)-(8)-(14)-mycothiazole (). The structure of was determined using HRMS, NMR, and comparing optical rotation to (-)-(5)-(8)-(14)-mycothiazole () and . The maximum tolerated dose of in mice was 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConditioned taste aversion (CTA) is a robust associative learning; liquid deprivation during this conditioning allows researchers to obtain readable measures of associative learning. Recent research suggests that thirst could be a crucial motivator that modulates conditioning and memory extinction processes, highlighting the importance of the body's internal state during learning. Furthermore, the histaminergic system is one of the major modulatory systems controlling several behavioral and neurobiological functions, such as feeding, water intake, and nociception.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe capacity to deal with stress declines during the aging process, and preservation of cellular stress responses is critical to healthy aging. The unfolded protein response of the endoplasmic reticulum (UPR) is one such conserved mechanism, which is critical for the maintenance of several major functions of the ER during stress, including protein folding and lipid metabolism. Hyperactivation of the UPR by overexpression of the major transcription factor, , solely in neurons drives lifespan extension as neurons send a neurotransmitter-based signal to other tissue to activate UPR in a non-autonomous fashion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMechanical stress is a measure of internal resistance exhibited by a body or material when external forces, such as compression, tension, bending, etc. are applied. The study of mechanical stress on health and aging is a continuously growing field, as major changes to the extracellular matrix and cell-to-cell adhesions can result in dramatic changes to tissue stiffness during aging and diseased conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall molecule inhibitors of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) hold significant promise to provide valuable insights to the field of mitochondrial research and aging biology. In this study, we investigated two molecules: mycothiazole (MTZ) - from the marine sponge C. mycofijiensis and its more stable semisynthetic analog 8-O-acetylmycothiazole (8-OAc) as potent and selective chemical probes based on their high efficiency to inhibit ETC complex I function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe nervous system plays a critical role in maintaining whole-organism homeostasis; neurons experiencing mitochondrial stress can coordinate the induction of protective cellular pathways, such as the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR), between tissues. However, these studies largely ignored nonneuronal cells of the nervous system. Here, we found that UPR activation in four astrocyte-like glial cells in the nematode, , can promote protein homeostasis by alleviating protein aggregation in neurons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShigella species cause severe disease among travelers to, and children living in, endemic countries. Although significant efforts have been made to improve sanitation, increased antibiotic resistance and other factors suggest an effective vaccine is a critical need. Artificial Invaplex (Invaplex) is a subunit vaccine approach complexing Shigella LPS with invasion plasmid antigens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe nervous system plays a critical role in maintaining whole-organism homeostasis; neurons experiencing mitochondrial stress can coordinate the induction of protective cellular pathways, such as the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR), between tissues. However, these studies largely ignored non-neuronal cells of the nervous system. Here, we found that UPR activation in four, astrocyte-like glial cells in the nematode, , can promote protein homeostasis by alleviating protein aggregation in neurons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Infantile acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in developing countries. The most frequent etiological agents of viral gastroenteritis in children are adenovirus, astrovirus, rotavirus, and norovirus, the last two, leading causes. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the presence of these two viruses in children with AGE, from two cities located in the Southeast and the Northwest regions of México.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAge-related and chemotherapy-induced bone loss depends on cellular senescence and the cell secretory phenotype. However, the factors secreted in the senescent microenvironment that contribute to bone loss remain elusive. Here, we report a central role for the inflammatory alternative complement system in skeletal bone loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThirst is an essential motivational component that could modulate the strength of conditioning; pioneer studies show that the rats' sexual dimorphism observed in the rate of aversive memory extinction of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is affected by the state of fluid deprivation. On the other hand, previous evidence suggests that fluid intake volume and temporal context before and during conditioning may influence CTA. Furthermore, although CTA has been demonstrated using various types of stimuli, neural processing and homeostatic regulation of water and nutritional balance may differ depending on the stimulus used and the conditioning stages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe actin cytoskeleton is a three-dimensional scaffold of proteins that is a regulatory, energyconsuming network with dynamic properties to shape the structure and function of the cell. Proper actin function is required for many cellular pathways, including cell division, autophagy, chaperone function, endocytosis, and exocytosis. Deterioration of these processes manifests during aging and exposure to stress, which is in part due to the breakdown of the actin cytoskeleton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid technological improvements are democratizing access to high quality, chromosome-scale genome assemblies. No longer the domain of only the most highly studied model organisms, now non-traditional and emerging model species can be genome-enabled using a combination of sequencing technologies and assembly software. Consequently, old ideas built on sparse sampling across the tree of life have recently been amended in the face of genomic data drawn from a growing number of high-quality reference genomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To identify a panel of serum biomarkers that could specifically identify imminent cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before diagnosis.
Methods: Serum samples were collected at 4 time points from active component US military personnel, including 157 anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-seropositive and 50 ACPA-seronegative RA subjects, 100 reactive arthritis (ReA) subjects, and 76 healthy controls. The cohorts were split into 2 phases, with samples tested on independent proteomic platforms for each phase.
Sericin, a silk-derived non-immunogenic protein, has been used to improve cell culture performance by increasing viability, cell concentration, and promoting adherence of several cell lines. Here, we hypothesized that the properties of sericin can enhance the amplification of flaviviruses in cell cultures. The propagation of flavivirus is inefficient and limits scientific research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTributyltin (TBT) is an environmental contaminant due to its use in a variety of applications as a biocide, including in marine anti-fouling paints. It has been detected in a number of human tissues including blood. Previous studies have shown that exposure to TBT increases the cellular production (secretion plus intracellular levels) of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMBCs) and this increase requires MAPK activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe dengue virus NS1 is a multifunctional protein that forms part of replication complexes. NS1 is also secreted, as a hexamer, to the extracellular milieu. Circulating NS1 has been associated with dengue pathogenesis by several mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of the controlled human infection model to facilitate product development and to advance understanding of host-pathogen interactions is of increasing interest. While administering a virulent (or infective) organism to a susceptible host necessitates an ongoing evaluation of safety and ethical considerations, a central theme in conducting these studies in a safe and ethical manner that yields actionable data is their conduct in facilities well-suited to address their unique attributes. To that end, we have developed a framework for evaluating potential sites in which to conduct inpatient enteric controlled human infection model to ensure consistency and increase the likelihood of success.
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