Neochloris oleoabundans cell wall rupture through melittin peptide: a new approach to increase lipid recovery.

Objectives: Microalgae cell wall affects the recovery of lipids, representing one of the main difficulties in the development of biofuel production. This work aimed to test a new method based on melittin peptide to induce a cellular disruption in N. oleoabundans.

A new RP-HPLC method as an auxiliary tool for optimization of sample preparation procedures for tracing of PPCPs of different hydrophilicities.

Recently, pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have received considerable attention because of their increasing use. Analysis of PPCPs presents a significant analytical challenge, with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in reversed-phase mode, as the most widely used analytical technique. To facilitate the optimization of the procedures that are applied in the early stages of sample preparation, a simple and fast HPLC method is proposed in this work for the separation of some PPCPs with a wide range of hydrophilicity.

In Vitro Effect of Methanolic Extract of Argemone mexicana against Trichomonas vaginalis.

Infections caused by Trichomonas vaginalis in humans are one of the main public health problems caused by sexually transmitted diseases. Objective of this study was to evaluate potential biological activity of the medicinal plant Argemone mexicana (Mexican poppy) on T. vaginalis.

Avenanthramide-C prevents amyloid formation of bovine serum albumin.

The misfolding of protein and its assembly into amyloid fibrils with a characteristic β-sheet-rich secondary structure, cause a lot of illnesses. Polyphenols have been extensively studied as a class of amyloid inhibitors, whose effect depends on the position and number of hydroxyl groups around the flavone backbone. In this study, we used bovine serum albumin (BSA) as an amyloid model to test the anti-amyloid effects of Avenanthramide-C (Avn-C), a molecule with a long aliphatic linker between two aromatic rings.

Arachidonyl-2'-chloroethylamide (ACEA), a synthetic agonist of cannabinoid receptor, increases CBR gene expression and reduces dyskinesias in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

l-Dopa is the most effective drug used for Parkinson's disease (PD), but after long-term treatment, the vast majority of PD patients develop abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) termed l-Dopa-induced dyskinesia (LID). Cannabinoid receptors in the basal ganglia can modulate motor functions, but their role in the treatment of LID is controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the motor behavior and mRNA expression of the cannabinoid receptor-1 (CBR), encoded by the Cnr1 gene, in the striatum and globus pallidus of a 6-hydroxydopamine rat model of PD.

Differential interaction of α-synuclein N-terminal segment with mitochondrial model membranes.

Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is an intrinsically-disordered protein that has been associated with Parkinson's disease through its deposition in an amyloid fibril form within Lewy Body. Several lines of evidence suggest that the physical association of α-syn with the mitochondrial membranes may cause membrane damage and mitochondrial dysfunction, playing an important role in disease progression. Although there is strong evidence that the N-terminus part of α-syn is essential for membrane affinity, cooperative formation of helical domains and regulation of mitochondria membrane permeability, the amino acids involve in this membrane binding is still controversial.

Biodegradable nanoparticles loaded with tetrameric melittin: preparation and membrane disruption evaluation.

Melittin is the main component of bee venom consisting of 26 amino acids that has multiple effects, including antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory in various cell types. This peptide forms pores in biological membranes and triggers cell death. Therefore it has potential as an anti-cancer therapy.

[Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP): clinical application for reconstruction of bone defects].

Since the introduction of bone morphogenetic proteins, their use has become an invaluable ally for the treatment of bone defects. These proteins are potent growth factors, related to angiogenic and osteogenic activity. The osteoinductive capacity of recombinant bone morphogenetic protein (rhBMP) in the formation of bone and cartilage has been confirmed in in vitro studies and evaluated in clinical trials.

The Interaction of Alpha-synuclein with Membranes and its Implication in Parkinson's Disease: A Literature Review.

Alpha-synuclein belongs to the class of intrinsically disordered proteins lacking a well-folded structure under physiological conditions. The conversion of alpha-synuclein from a soluble monomer to an insoluble fibril may underlie the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the exact mechanism of alpha-synuclein toxicity is still unknown, it has been proposed that alpha-synuclein disturbs membrane structure, leading to increased membrane permeability and eventual cell death.

Acemannan, an extracted polysaccharide from Aloe vera: A literature review.

In this review, the composition, actions, and clinical applications of acemannan in medicine and its effectiveness as an adjunct in the treatment of diseases are presented. An electronic literature search was performed up to January 2014 for studies and research presenting data to validate the efficacy of acemannan. A total of 50 titles, abstracts and full-text studies were selected and reviewed.

Interfacial behavior of recombinant forms of human pulmonary surfactant protein SP-C.

The behavior at air-liquid interfaces of two recombinant versions of human surfactant protein SP-C has been characterized in comparison with that of native palmitoylated SP-C purified from porcine lungs. Both native and recombinant proteins promoted interfacial adsorption of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers to a limited extent, but catalyzed very rapid formation of films from different lipid mixtures containing both zwitterionic and anionic phospholipids. Once at the interface, the recombinant variants exhibited compression-driven structural transitions, consistent with changes in the orientation of the deacylated N-terminal segment, which were not observed in the native protein.

Synthetic peptides representing the N-terminal segment of surfactant protein C modulate LPS-stimulated TNF-alpha production by macrophages.

Surfactant protein C (SP-C) consists of a hydrophobic alpha-helix inserted in pulmonary surfactant membranes, and a more polar N-terminal palmitoylated segment exposed to the aqueous phase. Previously, we showed that SP-C inserted in lipid vesicles interacts with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and reduces LPS-elicited responses. As the N-terminal segment of SP-C was the most likely region responsible for these effects, a set of synthetic analogs of this stretch (SPC((1-13)) ) were studied.

Effects of palmitoylation on dynamics and phospholipid-bilayer-perturbing properties of the N-terminal segment of pulmonary surfactant protein SP-C as shown by 2H-NMR.

It has been proposed that palmitoylation of the N-terminal segment of surfactant protein SP-C is important for maintaining association of pulmonary surfactant complexes with interfacial films compressed to high pressures at the end of expiration. In this study, we examined surfactant membrane models containing palmitoylated and nonpalmitoylated synthetic peptides, based on the N-terminal SP-C sequence, in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC)/egg phosphatidylglycerol (7:3, w/w) by (2)H-NMR. Perturbations of lipid properties by the peptide versions were compared in samples containing chain- and headgroup-deuterated lipid (DPPC-d(62) and DPPC-d(4) respectively).