Dendrimer-N-acetyl-L-cysteine modulates monophagocytic response in adrenoleukodystrophy.

Objective: X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a neurodegenerative disorder due to mutations in the peroxisomal very long-chain fatty acyl-CoA transporter, ABCD1, with limited therapeutic options. ALD may manifest in a slowly progressive adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) phenotype, or switch to rapid inflammatory demyelinating cerebral disease (cALD), in which microglia have been shown to play a pathophysiological role. The aim of this study was to determine the role of patient phenotype in the immune response of ex vivo monophagocytic cells to stimulation, and to evaluate the efficacy of polyamidoamine dendrimer conjugated to the antioxidant precursor N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) in modulating this immune response.

Antioxidant Capacity and Superoxide Dismutase Activity in Adrenoleukodystrophy.

Importance: X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) may switch phenotype to the fatal cerebral form (ie, cerebral ALD [cALD]), the cause of which is unknown. Determining differences in antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels between phenotypes may allow for the generation of a clinical biomarker for predicting the onset of cALD, as well as initiating a more timely lifesaving therapy.

Objective: To identify variations in the levels of antioxidant capacity and SOD activity between ALD phenotypes in patients with cALD or adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), heterozygote female carriers, and healthy controls and, in addition, correlate antioxidant levels with clinical outcome scores to determine a possible predictive value.

Investigational methods for peroxisomal disorders.

Peroxisomes play an important role in cellular metabolism. Defects in peroxisome assembly or of a single peroxisomal pathway are associated with a wide variety of inherited disorders, including X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, Zellweger spectrum disorders, rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata, and Refsum disease. A group of peroxisome-specific biomarkers has been shown to be characteristic of specific defects.

Analysis of genetic interactions on a genome-wide scale in budding yeast: diploid-based synthetic lethality analysis by microarray.

Comprehensive collections of open reading frame (ORF) deletion mutant strains exist for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. With great prescience, these strains were designed with short molecular bar codes or TAGs that uniquely mark each deletion allele, flanked by shared priming sequences. These features have enabled researchers to handle yeast mutant collections as complex pools of approximately 6000 strains.

Postoperative femoral motor neuropathy: diagnosis and treatment without neurologic consultation or testing.

Objective: To review the diagnosis and treatment of postoperative femoral motor neuropathy without neurologic consultation or testing.

Study Design: A retrospective review of 6 consecutive patients with postoperative femoral motor neuropathy following gynecologic surgery. Diagnosis was made on clinical evaluation: history of falling during postoperative ambulation, quadriceps weakness, straight leg raise weakness, diminished knee jerk response, and no evidence of psoas hematoma or abscess.

Improved statistical analysis of budding yeast TAG microarrays revealed by defined spike-in pools.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae knockout collection TAG microarrays are an emergent platform for rapid, genome-wide functional characterization of yeast genes. TAG arrays report abundance of unique oligonucleotide 'TAG' sequences incorporated into each deletion mutation of the yeast knockout collection, allowing measurement of relative strain representation across experimental conditions for all knockout mutants simultaneously. One application of TAG arrays is to perform genome-wide synthetic lethality screens, known as synthetic lethality analyzed by microarray (SLAM).

Measurement of glutamate carboxypeptidase II (NAALADase) enzyme activity by the hydrolysis of [³H]-N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG).

The peptide N-Acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) is hydrolyzed by N-Acetylated-alpha-linked-acidic dipeptidase (NAALADase, glutamate carboxypeptidase II) into N-Acetylated aspartate (NAA) and glutamate. Hydrolysis can be measured as described in this unit by employing radiolabeled NAAG (NAA-[(3)H]glu) as the substrate. The occurrence of NAALADase activity in a wide range of tissues has implications for a variety of physiological purposes.