Alterations in murine macrophage reactivity and bactericidal efficacy following exposure to an environmentally relevant mixture of organochlorine pesticide compounds.

While there are a number of factors which may promote chronic inflammation, a major factor is pro-inflammatory activation of resident and infiltrating macrophages. Recently, exposures to persistent organic pollutants including organochlorine (OC) pesticides have been implicated in dysregulation of macrophage function. However, the majority of these studies examined single compound effects and not mixture-based effects.

Mgl2 cDC2s coordinate fungal allergic airway type 2, but not type 17, inflammation in mice.

Fungal spores are abundant in the environment and a major cause of asthma. Originally characterised as a type 2 inflammatory disease, allergic airway inflammation that underpins asthma can also involve type 17 inflammation, which can exacerbate disease causing failure of treatments tailored to inhibit type 2 factors. However, the mechanisms that determine the host response to fungi, which can trigger both type 2 and type 17 inflammation in allergic airway disease, remain unclear.

Genetic context modulates aging and degeneration in the murine retina.

Background: Age is the principal risk factor for neurodegeneration in both the retina and brain. The retina and brain share many biological properties; thus, insights into retinal aging and degeneration may shed light onto similar processes in the brain. Genetic makeup strongly influences susceptibility to age-related retinal disease.

Folic Acid and Methyltetrahydrofolate Supplementation in the Mouse Model with Hepatic Steatosis.

Background/objectives: The gene variant results in a thermolabile MTHFR enzyme associated with elevated plasma homocysteine in TT individuals. Health risks associated with the TT genotype may be modified by dietary and supplemental folate intake. Supplementation with methyltetrahydrofolate (methylTHF) may be preferable to folic acid because it is the MTHFR product, and does not require reduction by DHFR to enter one-carbon folate metabolism.

CD24 Positive Nucleus Pulposus Cells in Adult Human Intervertebral Discs Maintain a More Notochordal Phenotype Than GD2 Positive Cells.

Background: Notochordal cells (NCs) present in the nucleus pulposus (NP) of the developing human intervertebral disc (IVD) disappear during the first decade of life. This loss coincides with the onset of IVD degeneration, therefore these cells are hypothesized to be important in NP homeostasis. Putative NC-derived (CD24) and progenitor (TIE2/GD2) cell sub-populations have previously been identified in the adult human NP, but their characteristics have yet to be compared.