Allele-specific PCR with fluorescently labeled probes: criteria for selecting primers for genotyping.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can serve as reliable markers in genetic engineering, selection, screening examinations, and other fields of science, medicine, and manufacturing. Whole-genome sequencing and genotyping by sequencing can detect SNPs with high specificity and identify novel variants. Nonetheless, in situations where the interest of researchers is individual specific loci, these methods become redundant, and their cost, the proportion of false positive and false negative results, and labor costs for sample preparation and analysis do not justify their use.

Advanced Research in Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Special Issue.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in people over 55 years of age [...

[Prognosis criteria of optical coherence tomography angiography for the long-term efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy of neovascular age-related macular degeneration].

Purpose: The study aimed to determine the most significant optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) parameters in terms of predicting anti-VEGF therapy effectiveness during long-term (3-year) follow-up of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

Material And Methods: The study included 122 patients (122 eyes) with mean age of 73.4±6.

RatDEGdb: a knowledge base of differentially expressed genes in the rat as a model object in biomedical research.

The animal models used in biomedical research cover virtually every human disease. RatDEGdb, a knowledge base of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the rat as a model object in biomedical research is a collection of published data on gene expression in rat strains simulating arterial hypertension, age-related diseases, psychopathological conditions and other human afflictions. The current release contains information on 25,101 DEGs representing 14,320 unique rat genes that change transcription levels in 21 tissues of 10 genetic rat strains used as models of 11 human diseases based on 45 original scientific papers.

Pharmacogenetic Association between Allelic Variants of the Autophagy-Related Genes and Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Treatment Response in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of late-onset blindness in elderly. The occurrence and development of AMD is a multifactorial complex process where autophagy plays an important role. The first-line drugs for neovascular AMD (nAMD) are inhibitors of VEGF, with up to 30% of patients having an incomplete response to treatment.

[Three-year follow-up study of clinical effectiveness of antiangiogenic therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration].

Purpose: The study analyzes long-term (three years) clinical effectiveness of anti-VEGF treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and attempts to identify the most clinically significant associations between the functional and structural parameters.

Material And Methods: The study included 122 patients (122 eyes) diagnosed with nAMD, mean age -73.4±6.

SkQ1 as a Tool for Controlling Accelerated Senescence Program: Experiments with OXYS Rats.

According to the concept suggested by V. P. Skulachev and co-authors, aging of living organisms can be considered as a special case of programmed death of an organism - phenoptosis, and mitochondrial antioxidant SkQ1 is capable of inhibiting both acute and chronic phenoptosis (aging).

Quantitative Metabolomic Analysis of Changes in the Rat Blood Serum during Autophagy Modulation: A Focus on Accelerated Senescence.

Autophagy is involved in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and the removal of damaged proteins and organelles and is necessary to maintain cell metabolism in conditions of energy and nutrient deficiency. A decrease in autophagic activity plays an important role in age-related diseases. However, the metabolic response to autophagy modulation remains poorly understood.

Association between Polymorphisms in CFH, ARMS2, CFI, and C3 Genes and Response to Anti-VEGF Treatment in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly. The gold standard of nAMD treatment is intravitreal injections of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors. Genetic factors may influence the response to anti-VEGF therapy and result in a high degree of response variability.

[New findings on pathogenetic mechanisms in the development of age-related macular degeneration].

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex multifactorial disease that occurs due to disfunction and degeneration of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choriocapillaris, as well as death of photoreceptors. The exact pathogenetic mechanism remains uncertain. The aging process is the main and the clearest risk factor of AMD.

[Leukocyte telomere length and response to antiangiogenic therapy in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.].

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is becoming the leading cause of vision loss in people over 60 years of age. The neovascular form of AMD (nVMD) is characterized by choroidal neovascularization (CNV), the main trigger of which is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the inhibition of which is the current standard of treatment. Significant variability of response to anti-VEGF therapy determines the relevance of the search for biological markers - prognostic criteria of treatment response.

Features of Retinal Neurogenesis as a Key Factor of Age-Related Neurodegeneration: Myth or Reality?

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex multifactorial neurodegenerative disease that constitutes the most common cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly in the developed countries. Incomplete knowledge about its pathogenesis prevents the search for effective methods of prevention and treatment of AMD, primarily of its "dry" type which is by far the most common (90% of all AMD cases). In the recent years, AMD has become "younger": late stages of the disease are now detected in relatively young people.

Autophagy as a Target for the Retinoprotective Effects of the Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidant SkQ1.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease, a main cause of vision loss in elderly people. The pathogenesis of dry AMD, the most common form of AMD (~ 80% cases), involves degenerative changes in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which are closely associated with the age-associated impairments in autophagy. Reversion of these degenerative changes is considered as a promising approach for the treatment of this incurable disease.

Alterations of STEP46 and STEP61 Expression in the Rat Retina with Age and AMD-Like Retinopathy Development.

Tyrosine phosphatase STEP (striatal-enriched tyrosine protein phosphatase) is a brain-specific protein phosphatase and is involved in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we examined the impact of STEP on the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)-like pathology in senescence-accelerated OXYS rats. Using OXYS and Wistar rats (control), we for the first time demonstrated age-dependent changes in mRNA expression, STEP46 and STEP61 protein levels, and their phosphatase activity in the retina.

Mechanisms of Neuronal Death in the Cerebral Cortex during Aging and Development of Alzheimer's Disease-Like Pathology in Rats.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest type of late-life dementia and damages the cerebral cortex, a vulnerable brain region implicated in memory, emotion, cognition, and decision-making behavior. AD is characterized by progressive neuronal loss, but the mechanisms of cell death at different stages of the disease remain unknown. Here, by means of OXYS rats as an appropriate model of the most common (sporadic) AD form, we studied the main pathways of cell death during development of AD-like pathology, including the preclinical stage.

Disruptions of Autophagy in the Rat Retina with Age During the Development of Age-Related-Macular-Degeneration-like Retinopathy.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the main causes of vision impairment in the elderly. Autophagy is the process of delivery of cytoplasmic components into lysosomes for cleavage; its age-related malfunction may contribute to AMD. Here we showed that the development of AMD-like retinopathy in OXYS rats is accompanied by retinal transcriptome changes affecting genes involved in autophagy.

Suppression of AMD-Like Pathology by Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidant SkQ1 Is Associated with a Decrease in the Accumulation of Amyloid β and in mTOR Activity.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of irreversible visual impairment and blindness in developed countries, and the molecular pathogenesis of AMD is poorly understood. Recent studies strongly indicate that amyloid β (Aβ) accumulation -found in the brain and a defining feature of Alzheimer's disease-also forms in the retina in both Alzheimer's disease and AMD. The reason why highly neurotoxic proteins of consistently aggregate in the aging retina, and to what extent they contribute to AMD, remains to be fully addressed.

Immunohistochemical localization of NGF, BDNF, and their receptors in a normal and AMD-like rat retina.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in developed countries, and the molecular pathogenesis of AMD is poorly understood. A large body of evidence has corroborated the key role of neurotrophins in development, proliferation, differentiation, and survival of retinal cells. Neurotrophin deprivation has been proposed to contribute to retinal-cell death associated with neurodegenerative diseases.

VEGF and PEDF levels in the rat retina: effects of aging and AMD-like retinopathy.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss among the elderly. By clinical signs, there are two forms of AMD: the atrophic or dry (~ 90% of all cases) and wet or neovascular AMD (~10% of cases). Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) intravitreal agents are the only successful treatment for wet AMD.

Changes in Retinal Glial Cells with Age and during Development of Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Age is the major risk factor in the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is a complex multifactor neurodegenerative disease of the retina and the main cause of irreversible vision loss in people over 60 years old. The major role in AMD pathogenesis belongs to structure-functional changes in the retinal pigment epithelium cells, while the onset and progression of AMD are commonly believed to be caused by the immune system dysfunctions. The role of retinal glial cells (Muller cells, astrocytes, and microglia) in AMD pathogenesis is studied much less.

p62 /SQSTM1 coding plasmid prevents age related macular degeneration in a rat model.

P62/SQSTM1, a multi-domain protein that regulates inflammation, apoptosis, and autophagy, has been linked to age-related pathologies. For example, previously we demonstrated that administration of p62/SQSTM1-encoding plasmid reduced chronic inflammation and alleviated osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome in animal models. Herein, we built upon these findings to investigate effect of the p62-encoding plasmid on an age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a progressive neurodegenerative ocular disease, using spontaneous retinopathy in senescence-accelerated OXYS rats as a model.

Involvement of the autophagic pathway in the progression of AMD-like retinopathy in senescence-accelerated OXYS rats.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease resulting in a loss of central vision in the elderly. It is currently assumed that impairment of autophagy may be one of the key mechanisms leading to AMD. Here we estimated the influence of age-related autophagy alterations in the retina on the development of AMD-like retinopathy in senescence-accelerated OXYS rats.

[Peculiarities of Allergy Diagnosis in Children].

Allergic disease is a serious problem in practical healthcare. Over the last 40 years there has been exponential growth in the prevalence. According to the world health organization information, allergic diseases are at the 2nd place in prevalence the children, behind the viral infections.

Contributions of age-related alterations of the retinal pigment epithelium and of glia to the AMD-like pathology in OXYS rats.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in developed countries, and the molecular pathogenesis of early events of AMD is poorly understood. It is known that age-related alterations of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and of glial reactivity are early hallmarks of AMD. Here we evaluated contributions of the age-related alterations of the RPE and of glia to the development of AMD-like retinopathy in OXYS rats.