Minding the gut: extending embodied cognition and perception to the gut complex.

Scientific and philosophical accounts of cognition and perception have traditionally focused on the brain and external sense organs. The extended view of embodied cognition suggests including other parts of the body in these processes. However, one organ has often been overlooked: the gut.

Protective Microbiota: From Localized to Long-Reaching Co-Immunity.

Resident microbiota do not just shape host immunity, they can also contribute to host protection against pathogens and infectious diseases. Previous reviews of the protective roles of the microbiota have focused exclusively on colonization resistance localized within a microenvironment. This review shows that the protection against pathogens also involves the mitigation of pathogenic impact without eliminating the pathogens (i.

Immune-Mediated Repair: A Matter of Plasticity.

Though the immune system is generally defined as a system of defense, it is increasingly recognized that the immune system also plays a crucial role in tissue repair and its potential dysregulations. In this review, we explore how distinct immune cell types are involved in tissue repair and how they interact in a process that is tightly regulated both spatially and temporally. We insist on the concept of immune cell plasticity which, in recent years, has proved fundamental for the success/understanding of the repair process.

Minimizing superficial thermal injury using bilateral cryogen spray cooling during laser reshaping of composite cartilage grafts.

Composite cartilage grafts were excised from New Zealand rabbit ears. Flat composite grafts (of cartilage and overlying skin graft on both surfaces) were obtained from each ear and cut into a rectangle measuring 50 mm by 25 mm (x by y) with an average thickness of approximately 1.3 mm (z), skin included.

Using the zebrafish lateral line to screen for ototoxicity.

The zebrafish is a valuable model for studying hair cell development, structure, genetics, and behavior. Zebrafish and other aquatic vertebrates have hair cells on their body surface organized into a sensory system called the lateral line. These hair cells are highly accessible and easily visualized using fluorescent dyes.

Photodynamic therapy on keloid fibroblasts in tissue-engineered keratinocyte-fibroblast co-culture.

Background And Objectives: Keloids are disfiguring, proliferative scars that are a pathologic response to cutaneous injury. An organotypic tissue culture system (the Raft model 1-10) was used to investigate the feasibility of using photodynamic therapy (PDT) as an adjunctive therapy to treat keloids following surgical excision. The Raft co-culture system mimics skin by layering keratinocytes on top of fibroblasts embedded in a collagen matrix.