Establishing Cerebral Organoids as Models of Human-Specific Brain Evolution.

Direct comparisons of human and non-human primate brains can reveal molecular pathways underlying remarkable specializations of the human brain. However, chimpanzee tissue is inaccessible during neocortical neurogenesis when differences in brain size first appear. To identify human-specific features of cortical development, we leveraged recent innovations that permit generating pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebral organoids from chimpanzee.

Mild hypothermia reduces the inflammatory response and hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Background/aims: Hypothermia is known to protect against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The mechanisms of protection are incompletely understood and a temperature threshold for protection has not been established.

Methods: In anesthetized Wistar rats, partial (70%) hepatic ischemia was applied for 45 min.

Liver-specific loss of beta-catenin blocks glutamine synthesis pathway activity and cytochrome p450 expression in mice.

There is accumulating evidence that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is involved in the regulation of liver development and physiology. The presence of genetic alterations resulting in constitutive beta-catenin stabilization in human and murine liver tumors also implicates this pathway in hepatocyte proliferation. In the present study, we generated hepatocyte-specific beta-catenin knockout mice to explore the role of beta-catenin in liver function.

Glutamine does not protect against hepatic warm ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

The administration of glutamine before experimental ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) has been shown to protect intestinal, pulmonary, and myocardial tissue by inducing heat shock proteins (HSP). However, it is not known whether glutamine is protective for all organs. We therefore tested whether pretreatment with glutamine reduces injury following hepatic I/R in rats.

Mild hypothermia provides significant protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury in livers of obese and lean rats.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of anesthesia induced mild systemic hypothermia on hepatic injury in lean and obese rats during warm ischemia.

Summary Background Data: Hepatic warm ischemia during surgery remains a significant problem, particularly in organs with presumed baseline dysfunction.

Methods: The left and median lobes of male lean and obese Zucker rats were exposed to 75 minutes of ischemia under either mild hypothermic or normothermic conditions.