Cellular Uptake Mechanism of Cationic Branched Polypeptides with Poly[l-Lys] Backbone.

Cationic macromolecular carriers can be effective carriers for small molecular compounds, drugs, epitopes, or nucleic acids. Polylysine-based polymeric branched polypeptides have been systematically studied on the level of cells and organisms as well. In the present study, we report our findings on the cellular uptake characteristics of nine structurally related polylysine-based polypeptides with cationic side chains composed of (i) single amino acid (poly[Lys(X)], XK) or (ii) oligo[dl-alanine] (poly[Lys(dl-Ala)], AK) or (iii) oligo[dl-alanine] with an additional amino acid (X) at the terminal position (poly[Lys(X-dl-Ala)] (XAK)) or (iv) at the position next to the polylysine backbone (poly[Lys(dl-Ala-X)] (AXK)).

Dry Eye Symptoms, Patient-Reported Visual Functioning, and Health Anxiety Influencing Patient Satisfaction After Cataract Surgery.

Purpose: To evaluate how patient satisfaction after cataract surgery is associated with postoperative visual acuity, visual functioning, dry eye signs and symptoms, health anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-four patients (mean age: 68.02 years) were assessed 2 months after uneventful phacoemulsification; 27 were unsatisfied with their postoperative results and 27 were satisfied.

Pitfalls in the synthesis of fluorescent methotrexate oligopeptide conjugates.

Methotrexate (MTX) conjugates with poly[Lys(DL-Ala)] based polymeric polypeptides are efficient against Leishmania donovani parasite infection, but the mechanism of the effect is not known yet. We prepared therefore the 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (Cf) labeled oligopeptide [Cf-K(AaAa)] (a: D-alanine, A: L-alanine) and the corresponding MTX conjugates [Cf-K(MTX-AaAa)] as model compounds for structure-activity experiments. The conjugate aimed to be synthesized with solid phase methodology on MBHA resin with Boc strategy, using Fmoc-Lys(Boc)-OH.

The Role of Health Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Dry Eye Disease.

Purpose: To investigate the associations between health anxiety, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the severity of the subjective and objective symptoms of dry eye disease (DED).

Methods: Participants completed the following psychological questionnaires: Shortened Health Anxiety Inventory, Shortened Beck Depression Inventory, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Dry eye symptoms were evaluated using the ocular surface disease index (OSDI).

Targeted in vivo delivery of siRNA and an endosome-releasing agent to hepatocytes.

The discoveries of RNA interference (RNAi) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have provided the opportunity to treat diseases in a fundamentally new way: by co-opting a natural process to inhibit gene expression at the mRNA level. Given that siRNAs must interact with the cells' natural RNAi machinery in order to exert their silencing effect, one of the most fundamental requirements for their use is efficient delivery to the desired cell type and, specifically, into the cytoplasm of those cells. Numerous research efforts involving the testing of a large number of delivery approaches using various carrier molecules and inventing several distinct formulation technologies during the past decade illustrate the difficulty and complexity of this task.