Publications by authors named "M Valentovic"
Aims: Disulfiram (Antabuse®) is an oral alcohol sobriety medication that exhibits antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive facultative anaerobes. The aims of this study were to measure the antimicrobial activity against anaerobic bacteria of the gut human microbiome and establish the extent that disulfiram alters the microbial composition of the ileum, cecum, and feces using C57BL/6 mice.
Methods And Results: Antimicrobial susceptibility testing by the microdilution method revealed that disulfiram inhibits the in vitro growth of gut anaerobic species of Bacteroides, Clostridium, Peptostreptococcus, and Porphyromonas.
Article Synopsis
- Capsaicin, the active component in chili peppers, has strong pain-relieving properties and shows promise in slowing down the growth of certain cancers, particularly in gynecological types like cervical and ovarian cancers.
- The challenges in using capsaicin as an anti-cancer drug include its low absorption in the body and side effects such as stomach irritation and nausea.
- Research efforts are focused on improving capsaicin delivery through sustained release systems and creating non-pungent versions, potentially leading to new treatments for gynecological cancers.
Article Synopsis
- Cell invasion is crucial in processes like angiogenesis, embryonic development, immune responses, and cancer metastasis, with the Boyden chamber assay being a common method to study these invasions.
- Traditional Boyden chamber assays face challenges, such as the labor-intensive process of counting stained cells, which our improved protocol addresses by using an ELISA reader to measure absorbance of lysed cells.
- The enhanced protocol allows for high-throughput evaluation of drug efficacy on cell invasion and is beneficial for researchers in various fields, including immunology, cancer biology, and drug discovery.
Understanding the role of iron in ethanol-derived hepatic stress could help elucidate the efficacy of dietary or clinical interventions designed to minimize liver damage from chronic alcohol consumption. We hypothesized that normal levels of iron are involved in ethanol-derived liver damage and reduced dietary iron intake would lower the damage caused by ethanol. We used a pair-fed mouse model utilizing basal Lieber-DeCarli liquid diets for 22 weeks to test this hypothesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlavored e-cigarettes are a popular alternative to cigarette smoking; unfortunately, the extrapulmonary effects are not well-characterized. Human proximal tubule cells were cultured for 24 or 48 h with 0-1000 µM ethyl vanillin (ETH VAN) and cytotoxicity evaluated. Mitochondrial health was significantly diminished following 48 h of exposure, accompanied by significantly decreased spare capacity, coupling efficiency, and ATP synthase expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF