Glucose and Oxygen Levels Modulate the Pore-Forming Effects of Cholesterol-Dependent Cytolysin Pneumolysin from .

A major pathogenic factor is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin pneumolysin, binding membrane cholesterol and producing permanent lytic or transient pores. During brain infections, vascular damage with variable ischemia occurs. The role of ischemia on pneumolysin's pore-forming capacity remains unknown.

Easy to build cost-effective acute brain slice incubation system for parallel analysis of multiple treatment conditions.

Background: Acute brain slices represent a powerful tool for analysis of brain function in physiology and pathology. Commercial systems and custom-build solutions with carbogen (95% O/5% CO) aeration, but they are expensive, have a high working volume requiring large amount of substances, and only limited options for treatment in parallel are possible.

New Method: We developed a novel cost-effective incubation system using materials available in every laboratory, allowing parallel incubation of several treatment conditions, thus also reducing the number of experimental animals.