Publications by authors named "Nusrat A"

Nerve injury causes neuropathic pain and multilevel nerve barrier disruption. Nerve barriers consist of perineurial, endothelial and myelin barriers. So far, it is unclear whether resealing nerve barriers fosters pain resolution and recovery.

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Susceptibility to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Crohn's disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC) is linked with loss of intestinal epithelial barrier integrity and mitochondria dysfunction. Steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein-related lipid transfer (START) domain-containing protein 7 (STARD7) is a phosphatidylcholine-specific (PC-specific) lipid transfer protein that transports PC from the ER to the mitochondria, facilitating mitochondria membrane stabilization and respiration function. The aim of this study was to define the contribution of STARD7 in the regulation of the intestinal epithelial mitochondrial function and susceptibility to colitis.

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Article Synopsis
  • Spatial transcriptomics (ST) technologies allow for in-depth gene expression analysis at a very fine scale, but traditional methods face challenges due to complex tissue structures and irregular cell shapes.
  • The new method, FICTURE, offers a segmentation-free approach that can analyze large-scale transcriptome data with submicron precision, making it compatible with different types of ST data.
  • FICTURE is significantly more efficient than existing methods and improves our understanding of intricate tissue architectures in challenging areas like vascular and fibrotic tissues, enhancing the exploration of high-resolution spatial transcriptomics.
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  • Interferon-gamma (IFNγ) has a dual role in intestinal inflammation, being known for its pro-inflammatory effects while also promoting repair by boosting TNFα receptor 2 expression in intestinal epithelial cells.
  • Research indicates that IFNγ signals through the transcription factor STAT1 to enhance TNFR2 expression after cell injury, both in lab settings and live models.
  • The study reveals that neutralizing IFNγ after intestinal injury hinders healing, suggesting that the timing and levels of IFNγ and TNFα are crucial for restoring tissue balance, challenging the idea that all pro-inflammatory agents only cause harm.
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Thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) is a matricellular protein associated with the regulation of cell migration through direct binding interactions with integrin proteins and by associating with other receptors known to regulate integrin function, including CD47 and CD36. We previously demonstrated that deletion of an epithelial TSP1 receptor, CD47, attenuates epithelial wound repair following intestinal mucosal injury. However, the mechanisms by which TSP1 contributes to intestinal mucosal repair remain poorly understood.

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The metal ion transporter SLC39A8 is associated with physiological traits and diseases, including blood manganese (Mn) levels and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The mechanisms by which SLC39A8 controls Mn homeostasis and epithelial integrity remain elusive. Here, we generate Slc39a8 intestinal epithelial cell-specific-knockout (Slc39a8-IEC KO) mice, which display markedly decreased Mn levels in blood and most organs.

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Aims: The mechanisms regulating the cellular behaviour and cardiomyocyte organization during ventricular wall morphogenesis are poorly understood. Cardiomyocytes are surrounded by extracellular matrix (ECM) and interact with ECM via integrins. This study aims to determine whether and how β1 integrins regulate cardiomyocyte behaviour and organization during ventricular wall morphogenesis in the mouse.

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Postoperative disease recurrence in Crohn's disease represents a relevant issue despite recent advancements in surgical and medical therapies. Additional criteria are necessary to improve the identification of patients at risk and to enable selective therapeutic approaches. The role of resection margins on disease recurrence remains unclear and general recommendations are lacking.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Tight junctions (TJs) are specialized connections between cells in epithelial and endothelial tissues, creating selective barriers that help maintain different fluid environments in the body.
  • - The development of TJs has been crucial in evolution, enabling the existence of multicompartmental organisms and effective barrier-forming tissues.
  • - This Perspective discusses the advances made in understanding TJs over the past sixty years, focusing on their structure, function, and regulation, while also addressing future research challenges.
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  • Food allergies are serious medical conditions driven by harmful immune responses to certain foods, with current treatments often being long and only temporarily effective.
  • Researchers are investigating the use of nanoparticles that encapsulate allergens to directly suppress the harmful immune cells (Th2 cells) responsible for allergic reactions.
  • In mouse studies, administering these nanoparticles showed promising results by significantly reducing severe allergic reactions and reprogramming the immune response to be less reactive to allergens.
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Subcutaneous leiomyosarcomas (LMS) are rare soft tissue sarcomas arising from small-to-medium-sized blood vessels. Involvement of the anterior abdominal wall is extremely rare. We present a case of a 72-year-old gentleman who presented with 3 months history of a progressively increasing mass in the supra-pubic region reaching the root of the penis without any regional lymphadenopathy.

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Background: Tissue repair and regeneration in the gastrointestinal system are crucial for maintaining homeostasis, with the process relying on intricate cellular interactions and affected by micro- and macro-nutrients. Iron, essential for various biological functions, plays a dual role in tissue healing by potentially causing oxidative damage and participating in anti-inflammatory mechanisms, underscoring its complex relationship with inflammation and tissue repair.

Objective: The study aimed to elucidate the role of low dietary iron in gastrointestinal tissue repair.

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Spatial transcriptomics (ST) technologies have advanced to enable transcriptome-wide gene expression analysis at submicron resolution over large areas. Analysis of high-resolution ST data relies heavily on image-based cell segmentation or gridding, which often fails in complex tissues due to diversity and irregularity of cell size and shape. Existing segmentation-free analysis methods scale only to small regions and a small number of genes, limiting their utility in high-throughput studies.

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Claudin family tight junction proteins form charge- and size-selective paracellular channels that regulate epithelial barrier function. In the gastrointestinal tract, barrier heterogeneity is attributed to differential claudin expression. Here, we show that claudin-23 (CLDN23) is enriched in luminal intestinal epithelial cells where it strengthens the epithelial barrier.

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Background & Aims: CXADR-like membrane protein (CLMP) is structurally related to coxsackie and adenovirus receptor. Pathogenic variants in CLMP gene have been associated with congenital short bowel syndrome, implying a role for CLMP in intestinal development. However, the contribution of CLMP to regulating gut development and homeostasis is unknown.

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Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) play a critical role in clearing invading microbes and promoting tissue repair following infection/injury. However, dysregulated PMN trafficking and associated tissue damage is pathognomonic of numerous inflammatory mucosal diseases. The final step in PMN influx into mucosal lined organs (including the lungs, kidneys, skin, and gut) involves transepithelial migration (TEpM).

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Clinical symptoms in many inflammatory diseases of the intestine are directly related to neutrophil (PMN) migration across colonic mucosa and into the intestinal lumen, yet in-vivo studies detailing this process are lacking. Using real-time intravital microscopy and a new distal colon loop model, we report distinct PMN migratory dynamics in response to several models of acute colonic injury. PMNs exhibited rapid swarming responses after mechanically induced intestinal wounds.

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Background: Incidences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are escalating worldwide and can be considered a global public health problem. Given that the gold standard approach to IBD therapeutics focuses on reducing the severity of symptoms, there is an urgent unmet need to develop alternative therapies that halt not only inflammatory processes but also promote mucosal repair. Previous studies have identified increased stem cell factor (SCF) expression in inflamed intestinal mucosal tissues.

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Resolution of inflammation and mucosal wound healing are crucial processes required to re-establish homeostasis following injury of mucosal tissues. Maresin-2 (MaR2), a lipid specialized pro-resolving mediator derived from omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, has been reported to promote resolution of inflammation. However, a potential role for MaR2 in regulating mucosal repair remains undefined.

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Maintenance of epithelial barrier function requires dynamic repair and remodeling of tight junctions. In this issue, Higashi et al. (2022.

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Acute and chronic intestinal inflammation is associated with epithelial damage, resulting in mucosal wounds in the forms of erosions and ulcers in the intestinal tract. Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and immune cells in the wound milieu secrete cytokines and lipid mediators to influence repair. Leukotriene B4 (LTB4), a lipid chemokine, binds to its receptor BLT1 and promotes migration of immune cells to sites of active inflammation; however, a role for intestinal epithelial BLT1 during mucosal wound repair is not known.

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This paper investigates the language of the last of the three American presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump before the 2016 general election. To explore and interpret the process-choices within verbal groups from the perspective of systemic functional grammar, it used a transitivity toolkit. This paper aims to identify the underlying stimuli and smart strategies from the frequency of transitivity choices.

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Junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A) is expressed in several cell types, including epithelial and endothelial cells, as well as some leukocytes. In intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), JAM-A localizes to cell junctions and plays a role in regulating barrier function. In vitro studies with model cell lines have shown that JAM-A contributes to IEC migration; however, in vivo studies investigating the role of JAM-A in cell migration-dependent processes such as mucosal wound repair have not been performed.

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Traditional syntactic approaches do not offer a plausible explanation regarding the use of the Arabic preposition " " with abstract nouns or states. This article adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate the semantic classification of the preposition " " in the Quran from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Conceptual metaphor theory (hereafter CMT) was employed to find out conceptual metaphors (hereafter CM) in the data retrieved from the Quran with the help of search Quran software.

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