Manganese dioxide nanosheet-containing reactors as antioxidant support for neuroblastoma cells.

Supporting mammalian cells against reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide (HO) is essential. Bottom-up synthetic biology aims to integrate designed artificial units with mammalian cells. Here, we used manganese dioxide nanosheets (MnO-NSs) as catalytically active entities that have superoxide dismutase-like and catalase-like activities.

Going the Extra (Synaptic) Mile: Excitotoxicity as the Road Toward Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Excitotoxicity is a phenomenon that describes the toxic actions of excitatory neurotransmitters, primarily glutamate, where the exacerbated or prolonged activation of glutamate receptors starts a cascade of neurotoxicity that ultimately leads to the loss of neuronal function and cell death. In this process, the shift between normal physiological function and excitotoxicity is largely controlled by astrocytes since they can control the levels of glutamate on the synaptic cleft. This control is achieved through glutamate clearance from the synaptic cleft and its underlying recycling through the glutamate-glutamine cycle.