Effects of fixatives on myelin molecular order probed with RP-CARS microscopy.

When live imaging is not feasible, sample fixation allows preserving the ultrastructure of biological samples for subsequent microscopy analysis. This process could be performed with various methods, each one affecting differently the biological structure of the sample. While these alterations were well-characterized using traditional microscopy, little information is available about the effects of the fixatives on the spatial molecular orientation of the biological tissue.

Targeting Inflammation With Nanosized Drug Delivery Platforms in Cardiovascular Diseases: Immune Cell Modulation in Atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a disorder of large and medium-sized arteries; it consists in the formation of lipid-rich plaques in the intima and inner media, whose pathophysiology is mostly driven by inflammation. Currently available interventions and therapies for treating atherosclerosis are not always completely effective; side effects associated with treatments, mainly caused by immunodepression for anti-inflammatory molecules, limit the systemic administration of these and other drugs. Given the high degree of freedom in the design of nanoconstructs, in the last decades researchers have put high effort in the development of nanoparticles (NPs) formulations specifically designed for either drug delivery, visualization of atherosclerotic plaques, or possibly the combination of both these and other functionalities.

Immune response in peripheral axons delays disease progression in SOD1 mice.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that the immune system has a beneficial role in the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) although the mechanism remains unclear. Recently, we demonstrated that motor neurons (MNs) of C57SOD1 mice with slow disease progression activate molecules classically involved in the cross-talk with the immune system. This happens a lot less in 129SvSOD1 mice which, while expressing the same amount of transgene, had faster disease progression and earlier axonal damage.