Anatomical variations in 3D imaging: A case report of a dorsal metacarpal artery anomaly.

This report presents a novel anatomical variant of the second dorsal metacarpal artery (SDMA). In this unique case, the SDMA abnormally penetrates the second dorsal interosseous muscle (SDIM), dividing into two major branches. A deep dorsal branch of the SDMA (dbSDMA) is located within the SDIM and extends to the distal end of the metacarpal.

CEBPB/POU2F2 modulates endothelin 1 expression in prehypertensive SHR vascular smooth muscle cells.

The pathogenesis of hypertension is not fully understood; endothelin 1 (EDN1) is involved in developing essential hypertension. EDN1 can promote vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation or hypertrophy through autocrine and paracrine effects. Proliferating smooth muscle cells in the aorta are 'dedifferentiated' cells that cause increased arterial stiffness and remodeling.

An Update on Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Applications in Nanomedicine.

The efficient and safe delivery of therapeutic drugs, proteins, and nucleic acids are essential for meaningful therapeutic benefits. The field of nanomedicine shows promising implications in the development of therapeutics by delivering diagnostic and therapeutic compounds. Nanomedicine development has led to significant advances in the design and engineering of nanocarrier systems with supra-molecular structures.

Mitochondrial transport mediates survival of retinal ganglion cells in affected LHON patients.

The mutations in the genes encoding the subunits of complex I of the mitochondrial electron transport chain are the most common cause of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), a maternal hereditary disease characterized by retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration. The characteristics of incomplete penetrance indicate that nuclear genetic and environmental factors also determine phenotypic expression of LHON. Therefore, further understanding of the role of mutant mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit proteins and nuclear genetic factors/environmental effects in the etiology of LHON is needed.

Carboxylated nanodiamond-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 delivery of human retinoschisis mutation into human iPSCs and mouse retina.

Nanodiamonds (NDs) are considered to be relatively safe carbon nanomaterials used for the transmission of DNA, proteins and drugs. The feasibility of utilizing the NDs to deliver CRISPR-Cas9 system for gene editing has not been clearly studied. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to use NDs as the carriers of CRISPR-Cas9 components designed to introduce the mutation in RS1 gene associated with X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS).

Morphological and Molecular Defects in Human Three-Dimensional Retinal Organoid Model of X-Linked Juvenile Retinoschisis.

X-linked juvenile retinoschisis (XLRS), linked to mutations in the RS1 gene, is a degenerative retinopathy with a retinal splitting phenotype. We generated human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from patients to study XLRS in a 3D retinal organoid in vitro differentiation system. This model recapitulates key features of XLRS including retinal splitting, defective retinoschisin production, outer-segment defects, abnormal paxillin turnover, and impaired ER-Golgi transportation.

P3HT:Bebq-Based Photovoltaic Device Enhances Differentiation of hiPSC-Derived Retinal Ganglion Cells.

Electric field stimulation is known to affect various cellular processes, including cell fate specification and differentiation, particularly towards neuronal lineages. This makes it a promising therapeutic strategy to stimulate regeneration of neuronal tissues. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) is a type of neural cells of the retina responsible for transduction of visual signals from the retina to the brain cortex, and is often degenerated in various blindness-causing retinal diseases.

Bioactivity and gene expression profiles of hiPSC-generated retinal ganglion cells in MT-ND4 mutated Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the maternally inherited mitochondrial disease caused by homoplasmic mutations in mitochondrial electron transport chain Complex I subunit genes. The mechanism of its incomplete penetrance is still largely unclear. In this study, we created the patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from MT-ND4 mutated LHON-affected patient, asymptomatic mutation carrier and healthy control, and differentiated them into retinal ganglion cells (RGCs).

Elongation of Axon Extension for Human iPSC-Derived Retinal Ganglion Cells by a Nano-Imprinted Scaffold.

Optic neuropathies, such as glaucoma and Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) lead to retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and therefore motivate the application of transplantation technique into disease therapy. However, it is a challenge to direct the transplanted optic nerve axons to the correct location of the retina. The use of appropriate scaffold can promote the proper axon growth.

Cell death caused by the synergistic effects of zinc and dopamine is mediated by a stress sensor gene Gadd45b - implication in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease.

The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not completely understood, Zinc (Zn(2+) ) and dopamine (DA) have been shown to involve in the degeneration of dopaminergic cells. By microarray analysis, we identified Gadd45b as a candidate molecule that mediates Zn(2+) and DA-induced cell death; the mRNA and protein levels of Gadd45b are increased by Zn(2+) treatment and raised to an even higher level by Zn(2+) plus DA treatment. Zn(2+) plus DA treatment-induced PC12 cell death was enhanced when there was over-expression of Gadd45b and was decreased by knock down of Gadd45b.