Effect of general anesthesia drugs on GFAP/Iba-1 expression: a meta-analysis.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a marker associated with astrocyte activation and plays a role in various pathologic processes, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. Interacting boson approximation (Iba-1) is a marker protein for microglia, which are important in neuroinflammatory responses. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the impact of general anesthetics on the expression of GFAP and Iba-1 in animal models.

Lysine enhances the effect of amphotericin B against Candida albicans in vitro.

Amphotericin B (AmB) is a polyene antibiotic produced by Streptomyces nodosus and has been used for >50 years in the treatment of acute systemic fungal infections. In the present study, we demonstrated that lysine, an essential amino acid, could enhance the effect of AmB against Candida albicans in vitro, although lysine itself did not exert a fungicidal effect. In addition, the combination of AmB with lysine could provide an enhanced action against Candida parapsilosis and Cryptococcus neoformans compared with AmB alone.

Loss of RPS41 but not its paralog RPS42 results in altered growth, filamentation and transcriptome changes in Candida albicans.

Although ribosomal proteins (RPs) are components of the ribosome, and function centrally in protein synthesis, several lines of evidence suggest that S4 ribosomal proteins (Rps4ps) can function in other cellular roles. In Candida albicans, ribosomal protein S4 (Rps4p) is encoded by two distinct but highly similar genes, RPS41 (C2_10620W_A) and RPS42 (C1_01640W_A). Previous studies indicated that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae loss of one isoform generated distinct phenotypes.

Enhancement of the antibiofilm activity of amphotericin B by polyamine biosynthesis inhibitors.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of polyamine biosynthesis inhibitors on the activity of amphotericin B (AmB) against Candida albicans biofilms and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The antibiofilm activity of AmB was significantly enhanced when used in combination with the polyamine biosynthesis inhibitors 1,4-diamino-2-butanone (DAB) and α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO). Further study showed that DAB and DFMO also enhanced the antibiofilm activity of several other antifungal agents.

Ion-pairing chromatography on a porous graphitic carbon column coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry for targeted and untargeted profiling of amino acid biomarkers involved in Candida albicans biofilm formation.

Candida albicans, the most common fungal pathogen related to colonization and biofilm formation on the surfaces of indwelling medical devices, shows high resistance to the most commonly used antifungal drugs. In this study, an ion-pairing chromatography-porous graphitic carbon column coupled with a time-of-flight mass spectrometry (IP-PGC-TOF/MS) system was developed for targeted and untargeted profiling of metabolites involved in biofilm and planktonic growth of C. albicans.

Effect of amphotericin B on the metabolic profiles of Candida albicans.

Amphotericin B (AmB) is a polyene antifungal drug widely used for systemic fungal infections. In this study, a metabonomic method using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed to characterize the metabolic profiles of Candida albicans cells exposed to AmB. Thirty-one differentially produced metabolites between AmB-treated and the control groups were identified, among which 10 metabolites were upregulated and 21 metabolites were downregulated.