Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor TSPO needs to be reconsidered before using as a drug target for a pigmentary disorder.

The peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (TSPO/PBR) is highly conserved among different species but with perplexing biochemical functions. Multiple ligands of TSPO show commendable regulatory activities in lots of biological functions, such as neuro-protection, cholesterol transport, and so on. These researches support that TSPO may be a potential target for disease treatment and drug development.

Can Photothermal Post-Operative Cancer Treatment Be Induced by a Thermal Trigger?

One of the current challenges in the post-operative treatment of breast cancer is to develop a local therapeutic vector for preventing recurrence and metastasis. Herein, we develop a core-shell fibrous scaffold comprising phase-change materials and photothermal/chemotherapy agents, as a thermal trigger for programmable-response drug release and synergistic treatment. The scaffold is obtained by in situ growth of a zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) shell on the surface of poly(butylene succinate)/lauric acid (PBS/LA) phase-change fibers (PCFs) to create PCF@ZIF-8.

Zebrafish Model for Screening Antiatherosclerosis Drugs.

This study is aimed at establishing a zebrafish model of AS, which can be applied for high-throughput screening anti-AS drugs. A zebrafish AS model was induced by high cholesterol diet (HCD) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In the early stage of modeling, HCD induced zebrafish to show some early symptoms similar to human AS, mainly cholesterol accumulation, vascular inflammation, lipid metabolism disorder, and oxidative stress.

Downregulation of gephyrin in temporal lobe epilepsy neurons in humans and a rat model.

Gephyrin, which is a postsynaptic scaffolding protein participated in clustering GABA(A) receptors at inhibitory synapses, has been reported to be involved in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) recently. Here, we investigate gephyrin protein expression in the temporal lobe epileptic foci in epileptic patients and experimental animals in order to explore the probable relationship between gephyrin expression and TLE. Using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and western blot analysis, gephyrin expression was examined in 30 human temporal neocortex samples from patients who underwent surgery to treat drug-refractory TLE and 10 histological normal temporal neocortex from the controls.

Anti-inflammatory alkaloids from the stems of Picrasma quassioides BENNET.

During further chemical and biological investigations of Picrasma quassioides BENNET, four new bis-β-carboline alkaloids, quassidines E-H (1-4), and three new β-carboline alkaloids, canthin-16-one-14-butyric acid (5), 3-(1,1-dimethoxylmethyl)-β-carboline (6), and 6,12-dimethoxy-3-formyl-β-carboline (7), were isolated from its anti-inflammatory CHCl(3)-soluble fraction. Structures of new compounds were elucidated and characterized by MS and NMR analysis. A plausible biogenetic pathway for quassidine E (1), the first bis-β-carboline alkaloid in which a canthin-6-one moiety and a β-carboline moiety were connected together by a single carbon-carbon bond from the nature, was proposed.

Altered expression of Dscam in temporal lobe tissue from human and experimental animals.

Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) is a neural adhesion molecule that plays an essential role in the establishment of neural circuits. Considerable evidence suggests that Dscam is required for axon guidance and dendritic arborization. Our aim was to investigate the expression of Dscam in the temporal lobes of patients with intractable epilepsy (IE) and of experimental animals.

Abnormal expression of netrin-G2 in temporal lobe epilepsy neurons in humans and a rat model.

The membrane-bound axon guidance molecule netrin-g2 is preferentially expressed in the central nervous system and plays a role in synapse formation and maintenance. Using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting, we investigated the possible correlation between netrin-g2 expression and intractable epilepsy (IE) using surgical samples from epilepsy patients. We used 35 samples of temporal neocortex from patients undergoing surgery for drug-refractory epilepsy and 15 autopsy samples from individuals who died in traffic accidents (i.

Abnormal expression and spatiotemporal change of Slit2 in neurons and astrocytes in temporal lobe epileptic foci: A study of epileptic patients and experimental animals.

Repellent guidance molecules provide targeting information to outgrowing axons along predetermined pathways during development. These molecules may also play a role in synaptic reorganization in the adult brain and thereby promote epileptogenesis. Our aim was to investigate the expression of Slit2, one of repellent guidance molecules, in temporal lobe epileptic foci from epileptic patients and experimental animals.

Tetranectin is a potential biomarker in cerebrospinal fluid and serum of patients with epilepsy.

Background: Tetranectin (TN) is a plasminogen kringle 4 binding protein and regulates fibrinolysis and proteolytic processes via binding to plasminogen. A previous proteomics study identified TN in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of epileptic patients but not in healthy controls. We determined the concentrations of TN in CSF and serum of epileptic patients to evaluate the changes in TN levels after epileptic attack.