Publications by authors named "Z Hoyk"
Article Synopsis
- Human stem cell-derived blood-brain barrier (BBB) models are crucial for understanding brain diseases and drug development, but creating endothelial cells with proper BBB characteristics is a challenge.
- Researchers developed a small-molecule cocktail called cARLA that activates specific signaling pathways to enhance BBB properties in endothelial cells, specifically through the tight junction protein claudin-5.
- cARLA not only helps human BBB models better mimic in vivo brain endothelial characteristics but also improves their ability to predict how well drugs and nanoparticles can penetrate the brain, making it a promising tool for research and drug development.
Article Synopsis
- This study explores how hypertriglyceridemia, linked to atherosclerosis, affects the function and structure of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using a specific mouse model (APOB-100 transgenic).
- Researchers examined the role of interleukin (IL)-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, in impairing BBB characteristics and whether IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, could counteract these effects.
- Results showed that IL-6 increased permeability and decreased the activity of critical BBB proteins in the mice, while IL-10 helped mitigate these changes, indicating a potential therapeutic target for BBB dysfunction.
Estrogens regulate a variety of neuroendocrine, reproductive and also non-reproductive brain functions. Estradiol biosynthesis in the central nervous system (CNS) is catalyzed by the enzyme aromatase, which is expressed in several brain regions by neurons, astrocytes and microglia. In this study, we performed a complex fluorescent immunocytochemical analysis which revealed that aromatase is colocalized with the nuclear stain in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positive astrocytes in cell cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral clinical studies indicate that smoking predisposes its consumers to esophageal inflammatory and malignant diseases, but the cellular mechanism is not clear. Ion transporters protect esophageal epithelial cells by maintaining intracellular pH at normal levels. In this study, we hypothesized that smoking affects the function of ion transporters, thus playing a role in the development of smoking-induced esophageal diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRosuvastatin (RST) is primarily used to treat high cholesterol levels. As it has potentially harmful but not well-documented effects on embryos, RST is contraindicated during pregnancy. To demonstrate whether RST could induce molecular epigenetic events in the brains of newborn rats, pregnant mothers were treated daily with oral RST from the 11th day of pregnancy for 10 days (or until delivery).
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