Ciliary neurotrophic growth factor is considered a potential therapeutic agent for central nervous system diseases. We report first in vivo data of the ciliary neurotrophic growth factor peptide mimetic Cintrofin in a rat post-status epilepticus model. Cintrofin prevented long-term alterations in the number of doublecortin-positive neuronal progenitor cells and attenuated the persistence of basal dendrites. In contrast, Cintrofin did neither affect acute status epilepticus-associated alterations in hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis nor reveal any relevant effect on seizure activity. Whereas status epilepticus caused a significant disturbance in spatial learning in reversed peptide-treated rats, the performance of Cintrofin-treated rats did not differ from controls. The study confirms that Cintrofin comprises an active sequence mimicking effects of its parent molecule. While the data argue against an antiepileptogenic effect, they indicate a putative disease-modifying impact of Cintrofin.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2013.10.003 | DOI Listing |
Chembiochem
January 2025
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Chemistry, 219 Parkman Ave., 15260, Pittsburgh, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The α-helix is an abundant and functionally important element of protein secondary structure, which has motivated intensive efforts toward chemical strategies to stabilize helical folds. One such method is the incorporation of non-canonical backbone composition through an additional methyl substituent at the Cα atom. Examples of monomers include the achiral 2-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) with geminal dimethyl substitution and chiral analogues with one methyl and one non-methyl substituent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomaterials
January 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States. Electronic address:
Intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) are essential for neural signal acquisition in neuroscience and brain-machine interface (BMI) systems, aiding patients with neurological disorders, paralysis, and amputations. However, IMEs often fail to maintain robust signal quality over time, partly due to neuroinflammation caused by vascular damage during insertion. Platelet-inspired nanoparticles (PIN), which possess injury-targeting functions, mimic the adhesion and aggregation of active platelets through conjugated collagen-binding peptides (CBP), von Willebrand Factor-binding peptides (VBP), and fibrinogen-mimetic peptides (FMP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug Deliv
December 2025
Biomedical Materials and Devices for Revolutionary Integrative Systems Engineering (BMD-RISE) Research Unit, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Biopolymers, such as collagens, elastin, silk fibroin, spider silk, fibrin, keratin, and resilin have gained significant interest for their potential biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical properties. This review focuses on the design and integration of biomimetic peptides into these biopolymer platforms to control the release of bioactive molecules, thereby enhancing their functionality for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) and silk fibroin repeats, for example, demonstrate how engineered peptides can mimic natural protein domains to modulate material properties and drug release profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolym Chem
August 2024
Department of Chemistry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
While the conformational ensembles of disordered peptides and peptidomimetics are complex and challenging to characterize, they are a critical component in the paradigm connecting macromolecule sequence, structure, and function. In molecules that do not adopt a single predominant conformation, the conformational ensemble contains rich structural information that, if accessible, can provide a fundamental understanding related to desirable functions such as cell penetration of a therapeutic or the generation of tunable enzyme-mimetic architecture. To address the fundamental challenge of describing broad conformational ensembles, we developed a model system of peptidomimetics comprised of polar glycine and hydrophobic -butylglycine to characterize using a suite of analytical techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
University of California, San Diego, Chemistry and Biochemistry, 9500 Gilman Drive, Urey Hall 4120, 92093, La Jolla, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Membrane-forming phospholipids are generated in cells by enzymatic diacylation of non-amphiphilic polar head groups. Analogous non-enzymatic processes may have been relevant at the origin of life and could have practical utility in membrane synthesis. However, aqueous head group diacylation is challenging in the absence of enzymes.
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