Hazai nyárak populációgenetikai és élettani vizsgálata az erdészeti célú felhasználás fejlesztése céljából = Population genetic and physiological investigation on native poplars for development of silvicultural application

A pályázati munka során 11 tájegység 32 populációjában jelöltünk ki fehér, rezgő és szürke nyár mintafákat. A mintázott 931 egyedből 409-et vontunk be a genetikai vizsgálatokba. Az elvégzett RAPD, PCR-RFLP és SSR vizsgálatok során megállapítottuk, hogy a kiválasztott markerek alkalmasak az alapfajok egyedeinek taxonómia elkülönítésére, az SSR vizsgálat pedig a hibridizáltság mértékének megállapítására a szürke nyár esetében. Az egyes populációk genetikai diverzitását kifejező mutatóinak összevetése során megállapítottuk, hogy az alapfajok azon populációi mutatják a legmagasabb változatosságot, amelyek az ökológiai szempontból a faj optimálishoz közelebb álló termőhelyein találhatók. A molekuláris variancia forrása valamennyi vizsgálati metodika esetében a populációkon belüli változatosságra volt döntő mértékben visszavezethető. Az összehasonlító növényélettani vizsgálatok célja négy nyár faj eltérő gyökeresedési hajlamának a hátterében álló okok és azok lehetséges befolyásolásának a megállapítása volt. A klónok között a nem-strukturális szénhidráttartalomban eltérés nem mutatkozott, nem befolyásolta a gyökeresedést a dugványok eredeti helyzete és vastagsága sem. Az alkalmazott auxin kezelések a gyökeresedést nem fokozták, az auxin transzport gátlása viszont jelentősen csökkentette. Pozitív hatást az etilénszintézis fokozásával értünk el. Az eredmények alapján a nyár fajok közötti gyökeresedési különbség az eltérő etilén szintre vezethető vissza. | In the frame of the research project 32 populations in 11 regions of Hungary were mapped during the last 4 years in order to inventory the genetic diversity of white poplar, trembling aspen and grey poplar. 409 individual out of the 931 trees sampled were analysed using RAPD, PCR-RFLP and SSR markers. We were able to distinguish between the three species with all the three marker types and the proportion of parent species in grey poplar individuals were also detected. Diversity indices showed the highest values in the populations which grow on ecologically optimal habitats. The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) signed moderate variance among regions and relatively high proportion of diversity within populations. The objectives of our comparative physiological investigation on four poplar species were to determine the reasons for their different adventitious rooting abilities and to try to improve them. There were no significant differences in non-structural carbohydrate contents among the clones, and had no effect of the original position and diameter of cuttings on rooting. Root formation could not be enhanced by the applied auxin treatments however it was remarkably reduced by the inhibition of auxin transport. Enhancement in rooting could be only achieved by the increase of ethylene synthesis, accordingly the difference in rooting ability of poplar species can be attributed to the different ethylene level of cuttings

A study on selective transformation of norbornadiene into fluorinated cyclopentane-fused isoxazolines

This work presents an examination of the selective functionalization of norbornadiene through nitrile oxide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition/ring-opening metathesis (ROM)/cross-metathesis (CM) protocols. Functionalization of commercially available norbornadiene provided novel bicyclic scaffolds with multiple stereogenic centers. The synthesis involved selective cycloadditions, with subsequent ROM of the formed cycloalkene-fused isoxazoline scaffolds and selective CM by chemodifferentiation of the olefin bonds of the resulting alkenylated derivatives. Various experimental conditions were applied for the CM transformations with the goal of exploring substrate and steric effects, catalyst influence and chemodifferentiation of the olefin bonds furnishing the corresponding functionalized, fluorine-containing isoxazoline derivatives

Nemesnyár klónok faanyagtani jellemzőkhöz köthető génjeinek genetikai változatossága = Allelic variation in candidate genes associated with wood properties of cultivated poplars

A nemesnyárak kiemelkedő gazdasági jelentőséggel bírnak. A bemutatott vizsgálat legfőbb célja egy olyan kutatási metodika ismertetése, amely a faanyag tulajdonságaiért felelős kulcsenzimek kódoló régióinak azonosításából indul ki, bemutatva a genomikai alapokra helyezett nemesítési technológiákban rejlő lehetőségeket. A vizsgálatunk első szakaszában 24 különböző, a faanyagképződés szempontjából releváns enzim kódoló régiójára terveztünk primerpárokat. Összesen 55 saját fejlesztésű primerpárt teszteltünk, 47,27%-os sikerességgel. Ezután nyolc enzimet választottunk ki részletesebb elemzésre hét nyárfaj és 11 hibrid klón bevonásával, összesen 23 nyár genotípus vizsgálata révén. A kiválasztott enzimek egy része a lignifikáció folyamatában vesz részt (COMT, CCoAOMT, SAMS), egy másik csoport a K+-függő xylogenezis során tölt be kulcsszerepet (Kt, ptk2, SKOR), míg a harmadik csoport (endo-1,4-b-xylanase, Araf-ase) a mikrofibrilla szög alakulásához köthető. A sikeresen amplifikált és azonosított 13 markerrégió révén összesen 188 szekvenciát elemeztünk és 90 SNP-t azonosítottunk. Értékeltük a polimorf helyek számát, a nukleotid diverzitást, az inszerciók/deléciók számát, az SNP-k típusát, a rekombinációs események minimális számát, illetve azonosítottuk a konzervatív szakaszokat. Eredményeink bemutatása során részletesen tárgyaljuk a vizsgálatban rejlő alkalmazási lehetőségeket

Comparison of speckle-tracking echocardiography with invasive hemodynamics for the detection of characteristic cardiac dysfunction in type-1 and type-2 diabetic rat models

BACKGROUND: Measurement of systolic and diastolic function in animal models is challenging by conventional non-invasive methods. Therefore, we aimed at comparing speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived parameters to the indices of left ventricular (LV) pressure-volume (PV) analysis to detect cardiac dysfunction in rat models of type-1 (T1DM) and type-2 (T2DM) diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Rat models of T1DM (induced by 60 mg/kg streptozotocin, n = 8) and T2DM (32-week-old Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats, n = 7) and corresponding control animals (n = 5 and n = 8, respectively) were compared. Echocardiography and LV PV analysis were performed. LV short-axis recordings were used for STE analysis. Global circumferential strain, peak strain rate values in systole (SrS), isovolumic relaxation (SrIVR) and early diastole (SrE) were measured. LV contractility, active relaxation and stiffness were measured by PV analysis. RESULTS: In T1DM, contractility and active relaxation were deteriorated to a greater extent compared to T2DM. In contrast, diastolic stiffness was impaired in T2DM. Correspondingly, STE described more severe systolic dysfunction in T1DM. Among diastolic STE parameters, SrIVR was more decreased in T1DM, however, SrE was more reduced in T2DM. In T1DM, SrS correlated with contractility, SrIVR with active relaxation, while in T2DM SrE was related to cardiac stiffness, cardiomyocyte diameter and fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Strain and strain rate parameters can be valuable and feasible measures to describe the dynamic changes in contractility, active relaxation and LV stiffness in animal models of T1DM and T2DM. STE corresponds to PV analysis and also correlates with markers of histological myocardial remodeling

Pharmacological preconditioning with gemfibrozil preserves cardiac function after heart transplantation

While heart transplantation (HTX) is the definitive therapy of heart failure, donor shortage is emerging. Pharmacological activation of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) and increased cGMP-signalling have been reported to have cardioprotective properties. Gemfibrozil has recently been shown to exert sGC activating effects in vitro. We aimed to investigate whether pharmacological preconditioning of donor hearts with gemfibrozil could protect against ischemia/reperfusion injury and preserve myocardial function in a heterotopic rat HTX model. Donor Lewis rats received p.o. gemfibrozil (150 mg/kg body weight) or vehicle for 2 days. The hearts were explanted, stored for 1 h in cold preservation solution, and heterotopically transplanted. 1 h after starting reperfusion, left ventricular (LV) pressure-volume relations and coronary blood flow (CBF) were assessed to evaluate early post-transplant graft function. After 1 h reperfusion, LV contractility, active relaxation and CBF were significantly (p < 0.05) improved in the gemfibrozil pretreated hearts compared to that of controls. Additionally, gemfibrozil treatment reduced nitro-oxidative stress and apoptosis, and improved cGMP-signalling in HTX. Pharmacological preconditioning with gemfibrozil reduces ischemia/reperfusion injury and preserves graft function in a rat HTX model, which could be the consequence of enhanced myocardial cGMP-signalling. Gemfibrozil might represent a useful tool for cardioprotection in the clinical setting of HTX surgery soon

Inflammasome activation in end-stage heart failure-associated atrial fibrillation

Aims Inflammatory pathways are increasingly recognized as an important factor in the pathophysiology of both heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF). However, there is no data about inflammation-related histological and molecular alterations in HF-associated AF. The objective of our study was to investigate inflammatory pathways and fibrosis in end-stage HF- associated AF. Methods and results Left atrial samples of 24 male patients with end stage ischemic HF undergoing heart transplantation were analysed. Twelve patients suffered from sustained AF while the others had no documented AF. The expression of inflam- masome sensors and their downstream signalling were investigated by Western blot. No differences were observed in the ex- pression of inflammasome sensors between the two groups, while cleaved caspase-1 increased tendentiously in the AF group (P = 0.051). Cleaved caspase-1 also showed significant correlation with the expression of interleukin-1β and its cleaved form in the total population and in the AF group (P < 0.05). The presence of myocardial and epicardial macrophages were assessed by ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) immunostaining. Number of macrophages showed a tendency towards elevation in the left atrial myocardium and epicardium of AF compared with SR group. The amount of total and interstitial fibrosis was determined on Masson’s trichrome-stained sections. Histological assessment revealed no difference between AF and SR groups in the amount of either total or interstitial fibrosis. Conclusions This is the first study on inflammation-related differences between HF with SR or AF showing elevated inflam- masome activity and enhanced macrophage infiltration in left atrial samples of patients with AF

Characteristics, management, and outcomes of patients with multiple native valvular heart disease: a substudy of the EURObservational Research Programme Valvular Heart Disease II Survey

Aims To assess the characteristics, management, and survival of patients with multiple native valvular heart disease (VHD). Methods and results Among the 5087 patients with >= 1 severe left-sided native VHD included in the EURObservational VHD II Survey (maximum 3-month recruitment period per centre between January and August 2017 with a 6-month follow-up), 3571 had a single left-sided VHD (Group A, 70.2%), 363 had one severe left-sided VHD with moderate VHD of the other ipsilateral valve (Group B, 7.1%), and 1153 patients (22.7%) had >= 2 severe native VHDs (left-sided and/or tricuspid regurgitation, Group C). Patients with multiple VHD (Groups B and C) were more often women, had greater congestive heart failure (CHF) and comorbidity, higher left atrial volumes and pulmonary pressures, and lower ejection fraction than Group A patients (all P <= 0.01). During the index hospitalization, 36.7% of Group A (n = 1312), 26.7% of Group B (n = 97), and 32.7% of Group C (n = 377) underwent valvular intervention (P < 0.001). Six-month survival was better for Group A than for Group B or C (both P < 0.001), even after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and Charlson index [hazard ratio (HR) 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62 (1.10-2.38) vs. Group B and HR 95% CI 1.72 (1.32-2.25) vs. Group C]. Groups B and C had more CHF at 6 months than Group A (both P < 0.001). Factors associated with mortality in Group C were age, CHF, and comorbidity (all P < 0.010). Conclusion Multiple VHD is common, encountered in nearly 30% of patients with left-sided native VHD, and associated with greater cardiac damage and leads to higher mortality and more heart failure at 6 months than single VHD, yet with lower rates of surgery