Effects of Six Common Dietary Nutrients on Murine Intestinal Organoid Growth

The intestinal epithelium of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract constantly renews itself to absorb nutrients and provide protection for the body from the outside world. Since the intestinal epithelium is constantly exposed to various chemicals and dietary components, it is critical to determine which constituents promote or inhibit intestinal epithelium health and growth rate. Intestinal organoids, three-dimensional miniature models of the intestines, represent an ex vivo tool to investigate intestinal physiology and growth patterns. In this study, we measured the growth rates of murine intestinal organoids exposed to various concentrations of different dietary constituents. Results indicate that caffeic acid inhibited organoid growth in a concentration-dependent manner, curcumin exhibited variable effectiveness, and vitamin C had no effect on organoid growth

Protein folding on the ribosome studied using NMR spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the investigation of protein folding and misfolding, providing a characterization of molecular structure, dynamics and exchange processes, across a very wide range of timescales and with near atomic resolution. In recent years NMR methods have also been developed to study protein folding as it might occur within the cell, in a de novo manner, by observing the folding of nascent polypeptides in the process of emerging from the ribosome during synthesis. Despite the 2.3 MDa molecular weight of the bacterial 70S ribosome, many nascent polypeptides, and some ribosomal proteins, have sufficient local flexibility that sharp resonances may be observed in solution-state NMR spectra. In providing information on dynamic regions of the structure, NMR spectroscopy is therefore highly complementary to alternative methods such as X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy, which have successfully characterized the rigid core of the ribosome particle. However, the low working concentrations and limited sample stability associated with ribosome-nascent chain complexes means that such studies still present significant technical challenges to the NMR spectroscopist. This review will discuss the progress that has been made in this area, surveying all NMR studies that have been published to date, and with a particular focus on strategies for improving experimental sensitivity

Developing a plugin framework for spring boot

Nowadays, software applications operate on a massive scale in terms of features and the number of customers they serve. As software applications become increasingly complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to modify the source code without the application becoming bloated and disorganized. In response, software engineers are continually designing software architectural patterns and concepts to enhance code organization and productivity. One very popular concept is the plugin system architecture, which allows developers to add features and functionalities to an application without modifying the core application itself. This research delves into different design patterns and components of plugin systems and an implementation of a plugin system for Spring Boot, a popular tool used by Java developers to develop enterprise web applications

Developing a plugin framework for spring boot

Nowadays, software applications operate on a massive scale in terms of features and the number of customers they serve. As software applications become increasingly complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to modify the source code without the application becoming bloated and disorganized. In response, software engineers are continually designing software architectural patterns and concepts to enhance code organization and productivity. One very popular concept is the plugin system architecture, which allows developers to add features and functionalities to an application without modifying the core application itself. This research delves into different design patterns and components of plugin systems and an implementation of a plugin system for Spring Boot, a popular tool used by Java developers to develop enterprise web applications.</p

Effects of six common dietary nutrients on murine intestinal organoid growth

The intestinal epithelium of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract constantly renews itself to absorb nutrients and provide protection for the body from the outside world. Since the intestinal epithelium is constantly exposed to various chemicals and dietary components, it is critical to determine which constituents promote or inhibit intestinal epithelium health and growth rate. Intestinal organoids, three-dimensional miniature models of the intestines, represent an ex vivo tool to investigate intestinal physiology and growth patterns. In this study, we measured the growth rates of murine intestinal organoids exposed to various concentrations of different dietary constituents. Results indicate that caffeic acid inhibited organoid growth in a concentration-dependent manner, curcumin exhibited variable effectiveness, and vitamin C had no effect on organoid growth.This article is published as Cai, Tenson, Yijun Qi, Albert Jergens, Michael Wannemuehler, Terrence A. Barrett, and Qun Wang. "Effects of six common dietary nutrients on murine intestinal organoid growth." PLoS One 13, no. 2 (2018): e0191517. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191517. Copyright 2018 Cai et al. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Posted with permission

mHPP treated organoid growth patterns.

<p>(A) 5X magnification of organoids given m-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added mHPP. Scale bar: 500 μm. (B) 10X magnification. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added mHPP. Scale bar: 200 μm. (C) Surface area of organoids. (D) Surface area expansion rate of organoids. mHPP may have inhibited growth slightly, but no significant growth changes compared to control. Significance values were calculated using unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test with n = 3. *p<0.05.</p

Experimental setup of dietary constituents.

<p>Dietary constituents were added in different concentrations (100 μg/mL, 300 μg/mL, and 600 μg/mL) to two 24-well plates. No constituents were added for the control group. Three organoids were chosen from each well to be monitored throughout the experiment.</p

Caffeic acid treated organoid growth patterns.

<p>(A) 5X magnification of organoids given caffeic acid. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added dietary constituent. Scale bar: 500 μm. (B) 10X magnification. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added dietary constituent. Scale bar: 200 μm. (C) Surface area of organoids. (D) Surface area expansion rate of organoids. Organoid growths were inhibited significantly by 300 and 600 μg/mL caffeic acid on days 12 and day 14 when compared to the 100 μg/mL organoids. These results are similar to those of Prasad et al. (2011), where caffeic acid’s effects on cancerous cells were studied. Caffeic acid may have inhibited growth by increasing the cytotoxicity in the environment. Significance values were calculated using unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test with n = 3. *p<0.05. #p value < 0.05 when 300 and 600 μg/mL were compared to 100 μg/mL in a t-test.</p

Monosodium glutamate treated organoid growth patterns.

<p>The surface areas of three organoids from each concentration of monosodium glutamate were measured. (A) 5X magnification of organoids given monosodium glutamate. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added dietary constituent. Scale bar: 500 μm. (B) 10X magnification. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added dietary constituent. Scale bar: 200 μm. The crypts were still fully visible on day 14, meaning there were fully functional stem cells and that monosodium glutamate did not inhibit organoid growth. (C) Surface area of organoids. (D) The surface area expansion rates of organoids were determined by the formula: (Present Day Surface Area)/(First Day Surface Area) * 100%. Significant growth occurred in 300 μg/mL on day 12. Examining the error bars, lower doses of MSG (100 and 300 μg/mL) reduced the variability (smaller error bars) in the surface area expansion rates compared to the 600 μg/mL and the control. Significance values were calculated using unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test with n = 3. *p<0.05.</p

Curcumin treated organoid growth patterns.

<p>(A) 5X magnification of organoids given curcumin. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added curcumin. Scale bar: 500 μm. (B) 10X magnification. Day 9 –day 14 show organoids with added curcumin. Scale bar: 200 μm. (C) Surface area of organoids. (D) Surface area expansion rate of organoids. On days 9, 12, and 14, 300 μg/mL curcumin-treated organoids grew significantly faster than the control. Significance values were calculated using unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test with n = 3. *p<0.05.</p