Autophagy in periodontitis patients and gingival fibroblasts: unraveling the link between chronic diseases and inflammation

Authors are indebted with Ms Monica Glebocki for extensive editing of the manuscriptBackground: Periodontitis, the most prevalent chronic inflammatory disease, has been related to cardiovascular diseases. Autophagy provides a mechanism for the turnover of cellular organelles and proteins through a lysosome-dependent degradation pathway. The aim of this research was to study the role of autophagy in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with periodontitis and gingival fibroblasts treated with a lipopolysaccharide of Porphyromonas gingivalis. Autophagy-dependent mechanisms have been proposed in the pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders and in other diseases related to periodontitis, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Thus it is important to study the role of autophagy in the pathophysiology of periodontitis. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with periodontitis (n = 38) and without periodontitis (n = 20) were used to study autophagy. To investigate the mechanism of autophagy, we evaluated the influence of a lipopolysaccharide from P. gingivalis in human gingival fibroblasts, and autophagy was monitored morphologically and biochemically. Autophagosomes were observed by immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. Results: We found increased levels of autophagy gene expression and high levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with periodontitis compared with controls. A significantly positive correlation between both was observed. In human gingival fibroblasts treated with lipopolysaccharide from P. gingivalis, there was an increase of protein and transcript of autophagy-related protein 12 (ATG12) and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 alpha LC3. A reduction of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species induced a decrease in autophagy whereas inhibition of autophagy in infected cells increased apoptosis, showing the protective role of autophagy. Conclusion: Results from the present study suggest that autophagy is an important and shared mechanism in other conditions related to inflammation or alterations of the immune system, such as periodontiti

Evaluation of chlorhexidine gluconate mouthrinse-induced staining using a digital colorimeter: an in vivo study

The staining effect of chlorhexidine gluconate mouthrinse on natural dentition should be expected to be the highest in the first few days of use

Optimization of microwave-assisted drying of Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus L.) by response surface methodology and genetic algorithm

The objective of the present study was to investigate microwave-assisted drying of Jerusalem artichoke tubers to determine the effects of the processing conditions. Drying time (DT) and effectivemoisture diffusivity (EMD) were determined to evaluate the drying process in terms of dehydration performance, whereas the rehydration ratio (RhR) was considered as a significant quality index. A pretreatment of soaking in a NaCl solution was applied before all trials. The output power of the microwave oven, slice thickness and NaCl concentration of the pretreatment solution werethe three investigated parameters. The drying process was accelerated by altering the conditions while obtaining a higher quality product. For optimization of the drying process, response surface methodology (RSM) and genetic algorithms (GA) were used. Model adequacy was evaluated for each corresponding mathematical expression developed for interested responses by RSM. The residual of the model obtained by GA was compared to that of the RSM model. The GA was successful in high-performance prediction and produced results similar to those of RSM. The analysis and results of the present study show that both RSM and GA models can be used in cohesion to gain insight into the bioprocessing system

Experimental investigation of performance and emission parameters changes on diesel engines using anisole additive

Trans tech publications2013 2nd International Conference on Mechanical Design and Power Engineering, ICMDPE 2013 --29 November 2013 through 30 November 2013 -- Beijing --In this study, effect of anisole additive into the diesel fuel on performance and emission parameters of diesel engines was investigated. Instead of structural changes which are more difficult and expensive, development of fuel technologies is preferred to provide reduction on exhaust gas emissions which are harmful to environment and human health. Therefore, in this experimental study, anisole was used as additive into diesel fuel with the volumetric ratio of 1,5%, 3% and 5%. The performance characteristics and exhaust emissions of a four cylinder, four stroke, naturally aspirated, water cooled, direct injection compression ignition engine fueled with modified fuels were analyzed. Engine was subjected constant speed, full load conditions during tests. Engine power, torque, specific fuel consumption, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions were measured and results were evaluated. Changes in performance parameters were negligible for all ratios of modified fuels except specific fuel consumption. Finally, while carbon monoxide gas emissions were increased with anisole additive, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide gas emissions were decreased. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland