360 research outputs found
Effectiveness of adeno-associated virus in H9C2 cardiomyoblast and HEK293T cell lines
Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2) is a prevalent disease that affects many people throughout the world leading to issues such as diabetic cardiomyopathy. O-GlcNAcylation dysregulation, caused by increased levels of serum glucose, contributes to the pathophysiology of decreased cardiac function. O-GlcNAcylation modulates cardiac contraction by reacting with either serine or threonine residues. Our goal was to demonstrate the success of infection of adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9) carrying the gene of alpha-cardiac actin (ACTC) mutated at Thr326. Here we show the expression of the mutant ACTC T326D in H9C2 cardiomyoblasts and HEK293T cell lines. Expression in H9C2 cells was significantly increased compared to WT and control. In addition, expression in HEK293T cells was significantly increased compared to the control. These results are promising in that the ACTC gene carried in AAV9 can be transduced into cells in diabetic mouse model to prevent O-GlcNAcylation and improve cardiac contractility
Healthy Exosomes and their Effects on Diabetic Cardiomyocytes
Extracellular Vesicles, and more specifically, exosomes, are essential for effective cell-to-cell communication in a wide variety of tissues. In the last couple of decades, these nanovesicles have been proven to be active participants and regulators in many disease processes; therefore, their therapeutic effects have been widely studied and proven in various cardiovascular diseases both, in vitro and in vivo. Thus, this study aims at assessing the effects of running healthy mice exosomes on cardiomyocyte and cardiac tissue samples obtained from diabetic mice. Here, we successfully extract exosomes from mice plasma and detect their presence through the use of anti-CD9 and anti-CD81 antibodies. Further work includes concentrating exosome presence and utilizing a wider variety of exosome-specific antibodies, as well as exploring techniques for more effective exosome extraction from plasma
Fungal Automata
We study a cellular automaton (CA) model of information dynamics on a single
hypha of a fungal mycelium. Such a filament is divided in compartments (here
also called cells) by septa. These septa are invaginations of the cell wall and
their pores allow for flow of cytoplasm between compartments and hyphae. The
septal pores of the fungal phylum of the Ascomycota can be closed by organelles
called Woronin bodies. Septal closure is increased when the septa become older
and when exposed to stress conditions. Thus, Woronin bodies act as
informational flow valves. The one dimensional fungal automata is a binary
state ternary neighbourhood CA, where every compartment follows one of the
elementary cellular automata (ECA) rules if its pores are open and either
remains in state `0' (first species of fungal automata) or its previous state
(second species of fungal automata) if its pores are closed. The Woronin bodies
closing the pores are also governed by ECA rules. We analyse a structure of the
composition space of cell-state transition and pore-state transitions rules,
complexity of fungal automata with just few Woronin bodies, and exemplify
several important local events in the automaton dynamics
Computational universality of fungal sandpile automata
Hyphae within the mycelia of the ascomycetous fungi are compartmentalised by
septa. Each septum has a pore that allows for inter-compartmental and
inter-hyphal streaming of cytosol and even organelles. The compartments,
however, have special organelles, Woronin bodies, that can plug the pores. When
the pores are blocked, no flow of cytoplasm takes place. Inspired by the
controllable compartmentalisation within the mycelium of the ascomycetous fungi
we designed two-dimensional fungal automata. A fungal automaton is a cellular
automaton where communication between neighbouring cells can be blocked on
demand. We demonstrate computational universality of the fungal automata by
implementing sandpile cellular automata circuits there. We reduce the Monotone
Circuit Value Problem to the Fungal Automaton Prediction Problem. We construct
families of wires, cross-overs and gates to prove that the fungal automata are
P-complete
Cellular automaton supercolliders
Gliders in one-dimensional cellular automata are compact groups of
non-quiescent and non-ether patterns (ether represents a periodic background)
translating along automaton lattice. They are cellular-automaton analogous of
localizations or quasi-local collective excitations travelling in a spatially
extended non-linear medium. They can be considered as binary strings or symbols
travelling along a one-dimensional ring, interacting with each other and
changing their states, or symbolic values, as a result of interactions. We
analyse what types of interaction occur between gliders travelling on a
cellular automaton `cyclotron' and build a catalog of the most common
reactions. We demonstrate that collisions between gliders emulate the basic
types of interaction that occur between localizations in non-linear media:
fusion, elastic collision, and soliton-like collision. Computational outcomes
of a swarm of gliders circling on a one-dimensional torus are analysed via
implementation of cyclic tag systems
Complex dynamics of elementary cellular automata emerging from chaotic rules
We show techniques of analyzing complex dynamics of cellular automata (CA)
with chaotic behaviour. CA are well known computational substrates for studying
emergent collective behaviour, complexity, randomness and interaction between
order and chaotic systems. A number of attempts have been made to classify CA
functions on their space-time dynamics and to predict behaviour of any given
function. Examples include mechanical computation, \lambda{} and Z-parameters,
mean field theory, differential equations and number conserving features. We
aim to classify CA based on their behaviour when they act in a historical mode,
i.e. as CA with memory. We demonstrate that cell-state transition rules
enriched with memory quickly transform a chaotic system converging to a complex
global behaviour from almost any initial condition. Thus just in few steps we
can select chaotic rules without exhaustive computational experiments or
recurring to additional parameters. We provide analysis of well-known chaotic
functions in one-dimensional CA, and decompose dynamics of the automata using
majority memory exploring glider dynamics and reactions
Approximating Mexican highways with slime mould
Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by unaided eye.
During its foraging behavior the cell spans spatially distributed sources of
nutrients with a protoplasmic network. Geometrical structure of the
protoplasmic networks allows the plasmodium to optimize transport of nutrients
between remote parts of its body. Assuming major Mexican cities are sources of
nutrients how much structure of Physarum protoplasmic network correspond to
structure of Mexican Federal highway network? To find an answer undertook a
series of laboratory experiments with living Physarum polycephalum. We
represent geographical locations of major cities by oat flakes, place a piece
of plasmodium in Mexico city area, record the plasmodium's foraging behavior
and extract topology of nutrient transport networks. Results of our experiments
show that the protoplasmic network formed by Physarum is isomorphic, subject to
limitations imposed, to a network of principle highways. Ideas and results of
the paper may contribute towards future developments in bio-inspired road
planning
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