Drug discovery: Insights from the invertebrate Caenorhabditis elegans

Therapeutic drug development is a long, expensive, and complex process that usually takes 12–15 years. In the early phases of drug discovery, in particular, there is a growing need for animal models that ensure the reduction in both cost and time. Caenorhabditis elegans has been traditionally used to address fundamental aspects of key biological processes, such as apoptosis, aging, and gene expression regulation. During the last decade, with the advent of large-scale platforms for screenings, this invertebrate has also emerged as an essential tool in the pharmaceutical research industry to identify novel drugs and drug targets. In this review, we discuss the reasons why C. elegans has been positioned as an outstanding cost-effective option for drug discovery, highlighting both the advantages and drawbacks of this model. Particular attention is paid to the suitability of this nematode in large-scale genetic and pharmacological screenings. High-throughput screenings in C. elegans have indeed contributed to the breakthrough of a wide variety of candidate compounds involved in extensive fields including neurodegeneration, pathogen infections and metabolic disorders. The versatility of this nematode, which enables its instrumentation as a model of human diseases, is another attribute also herein underscored. As illustrative examples, we discuss the utility of C. elegans models of both human neurodegenerative diseases and parasitic nematodes in the drug discovery industry. Summing up, this review aims to demonstrate the impact of C. elegans models on the drug discovery pipeline.Fil: Giunti, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Andersen, Natalia Denise. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Rayes, Diego Hernán. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: de Rosa, Maria Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; Argentin

Guy Demerson, François Rabelais

Kinser Samuel. Guy Demerson, François Rabelais. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 49ᵉ année, N. 2, 1994. pp. 436-438

Les combats de Carnaval et de Carême. Trajets d'une métaphore

The Combats of Carnival and Lent : Routes of a Metaphor Medieval examples of the allegorical genre, the combat of Carnival and Lent, rationalize diversely structured ritual practices (Christian, feudal, peasant) by personifying two moments of the annual calendar. As the calendar moves from late winter to spring, so the fortunes of Carnival and Lent change from triumph to exile, imprisonment or glorious return. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the genre moves away from concern with the raison d'être of the calendar toward analysis of the social behavior involved in the opposition between festive and penitent behavior. A new totality, Nature, begins to order the texts explicitly or by inference. The theatrical pieces, stories and descriptions which use the Carnival/Lent opposition after 1450 analyse the behavior associated with the two rites psycho-moralistically. Neither Carnival nor Lent is exempt from criticism. Neither time of the calendar "wins", for both are subjected to new secularly hierarchized pressures: city ways subordinate country habits, social control triumphs over inherited custom, social conscience dissolves institutional presumptions.Grinberg Martine, Kinser Sam. Les combats de Carnaval et de Carême. Trajets d'une métaphore. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 38ᵉ année, N. 1, 1983. pp. 65-98