Gender-related differences in kidney of rats with chronic renal failure

Chronic renal failure is characterized by adaptive mechanisms secondary to the loss of functioning nephrons. Clinical and experimental studies suggest participation of gender-related hormones on renal function and progression of chronic renal failure. We evaluated the effect of castration on renal alterations in male and female Wistar control rats and after 30 days of chronic renal failure (CRF) induced by 5/6 nephrectomy. The CRF male group showed higher proteinuria. Glomerular hypertrophy was similar amogroups. Podocyte morphology showed disorders of foot processes and thickening of the basement membrane in the CRF male group. The CRF female group showed fewer alterations compared to males. Castration changed the profile in CRF male animals and the filtration barrier was preserved. CRF males showed the presence of alfa-smooth muscle actin suggesting an early prefibrotic event in this group. After castration this phenomenon was not observed. Noteworthy, in females, castration exacerbated the presence of alfa-smooth muscle actin. In summary, proteinuria was higher in males and appeared early in the course of CRF, probably contributing to fibrotic events. Data were influenced by gender suggesting that male sex hormones aggravate renal alterations. Histol Histopathol 29, 479-487 (2014

Anaerobic reactor applied to laundry wastewater treatment : unveiling the microbial community by gene and genome-centric approaches

Gene and genome-centric approaches were applied to investigate the microbial taxonomic and metabolic diversity profiles from a lab-scale anaerobic reactor applied to laundry wastewater treatment with increasing concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS). Therefore, metagenomic analysis was carried out with reactor samples collected under three conditions, (i) Stage I, the reactor was fed with synthetic medium, (ii) Stage II, synthetic medium was replaced by diluted laundry wastewater with specific LAS loading rates (SLLRs) of 1.0 ± 0.3 mgLASgTVS−1d−1 and (iii) Stage III, SLLRs increased to 2.7 ± 0.7 mgLASgTVS−1d−1. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 2 × 150 bp platform. Gene-centric analysis of each step of the metabolic pathway (fumarate addition, β-oxidation, ring cleavage and desulfonation) for anaerobic aromatic degradation showed eight over-representative genera (Achromobacter, Pelodictyon, Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter, Rhodococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Sulfurovum and Syntrophobacter), suggesting a microbial core with an important role in LAS biodegradation. Some of these genera were also recovered through a differential binning method, representing fifteen bacterial and one archaeal metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Biodegradation pathway reconstruction of LAS using six MAGs unveiled the syntrophism for complete degradation of the LAS molecule. Only the MAGs with taxonomic annotation for Syntrophobacter showed genetic potential for fumarate addition, whereas in the ring cleavage, there was a predominance of genes in MAGs with taxonomic annotation for Pseudomonas fragi and Rhodococcus. This work represents the first report of genome-centric approach to study biological reactors applied in anionic surfactant degradation, contributing with detailed metabolic information of the key microbial actors in LAS degradation and opening perspectives for future biotechnological strategies aiming at bioaugmentation and/or biostimulation of indigenous microbial populations149COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP0012014/16426–0; 2015/06246–