Self-Healing Collagen-Based Hydrogel for Brain Injury Therapy

Hydrogels derived from biopolymers, also called biohydrogels, have shown potential for brain injury therapy due to their tunable physical, chemical, and biological properties. Among different biohydrogels, those made from collagen type I are very promising candidates for the reparation of nervous tissues due to its biocompatibility, noncytotoxic properties, injectability, and self-healing ability. Moreover, although collagen does not naturally occur in the brain, it has been demonstrated that collagen type I, which resides in the basal lamina of the subventricular zone in adults, supports neural cell attachment, axonal growth, and cell proliferation due to its intrinsic content of specific cell-signaling domains. This chapter summarizes the most relevant results obtained from both in vitro and in vivo studies using self-healing biohydrogels based on collagen type I as key component in the field of neuroregeneration.University of RegensburgUniversidad de La LagunaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidade

The effect of pre-incubation of Allium cepa L. roots in the ATH-rich extract on Pb uptake and localization

The positive influence of anthocyanin (ATH) on toxic metal-treated plant material is well documented; however, it is still not explained if it is caused by changes in element absorption and distribution. Therefore, detailed analysis of the effect of the ATH-rich extract from red cabbage leaves on Pb uptake and localization at morphological, anatomical and ultrastructural level was the goal of this study. Two-day-old adventitious roots of Allium cepa L. (cv. Polanowska) were treated for 2 h with the aqueous solution of Pb(NO3)2 at the concentration of 100 μM with or without preliminary incubation in the anthocyanin-rich extract from Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata rubra leaves (250 μM, 3 h). The red cabbage extract did not change the total Pb uptake but it enhanced the translocation of accumulated metal from roots to shoots. Within the pretreated roots, more Pb was deposited in their basal part and definitely smaller amount of the metal was bound in the apoplast of the outer layers of cortex cells. The ultrastructural analysis (transmission electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis) revealed that the ATH-rich extract lowered the number of Pb deposits in intracellular spaces, cell wall and cytoplasm of root meristematic cells as well as in such organelles important to cell metabolism as mitochondria, plastids and nucleus. The Pb deposits were preferably localised in those vacuoles where ATH also occurred. This sequestration of Pb in vacuoles is probably responsible for reduction of metal cytotoxicity and consequently could lead to better plant growth.This work was supported by the grant of the University of Lodz, no. 505/04038

Quantifying system disturbance and recovery from historical mining-derived metal contamination at Brotherswater, northwest England

The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-016-9907-1Metal ore extraction in historical times has left a legacy of severe contamination in aquatic ecosystems around the world. In the UK, there are ongoing nationwide surveys of present-day pollution discharged from abandoned mines but few assessments of the magnitude of contamination and impacts that arose during historical metal mining have been made. We report one of the first multi-centennial records of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) fluxes into a lake (Brotherswater, northwest England) from point-sources in its catchment (Hartsop Hall Mine and Hogget Gill processing plant) and calculate basin-scale inventories of those metals. The pre-mining baseline for metal contamination has been established using sediment cores spanning the past 1,500 years and contemporary material obtained through sediment trapping. These data enabled the impact of 250 years of local, small-scale mining (1696 – 1942) to be quantified and an assessment of the trajectory towards system recovery to be made. The geochemical stratigraphy displayed in twelve sediment cores show strong correspondence to the documented history of metal mining and processing in the catchment. The initial onset in 1696 was detected, peak Pb concentrations (>10,000 µg g-1) and flux (39.4 g m-2 y-1) corresponded to the most intensive mining episode (1863-1871) and 20th century technological enhancements were reflected as a more muted sedimentary imprint. After careful evaluation, we used these markers to augment a Bayesian age-depth model of the independent geochronology obtained using radioisotope dating (14C, 210Pb, 137Cs and 241Am). Total inventories of Pb, Zn and Cu for the lake basin during the period of active mining were 15,415 kg, 5,897 kg and 363 kg, respectively. The post-mining trajectories for Pb and Zn project a return to pre-mining levels within 54-128 years for Pb and 75-187 years for Zn, although future remobilisation of metal-enriched catchment soils and floodplain sediments could perturb this recovery. We present a transferable paleolimnological approach that highlights flux-based assessments are vital to accurately establish the baseline, impact and trajectory of mining-derived contamination for a lake catchment