Impact of Storage at -80°C on Encapsulated Liver Spheroids After Liquid Nitrogen Storage

For many bioengineered tissues to have practical clinical application, cryopreservation for use on demand is essential. This study examined different thermal histories on warming and short holding periods at different subzero temperatures on subsequent functional recoveries of alginate encapsulated liver spheroids (ELS) for use in a bioartificial liver device. This mimicked transport at liquid nitrogen (-196°C) or dry ice (∼-80°C) temperatures. Holding at -80°C on warming after -196°C storage resulted in ELS expressing significant (p < 0.001) damage compared with direct thaw from liquid nitrogen, with viable cell number falling from 74.0 ± 8.4 million viable cells/mL without -80°C storage to 1.9 ± 0.6 million viable cells/mL 72 h post-thaw after 8 days storage at -80°C. Even 1 day at -80°C after -196°C storage resulted in lower viability (down 21% 24 h post-thaw), viable cell count (down 29% 24 h post-thaw), glucose, and alpha-1-fetoprotein production (reduced by 59% and 95% 24 h from 1 day post-thaw, respectively). Storage at -80°C was determined to be harmful only during the warming cycle. Chemical measurements of the alginate component of ELS were unchanged by cryogenic exposure in either condition

Laser spectroscopic electric field measurement in krypton

A laser spectroscopic method for sensitive electric field measurements using krypton has been developed. The Stark effect of high Rydberg states of the krypton autoionizing series can be measured by a technique called fluorescence dip spectroscopy (FDS) with high spatial and temporal resolution. Calibration measurements have been performed in a reference cell with known electric field and they agree very well with numerical solutions of Schrodinger's equation for jl-coupled states. The application of this method has been demonstrated in the sheath region of a capacitively coupled radiofrequency (RF) discharge. The laser spectroscopic method allows us to add krypton as a small admixture to various low temperature plasmas

Non-DNA-binding platinum anticancer agents: Cytotoxic activities of platinum–phosphato complexes towards human ovarian cancer cells

DNA is believed to be the molecular target for the cytotoxic activities of platinum (Pt) anticancer drugs. We report here a class of platinum(II)- and platinum(IV)-pyrophosphato complexes that exhibit cytotoxicity comparable with and, in some cases, better than cisplatin in ovarian cell lines (A2780, A2780/C30, and CHO), yet they do not show any evidence of covalent binding to DNA. Moreover, some of these compounds are quite effective in cisplatin- and carboplatin-resistant cell line A2780/C30. The lack of DNA binding was demonstrated by the absence of a detectable Pt signal by atomic absorption spectroscopy using isolated DNA from human ovarian cells treated with a platinum(II)-pyrophosphato complex, (trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine)(dihydrogen pyrophosphato) platinum(II), (pyrodach-2) and from NMR experiments using a variety of nucleotides including single- and double-stranded DNA. Furthermore, pyrodach-2 exhibited reduced cellular accumulations compared with cisplatin in cisplatin- and carboplatin-resistant human ovarian cells, yet the IC50 value for the pyrophosphato complex was much less than that of cisplatin. Moreover, unlike cisplatin, pyrodach-2 treated cells overexpressed fas and fas-related transcription factors and some proapoptotic genes such as Bak and Bax. Data presented in this report collectively indicate that pyrodach-2 follows different cytotoxic mechanisms than does cisplatin. Unlike cisplatin, pyrodach-2 does not undergo aquation during 1 week and is quite soluble and stable in aqueous solutions. Results presented in this article represent a clear paradigm shift not only in expanding the molecular targets for Pt anticancer drugs but also in strategic development for more effective anticancer drugs

Additional file 1 of Obesity drives adipose-derived stem cells into a senescent and dysfunctional phenotype associated with P38MAPK/NF-KB axis

Supplementary Material

Genetic factors affecting EBV copy number in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from the 1000 Genome Project samples

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), human herpes virus 4, has been classically associated with infectious mononucleosis, multiple sclerosis and several types of cancers. Many of these diseases show marked geographical differences in prevalence, which points to underlying genetic and/or environmental factors. Those factors may include a different susceptibility to EBV infection and viral copy number among human populations. Since EBV is commonly used to transform B-cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) we hypothesize that differences in EBV copy number among individual LCLs may reflect differential susceptibility to EBV infection. To test this hypothesis, we retrieved whole-genome sequenced EBV-mapping reads from 1,753 LCL samples derived from 19 populations worldwide that were sequenced within the context of the 1000 Genomes Project. An in silico methodology was developed to estimate the number of EBV copy number in LCLs and validated these estimations by real-time PCR. After experimentally confirming that EBV relative copy number remains stable over cell passages, we performed a genome wide association analysis (GWAS) to try detecting genetic variants of the host that may be associated with EBV copy number. Our GWAS has yielded several genomic regions suggestively associated with the number of EBV genomes per cell in LCLs, unraveling promising candidate genes such as CAND1, a known inhibitor of EBV replication. While this GWAS does not unequivocally establish the degree to which genetic makeup of individuals determine viral levels within their derived LCLs, for which a larger sample size will be needed, it potentially highlighted human genes affecting EBV-related processes, which constitute interesting candidates to follow up in the context of EBV related pathologiesThis work was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ES) (RD07/0060); Spanish Government Grants (BFU2012-38236); Departament d'Innovació, Universitats I Empresa, Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR1311); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PT13/0001/0026); FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional)/FSE (Fondo Social Europeo)