Apelin decreases myocardial injury and improves right ventricular function in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension

Falcao-Pires I, Goncalves N, Henriques-Coelho T, Moreira-Goncalves D, Roncon-Albuquerque R Jr, Leite-Moreira AF. Apelin decreases myocardial injury and improves right ventricular function in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 296: H2007-H2014, 2009. First published April 3, 2009; doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00089.2009.-We investigated the endogenous production of apelin and the cardiac and pulmonary effects of its chronic administration in monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension (PH). Male Wistar rats were injected with MCT (60 mg/kg sc) or vehicle (day 0). One week later, these animals were randomly treated during 17 days with pyroglutamylated apelin-13 (Pyr-AP13; 200 mu g.kg(-1).day(-1) ip) or a similar volume of saline, resulting in four groups: sham (n = 11), sham-AP (n = 11), MCT (n = 16), and MCT-AP (n = 13). On day 25, right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) hemodynamic and morphometric parameters were assessed. Tissue and plasma samples were collected for histological and molecular analysis. When compared with sham, the MCT group presented a significant increase of RV mass (166 +/- 38%), diameter of cardiomyocyte (40 +/- 10%), myocardial fibrosis (95 +/- 20%), peak systolic pressure (99 +/- 22%), peak rate of ventricular pressure rise (dP/dt(max); 74 +/- 24%), peak rate of ventricular pressure decline (dP/dt(min); 73 +/- 19%), and time constant tau (55 +/- 16%). In these animals, RV expression of apelin (-73 +/- 10%) and its receptor APJ (-61 +/- 20%) was downregulated, whereas mRNA expression of type B natriuretic peptide (9,606 +/- 713%), angiotensinogen (191 +/- 147%), endothelin-1 (RV, 497 +/- 156%; and LV, 799 +/- 309%), plasmatic levels of apelin (104 +/- 48%), and angiotensin 1-7 (161 +/- 151%) were increased. Chronic treatment with Pyr-AP13 significantly attenuated or normalized these changes, preventing apelin-APJ mRNA downregulation and PH-induced neurohumoral activation of several vasoconstrictors, which exacerbates apelin-APJ vasodilator effects. Therefore, apelin delayed the progression of RV hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. Together, these observations suggest that the apelin-APJ system may play an important role in the pathophysiology of PH, representing a potential therapeutic target since it significantly attenuates RV overload and PH-induced neurohumoral activation

Biodegradation of endocrine disrupting compounds by bacterial communities from contaminated environments in Macau

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Mangroves as a source of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degrading bacteria

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most widely used plastics, and its accumulation in the environment has become an issue of great concern. PET wastes constitute a critical source of pollution to the environment, with important impacts on ecosystems and human health. One possibility to address this problem is to identify microorganisms that may be able to naturally degrade the compound for downstream applications. This study investigated the biodegradation of PET films in soil in the presence or absence of mangrove plants, and with or without bioaugmentation with bacterial isolates of the genus Bacillus and Enterococcus. The experiment was performed in an open garden for ten months. At the end of this period, biodegradation assays of PET monomers and intermediate were further performed using bacterial consortia isolated from the soil of the different treatments. Terephthalic acid (TPA) and bis-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET) were added to liquid medium as the sole carbon sources and incubated for 10 days at 30oC. Growth of the consortia was monitored by spectrophotometry, and degradation was followed by HPLC analysis of aliquot samples. The preliminary results from gravimetry analysis showed no significant changes in PET films, regardless of the treatment. On the other hand, total degradation of TPA and BHET was observed for all assays independently of treatment. The results suggest that although direct biodegradation of PET may be challenging to accomplish, bacteria capable of degrading the intermediates and monomers of PET are readily available in the natural environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Overlooked gall-inducing moths revisited, with the description of Andescecidium parrai gen. et sp. n. and Oliera saizi sp. n. from Chile (Lepidoptera, Cecidosidae)

There are still many gall systems associated with larvae of Lepidoptera in which the true gall-inducers have not been identified to species. Reports on misidentification of gall inducers have been recurrent for these galls, particularly in complex gall-systems that may include inquilines, kleptoparasites, and cecidophages, among other feeding guilds such as predators and parasitoid wasps. Here we describe and illustrate the adults, larvae, pupae and galls, based on light and scanning microscopy, of Andescecidium parrai gen. et sp. n. and Oliera saizi sp. n., two sympatric cecidosid moths that are associated with Schinus polygamus (Cav.) Cabrera (Anacardiaceae) in central Chile. Adults, immatures, and galls of the former did not conform to any known cecidosid genus. Galls of A. parrai are external, spherical, and conspicuous, being known for more than one century. However, their induction has been mistakenly associated with either unidentified Coleoptera (original description) or Oliera argentinana Br糨es (recently), a distinct cecidosid species with distribution restricted to the eastern Andes. Galls of O. saizi had been undetected, as they are inconspicuous. They occur under the bark within swollen stems, and may occur on the same plant, adjacent to those of A. parrai. We also propose a time-calibrated phylogeny using sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear loci, including specimens of the new proposed taxa. Thus in addition to clarifying the taxonomy of the Chilean cecidosid species we also tested their monophyly in comparison to congeneric species and putative specimens of all genera of Neotropical and African cecidosids.Fil: Silva, Gabriela T.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Moreira, Gilson R. P.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Vargas, Héctor A.. Universidad de Tarapacá de Arica; ChileFil: Gonçalves, Gislene L.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasil. Universidad de Tarapacá de Arica; ChileFil: Mainardi, Marina D.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: San Blas, Diego German. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa; ArgentinaFil: Davis, Donald. National Museum of Natural History; Estados Unido

Effects of physical exercise in biochemical parameters and dorsolateral prostate lesions: data from a rat model of prostate cancer

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is among the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Physical exercise is widely recognized due to its beneficial effects. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of physical exercise on biochemical pa- rameters and in dorsolateral prostate lesions in a rat model of PCa. Materials and Methods: Ninety-five male Wistar Unilever rats were randomly divided into eight groups sacrificed at 35 (groups I) or 61 weeks of age (groups II): control sedentary groups (Cont+Sed I (n = 10); Cont+Sed II (n = 10)); induced sedentary group (PCa+Sed I (n = 10); PCa+Sed II (n = 15)); control exercised groups (Cont+EX I (n = 10); Cont+EX II (n = 10)) and induced exercised groups (PCa+EX I (n = 10); PCa+EX II (n = 20)). All procedures were approved (DGAV, no. 021326). Animals from exercised groups started the exer- cise program in a treadmill at 8 weeks of age, for 28 weeks or 53 weeks. The animals were trained 5 days/week, 60 min per day. Prostate lesions were induced at 12 weeks of age, with sequential administration of flutamide, testosterone propion- ate and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, and subcutaneous implants of crystalline testosterone. Animals were sacrificed at 35 or 61 weeks of age. Peripheral blood of all animals was col- lected by intracardiac puncture. A complete necropsy was performed. The dorsolateral prostate tissues sections were processed for histological analysis. Data were analysed using SPSS 25. p 0.05). Dorsolateral prostate lesions were classified as dysplasia, prostatic intraep- ithelial neoplasia (PIN) and microinvasive carcinoma. The number of prostate lesions was higher in animals from groups II than in those from groups I, mainly in PCa+Sed II animals when compared with PCa+Sed I (p 0.05). Conclusions: Overall, the animals sacrificed at 61 weeks of age developed more dorsolateral prostate lesions than ani- mals sacrificed at 35 weeks of age, which may be related to a longer testosterone exposure

Exercise training impacts cardiac mitochondrial proteome remodeling in murine urothelial carcinoma

Cardiac dysfunction secondary to cancer may exert a negative impact in patients’ tolerance to therapeutics, quality of life, and survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential therapeutic effect of exercise training on the heart in the setting of cancer, after diagnosis. Thus, the molecular pathways harbored in heart mitochondria from a murine model of chemically-induced urothelial carcinoma submitted to 8-weeks of high intensity treadmill exercise were characterized using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Data highlight the protective effects of high intensity exercise training in preventing left ventricle diastolic dysfunction, fibrosis, and structural derangement observed in tumor-bearing mice. At the mitochondrial level, exercise training counteracted the lower ability to produce ATP observed in the heart of animals with urothelial carcinoma and induced the up-regulation of fatty acid oxidation and down-regulation of the biological process “cardiac morphogenesis”. Taken together, our data support the prescription of exercise training after cancer diagnosis for the management of disease-related cardiac dysfunction.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), European Union, QREN, FEDER and COMPETE for funding the QOPNA (UID/QUI/00062/2013), CIAFEL (UID/DTP/00617/2013), iBiMED (UID/BIM/04501/2013), Unidade de Investigação Cardiovascular (UID/IC/00051/2013) research units and the research projects (EXPL/DTP-DES/1010/2013, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-041115, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007628). R.V. and D.M.G. are supported by individual fellowship grants (IF/00286/2015 and SFRH/BPD/90010/2012, respectively). The authors would like to thank Celeste Resende for their assistance in sample preparation for morphological analysis