Ethanol-induced changes of dopaminergic function in three strains of mice characterized by a different population of opiate receptors

The effects of ethanol have been studied in three strains of mice (DBA 2J, albino, and C57 BL/6J) having different populations of opiate receptors. Acute ethanol treatment induces a significant increase in striatal dopamine metabolism only in the mouse strains (C57 and albino) that are rich in enkephalinergic receptors upon nigrostriatal dopaminergic fibers. After chronic ethanol, the same strains develop tolerance to striatal dihydroxyphenylacetic acid increase, while the striatal dopaminergic recognition sites become supersensitive. DBA mice, which have lower numbers of enkephalinergic receptors and higher levels of enkephalins in the striatum, fail to show changes in central dopaminergic function after acute or chronic ethanol treatment. Our results indicate the importance of an interaction between ethanol and opiate receptors in determining the neurochemical and behavioral effects of ethanol

HR-MAS NMR CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMPREHENSION OF METABOLIC DISORDERS IN INFLAMMATORY AND NEOPLASTIC HYPERPROLIFERATIVE DISEASE

HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy allows the detailed metabolic analysis of whole biopsy samples, of normal and alterated tissues, to be performed. The NMR spectra constitute a \u201cfingerprint\u201d of the whole metabolome. Correlations between some metabolites and proliferative markers allow gaining insight into the relationship between cellular proliferation and the metabolic changes associated with the presence and tumour aggressiveness. Because metabolites represent the downstream expression of genome, transcriptome and proteome, they can closely reflect the phenotype of an organism at a specific time. Analyzing metabolic differences between normal and perturbed pathways could also provide insight into disease prognosis and diagnosis. Metabolomics could reveal novel cancer biomarkers that might expand our current understanding of this multi-factorial disease. The clinical role of proton NMR in the evaluation of brain tumours, as well as breast and prostate cancer, has been under investigation for several years.[1] During last years our interest was focused on metabolism of colonrectal and brain tissues by using the HR-MAS NMR technique. Some results coming for our research on glioma and linfoma brain tumours and the metabolic correlation existing between colorectal cancer and polyps will be presented

I masteristi si raccontano

Discussione della dimensione sociale del Master “E-Learning per la Scuola, l’Universita’ e l’Impresa” svolto totalmente a distanza attraverso la piattaforma e-learning “CampusOne” dell’Universita’ di Genova. Vengono presentate le impressioni di alcuni dei partecipanti al corso

MATERIALE A BASE VETROSA PER LA PRODUZIONE DI MANUFATTI CERAMICI E METODO PER LA SUA PREPARAZIONE

La presente invenzione riguarda un materiale a prevalente componente vetrosa, per la preparazione di manufatti ceramici, in cui detto materiale comprende almeno un vetro in polvere in miscela con almeno un plastificante inorganico e almeno un legante organico. L'invenzione riguarda anche metodi per la preparazione di detto materiale e i suoi usi nel settore dei manufatti ceramici e complementi di arredo

Reduction of myofibrillar ATPase activity and isomyosin shift in delayed doxorubicin cardiotoxicity

The aim of this study was to determine whether variations of isomyosin expression occurred during doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy. A suitable experimental model in which pure delayed cardiotoxic effects could be easily studied was adopted. Young adult female Sprague Dawley rats received 9 mg/kg of doxorubicin (DXR) i.v. divided into three subdoses of 3 mg/kg every third day. Control animals received equal volumes of saline. The animals were examined 9 weeks after treatment. At this time the animals treated with DXR showed ECG alterations, reduction of body weight and a marked decrease of both atrial and ventricular mass, but were still fully hemodynamically compensated. Loss of myofibrillar material could be documented by the reduced recovery of myofibril and myosin. The contractile response of papillary muscles isolated from the right ventricle of treated animals was markedly impaired. Ca-Mg-activated and Mg-activated myofibrillar ATPase activity and Ca-activated myosin ATPase activity were determined on ventricular myocardium of control and treated animals. Both myofibrillar and myosin ATPase activities were found to be significantly reduced. Pyrophosphate gel electrophoresis of purified myosin was carried out. The isomyosin pattern of DXR-treated animals showed a pronounced shift towards V3, the percent of alpha heavy chains being 54.6% in treated rats (80.5% in control rats). This isomyosin shift can explain the reduced myofibrillar and myosin ATPase activity found in treated animals

Evaluation of the effects of cryopreservation on Modena Biobank tissue samples through HR-MAS NMR

The application of high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy to the analysis of intact tissue biopsies and surgery samples dates back to 1997. It represents, at present, an actively investigated field, and it is used to obtain the metabolic fingerprints of tissues. It has been shown to differentiate between normal and neoplastic tissue in the case of breast, brain, kidney, colon cancer and other malignancies in the upper gastrointestinal tract. Nevertheless, it is difficult to run HR-MAS analysis immediately after surgical resection or biopsy, and samples are currently frozen in liquid nitrogen and then stored to -80 °C. Some studies reporting the effect of sample ischaemia, spinning time and measurement temperature on the metabolic profile of tissues can be found.1 Nevertheless, another important issue to be addressed is the effect of cryopreservation time on the metabolic profile of tissues. Crypreservation represents a more and more common practice, due to the widespread of tissue BioBanks. To gain a deeper insight into metabolic changes that occur during the storage, samples of Modena BioBank were analyzed through HR-MAS NMR after 1, 6 and 12 months from collection. The results of this study were discussed

ASSESSMENT OF FREEZING EFFECTS AND DIAGNOSTIC POTENTIAL OF BIOBANK HEALTHY AND NEOPLASTIC BREAST TISSUES THROUGH HR-MAS NMR SPECTROSCOPY

HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy was employed to monitor the metabolic profiles of Modena BioBank breast samples over one year of freezing at -80 °C. The study includes 22 adult female patients living in Modena and its hinterland, who underwent total mastectomy or quadrantectomy in 2011 - 2012. Variations occur, especially affecting phosphocholine and choline. This is not a trivial finding, since many studies base the distinction between neoplastic and healthy tissues or the assessment of tumor grade on the analysis of choline metabolites [1,2]. Despite the changes observed, we established that the diagnostic power of the HR-MAS NMR spectra of frozen samples is preserved, at least as far as the distinction between neoplastic and healthy samples is concerned. Lactate, phosphocholine, phosphoethanolamine, taurine, myo-inositol and glucose are biomarkers that can be used to distinguish healthy from neoplastic tissues, whereas some metabolite ratios, such as Lac+PE+Tau/Glc+Myo, seem to have even higher discrimination potential. Fig. 1. Scores plot of PCA on neoplastic (crosses) vs healthy (triangles) samples. Loadings profiles (right) of PC2 and PC3. References [1

Three-dimensional versus two-dimensional laparoscopic right colectomy. A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) vision technology has recently been validated for the improvement of surgical skills in a simulated setting. Clinical studies on specific operations have been published in the field of general, urologic, and gynecologic laparoscopic surgery. We hypothesized that 3D vision laparoscopic right colectomy has better intra and short-term postoperative outcomes than two-dimensional (2D) vision. AIM: The outcomes of this review and meta-analysis were to compare the 3D vision and the 2D vision laparoscopic right colectomy. METHODS: A systematic search of the literature was performed on Pubmed, WOS, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases (Prospero reg. nr. 42016047704) for comparative studies between 2D and 3D laparoscopic right colectomy. Primary endpoints were safety issues and secondarily patients' related and surgeons' comfort outcomes. Meta-analyses, when possible, were conducted with a random-effects model. RESULTS: Two retrospective comparative studies (for a total of 56 patients in the 2D arm and 52 patients for the 3D arm) were selected out of 680 screened records. Methodological quality was fair. Three-dimensional laparoscopic right colectomy has similar safety and secondary outcomes when compared to 2D, with not statistically significant shorter operating times (mean difference 11.81 min). The results are comparable also for anastomosis leakage. The results for other outcomes were not aggregated for heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: 3D laparoscopic right colectomy shows equivalent patients' outcomes compared to 2D operation, but the scarce clinical data and the potential amelioration of surgeons' skills, especially on difficult intracorporeal tasks like suturing, suggest the publication of further trials

Muscle fiber types expressing different myosin heavy chain isoforms. Their functional properties and adaptive capacity

In this review we present recent results of a collaborative study aimed at: 1) identifying the myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms expressed by various fiber types in rat and mouse skeletal muscle, 2) correlating the MHC profile with functional properties, 3) identifying factors responsible for modulating the fiber type phenotype and 4) defining the adaptive capacity of different fiber types with respect to MHC isoform expression. This report is mainly focused on a new major subset of type 2 muscle fibers defined by the presence of a distinct MHC isoform, that we have recently identified in rat and mouse skeletal muscle