Combinatorial analysis of marine based biomaterials: high-throughput analysis of the effect of nanostructured multilayers on cell behaviour

Publicado em "Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine", vol. 7, supp. 1 (2013)In a marine environment, specific proteins are secreted by mussels and used as a bioglue to stick to a surface allowing generate irreversible bonding. Adhesive secreted proteins of mussels present an unusual amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA). Inspired by the struc- ture and properties of mussel adhesive proteins, layer-by-layer (LbL) coatings based on polymers that contain catechol groups were devel- oped. We used dopamine-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-DN) prepared by carbodiimide chemistry to form thin and surface-adherent dopamine films. The multilayer films were developed by electrostatic interactions using chitosan (CHT) as polycation and HA-DN as polyanion. Multilay- ers films of CHT and HA were used as control. The formation of these films was investigated in-situ by quartz crystal microbalance with dissi- pation monitoring (QCM-D). Afterwards, many combinations of the marine inspired biomaterials were analysed in a high-throughput (HTS) way. Such multilayers were constructed and individually dis- posed on isolated transparent spots, patterned onto biomimetic super- hydrophobic substrates. The adhesion properties of the coatings in the chips were also analyzed. In vitro tests using two distinct cell sources were carried out to evaluate the biological performance of the different combinations of multilayers that could be useful in different biomedical applications, including tissue engineering

Citalopram administration does not promote function or histological recovery after spinal cord injury

Citalopram is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, and although widely used as an antidepressant, this drug has also demonstrated interesting repairing properties leading to motor recovery and pathology amelioration in animal models of stroke and degeneration. Here, we tested the efficacy of both 7-day and 8-week citalopram treatment in a contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) rat model. A combination of behavioral tests, histological and serum cytokine analysis was used to assess overall recovery. Despite promoting a mild reduction of inflammatory cells as well as an early, but transient increase of specific serum cytokines, citalopram administration showed no overall beneficial effects on motor performance or lesion extension. Our results do not support citalopram treatment as a therapeutic strategy for SCI.This research was funded by Prémios Santa Casa Neurociências—Prize Melo e Castro for SpinalCord Injury Research, Grant Number MC-04/17 and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT) through the Scientific Employment Stimulus to N. Silva and S. Monteiro (CEECIND/04794/2017 and CEECIND/01902/2017) and fellowships to RL (PD/BDE/127836/2016); EDG (SFRH/BD/103075/2014);NLV (SFRH/BD/136952/2018) and R.AS (PDE/BDE/113596/2015).This work was also funded by FEDER,through the Competitiveness Internalization Operational Program (POCI) and by National funds, throughthe Foundation for Sciences and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038,POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029206, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029751 and PTDC/BTM-MAT/29968/2017. This work hasbeen funded by ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI - PortuguesePlatform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122; by National funds, through the Foundationfor Science and Technology (FCT) - project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020; and by the projectsNORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Bioengineered cell culture systems of central nervous system injury and disease

Cell culture systems, either 2D or explant based, have been pivotal to better understand the pathophysiology of several central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Recently, bioengineered cell culture systems have been proposed as an alternative to the traditional setups. These innovative systems often combine different cell populations in 3D environments that more closely recapitulate the different niches that exist within the developing or adult CNS. Given the importance of such systems for the future of CNS-related research, we discuss here the most recent advances in the field, particularly those dealing with neurodegeneration, neurodevelopmental disorders, and trauma.Financial support is acknowledged from Prémios Santa Casa Neurociências – Prize Melo e Castro for Spinal Cord Injury Research; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [Doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BD/103075/2014) to E.D.G.; IF Development Grant to A.J.S.; Starting Grant to F. Marques; PostDoctoral fellowship SFRH/BPD/97701/2013 to N.A.S.]; this work was co-funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), ao abrigo do Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN), através do Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genomic Surveillance of Yellow Fever Virus Epizootic in São Paulo, Brazil, 2016 – 2018

São Paulo, a densely inhabited state in southeast Brazil that contains the fourth most populated city in the world, recently experienced its largest yellow fever virus (YFV) outbreak in decades. YFV does not normally circulate extensively in São Paulo, so most people were unvaccinated when the outbreak began. Surveillance in non-human primates (NHPs) is important for determining the magnitude and geographic extent of an epizootic, thereby helping to evaluate the risk of YFV spillover to humans. Data from infected NHPs can give more accurate insights into YFV spread than when using data from human cases alone. To contextualise human cases, identify epizootic foci and uncover the rate and direction of YFV spread in São Paulo, we generated and analysed virus genomic data and epizootic case data from NHPs in São Paulo. We report the occurrence of three spatiotemporally distinct phases of the outbreak in São Paulo prior to February 2018. We generated 51 new virus genomes from YFV positive cases identified in 23 different municipalities in São Paulo, mostly sampled from NHPs between October 2016 and January 2018. Although we observe substantial heterogeneity in lineage dispersal velocities between phylogenetic branches, continuous phylogeographic analyses of generated YFV genomes suggest that YFV lineages spread in São Paulo at a mean rate of approximately 1km per day during all phases of the outbreak. Viral lineages from the first epizootic phase in northern São Paulo subsequently dispersed towards the south of the state to cause the second and third epizootic phases there. This alters our understanding of how YFV was introduced into the densely populated south of São Paulo state. Our results shed light on the sylvatic transmission of YFV in highly fragmented forested regions in São Paulo state and highlight the importance of continued surveillance of zoonotic pathogens in sentinel species

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ