Changes of potentially anti-nutritive components in Hungarian potatoes from organic and conventional farming

Anti-nutritive components in multi resistant potato cultivars were investigated in relation to conventional and organic farming for three years. Glycoalkaloids, nitrate, nitrite, asparagine, and glutamine contents of tubers were examined. Farming technology was found not to have an effect on the level of glycoalkaloids, which was influenced mostly by the genotype and season. Nitrogen fertilisation caused significant increase in nitrate, asparagine, and glutamine contents as compared to organic farming. Nitrite content was found to be more independent of farming technologies than nitrate. Tubers of cultivar Rioja had the lowest nitrate content irrespective of season or technology. In conclusion, the absolute amount and changes of different anti-nutritive components of potato tubers were influenced differently by the technology, genotype, and season in a complex manner. Organic farming had no effect on the glycoalkaloid content, but the nitrate levels had a tendency to be lower compared to conventional farming. This can be seen as a positive effect of organic farming

Neuronal circuitry for pain processing in the dorsal horn

Neurons in the spinal dorsal horn process sensory information, which is then transmitted to several brain regions, including those responsible for pain perception. The dorsal horn provides numerous potential targets for the development of novel analgesics and is thought to undergo changes that contribute to the exaggerated pain felt after nerve injury and inflammation. Despite its obvious importance, we still know little about the neuronal circuits that process sensory information, mainly because of the heterogeneity of the various neuronal components that make up these circuits. Recent studies have begun to shed light on the neuronal organization and circuitry of this complex region

Májáttétes betegek sztereotaxiás ablatív sugárkezelésével (SABRT) elért első eredményeink

Recently the prevalence of oligometastatic patients is increasing. A common site of distant spread is the liver. The standard of care is curative surgical resection, however, the resecability rate is only 10-20%. Alternatively, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) may be used. Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABRT) makes it possible to deliver curative radiation dose without radiation injury to the healthy liver tissue. We delivered SABRT to three patients with inoperable hepatic metastases. The primary tumors were rectal (2) and lung (1). The dose was 3x20 Gy every other day. We observed one grade 1 side effect. All the metastases showed complete remission and no local recurrence or late side effect occurred during the one year of follow-up. One patient is tumor-free, one has stable disease, in one patient two new hepatic metastases appeared and receives chemo-biological therapy. SABRT of liver metastases is safe and highly effective. It can be expected that in the near future it will become one of the standard treatments of hepatic tumors

Circuit dissection of the role of somatostatin in itch and pain

Stimuli that elicit itch are detected by sensory neurons that innervate the skin. This information is processed by the spinal cord; however, the way in which this occurs is still poorly understood. Here we investigated the neuronal pathways for itch neurotransmission, particularly the contribution of the neuropeptide somatostatin. We find that in the periphery, somatostatin is exclusively expressed in Nppb+ neurons, and we demonstrate that Nppb+somatostatin+ cells function as pruriceptors. Employing chemogenetics, pharmacology and cell-specific ablation methods, we demonstrate that somatostatin potentiates itch by inhibiting inhibitory dynorphin neurons, which results in disinhibition of GRPR+ neurons. Furthermore, elimination of somatostatin from primary afferents and/or from spinal interneurons demonstrates differential involvement of the peptide released from these sources in itch and pain. Our results define the neural circuit underlying somatostatin-induced itch and characterize a contrasting antinociceptive role for the peptide

PIBF+ extracellular vesicles from mouse embryos affect IL-10 production by CD8+ cells

Earlier evidence suggests, that the embryo signals to the maternal immune system. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are produced by all types of cells, and because they transport different kinds of molecules from one cell to the other, they can be considered as means of intercellular communication. The aim of this work was to test, whether the embryo is able to produce sufficient amounts of EVs to alter the function of peripheral lymphocytes. Embryo-derived EVs were identified by their Annexin V biding capacity, and sensitivity to Triton X dependent lysis, using flow cytometry. Transmission electron microscopy was used to detect EVs at the implantation site. Progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF) expression in embryo-derived EVs was demonstrated with immuno-electron microscopy. The % of IL-10 + murine lymphocytes was determined by flow cytometry. EVs were present in embryo culture media, but not in empty media. Mouse embryo-derived EVs adhere to the surface of both CD4+ and CD8+ murine peripheral T lymphocytes, partly, via phosphatidylserine binding. The number of IL-10+ murine peripheral CD8+ cells increases in the presence of embryo-derived EVS, and this effect is counteracted by pre-treatment of EVs with an anti-PIBF antibody, suggesting that the embryo communicates with the maternal immune system via EVs

Synaptic Connections of the Neurokinin 1 Receptor-Like Immunoreactive Neurons in the Rat Medullary Dorsal Horn

The synaptic connections between neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor-like immunoreactive (LI) neurons and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-, glycine (Gly)-, serotonin (5-HT)- or dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DBH, a specific marker for norepinephrinergic neuronal structures)-LI axon terminals in the rat medullary dorsal horn (MDH) were examined under electron microscope by using a pre-embedding immunohistochemical double-staining technique. NK1 receptor-LI neurons were observed principally in laminae I and III, only a few of them were found in lamina II of the MDH. GABA-, Gly-, 5-HT-, or DBH-LI axon terminals were densely encountered in laminae I and II, and sparsely in lamina III of the MDH. Some of these GABA-, Gly-, 5-HT-, or DBH-LI axon terminals were observed to make principally symmetric synapses with NK1 receptor-LI neuronal cell bodies and dendritic processes in laminae I, II and III of the MDH. The present results suggest that neurons expressing NK1 receptor within the MDH might be modulated by GABAergic and glycinergic inhibitory intrinsic neurons located in the MDH and 5-HT- or norepinephrine (NE)-containing descending fibers originated from structures in the brainstem

Structural Analysis of Prolyl Oligopeptidases Using Molecular Docking and Dynamics: Insights into Conformational Changes and Ligand Binding

Prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) is considered as an important pharmaceutical target for the treatment of numerous diseases. Despite enormous studies on various aspects of POPs structure and function still some of the questions are intriguing like conformational dynamics of the protein and interplay between ligand entry/egress. Here, we have used molecular modeling and docking based approaches to unravel questions like differences in ligand binding affinities in three POP species (porcine, human and A. thaliana). Despite high sequence and structural similarity, they possess different affinities for the ligands. Interestingly, human POP was found to be more specific, selective and incapable of binding to a few planar ligands which showed extrapolation of porcine POP in human context is more complicated. Possible routes for substrate entry and product egress were also investigated by detailed analyses of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for the three proteins. Trajectory analysis of bound and unbound forms of three species showed differences in conformational dynamics, especially variations in β-propeller pore size, which was found to be hidden by five lysine residues present on blades one and seven. During simulation, β-propeller pore size was increased by ∼2 Å in porcine ligand-bound form which might act as a passage for smaller product movement as free energy barrier was reduced, while there were no significant changes in human and A. thaliana POPs. We also suggest that these differences in pore size could lead to fundamental differences in mode of product egress among three species. This analysis also showed some functionally important residues which can be used further for in vitro mutagenesis and inhibitor design. This study can help us in better understanding of the etiology of POPs in several neurodegenerative diseases