Plastiche e microplastiche: dal mare al piatto

Viviamo ormai in un mondo di plastica; moltissimi oggetti che usiamo tutti i giorni sono fatti di plastica. Il problema è che la plastica si degrada con molta difficoltà e, invece di essere correttamente riciclata e riutilizzata, viene spesso abbandonata nell’ambiente e finisce in mare. Le microplastiche, piccoli frammenti di plastica, possono essere ingerite dagli organismi acquatici e, attraverso la catena alimentare, possono arrivare direttamente nel nostro piatto. Spesso questi frammenti plastici accumulano e veicolano contaminanti chimici, tra cui gli interferenti endocrini, che possono alterare il sistema ormonale e avere effetti sulla salute degli animali, uomo incluso. Gli studi dei ricercatori si stanno focalizzando proprio per cercare di capire l’impatto delle microplastiche sulle singole cellule e sugli organismi interi

Cannabinoid Receptor Modulation of Neurogenesis: ST14A Striatal Neural Progenitor Cells as a Simplified In Vitro Model

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in the modulation of several basic biological processes, having widespread roles in neurodevelopment, neuromodulation, immune response, energy homeostasis and reproduction. In the adult central nervous system (CNS) the ECS mainly modulates neurotransmitter release, however, a substantial body of evidence has revealed a central role in regulating neurogenesis in developing and adult CNS, also under pathological conditions. Due to the complexity of investigating ECS functions in neural progenitors in vivo, we tested the suitability of the ST14A striatal neural progenitor cell line as a simplified in vitro model to dissect the role and the mechanisms of ECS-regulated neurogenesis, as well as to perform ECS-targeted pharmacological approaches. We report that ST14A cells express various ECS components, supporting the presence of an active ECS. While CB1 and CB2 receptor blockade did not affect ST14A cell number, exogenous administration of the endocannabinoid 2-AG and the synthetic CB2 agonist JWH133 increased ST14A cell proliferation. Phospholipase C (PLC), but not PI3K pharmacological blockade negatively modulated CB2-induced ST14A cell proliferation, suggesting that a PLC pathway is involved in the steps downstream to CB2 activation. On the basis of our results, we propose ST14A neural progenitor cells as a useful in vitro model for studying ECS modulation of neurogenesis, also in prospective in vivo pharmacological studies