Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria: past, present and future

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is part of an effective disease management (1) , because if not treated malaria can quickly become life-threatening, whereas false positives increase treatment costs and drug-induced resistance, giving a wrong idea of therapeutic efficacy. Since the symptoms of malaria are nonspecific, the observation of clinical features alone might not be enough and should be confirmed with a parasitological analysis. Microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained thin and/or thick blood smears remains the conventional approach for diagnosis (2). The sensitivity of this relatively inexpensive method is excellent, allowing the detection of as few as 5 parasites per µL of blood, and permitting also the determination of the infecting species and of the developmental stage of circulating parasites. In addition, smears provide a permanent record for quality assessment of the diagnosis. However, microscopy requires considerable expertise learned through extended training, the procedure is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and the variability in stains and in techniques used to collect and process blood affects slide interpretation (3). Finally, routine clinical microscopy cannot reliably detect very low parasitemias (<5 parasites/µL) or sequestered parasites, and mixed infections are often missed, especially when Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale are present, as their densities are often low relative to Plasmodium falciparum

Polyamidoamine nanoparticles as nanocarriers for the drug delivery to malaria parasite stages in the mosquito vector

Malaria is arguably one of the main medical concerns worldwide because of the numbers of people affected, the severity of the disease and the complexity of the life cycle of its causative agent, the protist Plasmodium spp. With the advent of nanoscience, renewed hopes have appeared of finally obtaining the long sought-after magic bullet against malaria in the form of a nanovector for the targeted delivery of antimalarial compounds exclusively to Plasmodium-infected cells, thus increasing drug efficacy and minimizing the induction of resistance to newly developed therapeutic agents. Polyamidoamine-derived nanovectors combine into a single chemical structure drug encapsulating capacity, antimalarial activity, low unspecific toxicity, specific targeting to Plasmodium, optimal in vivo activity and affordable synthesis cost. After having shown their efficacy in targeting drugs to intraerythrocytic parasites, now polyamidoamines face the challenge of spearheading a new generation of nanocarriers aiming at the malaria parasite stages in the mosquito vector

Brain Lipids in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes severe and progressive cognitive impairment. The discovery of specific mutations related to AD supported the amyloid cascade hypothesis, which postulates that the accumulation of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide triggers neuronal death and dementia. However, most drugs that aim to prevent Aβ accumulation or tau phosphorylation have consistently failed in clinical trials. This would suggest that the amyloid pathology lies downstream of (an)other cellular event(s) that is/are responsible for AD pathogenesis. In this context, several lipid alterations have been described in the brain and in peripheral fluids of patients with AD, suggesting the involvement of lipids in the etiology of this condition. Indeed, the central nervous system (CNS) has the highest lipid content in the body, next to adipose tissue, and it is thought that normalization of brain membrane lipid levels would revert AD-related pathogenic events. In this sense, novel hydroxylated derivatives of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) such as natural resolvins or synthetic hydroxy-DHA (HDHA, DHALifort) can modulate membrane lipid composition and show remarkable beneficial effects on AD hallmarks, such as prevention of amyloid production and tau phosphorylation, and cognitive restoration in animal models. Therefore, normalization of the neuronal lipid environment by hydroxyl-DHA and/or other lipids may constitute a promising therapy for AD treatment, memory loss and, possibly, other types of dementia

Nanotribology Results Show that DNA Forms a Mechanically Resistant 2D Network in Metaphase Chromatin Plates

AbstractIn a previous study, we found that metaphase chromosomes are formed by thin plates, and here we have applied atomic force microscopy (AFM) and friction force measurements at the nanoscale (nanotribology) to analyze the properties of these planar structures in aqueous media at room temperature. Our results show that high concentrations of NaCl and EDTA and extensive digestion with protease and nuclease enzymes cause plate denaturation. Nanotribology studies show that native plates under structuring conditions (5 mM Mg2+) have a relatively high friction coefficient (μ ≈ 0.3), which is markedly reduced when high concentrations of NaCl or EDTA are added (μ ≈ 0.1). This lubricant effect can be interpreted considering the electrostatic repulsion between DNA phosphate groups and the AFM tip. Protease digestion increases the friction coefficient (μ ≈ 0.5), but the highest friction is observed when DNA is cleaved by micrococcal nuclease (μ ≈ 0.9), indicating that DNA is the main structural element of plates. Whereas nuclease-digested plates are irreversibly damaged after the friction measurement, native plates can absorb kinetic energy from the AFM tip without suffering any damage. These results suggest that plates are formed by a flexible and mechanically resistant two-dimensional network which allows the safe storage of DNA during mitosis

Heparin: New life for an old drug

© 2017 Future Medicine Ltd. Heparin is one of the oldest drugs, which nevertheless remains in widespread clinical use as an inhibitor of blood coagulation. The history of its identification a century ago unfolded amid one of the most fascinating scientific controversies turning around the distribution of credit for its discovery. The composition, purification and structure-function relationship of this naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan regarding its classical role as anticoagulant will be dealt with before proceeding to discuss its therapeutic potential in, among other, inflammatory and infectious disease, cancer treatment, cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's disease. The first bibliographic reference hit using the words 'nanomedicine' and 'heparin' is as recent as 2008. Since then, nanomedical applications of heparin have experienced an exponential growth that will be discussed in detail, with particular emphasis on its antimalarial activity. Some of the most intriguing potential applications of heparin nanomedicines will be exposed, such as those contemplating the delivery of drugs to the mosquito stages of malaria parasites

Probing single biomolecules with atomic force microscopy

Fritz J, Anselmetti D, Jarchow J, Fernandez-Busquets X. Probing single biomolecules with atomic force microscopy. Journal of structural biology. 1997;119(2):165-171.During the last years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has developed from a microscopy tool for solid state surface science towards a method employed in many scientific disciplines such as biology to investigate individual molecules on a nanometer scale. This article describes the current status of the imaging possibilities of AFM on RNA, IgG and gold-labelled cell adhesion molecules, as well as of measurements of intermolecular binding forces between biomolecules in order to investigate their molecular structure, function and elasticity

Straightforward synthesis of cyclic and bicyclic peptides

Cyclic peptide architectures can be easily synthesized from cysteine-containing peptides with appending maleimides, free or protected, through an intramolecular Michael-type reaction. After peptide assembly, the peptide can cyclize either during the trifluoroacetic acid treatment, if the maleimide is not protected, or upon deprotection of the maleimide. The combination of free and protected maleimide moieties and two orthogonally protected cysteines gives access to structurally different bicyclic peptides with isolated or fused cycles