Neuroendocrine–immune disequilibrium and endometriosis: an interdisciplinary approach

Endometriosis, a chronic disease characterized by endometrial tissue located outside the uterine cavity, affects one fourth of young women and is associated with chronic pelvic pain and infertility. However, an in-depth understanding of the pathophysiology and effective treatment strategies of endometriosis is still largely elusive. Inadequate immune and neuroendocrine responses are significantly involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, and key findings are summarized in the present review. We discuss here the role of different immune mechanisms particularly adhesion molecules, protein–glycan interactions, and pro-angiogenic mediators in the development and progression of the disease. Finally, we introduce the concept of endometrial dissemination as result of a neuroendocrine-immune disequilibrium in response to high levels of perceived stress caused by cardinal clinical symptoms of endometriosis

An anatomically comprehensive atlas of the adult human brain transcriptome.

Neuroanatomically precise, genome-wide maps of transcript distributions are critical resources to complement genomic sequence data and to correlate functional and genetic brain architecture. Here we describe the generation and analysis of a transcriptional atlas of the adult human brain, comprising extensive histological analysis and comprehensive microarray profiling of ∼900 neuroanatomically precise subdivisions in two individuals. Transcriptional regulation varies enormously by anatomical location, with different regions and their constituent cell types displaying robust molecular signatures that are highly conserved between individuals. Analysis of differential gene expression and gene co-expression relationships demonstrates that brain-wide variation strongly reflects the distributions of major cell classes such as neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and microglia. Local neighbourhood relationships between fine anatomical subdivisions are associated with discrete neuronal subtypes and genes involved with synaptic transmission. The neocortex displays a relatively homogeneous transcriptional pattern, but with distinct features associated selectively with primary sensorimotor cortices and with enriched frontal lobe expression. Notably, the spatial topography of the neocortex is strongly reflected in its molecular topography-the closer two cortical regions, the more similar their transcriptomes. This freely accessible online data resource forms a high-resolution transcriptional baseline for neurogenetic studies of normal and abnormal human brain function

Fast and high resolution mapping of elastic properties of biomolecules and polymers with bimodal AFM

[EN] Fast, high resolution and wide elastic modulus range mapping of heterogeneous interfaces represents a major goal of atomic force microscopy (AFM). This goal becomes more challenging when the nanomechanical mapping involves biomolecules in their native environment. Over the years, several AFM-based methods have been developed to address that goal. However, none of those methods combine sub-nanometer spatial resolution, quantitative accuracy, fast data acquisition speed, wide elastic modulus range and operation in physiological solutions. Here we present detailed protocols to generate high resolution maps of the elastic properties of biomolecules and polymers by using bimodal AFM. The method is fast because the elastic modulus, deformation and topography images are obtained simultaneously. The method is efficient because just a single data point per pixel is needed to generate the above images. In addition, by knowing the deformation, bimodal AFM enables to reconstruct the true topography of the surface.European Research Council (ERC–AdG–340177; 3DNanoMech) and grants CSD201000024 and MAT2016-76507-R from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. This work received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 721874 (SPM2.0). We also acknowledge fellowships FPU15/04622 (C.A.A.) and BES-2017-081907 (V.G.G.) from the Ministerio de Educación.Peer reviewe