ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The ketogenic diet has long been used to treat epilepsy, but its mechanism is not yet clearly understood. To explore the potential mechanism, we analyzed the changes in gene expression induced by the ketogenic diet in the rat kainic acid (KA) epilepsy model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: KA-administered rats were fed the ketogenic diet or a normal diet for 4 weeks, and microarray analysis was performed with their brain tissues. The effects of the ketogenic diet on cathepsin E messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression were analyzed in KA-administered and normal saline-administered groups with semi-quantitative and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Brain tissues were dissected into 8 regions to compare differential effects of the ketogenic diet on cathepsin E mRNA expression. Immunohistochemistry with an anti-cathepsin E antibody was performed on slides of hippocampus obtained from whole brain paraffin blocks. RESULTS: The microarray data and subsequent RT-PCR experiments showed that KA increased the mRNA expression of cathepsin E, known to be related to neuronal cell death, in most brain areas except the brain stem, and these increases of cathepsin E mRNA expression were suppressed by the ketogenic diet. The expression of cathepsin E mRNA in the control group, however, was not significantly affected by the ketogenic diet. The change in cathepsin E mRNA expression was greatest in the hippocampus. The protein level of cathepsin E in the hippocampus of KA-administered rat was elevated in immunohistochemistry and the ketogenic diet suppressed this increase. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that KA administration increased cathepsin E expression in the rat brain and its increase was suppressed by the ketogenic diet.
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Rats , 3-Hydroxybutyric Acid/blood , Cathepsin E/genetics , Enzyme Activators/pharmacology , Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic/drug effects , Hippocampus/drug effects , Immunohistochemistry , Kainic Acid/pharmacology , Diet, Ketogenic , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
Three hundred and sixty five samples of avian droppings, collected from parks and zoo, were investigated for the occurrence of Cryptococcus neoformans in Korea. Thirteen samples were positive for C. neoformans. All isolates were obtained from withered pigeon droppings. Identification and serotyping of isolates were determined by means of serological test and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting. All isolates belonged to C. neoformans var. grubbi (serotype A).
Subject(s)
Columbidae , Cryptococcus neoformans , Cryptococcus , Dermatoglyphics , Korea , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Serologic Tests , SerotypingABSTRACT
Genetic relatedness of medically important Exophiala species such as E. dermatitidis, E. mansonii, and three E. jeanselmei varieties: jeanselmei, lecanii-corni, and heteromorpha was examined using PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) of ribosomal DNA, M-13, (GTG)5, and nucleotide sequences of ribosomal ITS (internal transcribed space) II regions. Three E. jeanselmei varieties showing distinct band patterns for each DNA markers as well as different nucleotide sequences of ribosomal ITS II regions could be considered as a separate species. E. dermatitidis and E. mansonii demonstrated the identical band patterns of RFLP of ribosomal DNA, M-13, and (GTG)5 markers. However, nucleotides sequences of ribosomal ITS II region were different between these two species.