Influence of the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis 14-3-3 and gp43 proteins on the induction of apoptosis in A549 epithelial cells

The fungal strain Paracoccidioides brasiliensis remains viable inside of epithelial cells and can induce apoptosis in this population. However, until now, the molecules that participate in this process remained unknown. Thus, this study evaluated the contribution of two P. brasiliensis molecules, the 14-3-3 and glycoprotein of 43 kDa proteins, which had been previously described as extracellular matrix adhesins and apoptosis inductors in human pneumocytes. Accordingly, epithelial cells were treated with these molecules for different periods of time and the expression of the apoptosis regulating-proteins Bak, Bax, Bcl-2, p53 and caspases were evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling, flow cytometry and real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Our results demonstrated that treatment with these molecules induces apoptosis signalling in pulmonary epithelial cells, showing the same pattern of programmed cell-death as that observed during infection with P. brasiliensis. Thus, we could conclude that P. brasiliensis uses these molecules as virulence factors that participate not only in the fungal adhesion process to host cells, but also in other important cellular mechanisms such as apoptosis.

O coração irritável nos discursos médicos anglo-americanos no fim do século XIX / Irritable heart syndrome in Anglo-American medical thought at the end of the nineteenth century

Investiga o estatuto e as condições de emergência da categoria nosológica de síndrome do coração irritável presente nos discursos médicos anglo-americanos na segunda metade do século XIX. No contexto da Guerra Civil Americana, examina elementos sócio-históricos que configuraram a atenção médica sobre os sintomas de ordem cardíaca de soldados. Destacam-se os valores morais de médicos-militares frente aos sintomas de medo em combatentes, assim como as hipóteses etiológicas britânicas e norte-americanas que consolidaram o estatuto nosológico do sofrimento dos soldados com palpitações. Propõe análise da especificidade da síndrome do coração irritável frente às categorias nosológicas do medo descritas pela nosologia psiquiátrica atual.

This paper examines the characteristics and the conditions for the emergence of the nosological category known as irritable heart syndrome to be found in Anglo-American medical literature in the second half of the nineteenth century. In the context of the American Civil War, it looks at some of the socio-historical elements, which comprised the medical care given to certain cardiac symptoms shown by soldiers. It emphasizes the moral values influencing the medical attitudes of military physicians towards symptoms of fear experienced by combatants, as well as the British and American etiological theories, which contributed to the nosological characterization of the suffering of soldiers afflicted with palpitations. Finally, it offers a brief analysis of the specific nature of the medical category known as irritable heart syndrome in the light of the categories of fear described by current psychiatric nosology.