Connect between gut microbiome and diseases of the human eye

Implicating dysbiosis of gut microbiome in digestive tract diseases/diet-related diseases (obesity, inflammatory boweldisease, enterocolitis, diabetes, etc.) may be expected. However, when gut microbiome dysbiosis is implicated in extraintestinal diseases like cancers, muscular dystrophy, mental disorders, vaginosis, etc., it is all the more challenging. Anadditional challenge would be to ascertain the role of gut microbiome in ocular diseases, which are as remote as the brain.The present review highlights studies that establish the connect between gut microbiome dysbiosis and inflammatory oculardiseases such as uveitis, bacterial keratitis, fungal keratitis, etc.

Proteins implicated in sperm capacitation.

Spermatozoa after being deposited in the female reproductive tract spend a considerable time in this foreign environment prior to fertilization of the oocyte. Chang and Austin independently observed1,2 that this time spent by the spermatozoa in the female tract is not consequential but a necessary event in the life cycle of the male gamete, and Austin2 first called this maturation period of spermatozoa as 'Capacitation'. Ever since, attempts have been made to understand and unravel the molecular mechanism of capacitation. Based on the results obtained so far, it is clear that capacitation is guided by novel signal transduction pathways influencing varied aspects of spermatozoa. Capacitation could be, thus, defined as the cumulative molecular, cellular and physiological changes that occur in spermatozoa in the female reproductive tract to achieve the final competence to fertilize the oocyte. This review is structured so as to first understand the key features of capacitation and then to survey the players which bring about these changes during capacitation.

Conservation of wild animals by assisted reproduction and molecular marker technology.

Wild animals are an integral component of the ecosystem. Their decimation due to abrupt natural calamities or due to gradual human intervention would be disastrous to the ecosystem and would alter the balance in nature between various biotic components. Such an imbalance could have an adverse effect on the ecosystem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to put an end to the ever increasing list of endangered species by undertaking both in situ and ex situ conservation using tools of modern biology, to ascertain the degree of genetic variation and reproductive competence in these animals. This review highlights the development and use of molecular markers such as microsatellites, minisatellites, mitochondrial control region, cytochrome b and MHC loci to assess the genetic variation in various Indian wild animals such as the lion, tiger, leopard and deer. The review also presents data on the semen profile of the big cats of India. Reproductive technologies such as cryopreservation of semen and artificial insemination in big cats are also highlighted.

HPLC analysis of closed, open, and reflex eye tear proteins.

Changes in the closed, open and reflex eye tear proteins of normal subjects were compared and analysed. Tear proteins were resolved by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) utilising both gel filtration (P-300 SW) and reverse-phase (C-18) columns and the HPLC fractions were further analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reducing and non-reducing conditions. The protein composition of the closed-eye tear was significantly different from that of the open and reflex-eye tear. Secretory IgA (sIgA) was the predominant protein in closed eye tears constituting 49% of the total protein compared to 11% in reflex tears, whereas lysozyme was the predominant protein (53%) in reflex tears. Levels of lactoferrin, lipocalin and lysozyme were relatively constant in both open and reflex tears. HPLC profiles of the closed-eye tears, upon continuous stimulation of lacrimal glands indicated that sIgA was significantly reduced whereas lactoferrin, lipocalin, and lysozyme were significantly increased. These results indicate that the tear composition upon waking attains that of the open eye within 4 to 5 minutes, and upon continuous stimulation this reflects the reflex-eye tear composition. It also indicates that mechanisms responsible for changes in concentration of constitutive and regulated tear protein with stimulus can be studied successfully using non-invasive methods to collect human tears.