ABSTRACT
The development of Schwann cells, the principal glial cell in the peripheral nervous system, occurs through a series of transitional embryonic and postnatal phases, which are tightly regulated by a number of axonal signals. During the axon ensheathment and myelin growth, the diameter of the axon play an important role in the maturation of Schwann cells. Because of electrospun fibers similar to protein fibers within the native extracellular matrix, the scaffolds are being developed as neural tissue engineering scaffolds. Until now, the correlation between varying diameter of aligned electrospun fibers and Schwann cells maturation has not been investigated. We hypothesize that the different diameter of aligned electrospun fibers may influence the maturation of Schwann cells and may help improve the outcome of cell-based approaches to cure demyelinated lesions or peripheral nerve regeneration.
Subject(s)
Peripheral Nerves/growth & development , Schwann Cells/physiology , Tissue Engineering/methods , Tissue Scaffolds/chemistry , Axons/ultrastructure , Extracellular Matrix/chemistry , HumansABSTRACT
Since 1910, rigid cystoscopy was first applied in the lateral ventricular choroid plexus cauterization for the treatment of congenital hydrocephalus, thus, opening up a new window in the endoscopic neurosurgery, but poor surgical outcome and high mortality made the application of endoscopic neurosurgery in question. Latterly, because of the appearance of new microscope and optical fiber endoscope, neuroendoscopy has been applied adequately in neurosurgery, with the increase of its clinical indications. Along with it, the concept of neuroendoscopy in surgery has changed, as well as the expansion of clinical indications. At present, neuroendoscopy technology has become a significant branch of modern neurosurgery.
ABSTRACT
In an attempt to combine the HIV-inhibitory capacity of different 2',3'-dideoxynucleoside (ddN) analogs, we have designed and synthesized several dimers of [AZT]-[AZT] and [AZT]-[d4T]. In addition, we also synthesized the dimers of 1-(1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)-1-deoxy-beta-D-ribofuranose. The in vitro anti-HIV activity of these compounds on a pseudotype virus, pNL4-3.Luc.R-E-, in the 293T cells has been determined. Among these compounds, 2,2'-(propane-1,3-diyl)bis[1-(beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-1H-benzimidazole] showed the highest anti-HIV activity with similar effect as AZT.
Subject(s)
Anti-HIV Agents/chemical synthesis , Benzimidazoles/chemistry , Benzimidazoles/chemical synthesis , Dideoxynucleosides/chemistry , Nucleosides/chemical synthesis , Anti-HIV Agents/chemistry , Anti-HIV Agents/pharmacology , Benzimidazoles/pharmacology , Cell Line , Dideoxynucleosides/chemical synthesis , Dideoxynucleosides/pharmacology , Dimerization , HIV Core Protein p24/metabolism , Humans , Nucleosides/chemistry , Nucleosides/pharmacology , Zidovudine/chemistryABSTRACT
The interaction between CT-DNA and the zinc phthalocyanine ZnPc (1) was studied by UV/VIS and fluorescence titration, as well as by thermal denaturation. ZnPc was found to strongly bind to CT-DNA (K(app)=7.35 x 10(5) M(-1)) in a non-intercalative mode. The photosensitized cleavage of pBR322 DNA was found to efficiently proceed via singlet-oxygen ((1)O(2)) production. Further, ZnPc (1) caused site-specific scission of guanine (G) bases around the bulge of the hairpin oligonucleotides OD1-OD3, as clearly shown by gel-electrophoresis experiments.