Delayed onset, immunomodulation, and lifespan improvement of SOD1G93A mice after intravenous injection of human mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective and progressive loss of motor neurons from the spinal cord, brain stem, and motor cortex. Although the hallmark of ALS is motor neuron degeneration, astrocytes, microglia, and T cells actively participate. Pharmacological treatment with riluzole has little effect on the lifespan of the patient. Thus, the development of new therapeutic strategies is of utmost importance. The objective of this study was to verify whether human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) from adipose tissue have therapeutic potential in SOD1G93A transgenic mice. The treatment was carried out in the asymptomatic phase of the disease (10th week) by a single systemic application of ad-hMSCs (1 ×105 cells). The animals were sacrificed at the 14th week (the initial stage of symptoms) or the end-stage (ES) of the disease. The lumbar spinal cords were dissected and processed for Nissl staining (neuronal survival), immunohistochemistry (gliosis and synaptic preservation), and gene transcript expression (qRT-PCR). Behavioral analyses considering the onset of disease and its progression, neurological score, body weight, and motor control (rotarod test) started on the 10th week and were performed every three days until the ES of the disease. The results revealed that treatment with ad-hMSCs promoted greater neuronal survival (44%) than vehicle treatment. However, no effect was seen at the ES of the disease. Better structural preservation of the ventral horn in animals treated with ad-hMSCs was observed, together with decreased gliosis and greater synapse protection. In line with this, we found that the transcript levels of Hgf1 were upregulated in ad-hMSCs-treated mice. These results corroborate the behavioral data showing that ad-hMSCs had delayed motor deficits and reduced weight loss compared to vehicle animals. Additionally, cell therapy delayed the course of the disease and significantly improved survival by 20 days. Overall, our results indicate that treatment with ad-hMSCs has beneficial effects, enhancing neuronal survival and promoting a less degenerative neuronal microenvironment. Thus, this may be a potential therapy to improve the quality of life and to extend the lifespan of ALS patients.

Can the leaf age influence the susceptibility to bacterial-leaf-spot and bacterial-halo-blight on coffee seedlings? / A idade das folhas pode influenciar na suscetibilidade de cafeeiros à macha-foliar-bacteriana e à mancha-aureolada?

Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causes yield losses in innumerous economic important crops. On coffee trees, P. syringae pv. garcae causes the bacterial-halo-blight (BHB) and P. syringae pv. tabaci the bacterial-leaf-spot (BLS). Recently, these diseases incidence has increase in occurrence areas and aggressiveness in Brazil. Although leaf age plays a role in the severity response of BHB, it is not known yet if this phenomenon also occurs in coffee-BLS interaction, and with highly virulent strains. So, we examined differences in the diseases severity by inoculation of P. syringae pv. garcae and P. syringae pv. tabaci strains on coffee leaves with different ages, to compare this aspect with coffee-BLS interaction. Our results showed that, for both pathovars, the severity was greater at the first internodes leaves, although for the most aggressive strains it was quite similar on any leaf age.(AU)

Bactérias da espécie Pseudomonas syringae van Hall, 1902, causam perdas na produção em inúmeras culturas de importância econômica. Em cafeeiros, P. syringae pv. garcae provoca a mancha-aureolada e P. syringae pv. tabaci ocasiona a mancha-foliar-bacteriana, doenças cuja ocorrência e agressividade têm aumentado nos últimos anos no Brasil. Embora a idade das folhas influencie na expressão da severidade de mancha-aureolada, não se sabe ainda se essa influência se mantém em plantas infectadas por estirpes altamente virulentas da bactéria. Desse modo, o presente estudo foi realizado com a finalidade de examinar diferenças na severidade de mancha-aureolada em folhas de cafeeiro com diferentes idades, bem como estudar comparativamente tais aspectos na interação entre cafeeiro e mancha-foliar-bacteriana, empregando-se isolados altamente virulentos. Os resultados evidenciaram que, assim como a mancha-aureolada, a severidade da mancha-bacteriana também é maior em folhas jovens do primeiro internódio, entretanto, as estirpes mais agressivas de P. syringae pv. garcae e P. syringae pv. tabaci provocaram danos de magnitude semelhantes em folhas de diferentes idades, do primeiro ao quinto internódio.(AU)