Lumican Extraction from Amniotic Membrane and Determination of its Storage Temperature.

Lumican is a small leucine-rich proteoglycan in the human amniotic membrane (AM) that promotes corneal epithelialization and the organization of collagen fibers, maintaining corneal transparency. In the present work, a method for protein extraction from AM to obtain lumican is proposed. Additionally, the stability of lumican in the AM extract (AME) stored at different temperatures and time periods is evaluated. 100 mg of AM were thawed and mechanical de-epithelialized. The de-epithelialized AM was frozen and crushed until a fine powder was obtained, which was solubilized with 2.5 mL of saline buffer with protease inhibitors and centrifuged for protein extraction. The supernatant was collected and stored at -20 °C, 4 °C, and room temperature (RT) for 6, 12, 20, and 32 days. Afterward, lumican was quantified in each AME. This technique allows an accessible and acquirable protocol for lumican extraction from AM. Lumican concentration was affected by storage time and temperature conditions. Lumican in the AME of 12 days stored at -20 °C and 4 °C was significantly higher than other AME. This lumican extraction could be useful for developing treatments and pharmaceutical solutions. Further studies are needed to determine the uses of AME lumican in re-epithelialization and wound healing process.

Design of a protocol for obtaining genomic DNA from saliva using mouthwash: Samples taken from patients with periodontal disease.

BACKGROUND: Obtaining high quality genomic DNA safely and economically is vital for diverse studies of large populations aimed at evaluating the role of genetic factors in susceptibility to disease. AIM: This study was to test a protocol for the extraction of high quality genomic DNA from saliva samples obtained with mouthwash and taken from patients with periodontal disease. METHODS: Saliva samples were taken from 60 patients and then stored at room temperature. DNA extraction was carried out at distinct post-sampling times (10, 20 and 30 days). Evaluation of genomic DNA was performed with spectrophotometry, electrophoresis, and PCR genotyping and sequencing. RESULTS: The greatest concentration of DNA obtained was 352 µg at 10 days post-sampling, followed by 121.025 µg and 19.59 µg at 20 and 30 days, respectively. When determining the purity of DNA with the spectrophotometric ratio of 260/230, the relations of 1.20, 1.40 and 0.781 were obtained for 10, 20 and 30 days, respectively. In all samples, it was possible to amplify the product of 485 bp and the sequence of the amplicons showed 95% similarity to the reference sequence. CONCLUSION: The present protocol represents an easy, safe and economical technique for obtaining high quality genomic DNA.