Neural Differentiation of Wisdom Tooth Follicle Stem Cells on a Nano-Hydrogel Scaffold Containing Salvia Chloroleucat to Treat Nerve injury in the Cancer of Nervous System

The human third molar’s follicle is one of the sources of stem cells with high differentiation capacities which can be used in nervous system cancer treatment particularly in nerve damge. The purpose of this research was to identify the effects of the aqueous extract of Salvia chloroleuca on the differentiation of the human dental follicle-derived mesenchymal stem cells to neural cells for treti. In this experimental study, the method of culture of digested tissue fragments was used to isolate stem cells from three samples of the extracted wisdom teeth follicles. The nano-hyaluronic acid scaffold has been synthesized by the sol-gel method as a porous composite and the S. chloroleuca extract has been loaded into it. The scaffold was analyzed in terms of mechanical properties, drug release and toxicity. Afterwards, the cells were seeded onto the scaffold using the immersion method. After 21 days, cell differentiation was investigated by morphological confirmation methods and confirming the expression of β-tubulin and MAP2 genes at mRNA and protein levels. Morphological assessment revealed neural differentiation in the cells of the groups of nano-hyaluronic acid scaffold with S. chloroleuca extract and nano-hyaluronic acid scaffold with S. chloroleuca extract + 10% retinoic acid. Furthermore, the expression of MAP2 and β-tubulin in these groups was confirmed by RT-PCR, real time PCR and western blot assays. The results of this research showed that the follicle of the third molar contains stem cells with a high capacity for differentiation. Moreover, the extract of S. chloroleuca, could lead to induction of neural differentiation in stem cells.     

The distribution of infection with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Propionibacterium acnes</Emphasis> is equal in patients with cervical and lumbar disc herniation

Background

Cervical and back pains are important clinical problems affecting human populations globally. It is suggested that Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is associated with disc herniation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the distribution of P. acnes infection in the cervical and lumbar disc material obtained from patients with disc herniation.

Methods and material

A total of 145 patients with mean age of 45.21 ± 11.24 years who underwent micro-discectomy in cervical and lumbar regions were enrolled into the study. The samples were excited during the operation and then cultured in the anaerobic incubations. The cultured P. acnes were detected by 16S rRNA-based polymerase chain reaction.

Results

In this study, 145 patients including 25 cases with cervical and 120 cases with lumbar disc herniation were enrolled to the study. There was no significant difference in the age of male and female patients (p = 0.123). P. acnes infection was detected in nine patients (36%) with cervical disc herniation and 46 patients (38.3%) with lumbar disc herniation and no significant differences were reported in P. acnes presence according to the disc regions (p = 0.508.). Moreover, there was a significant difference in the presence of P. acnes infection according to the level of lumbar disc herniation (p = 0.028).

Conclusion

According to the results, the presence of P. acnes is equal in patients with cervical and lumbar disc herniation. There was a significant difference in the distribution of P. acnes infection according to level of lumbar disc herniation.

Level of Evidence

II

     

Aloe vera as an herbal medicine in the treatment of metabolic syndrome: A review

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a highly prevalent health problem worldwide and is associated with different risk factors, including hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity. This condition increases the risk of developing type II diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular problems. The MS is one of the most important health concerns in industrialized countries and mainly results from a sedentary lifestyle, high levels of subjective stress, and unhealthy diets. Nowadays, the identification of appropriate health care approaches, such as herbal medicines, with fewer side effects is more favorable, especially with regard to the adverse effects of chemical drugs. Aloe barbadensis Miller known as Aloe vera is a useful plant with two major parts, including leaves that contain high concentrations of anthraquinone compounds and a clear gel. The gel is used as a food with several beneficial properties, such as antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and wound‐healing features. Other effects of A. vera, such as its lipid‐lowering, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antiobesity, and cardioprotective impacts, have been demonstrated in several studies. The present study was conducted to review the evidence on the pharmacological effects of A. vera on the different components of MS.     

Silver nanoparticle exposure in pregnant rats increases gene expression of tyrosine hydroxylase and monoamine oxidase in offspring brain

Context: Maternal exposure to silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) affects neurobehavioral reflexes and spatial memory formation in offspring. Although the transmission of AgNPs into the brain has been reported, its toxic effect on dopamine metabolism in the brain of offspring has not been studied so far. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) genes in the brain of offspring exposed in utero to various concentrations of AgNPs. Materials and methods: Time mated pregnant adult rats were assigned into three groups including control, low dose of AgNPs (0.2?mg/kg) and high dose of AgNPs (2?mg/kg). AgNPs were subcutaneously (SC) injected at days of 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 19 of pregnancy. Gene expression of TH and MAO-A was analyzed in the brain of offspring (male and female) at days of 1, 7, 14 and 21 after birth. Results: Administration of AgNPs to pregnant rats in a time- and dose-dependent manner increased the expression levels of TH in the brain of male and female pups at all tested days after birth (p?p?Discussion and conclusions: Results obtained here demonstrated that the exposure of pregnant rats to AgNPs increases the expression of genes involved in dopamine metabolism in the brain of offspring.     

The role of 5-HT(3) receptors in the additive anticonvulsant effects of citalopram and morphine on pentylenetetrazole-induced clonic seizures in mice

Citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), is frequently used in the treatment of major depressive disorders. In addition to its antidepressant features, citalopram shows some anticonvulsive properties at lower doses, whereas higher doses, ingested in cases of suicide, have been associated with seizures. Moreover, some reports support the enhancing effect of morphine on different responses of SSRIs such as analgesic and anticonvulsant properties. Although the exact mechanisms of these additive effects are not yet fully understood, 5-HT(3) receptor has recently been shown to play an important role in the central effects of SSRIs and morphine. In this regard, we used a model of clonic seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in male NMRI mice to investigate whether morphine and citalopram exhibit additive anticonvulsant effects and, if so, whether this effect is mediated through modulation of 5-HT(3) receptors. In our study, citalopram at lower doses (0.5 and 1 mg/kg, ip) significantly increased the seizure threshold (P<0.01) and at a higher dose (50 mg/kg) had proconvulsive effects. Moreover, morphine at low and noneffective doses had additive effects on the anticonvulsive properties of citalopram. This additive effect was prevented by pretreatment with low and noneffective doses of tropisetron (a 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist) and augmented by 1-(m-chlorophenyl)-biguanide (mCPBG, a 5-HT(3) receptor agonist). Moreover, low doses of morphine (0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg) alone or in combination with potent doses of 5-HT(3) receptor agonist or antagonist could not alter the proconvulsive properties of citalopram at higher dose (50 mg/kg), ruling out the contribution of 5-HT(3) to this effect. In summary, our findings demonstrate that 5-HT(3) receptor mediates the additive anticonvulsant properties of morphine and low-dose citalopram. This could constitute a new approach to augmenting the efficacy and curtailing the adverse effects of citalopram.     

Hysteroscopic sterilization in an immunosuppressed patient

Essure sterilization produces a local benign tissue response resulting in bilateral occlusion of the fallopian tubes 3 months after insertion. There is a precautionary warning about performing this procedure on immunosuppressed patients. We present a case of successful bilateral tubal occlusion with Essure in a patient with a history of kidney transplantation and receiving immunosuppressive medications.     

Fast and nonuniform dynamics of perisaccadic vision in the central fovea

Humans use rapid eye movements (saccades) to inspect stimuli with the foveola, the region of the retina where receptors are most densely packed. It is well established that visual sensitivity is generally attenuated during these movements, a phenomenon known as saccadic suppression. This effect is commonly studied with large, often peripheral, stimuli presented during instructed saccades. However, little is known about how saccades modulate the foveola and how the resulting dynamics unfold during natural visual exploration. Here we measured the foveal dynamics of saccadic suppression in a naturalistic high-acuity task, a task designed after primates’ social grooming, which—like most explorations of fine patterns—primarily elicits minute saccades (microsaccades). Leveraging on recent advances in gaze-contingent display control, we were able to systematically map the perisaccadic time course of sensitivity across the foveola. We show that contrast sensitivity is not uniform across this region and that both the extent and dynamics of saccadic suppression vary within the foveola. Suppression is stronger and faster in the most central portion, where sensitivity is generally higher and selectively rebounds at the onset of a new fixation. These results shed light on the modulations experienced by foveal vision during the saccade-fixation cycle and explain some of the benefits of microsaccades.

Human vision is not uniform across space. While the retina collects information from a broad field, only a minuscule fraction—less than 0.01%—is examined at high resolution. This is the area covered by the foveola, the region void of rods and capillaries, where cones are most densely packed. Because of this organization, rapid eye movements, known as saccades, are necessary to redirect gaze toward the objects of interest, abruptly translating the image across the retina every few hundreds of milliseconds. It is remarkable that the visual system appears unperturbed by these sudden visual transitions and seamlessly integrates fixations into a stable representation of the visual scene.It has long been observed that visual sensitivity is transiently attenuated around the time of saccades, a phenomenon believed to play a role in perceptually suppressing retinal image motion during eye movements. This effect, known as “saccadic suppression”, consists of the elevation of contrast thresholds to briefly flashed stimuli, which precedes the initiation of the saccade and outlasts it by as much as 100 ms (1–5). Saccadic suppression is typically investigated with stimuli that cover large portions of the visual field, often in the periphery. However, limitations in the precision of stimulus delivery, both spatial and temporal, have so far prevented mapping of the saccade-induced dynamics of visibility within the foveola. Thus, despite the disproportionate importance of foveal vision, little is currently known about its time course around the time of saccades.Studies on saccadic suppression also commonly focus on large saccades under well-controlled, but artificial, laboratory conditions. However, an examination of the time course of foveal vision needs to take into account that natural execution of high-acuity tasks—the tasks that require foveal vision—normally tends to elicit saccades with very small amplitudes (6). Microsaccades, gaze shifts so small that the attended stimulus remains within the foveola, are the most frequent saccades when examining a distant face (7), threading a needle (8), or reading fine print (9), tasks in which they shift the line of sight with surprising precision. Because of their minute amplitudes, microsaccades pose specific challenges to the mechanisms traditionally held responsible for saccadic suppression (10–19). These movements yield broadly overlapping pre- and postsaccadic images within the fovea, which would appear to provide little masking in visual stimulation (20). They also result in reduced retinal smear (21), as they rotate the eye at much lower speeds than larger saccades, delivering luminance modulations that are well within the range of human temporal sensitivity. Furthermore, it is unknown whether possible corollary discharges associated with microsaccades exert similar effects to those of their larger counterparts (22).Despite these observations, microsaccades have been found to suppress sensitivity to relatively large test stimuli (23–25). However, the only two studies that specifically examined foveal vision during microsaccades reached diametrically opposite conclusions, with one arguing for a normal reduction in sensitivity (26) and the other for a complete lack of suppression (27), leaving open the question of whether suppression extends to the foveola. While several factors could have been responsible for these discrepant results, two important considerations are worth emphasizing. First, selectively testing foveal dynamics is technically challenging, since the entire foveola is comparable in size to the region of uncertainty in gaze localization resulting from standard eye-tracking methods. Second, the common intuition gained by conceptualizing the visual signals delivered by saccades as uniform—i.e., constant-velocity—translations of the image on the retina (28) does not apply well to microsaccades, whose relatively brief durations and well-defined dynamics yield substantially lower power on the retina than predicted by a uniform translation (29). Thus, even a moderate suppression may be sufficient to prevent visibility of stationary scenes during small saccades.Recent advances in methods for gaze-contingent display control now enable determination of the line of sight with accuracy sufficient to selectively test a desired foveal region during normal eye movements. Leveraging on these recent advances, here we mapped the perisaccadic dynamics of contrast sensitivity across the foveola during natural visual exploration. We developed a gaze-contingent high-acuity task that resembles primate social grooming, a task that very naturally integrates visual search and detection of brief stimuli and that spontaneously elicits frequent microsaccades, and presented probes at desired retinal locations with high spatial and temporal resolution. Our results show that microsaccades are accompanied by an elevation of visual thresholds at the center of gaze that starts before the initiation of the movement but dissipates very rapidly as the saccade ends. The extent and dynamics of this suppression vary with eccentricity across the foveola, so that a stronger modulation occurs in the most central region, where vision is selectively enhanced after a saccade.