Search

The removal of cationic methylene blue (MB) and anionic acid red 1 (AR1) dyes from aqueous solution was studied using cellulose-g-p(AA-co-AM) bio-adsorbent (CP bio-adsorbent). The CP bio-adsorbent with surface multiple functional groups and macroporous network structure was synthesized via grafting the acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) onto cellulose molecules. The adsorption behavior of the bio-adsorbent to dyes in the aqueous solution was studied. The effects of solution pH, temperature, initial dye concentration, and contact time on the adsorption capacity of the bio-adsorbent were investigated. Due to the abundant functional groups and macroporous network structure, the CP bioadsorbent exhibited remarkable adsorption performance for the removal of type dyes with an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 998 mg.g-1 for MB and 523 mg.g-1 for AR1. The kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption of dyes was exactly described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Comparison with other bio-adsorbents confirmed that the eco-friendly CP bio-adsorbent possessed excellent potential for water purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complicated interactions between genetic background, environment and lifestyle factors make it difficult to study the genetic basis of complex phenotypes, such as cognition and anxiety levels, in humans. However, environmental and other factors can be tightly controlled in mouse studies. The Collaborative Cross (CC) is a mouse genetic reference population whose common genetic and phenotypic diversity is on par with that of humans. Therefore, we leveraged the power of the CC to assess 52 behavioral measures associated with locomotor activity, anxiety level, learning and memory. This is the first application of the CC in novel object recognition tests, Morris water maze tasks, and fear conditioning tests. We found substantial continuous behavioral variations across the CC strains tested, and mapped six quantitative trait loci (QTLs) which influenced these traits, defining candidate genetic variants underlying these QTLs. Overall, our findings highlight the potential of the CC population in behavioral genetic research, while the identified genomic loci and genes driving the variation of relevant behavioral traits provide a foundation for further studies.

Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus Post-transcriptional Regulatory Element (WPRE) is thought to enhance transgene expression of target genes delivered by adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors. This study assessed the protein expression of α-synuclein, phosphorylated α-synuclein at Serine 129, extent of nigrostriatal degeneration as well as subsequent behavioral deficits induced by unilateral intranigral stereotactic injection in male adult C57BL/6J mice of an AAV2/9 expressing A53T human α-synuclein under the control of the synapsin promoter in presence or absence of the WPRE. The presence of WPRE enabled to achieve greater nigrostriatal degeneration and synucleinopathy which was concomitant with worsened forelimb use asymmetry. This work refines a mouse Parkinson's disease model in which anatomo-pathology is related to behavioral deficits.

Early-life neglect in critical developmental periods has been associated with emotional and cognitive consequences. Maternal separation (MS) has been commonly used as a rodent model to identify the developmental effects of child neglect. However, reports have shown considerable variability in behavioral results from MS studies in both mice and rats. Difficulties in developing reliable child neglect models have impeded advances in identifying the effects of early-life stress. Accumulating evidence shows that neuronal intrinsic excitability plays an important role in information processing and storage in the brain. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) integrates information from many cortical and subcortical structures. No studies to date have examined the impact of early-life stress on glutamatergic neuronal excitability in the PFC. This study aimed to develop a reliable child neglect rat model and observe glutamatergic neuronal excitability in the PFC. An MS with early weaning (MSEW) rat model was developed. Rats were separated from the dam for 4 h per day on postnatal days (PNDs) 2–5 and for 8 h per day on PNDs 6–16 and then weaned on PND 17. A battery of behavioral tests was used to assess anxiety-like behavior, coping behavior, working memory, spatial reference memory, and fear memory. The action potentials (APs) of glutamatergic neuronal membranes were recorded. MSEW resulted in anxiety-like behavior, a passive coping strategy and increased fear memory in male rats and decreased locomotor activity in both sexes. MSEW slightly impaired working memory during non-stressful situations in female rats but did not change spatial reference memory or associative learning under stressful circumstances in either sex. MSEW reduced the number of glutamatergic neuron APs in male rats. Our findings showed that MS with early weaning induced anxiety-like behavior in male rats. The reduced glutamatergic neuronal excitability may be associated with the emotional alteration induced by MSEW in male rats. In addition, MSEW induced adaptive modification, which depended on a non-stressful context.

Abstract Background Bupleurum yinchowense Shan et Y. Li is widely used to treat depressive and anxiety disorders for hundreds of years in China. Total saikosaponins (TSS) is the major ingredient of Bupleurum yinchowense. A-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor and subsequent mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is responsible for synaptic maturation and may contribution to the synaptic alteration underlying depression. The aim of the study was to investigate the antidepressant-like and anxiolytic effect of TSS in chronic corticosterone-treated mice. The effect of TSS on synaptic proteins expression and AMPA receptor-mTOR signaling pathway alteration was also evaluated. Methods Dose-response effect of TSS (12.5, 25, 50 mg/kg) was investigated in forced swim test (FST) in ICR male mice. In the chronic corticosterine-treated model, TSS was given intragastrically once a day for 2 weeks and continued through the behavior testing period. Behavior tests and AMPA receptor related signaling pathway were investigated. Results TSS (25 and 50 mg/kg) decreased the immobility time in the FST when compared with the control group. TSS (25 mg/kg) showed antidepressant-like and anxiolytic effects in the chronic corticosterone treatment model in mice. TSS increased hippocampal synaptic proteins (synapsin-1 and postsynaptic density protein 95) expression. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that TSS significantly increased the synapsin-1 expression in CA3 of hippocampus. TSS also increased hippocampal phosphorylation expression of GluR1 Ser 845 (AMPA receptor subunit) and its downstream regulators extracellular signaling-regulated kinase (ERK), protein kinase B (Akt) and mTOR. Conclusion TSS produces antidepressant-like and anxiolytic effects and increases synaptic proteins expression which may be mediated by induction of AMPA receptor and subsequent mTOR signaling pathway.

We define a generic multiplication in quantized Schur algebras and thus obtain a new algebra structure in the Schur algebras. We prove that via a modified version of the map from quantum groups to quantized Schur algebras, defined in (A. A. Beilinson, G. Lusztig and R. MacPherson, A geometric setting for the quantum deformation of GLn, Duke Math. J. 61 (1990), 655–677), a subalgebra of this new algebra is a quotient of the monoid algebra in Hall algebras studied in (M. Reineke, Generic extensions and multiplicative bases of quantum groups at q = 0, Represent. Theory 5 (2001), 147–163). We also prove that the subalgebra of the new algebra gives a geometric realization of a positive part of 0-Schur algebras, defined in (S. Donkin, The q-Schur Algebra, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 253. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998, x + 179. ISBN: 0-521-64558-1.). Consequently, we obtain a multiplicative basis for the positive part of 0-Schur algebras. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we use $A_{infty }$-modules to study the derived category of a finite dimensional algebra over an algebraically closed field. We study varieties parameterising $A_{infty }$-modules. These varieties carry an action of an algebraic group such that orbits correspond to quasi-isomorphism classes of complexes in the derived category. We describe orbit closures in these varieties, generalising a result of Zwara and Riedtmann for modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an earlier paper we defined a relation ≤Δ between objects of the derived category of bounded complexes of modules over a finite dimensional algebra over an algebraically closed field. This relation was shown to be equivalent to the topologically defined degeneration order in a certain space $comproj(A,\underline{d})$ for derived categories. This space was defined as a natural generalization of varieties for modules. We remark that this relation ≤Δ is defined for any triangulated category and show that under some finiteness assumptions on the triangulated category ≤Δ is always a partial order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitophagy plays a key role in cleaning damaged and depolarized mitochondria to maintain cellular homeostasis and viability. Although it was originally found in neurodegenerative diseases, mitophagy is reported to play an important role in acute kidney injury. PINK1 and Parkin are key molecules in mitophagy pathway. Here, we used PINK1 knockout rats to examine the role of PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy in cisplatin nephrotoxicity. After cisplatin treatment, PINK1 knockout rats showed lower plasma creatinine and less tubular damage when compared with wild-type rats. Meanwhile, mitophagy indicated by autophagosome formation and LC3B-II accumulation was also attenuated in PINK1 knockout rats. Renal expression of PINK1 and Parkin were down-regulated while BNIP3L was up-regulated by cisplatin treatment, indicating a major role of BNIP3/BNIP3L pathway in cisplatin-induced mitophagy. Transmission electron microscopy showed that PINK1 deficiency inhibited cisplatin-induced mitochondrial fragmentation indicating an involvement of mitochondrial fusion and fission. Renal expression of mitochondrial dynamics related proteins including Fis1, Drp1, Mfn1, Mfn2, and Opa1 were checked by real-time PCR and western blots. The results showed PINK1 deficiency distinctly prevented cisplatin-induced up-regulation of DRP1. Finally, PINK1 deficiency alleviated cisplatin-induced tubular apoptosis indicated by TUNEL assay as well as the expression of caspase3 and cleaved caspase3. Together, these results suggested PINK1 deficiency ameliorated cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury in rats, possibly via inhibiting DRP1-mediated mitochondrial fission and excessive mitophagy.

In this paper, we show that there is always an open adjoint orbit in the nilpotent radical of a seaweed Lie algebra in gln(k), thus answering positively in this gln(k) case to a question raised independently by Michel Duflo and Dmitri Panyushev. The proof gives an explicit construction, using Δ-filtered modules of quasi-hereditary algebras arising from quotients of the double of quivers of type A. An example of a seaweed Lie algebra in a simple Lie algebra of type E8 not admitting an open orbit in its nilpotent radical is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]