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Cell Reports Methods May 2024Organoids, self-organizing three-dimensional (3D) structures derived from stem cells, offer unique advantages for studying organ development, modeling diseases, and... (Review)
Review
Organoids, self-organizing three-dimensional (3D) structures derived from stem cells, offer unique advantages for studying organ development, modeling diseases, and screening potential therapeutics. However, their translational potential and ability to mimic complex in vivo functions are often hindered by the lack of an integrated vascular network. To address this critical limitation, bioengineering strategies are rapidly advancing to enable efficient vascularization of organoids. These methods encompass co-culturing organoids with various vascular cell types, co-culturing lineage-specific organoids with vascular organoids, co-differentiating stem cells into organ-specific and vascular lineages, using organoid-on-a-chip technology to integrate perfusable vasculature within organoids, and using 3D bioprinting to also create perfusable organoids. This review explores the field of organoid vascularization, examining the biological principles that inform bioengineering approaches. Additionally, this review envisions how the converging disciplines of stem cell biology, biomaterials, and advanced fabrication technologies will propel the creation of increasingly sophisticated organoid models, ultimately accelerating biomedical discoveries and innovations.
PubMed: 38759654
DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2024.100779 -
PloS One 2024White matter (WM) changes occur throughout the lifespan at a different rate for each developmental period. We aggregated 10879 structural MRIs and 6186...
White matter (WM) changes occur throughout the lifespan at a different rate for each developmental period. We aggregated 10879 structural MRIs and 6186 diffusion-weighted MRIs from participants between 2 weeks to 100 years of age. Age-related changes in gray matter and WM partial volumes and microstructural WM properties, both brain-wide and on 29 reconstructed tracts, were investigated as a function of biological sex and hemisphere, when appropriate. We investigated the curve fit that would best explain age-related differences by fitting linear, cubic, quadratic, and exponential models to macro and microstructural WM properties. Following the first steep increase in WM volume during infancy and childhood, the rate of development slows down in adulthood and decreases with aging. Similarly, microstructural properties of WM, particularly fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), follow independent rates of change across the lifespan. The overall increase in FA and decrease in MD are modulated by demographic factors, such as the participant's age, and show different hemispheric asymmetries in some association tracts reconstructed via probabilistic tractography. All changes in WM macro and microstructure seem to follow nonlinear trajectories, which also differ based on the considered metric. Exponential changes occurred for the WM volume and FA and MD values in the first five years of life. Collectively, these results provide novel insight into how changes in different metrics of WM occur when a lifespan approach is considered.
Topics: Humans; White Matter; Adult; Male; Female; Adolescent; Middle Aged; Aged; Young Adult; Child; Aged, 80 and over; Infant; Child, Preschool; Aging; Longevity; Infant, Newborn; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Anisotropy; Brain; Gray Matter
PubMed: 38758830
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301520 -
Science Advances May 2024Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by preferential neuronal loss in the striatum. The mechanism underlying...
Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by preferential neuronal loss in the striatum. The mechanism underlying striatal selective neurodegeneration remains unclear, making it difficult to develop effective treatments for HD. In the brains of nonhuman primates, we examined the expression of Huntingtin (), the gene responsible for HD. We found that HTT protein is highly expressed in striatal neurons due to its slow degradation in the striatum. We also identified tripartite motif-containing 37 (TRIM37) as a primate-specific protein that interacts with HTT and is selectively reduced in the primate striatum. TRIM37 promotes the ubiquitination and degradation of mutant HTT (mHTT) in vitro and modulates mHTT aggregation in mouse and monkey brains. Our findings suggest that nonhuman primates are crucial for understanding the mechanisms of human diseases such as HD and support TRIM37 as a potential therapeutic target for treating HD.
Topics: Huntington Disease; Animals; Huntingtin Protein; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; Tripartite Motif Proteins; Corpus Striatum; Mice; Humans; Ubiquitination; Disease Models, Animal; Neurons; Proteolysis; Primates
PubMed: 38758800
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl2036 -
Science Advances May 2024Acetyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family member 1 (ACSS1) uses acetate to generate mitochondrial acetyl-CoA and is regulated by deacetylation by sirtuin 3. We generated...
Acetyl-CoA synthetase short-chain family member 1 (ACSS1) uses acetate to generate mitochondrial acetyl-CoA and is regulated by deacetylation by sirtuin 3. We generated an ACSS1-acetylation (Ac) mimic mouse, where lysine-635 was mutated to glutamine (K635Q). Male mice were smaller with higher metabolic rate and blood acetate and decreased liver/serum ATP and lactate levels. After a 48-hour fast, mice presented hypothermia and liver aberrations, including enlargement, discoloration, lipid droplet accumulation, and microsteatosis, consistent with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). RNA sequencing analysis suggested dysregulation of fatty acid metabolism, cellular senescence, and hepatic steatosis networks, consistent with NAFLD. Fasted mouse livers showed increased fatty acid synthase (FASN) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), both associated with NAFLD, and increased carbohydrate response element-binding protein binding to and enhancer regions. Last, liver lipidomics showed elevated ceramide, lysophosphatidylethanolamine, and lysophosphatidylcholine, all associated with NAFLD. Thus, we propose that ACSS1-K635-Ac dysregulation leads to aberrant lipid metabolism, cellular senescence, and NAFLD.
Topics: Animals; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Mice; Cellular Senescence; Acetylation; Mitochondria; Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase; Male; Acetate-CoA Ligase; Gene Knock-In Techniques; Liver; Lipid Metabolism; Sirtuin 3; Disease Models, Animal; Coenzyme A Ligases; Fatty Acid Synthase, Type I
PubMed: 38758779
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj5942 -
PLoS Biology May 2024The relationship between genetic code robustness and protein evolvability is unknown. A new study in PLOS Biology using in silico rewiring of genetic codes and...
The relationship between genetic code robustness and protein evolvability is unknown. A new study in PLOS Biology using in silico rewiring of genetic codes and functional protein data identified a positive correlation between code robustness and protein evolvability that is protein-specific.
Topics: Genetic Code; Evolution, Molecular; Proteins; Models, Genetic
PubMed: 38758732
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002627 -
Microbial Biotechnology May 2024Immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment. These treatments rely on immune cell activation in tumours, which limits the number of patients that respond....
Immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment. These treatments rely on immune cell activation in tumours, which limits the number of patients that respond. Inflammatory molecules, like lipopolysaccharides (LPS), can activate innate immune cells, which convert tumour microenvironments from cold to hot, and increase therapeutic efficacy. However, systemic delivery of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) can induce cytokine storm. In this work, we developed immune-controlling Salmonella (ICS) that only produce LPS in tumours after colonization and systemic clearance. We tuned the expression of msbB, which controls production of immunogenic LPS, by optimizing its ribosomal binding sites and protein degradation tags. This genetic system induced a controllable inflammatory response and increased dendritic cell cross-presentation in vitro. The strong off state did not induce TNFα production and prevented adverse events when injected into mice. The accumulation of ICS in tumours after intravenous injection focused immune responses specifically to tumours. Tumour-specific expression of msbB increased infiltration of immune cells, activated monocytes and neutrophils, increased tumour levels of IL-6, and activated CD8 T cells in draining lymph nodes. These immune responses reduced tumour growth and increased mouse survival. By increasing the efficacy of bacterial anti-cancer therapy, localized production of LPS could provide increased options to patients with immune-resistant cancers.
Topics: Animals; Lipopolysaccharides; Neoplasms; Mice; Salmonella; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Disease Models, Animal; Dendritic Cells; Immunotherapy; Humans
PubMed: 38758181
DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.14461 -
Frontiers in Aging 2024Various so-called dietary restriction paradigms have shown promise for extending health and life. All such paradigms rely on (hereafter ) feeding, something virtually... (Review)
Review
Various so-called dietary restriction paradigms have shown promise for extending health and life. All such paradigms rely on (hereafter ) feeding, something virtually never employed in animals whose long-term health we value, either as a control or, except for food restriction itself, for both control and treatment arms of the experiment. Even though the mechanism(s) remain only vaguely understood, compared to -fed animals a host of dietary manipulations, including calorie restriction, low protein, methionine, branched-chain amino acids, and even low isoleucine have demonstrable health benefits in laboratory species in a standard laboratory environment. The remaining challenge is to determine whether these health benefits remain in more realistic environments and how they interact with other health enhancing treatments such as exercise or emerging geroprotective drugs. Here we review the current state of the field of amino acid restriction on longevity of animal models and evaluate its translational potential.
PubMed: 38757144
DOI: 10.3389/fragi.2024.1393216 -
Materials Today. Bio Jun 2024Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly disabling pathology, characterized by synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration. Orthobiologics have shown promising results in OA...
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly disabling pathology, characterized by synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration. Orthobiologics have shown promising results in OA treatment thanks to their ability to influence articular cells and modulate the inflammatory OA environment. Considering their complex mechanism of action, the development of reliable and relevant joint models appears as crucial to select the best orthobiologics for each patient. The aim of this study was to establish a microfluidic OA model to test therapies in a personalized human setting. The joint-on-a-chip model included cartilage and synovial compartments, containing hydrogel-embedded chondrocytes and synovial fibroblasts, separated by a channel for synovial fluid. For the cartilage compartment, a Hyaluronic Acid-based matrix was selected to preserve chondrocyte phenotype. Adding OA synovial fluid induced the production of inflammatory cytokines and degradative enzymes, generating an OA microenvironment. Personalized models were generated using patient-matched cells and synovial fluid to test the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells on OA signatures. The patient-specific models allowed monitoring changes induced by cell injection, highlighting different individual responses to the treatment. Altogether, these results support the use of this joint-on-a-chip model as a prognostic tool to screen the patient-specific efficacy of orthobiologics.
PubMed: 38757057
DOI: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2024.101072 -
Chemical Science May 2024The formation of chiral nanosystems and their subsequent enantioselective interaction with chiral amino acids are vital steps in many biological processes. Due to their...
The formation of chiral nanosystems and their subsequent enantioselective interaction with chiral amino acids are vital steps in many biological processes. Due to their potential to mimic biological systems, the synthesis of chiral nanomaterials has garnered significant attention over the years. Despite the emergence of diverse nanomaterials showcasing strong chiral responses, the in-depth understanding of the mechanism of plasmonic chirality in copper nanoparticles and their subsequent application in various fields are least explored. Herein, we demonstrate a facile approach for the synthesis of chiral copper nanoparticles using cysteine as a chiral precursor and capping ligand. Ligand-mediated chiral induction, established through experimental findings and a theoretical model, is ascribed as the major contributor to the origin of plasmonic chirality. The enantioselective recognition of chiral copper nanoparticles towards histidine, an amino acid with vast biological functions, was meticulously investigated by leveraging the strong copper-histidine binding ability. Ligand-induced dissolution, a unique phenomenon in nanoparticle reactions, was identified as the underlying mechanism for the nanoparticle-to-complex conversion. Understanding the mechanism of chiral induction in copper nanoparticles coupled with their enantioselective recognition of biomolecules not only holds promise in biomedical research but also sheds light on their potential as catalysts for asymmetric synthesis.
PubMed: 38756802
DOI: 10.1039/d4sc00477a -
Frontiers in Immunology 2024It is essential to understand the interactions and relationships between () and macrophages during the infection in order to design host-directed,...
It is essential to understand the interactions and relationships between () and macrophages during the infection in order to design host-directed, immunomodulation-dependent therapeutics to control . We had reported previously that ornithine acetyltransferase (MtArgJ), a crucial enzyme of the arginine biosynthesis pathway of , is allosterically inhibited by pranlukast (PRK), which significantly reduces bacterial growth. The present investigation is centered on the immunomodulation in the host by PRK particularly the activation of the host's immune response to counteract bacterial survival and pathogenicity. Here, we show that PRK decreased the bacterial burden in the lungs by upregulating the population of pro-inflammatory interstitial macrophages (IMs) and reducing the population of susceptible alveolar macrophages (AMs), dendritic cells (DCs), and monocytes (MO). Additionally, we deduce that PRK causes the host macrophages to change their metabolic pathway from fatty acid metabolism to glycolytic metabolism around the log phage of bacterial multiplication. Further, we report that PRK reduced tissue injury by downregulating the Ly6C-positive population of monocytes. Interestingly, PRK treatment improved tissue repair and inflammation resolution by increasing the populations of arginase 1 (Arg-1) and Ym1+Ym2 (chitinase 3-like 3) positive macrophages. In summary, our study found that PRK is useful not only for reducing the tubercular burden but also for promoting the healing of the diseased tissue.
Topics: Animals; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mice; Disease Models, Animal; Chromones; Antitubercular Agents; Tuberculosis; Macrophages; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Female; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary; Lung
PubMed: 38756781
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1347045