122,606 research outputs found
Delayed and impaired hepatic granuloma maturation in <i>aly/aly</i> mice during <i>L. donovani</i> infection.
No full text<p>Host immune responses to each infected focus were quantitatively analyzed in <i>aly/+</i> (open bars) and <i>aly/aly</i> (filled bars) mice during the course of <i>L. donovani</i> infection. Total number of infected foci was counted from 25 consecutive microscopic fields (A). The proportion of “No granuloma”, “Immature granulomas”, “Mature granulomas” and “Involuting granuloma” of <i>aly/+</i> (B) and <i>aly/aly</i> (C) mice are estimated. A typical result of two individual experiments is shown. Data are the mean ± SE for three mice of each strain. ND, not determined; * <i>p</i><0.05; ** <i>p</i><0.01.</p
Long-term persistence of <i>L. donovani</i> amastigotes in the liver of <i>aly/aly</i> mice.
No full text<p>Promastigotes of <i>L. donovani</i> were intravenously inoculated into <i>aly/+</i> (○) and <i>aly/aly</i> (•) mice, and at the indicated time points, parasite burdens in the liver were determined as LDU (A), and relative amounts of <i>Leishmania</i> gp63 gene to mouse housekeeping BDNF gene by qPCR (B). A typical result of two individual experiments is shown. Data are the mean ± SE for three mice of each strain. * <i>p</i><0.05; ** <i>p</i><0.01.</p
Involvement of CD4+ Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in Persistence of Leishmania donovani in the Liver of Alymphoplastic aly/aly Mice
No full textVisceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a chronic and fatal disease in humans and dogs caused by the intracellular protozoan parasites, Leishmania donovani and L. infantum (L. chagasi). Relapse of disease is frequent in immunocompromised patients, in which the number of VL cases has been increasing recently. The present study is aimed to improve the understanding of mechanisms of L. donovani persistence in immunocompromised conditions using alymphoplastic aly/aly mice. Hepatic parasite burden, granuloma formation and induction of regulatory T cells were determined for up to 7 months after the intravenous inoculation with L. donovani promastigotes. While control aly/+ mice showed a peak of hepatic parasite growth at 4 weeks post infection (WPI) and resolved the infection by 8 WPI, aly/aly mice showed a similar peak in hepatic parasite burden but maintained persistent in the chronic phase of infection, which was associated with delayed and impaired granuloma maturation. Although hepatic CD4+Foxp3+ but not CD8+Foxp3+ T cells were first detected at 4 WPI in both strains of mice, the number of CD4+Foxp3+ T cells was significantly increased in aly/aly mice from 8 WPI. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of Foxp3+ T cells in L. donovani-induced hepatic granulomas and perivascular neo-lymphoid aggregates. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of mature granulomas collected by laser microdissection revealed the correlation of Foxp3 and IL-10 mRNA level. Furthermore, treatment of infected aly/aly mice with anti-CD25 or anti-FR4 mAb resulted in significant reductions in both hepatic Foxp3+ cells and parasite burden. Thus, we provide the first evidence that CD4+Foxp3+ Tregs mediate L. donovani persistence in the liver during VL in immunodeficient murine model, a result that will help to establish new strategies of immunotherapy against this intracellular protozoan pathogen
Presence of Foxp3<sup>+</sup> Tregs inside granulomas in the liver of <i>L. donovani</i>-infected <i>aly/aly</i> mice.
No full text<p>Localization of Foxp3-expressing cells in liver sections from <i>aly/+</i> mice and <i>aly/aly</i> mice during the course of <i>L. donovani</i> infection was analyzed by immunohistochemistry using anti-Foxp3 mAb. Typical reactions in the liver parenchyma including “Immature granuloma” and “Mature granulomas” (A) and perivascular areas (B) in uninfected naïve mice and infected mice at 4 and 12 WPI are shown. The brown pigments represent Foxp3-immunoreactive cells.</p
Expansion of CD4<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> Tregs in the liver of <i>aly/aly</i> mice during persistent <i>L. donovani</i> infection.
No full text<p>Flow cytometry analysis of CD4<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> and CD8<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> Tregs among the hepatic lymphocytes. (A) Representative data of the gated lymphocytes extracted from the liver at 12 WPI of <i>aly/+</i> (left) and <i>aly/aly</i> mice (right), stained with anti-Foxp3 and anti-CD4 or anti-CD8 mAb. (B) The proportion of CD4<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> T cells to CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells in <i>aly/+</i> (open bars) and <i>aly/aly</i> (filled bars) mice. (C) The total number of CD4<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> T cells in <i>aly/+</i> (open bars) and <i>aly/aly</i> (filled bars) mice at 8–16 WPI. A typical result of two individual experiments is shown. Data are the mean ± SE for three mice of each strain. ND, not determined; * <i>p</i><0.05; *** <i>p</i><0.001.</p
Cellular Nuclear Export Factors TAP and Aly Are Required for HDAg-L-mediated Assembly of Hepatitis Delta Virus
No full text[[abstract]]Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a satellite virus of hepatitis B virus (HBV). HDV genome encodes two forms of hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg), small HDAg (HDAg-S), which is required for viral replication, and large HDAg (HDAg-L), which is essential for viral assembly. HDAg-L is identical to HDAg-S except that it bears a 19-amino acid extension at the C terminus. Both HDAgs contain a nuclear localization signal (NLS), but only HDAg-L contains a CRM1-independent nuclear export signal at its C terminus. The nuclear export activity of HDAg-L is important for HDV particle formation. However, the mechanisms of HDAg-L-mediated nuclear export of HDV ribonucleoprotein are not clear. In this study, the host cellular RNA export complex TAP-Aly was found to form a complex with HDAg-L, but not with an export-defective HDAg-L mutant, in which Pro205 was replaced by Ala. HDAg-L was found to colocalize with TAP and Aly in the nucleus. The C-terminal domain of HDAg-L was shown to directly interact with the N terminus of TAP, whereas an HDAg-L mutant lacking the NLS failed to interact with full-length TAP. In addition, small hairpin RNA-mediated down-regulation of TAP or Aly reduced nuclear export of HDAg-L and assembly of HDV virions. Furthermore, a peptide, TAT-HDAg-L(198-210), containing the 10-amino acid TAT peptide and HDAg-L(198-210), inhibited the interaction between HDAg-L and TAP and blocked HDV virion assembly and secretion. These data demonstrate that formation and release of HDV particles are mediated by TAP and Aly
Bio-Herbicidal Potential of the Essential Oils from Different Rosmarinus officinalis L. Chemotypes in Laboratory Assays
No full textThe current study aimed to assess the allelopathic effect of Rosmarinus officinalis L. essential oils (EOs) to define the potent effect against weed species, by exploring distinct chemotypes and their main compounds. The EOs from eight accessions were characterized. Their components were identified by gas chromatography, and four chemotypes were defined; C1 (α-pinene), C2 (camphor), C3 (α-pinene/1,8-cineole), and C4 (α-pinene/1,8-cineole/camphor). Four concentrations of the EOs (400, 800, 1200, and 2400 μL/L) and the main compounds of each chemotype were tested in a laboratory assay against Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Lolium perenne L. in pre- and post-germination. The results showed that the EOs significantly affected all the tested parameters (germination, early growth, and physiological and histological parameters of the weeds under study) in a dose, chemotype, and species dependent manner. A. retroflexus was more sensitive than L. perenne at germination level being significantly inhibited at the lowest dose of all the chemotypes. The latter all exhibited significant effects but with a higher potency of C2 (camphor chemotype) and C3 (α-pinene/1,8-cineole chemotype), as well qualitative differences in the induced damage. Our results thus increase knowledge about the role of the monoterpene composition in bio-herbicidal effect, which can help in the development of EO based bio-herbicides
Expression of <i>Foxp3</i>, <i>TGF-β</i> and <i>IL-10</i> mRNAs in the liver of <i>L. donovani</i>-infected <i>aly/aly</i> mice.
No full text<p>Relative mRNA levels of <i>Foxp3</i>, <i>IL-10</i> and <i>TGF-β</i> to 1000 <i>GAPDH</i> were estimated in the whole liver samples (A) and microdissected hepatic parenchymal or granuloma tissue samples (B) of naïve (0 WPI) and <i>L. donovani</i> infected <i>aly/aly</i> mice at 4 and 12 WPI. A typical result of two individual experiments is shown. Data are the mean ± SE for three mice at each indicating time point.</p
Localization of Foxp3-expressing cells in <i>L. donovani</i>-infected granuloma of <i>aly/aly</i> mice.
No full text<p>Representative “Mature granuloma” in the liver sections of <i>aly/aly</i> mice at 12 WPI using single and double immunostaining. (A) Foxp3<sup>+</sup> cells (green; upper left), CD3<sup>+</sup>cells (red; upper right) and a merged image (lower) showed CD3<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>+</sup> (yellow arrows) and CD3<sup>+</sup>Foxp3<sup>−</sup> (pink arrows) cells. (B) Foxp3<sup>+</sup> cells (green; upper left), <i>Leishmania</i> amastigotes (red; upper right) and a merged image (lower). Arrows indicated the positive stained cells.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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