308 research outputs found
Editorial: The impact of exposure to environmental chemicals, pharmaceuticals and particles via human breast milk: a focus on health effects and underlying mechanisms
No full textThe author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. Charlotte Cosemans was financially supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO; 1249025N)
Reference genes for qPCR assays in toxic metal and salinity stress in two flatworm model organisms
No full textThe flatworm species Schmidtea mediterranea
and Macrostomum lignano have become new and innovative model organisms in stem cell, regeneration and tissue
homeostasis research. Because of their unique stem cell
system, (lab) technical advantages and their phylogenetic
position within the Metazoa, they are also ideal candidate
model organisms for toxicity assays. As stress and biomarker screenings are often performed at the transcriptional level, the aim of this study was to establish a set of
reference genes for qPCR experiments for these two model
organisms in different stress situations. We examined the
transcriptional stability of nine potential reference genes
(actb, tubb, ck2, cox4, cys, rpl13, gapdh, gm2ap, plscr1) to
assess those that are most stable during altered stress
conditions (exposure to carcinogenic metals and salinity
stress). The gene expression stability was evaluated by
means of geNorm and NormFinder algorithms. Sets of best
reference genes in these analyses varied between different
stress situations, although gm2ap and actb were stably
transcribed during all tested combinations. In order to
demonstrate the impact of bad normalisation, the stressspecific gene hsp90 was normalised to different sets of
reference genes. In contrast to the normalisation according
to GeNorm and NormFinder, normalisation of hsp90 in
Macrostomum lignano during cadmium stress did not show
a significant difference when normalised to only gapdh. On
the other hand an increase of variability was noticed when
normalised to all nine tested reference genes together.
Testing appropriate reference genes is therefore strongly
advisable in every new experimental condition.This work was supported by PhD grants for Michelle Plusquin and Olivier DeGheselle from Hasselt University BOF (Bijzonder OnderzoeksFonds: BOF05N02 and BOF08G01) and Hasselt University tUL-impulsfinanciering, Andromeda Van Roten
was supported by Hasselt University tUL-impulsfinanciering (IMPF2PR). The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. P. Ladurner (University of Innsbruck), Dr. M. Willems and S. Mouton (Ghent University) for providing us with cultures of the animals, and for their advice concerning maintenance of the cultures. They wish to thank Natascha Stefanie and Ria Vanderspikken for their skilful technical assistance. Dr. Nikki Watson (Australia) is greatly acknowledged for her critical reading of, and the linguistic comments on the manuscript
The value of neighborhood greenspace for children
No full textAcross the globe, urbanization is increasing, intensifying the pressure on greenspaces, which affects all its users, including children. This is potentially concerning since exposure to nature enhances children's health and well-being. With regard to well-being, while robust evidence is present on the positive relationship between exposure to nature and well-being of children, currently no monetary valuation of the well-being benefits exists, making them more difficult to appropriately include in public decision-making regarding greenspace development. This study, for the first time, puts a monetary value on neighborhood greenspace exposure for children using the life satisfaction approach (LSA). This approach has been employed for the monetary valuation of environmental goods and issues but has not been extended yet to value the well-being of children. The LSA quantifies the influence of neighborhood greenspace on children's life satisfaction (LS) and compares it to the impact of other determinants of their LS that can be valued in monetary terms. In that way, the LSA calculates the amount of money to offset a change in neighborhood greenspace to keep the child at the same level of LS. As a result, the LSA does not require children or their parents to assign monetary values themselves. Data were gathered from 430 parent-child pairs in 29 different primary schools in Flanders (age range of children 10-12). The monetary value will be determined based on the tradeoff between the impact of the exposure of neighborhood greenspace on children’s LS and the impact of working hours of parents and time children spend with their parents on children’s LS. This time will be valued using the market replacement cost and opportunity cost method. The results of the study reveal the monetary value of neighborhood greenspace in terms of improvements in children's self-reported LS
The value of neighborhood greenspace for children
No full textAcross the globe, urbanization is increasing, intensifying the pressure on greenspaces, which affects all its users, including children. This is potentially concerning since exposure to nature enhances children's health and well-being. With regard to well-being, while robust evidence is present on the positive relationship between exposure to nature and well-being of children, currently no monetary valuation of the well-being benefits exists, making them more difficult to appropriately include in public decision-making regarding greenspace development. This study, for the first time, puts a monetary value on neighborhood greenspace exposure for children using the life satisfaction approach (LSA). This approach has been employed for the monetary valuation of environmental goods and issues but has not been extended yet to value the well-being of children. The LSA quantifies the influence of neighborhood greenspace on children's life satisfaction (LS) and compares it to the impact of other determinants of their LS that can be valued in monetary terms. In that way, the LSA calculates the amount of money to offset a change in neighborhood greenspace to keep the child at the same level of LS. As a result, the LSA does not require children or their parents to assign monetary values themselves. Data were gathered from 430 parent-child pairs in 29 different primary schools in Flanders (age range of children 10-12). The monetary value will be determined based on the tradeoff between the impact of the exposure of neighborhood greenspace on children’s LS and the impact of working hours of parents and time children spend with their parents on children’s LS. This time will be valued using the market replacement cost and opportunity cost method. The results of the study reveal the monetary value of neighborhood greenspace in terms of improvements in children's self-reported LS
Interrelationships and determinants of aging biomarkers in cord blood
No full textBACKGROUND: Increasing evidence supports the concept of prenatal programming as an early factor in the aging process. DNA methylation age (DNAm age), global genome-wide DNA methylation (global methylation), telomere length (TL), and mitochondrial DNA content (mtDNA content) have independently been shown to be markers of aging, but their interrelationship and determinants at birth remain uncertain. METHODS: We assessed the inter-correlation between the aging biomarkers DNAm age, global methylation, TL and mtDNA content using Pearson's correlation in 190 cord blood samples of the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort. TL and mtDNA content was measured via qPCR, while the DNA methylome was determined using the human 450K methylation Illumina microarray. Subsequently, DNAm age was calculated according to Horvath's epigenetic clock, and mean global, promoter, gene-body, and intergenic DNA methylation were determined. Path analysis, a form of structural equation modeling, was performed to disentangle the complex causal relationships among the aging biomarkers and their potential determinants. RESULTS: DNAm age was inversely correlated with global methylation (r = -0.64, p < 0.001) and mtDNA content (r = − 0.16, p = 0.027). Cord blood TL was correlated with mtDNA content (r = 0.26, p < 0.001) but not with global methylation or DNAm age. Path analysis showed the strongest effect for global methylation on DNAm age with a decrease of 0.64 standard deviations (SD) in DNAm age for each SD (0.01%) increase in global methylation (p < 0.001). Among the applied covariates, newborn sex and season of delivery were the strongest determinants of aging biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: We provide insight into molecular aging signatures at the start of life, including their interrelations and determinants, showing that cord blood DNAm age is inversely associated with global methylation and mtDNA content but not with newborn telomere length. Our findings demonstrate that cord blood TL and DNAm age relate to different pathways/mechanisms of biological aging and can be influenced by environmental factors already at the start of life. These findings are relevant for understanding fetal programming and for the early prevention of noncommunicable diseases. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-022-03541-1
Cichlid fishes are promising underutilized models to investigate helminth-host-microbiome interactions
No full textThe "Old Friends Hypothesis" suggests insufficient exposure to symbionts hinders immune development, contributing to increased immune-related diseases in the Global North. The microbiome is often the focus; helminths, potentially also offering health benefits, lack attention. Infection and effect of helminths are influenced and perhaps determined by microorganisms. Mechanisms behind parasite-microbiome interactions are poorly understood, despite implications on host health. These interactions are typically studied for single helminth species in laboratory animal models, overlooking helminth diversity. Reviewing research on relationships between helminth and microbial diversity yielded 27 publications; most focused on human or other mammalian hosts, relying on natural exposure rather than experimental helminth inoculation. Only about half investigated host health outcomes. Remaining knowledge gaps warrant considering additional candidate model systems. Given the high helminthiasis burden and species diversity of helminths, we propose seeking models in the Global South, where a considerable proportion of research on diversity aspects of helminth-microbiome interactions took place. Low availability of genomic resources for helminths in the Global South, however, necessitates more integrative helminthological research efforts. Given substantial similarities in immune systems, several fishes are models for human health/disease. More effort could be done to establish this for cichlids, whose representatives in the African Great Lakes provide a well-delineated, closed natural system relevant to human health in view of fish-borne zoonoses and other water-borne parasites. A good baseline exists for these cichlids' genomics, parasitology, and microbiology. We suggest exploring African Great Lake cichlids as model hosts for interactions between microbial diversity, helminth diversity, and host health. CITATION Vanhove MPM, Koblmüller S, Fernandes JMO, Hahn C, Plusquin M and Kmentová N (2025) Cichlid fishes are promising underutilized models to investigate helminth-host-microbiome interactions.The author(s) declare financial support was received for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The content
of this manuscript previously appeared online in a preprint (123).
This work was supported by the Special Research Fund of Hasselt
University (BOF21INCENT09) and by the AfroWetMaP project of
the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (4255-FED-tWIN-G3
program, Prf-2022-049). This research was funded in part by the
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant DOI: 10.55776/P32691). JMOF
acknowledges the institutional support of the grant ‘Severo Ochoa
Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) funded by
AEI 10.13039/501100011033 (Spain). For open access purposes, the
authors have applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author accepted
manuscript version arising from this submission
In Utero Exposure to Air Pollutants and Mitochondrial Heteroplasmy in Neonates
No full textMitochondria are sensitive to oxidative stress, which can be caused by traffic-related air pollution. Placental mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations have been previously linked with air pollution. However, the relationship between prenatal air pollution and cord-blood mtDNA mutations has been poorly understood. Therefore, we hypothesized that prenatal particulate matter (PM2.5) and NO2 exposures are associated with cord-blood mtDNA heteroplasmy. As part of the ENVIRONAGE cohort, 200 mother-newborn pairs were recruited. Cord-blood mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified by whole mitochondrial genome sequencing, and heteroplasmy levels were evaluated based on the variant allele frequency (VAF). Outdoor PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations were determined by a high resolution spatial-temporal interpolation method based on the maternal residential address. Distributed lag linear models were used to determine sensitive time windows for the association between NO2 exposure and cord-blood mtDNA heteroplasmy. A 5 mu g/m3 increment in NO2 was linked with MT-D-Loop16311T>C heteroplasmy from gestational weeks 17-25. MT-CYTB14766C>T was negatively associated with NO2 exposure in mid pregnancy, from weeks 14-17, and positively associated in late pregnancy, from weeks 31-36. No significant associations were observed with prenatal PM2.5 exposure. This is the first study to show that prenatal NO2 exposure is associated with cord-blood mitochondrial mutations and suggests two critical windows of exposure in mid-to-late pregnancy.The ENVIRONAGE birth cohort is supported by grants from the European Research Council (ERC-2012-StG310898), the Flemish Scientific Fund (FWO, 1516112 N/G.0873.11.N.10), and Kom op Tegen Kanker. C.C. was financially supported by the Centre for Environmental Sciences of Hasselt University. D.S.M. was financially supported by the FWO (12X9620N). The authors are extremely grateful to the participating women and neonates, as well as the staff of the maternity ward, midwives, the staff of the clinical laboratory of East-Limburg Hospital in Genk, and Martien Peusens and Dominika Tylus for the coordination between Hasselt University and EastLimburg Hospital
Comparing cadmium-induced effects on the regulation of the DNA damage response and cell cycle progression between entire rosettes and individual leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana
No full textCadmium (Cd) activates the DNA damage response (DDR) and inhibits the cell cycle in Arabidopsis thaliana through the transcription factor SUPPRESSOR OF GAMMA RESPONSE 1. The aim of this study was to investigate which individual leaf best reflects the Cd-induced effects on the regulation of the DDR and cell cycle progression in rosettes, enabling a more profound interpretation of the rosette data since detailed information, provided by the individual leaf responses, is lost when studying the whole rosette. Wild-type A. thaliana plants were cultivated in hydroponics and exposed to different Cd concentrations. Studied individual leaves were leaf 1 and 2, which emerged before Cd exposure, and leaf 3, which emerged upon Cd exposure. The DDR and cell cycle regulation were studied in rosettes as well as individual leaves after several days of Cd exposure. Varying concentration-dependent response patterns were observed between the entire rosette and individual leaves. Gene expression of selected DDR and cell cycle regulators showed higher similarity in their response between the rosette and the individual leaf emerged during Cd exposure than between both individual leaves. The same pattern was observed for plant growth and cell cycle-related parameters. We conclude that Cd-induced effects on the regulation of the DDR and cell cycle progression in the leaf that emerged during Cd exposure, resemble those observed in the rosette the most, which contributes to the interpretation of the rosette data in the framework of plant development and after exposure to Cd.This work was supported by Hasselt University through a PhD grant to St´ephanie Vandionant. Ann Wijgaerts and Carine Put are kindly thanked for their practical help and ICP-OES analyses, respectively
Cichlid fishes are promising underutilised models to investigate helminth-microbiome interactions
No full textThe "Old Friends Hypothesis" suggests that insufficient early exposure to symbionts may hinder immune development, contributing to increased immune-related diseases in the Global North. While the microbiome is often the focus, helminths, which may also offer health benefits, receive little attention. The infection and effect of helminths, in turn, are influenced and may be even determined by microorganisms. The mechanisms behind general parasite-microbiome interactions are poorly understood, despite their profound implications on the health of their hosts. Because these interactions are typically studied for single helminth species in laboratory animal models, the important aspect of helminth diversity remains overlooked in this context. A literature search for research on the relationship between host helminth diversity and microbial diversity, resulted in 27 publications; most focused on human or other mammalian hosts, and relied on natural exposure rather than experimental inoculation with helminths. Almost half of these studies did not empirically investigate health outcomes for the host. This understudied potential warrants consideration for additional candidate model systems. In view of the high burden of helminthiasis, and the high species diversity of helminths, we propose to seek these models in the Global South, where a considerable proportion of research on community diversity aspects of helminth-microbiome interactions took place. The low availability of genomic resources for parasitic worms in many regions of the Global South, however, calls for more integrative helminthological research efforts. Given the substantial similarities in immune systems, several fishes are models for human health and disease. More effort could be done to also establish this for cichlids, the representatives of which in the African Great Lakes would provide a well-delineated, closed natural system with relevance to human health in view of fish-borne zoonoses and other water-borne parasites. Moreover, a good baseline exists in terms of these cichlids' genomics, parasitology, and microbiology. We therefore call for the exploration of African Great Lake cichlids as model hosts to understand the interactions between microbial diversity, helminth diversity, and host health
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