RESUMEN
Objectives: The mechanisms of mental and neurological diseases have been proposed to be related not only to disorders of the neurons but also to the environment surrounding neurons, such as glial cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). The chondroitin sulfate (CS) chain, which comprises CS proteoglycans (CSPGs), is one of the major sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the brain. CSPGs play an important role in the development, aging, and pathological conditions of the central nervous system. In particular, CSPGs play critical roles in oligodendrocyte differentiation and cell activity. Conventional two-dimensional culture in a glass chamber hardly replicates the complexity of the ECM structure or mimics in vivo conditions. Therefore, to solve this issue, this study aimed to use a culture system with decellularized tissue as a scaffold of organized ECM, thereby enabling the observation of cell differentiation and interactions between cells and the surrounding ECM. Materials and Methods: We investigated the differentiation potential of the OLP6 cell line using decellularized brain tissue as the substrate. Results: We observed that OLP6 differentiated faster on decellularized brain tissues than on conventional 2D-coated surfaces. The relative mRNA expression levels of CNP, PNP, and MBP as well as CSPGs were increased under 3D culture conditions. Conclusions: Our study provides the first evidence of the advantages of cell culture on decellularized tissues for the investigation of oligodendrocyte differentiation and cell/ECM interactions.
RESUMEN
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is based on the atherosclerosis of coronary artery and may manifest with myocardial infarction or angina pectoris. Although it is widely accepted that genetic factors are linked to CAD and several disease-related genes have been reported, only a few could be replicated suggesting that there might be some other CAD-related genes. To identify novel susceptibility loci for CAD, we used microsatellite markers in the screening and found six different candidate CAD loci. Subsequent single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association studies revealed an association between CAD and megakaryoblastic leukemia factor-1 gene (MKL1). The association with a promoter SNP of MKL1, -184C > T, was found in a Japanese population and the association was replicated in another Japanese population and a Korean population. Functional analysis of the MKL1 promoter SNP suggested that the higher MKL1 expression was associated with CAD. These findings suggest that MKL1 is involved in the pathogenesis of CAD.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria/genética , Proteínas de Unión al ADN/genética , Proteínas de Fusión Oncogénica/genética , Polimorfismo de Nucleótido Simple/genética , Adulto , Anciano , Linfocitos B/metabolismo , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Células Cultivadas , Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria/patología , Cartilla de ADN/química , Cartilla de ADN/genética , Proteínas de Unión al ADN/metabolismo , Susceptibilidad a Enfermedades , Femenino , Pruebas Genéticas , Genotipo , Humanos , Japón , Corea (Geográfico) , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Proteínas de Fusión Oncogénica/metabolismo , Fenotipo , Regiones Promotoras Genéticas/genética , ARN Mensajero/genética , ARN Mensajero/metabolismo , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa , Factores de Riesgo , TransactivadoresRESUMEN
The rhesus macaque exhibits individual differences in susceptibility and resistance to infectious agents such as simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) under experimental conditions, and these may be genetically determined at least in part by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I polymorphism. Although the importance of defining MHC class I polymorphism is well recognized, development of a generic and comprehensive molecular typing method of MHC class I alleles of the rhesus macaque has been hampered because, during the evolution of this species, multiple copies of similar DNA sequences have been generated by duplication events including the coding sequences of Mamu-A and Mamu-B loci. We report here a newly developed reference strand-mediated conformation analysis (RSCA)-based typing method of multiple Mamu-A and Mamu-B cDNAs that allowed us to estimate the number of expressed alleles. This technique detected 1-7 Mamu-A signals and 2-12 Mamu-B signals in a single sample, indicating that the number of functional alleles may vary. By comparing the data from the parents with those from the descendants in the breeding colony, several MHC class I haplotypes consisting of variable numbers of functional Mamu-A and Mamu-B alleles could be assigned.
