An Overview of Multiple Sclerosis In Vitro Models.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) still poses a challenge in terms of complex etiology, not fully effective methods of treatment, and lack of healing agents. This neurodegenerative condition considerably affects the comfort of life by causing difficulties with movement and worsening cognition. Neuron, astrocyte, microglia, and oligodendrocyte activity is engaged in multiple pathogenic processes associated with MS. These cells are also utilized in creating in vitro cellular models for investigations focusing on MS. In this article, we present and discuss a summary of different in vitro models useful for MS research and describe their development. We discuss cellular models derived from animals or humans and present in the form of primary cell lines or immortalized cell lines. In addition, we characterize cell cultures developed from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Culture conditions (2D and 3D cultures) are also discussed.

Segmentation of THz holograms for homogenous illumination.

This paper investigates the feasibility of applying the hologram segmentation method for homogeneous illumination. Research focuses on improving the uniformity of the illumination obtained from diffractive optical elements in the THz range. The structures are designed with a modified Ping-Pong algorithm and a neural network-based solution. This method allows for the improvement of uniform illumination distribution with the desired shape. Additionally, the phase modulations of the structures are divided into segments, each responsible for imaging at different distances. Various segment combination methods are investigated, differing in shapes, image plane distances, and illumination types. The obtained image intensity maps allow for the identification of the performance of each combination method. Each of the presented structures shows significant improvements in the uniformity of imaged targets compared to the reference Ping-Pong structure. The presented structures were designed for a narrow band case-260 GHz frequency, which corresponds to 1.15 mm wavelength. The application of diffractive structures for homogenization of illumination shows promise. The created structures perform designed beamforming task with variability of intensity improved up to 23% (standard deviation) or 45% (interquartile range) compared with reference structure.

Astrocyte-Derived Exosomes Differentially Shape T Cells' Immune Response in MS Patients.

Astrocytes, the most abundant group of glia cells in the brain, provide support for neurons and indicate multiple various functions in the central nervous system (CNS). Growing data additionally describe their role in the regulation of immune system activity. They exert their function not only by direct contact with other cell types, but also through an indirect method, e.g., by secreting various molecules. One such structure is extracellular vesicles, which are important mediators of crosstalk between cells. In our study, we observed that the impact of exosomes derived from astrocytes with various functional phenotype differently affect the immune response of CD4+ T cells, both from healthy individuals and from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Astrocytes, by modulating exosome cargo, impacts the release of IFN-γ, IL-17A and CCL2 in our experimental conditions. Considering the proteins concentration in cell culture supernatants and the cellular percentage of Th phenotypes, it could be stated that human astrocytes, by the release of exosomes, are able to modify the activity of human T cells.