Direct Cardiac Reprogramming: Current Status and Future Prospects.

Advances in cellular reprogramming articulated the path for direct cardiac lineage conversion, bypassing the pluripotent state. Direct cardiac reprogramming attracts major attention because of the low or nil regenerative ability of cardiomyocytes, resulting in permanent cell loss in various heart diseases. In the field of cardiology, balancing this loss of cardiomyocytes was highly challenging, even in the modern medical world. Soon after the discovery of cell reprogramming, direct cardiac reprogramming also became a promising alternative for heart regeneration. This review mainly focused on the various direct cardiac reprogramming approaches (integrative and non-integrative) for the derivation of induced autologous cardiomyocytes. It also explains the advancements in cardiac reprogramming over the decade with the pros and cons of each approach. Further, the review highlights the importance of clinically relevant (non-integrative) approaches and their challenges for the prospective applications for personalized medicine. Apart from direct cardiac reprogramming, it also discusses the other strategies for generating cardiomyocytes from different sources. The understanding of these strategies could pave the way for the efficient generation of integration-free functional autologous cardiomyocytes through direct cardiac reprogramming for various biomedical applications.

Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines in ovary and effect of γ-linolenic acid on adipose tissue inflammation in a polycystic ovary syndrome model.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a major endocrine disorder, affects the reproductive function of a woman, along with an association with metabolic conditions like insulin resistance and inflammation. The inflammatory nature of PCOS is much debated over, owing to numerous cases of elevation in cytokine levels. Studies have shown the beneficiary effect of Gamma-Linolenic acid (GLA) in reducing inflammation related to many conditions such as atopic dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, arterial disease, obesity, and even PCOS. The study aims at assessing the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the ovary and Peri-ovarian adipose tissue (POAT) of the Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) induced PCOS rat model. Further, this study also evaluates the effect of γ-linolenic Acid (GLA) on these cytokines in POAT. Female Wistar rats were subcutaneously injected with 60 mg/kg DHEA daily for 28 days. These PCOS-induced rats were then orally administered with 50 mg/kg GLA for 14 days. The gene expression of cytokines was assessed by Real Time-PCR. The study showed an increase in the expression of cytokines in the ovary and POAT of the DHEA group. This suggests the role of ovarian adipose in adding to the pro-inflammatory state of PCOS. Moreover, the administration of GLA to the PCOS-induced rats resulted in a reduction of cytokine expression from the POAT, indicating that the compound was successful in reducing the associated inflammation. The study throws light on the possibility of using GLA as a supplementary or naturalistic alternative in ameliorating ovarian adipose-associated inflammation that accompanies PCOS.

Role of IL-6 signalling in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome associated inflammation.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a major factor contributing to the increasing incidence of infertility around the world. The metabolic effects of prolonged exposure to PCOS have been well determined from previous studies and seem to be detrimental in the long run. Studies have shown a multitude of conditions like insulin resistance, obesity and cardiovascular disorders to be associated with PCOS. This makes PCOS a syndrome requiring utmost attention in terms of women's health and reproduction. Interleukin-6 is one of the many cytokines released by adipocytes from fat deposits in the body. This review focuses on the Interleukin 6 signaling pathway and the data available on inflammatory modulators due to its significance PCOS mediated inflammation. There is noteworthy evidence of elevated IL-6 concentration in PCOS subjects that has been discussed in detail. The regulation of IL-6 levels in the body is in turn, maintained by a close relation with other cytokines, especially by a key regulator, NF-κB. Being involved in a multitude of other pathological conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disorders, asthma, colon cancer and many more, the role of IL-6 is also investigated in PCOS in search of a probable reason for underlying inflammatory condition. On summarizing the IL-6 signaling pathway and therapeutic exploitation of the same, we see that IL-6 targeted drugs may be an efficient way of treating PCOS associated inflammation.