Screening of quorum sensing peptides for biological effects in neuronal cells.

Quorum sensing peptides (QSP) are an important class of bacterial peptides which can have an effect on human host cells. These peptides are used by bacteria to communicate with each other. Some QSP are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and reach the brain parenchyma. However, nothing is known about the effects of these peptides in the brain. Therefore, 85 quorum sensing peptides were screened on six different neuronal cell lines using MTT toxicity, neurite differentiation, cytokine production and morphology as biological outcomes. This primary screening resulted in 22 peptides with effects observed on neuronal cell lines, indicating a possible role in the gut-brain axis. Four peptides (Q138, Q143, Q180 and Q212) showed induction of neurite outgrowth while two peptides (Q162 and Q208) inhibited NGF-induced neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells. Eight peptides (Q25, Q135, Q137, Q146, Q151, Q165, Q208 and Q298) induced neurite outgrowth in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Two peptides (Q13 and Q52) were toxic for SH-SY5Y cells and one (Q123) for BV-2 microglia cells based on the MTT assay. Six peptides had an effect on BV-2 microglia, Q180, Q184 and Q191 were able to induce IL-6 expression and Q164, Q192 and Q208 induced NO production. Finally, Q75 and Q147 treated C8D1A astrocytes demonstrated a higher fraction of round cells. Overall, these in vitro screening study results indicate for the first time possible effects of QSP on neuronal cells.

Gallium-68: a systematic review of its nononcological applications.

The increased availability of PET facilities worldwide has sparked renewed interest in the use of generator-produced tracers such as gallium-68 (Ga). Imaging with Ga provides exciting opportunities in terms of new ligand-labelling possibilities and the exploration of novel clinical applications. The aim of the study was to summarize and appraise what has been published on the clinical applications of Ga outside oncology practice. This systematic review was based on the PRISMA guidelines. Databases searched include PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The following search strategy was used: 'Ga' OR 'Gallium' (all fields) NOT the following (title and abstract): Oncology/NET/neuroendocrine tumour/tumor/DOTATOC, DOTATATE, DOTANOC. These results were further limited to English publications, which resulted in 205 publications on PubMed. After duplicates and irrelevant articles were removed, 72 publications remained for inclusion. Only those studies in which compounds were labelled with Ga for applications other than in oncology-related indications were included. Publications in which the focus was on oncology-related applications of Ga imaging or in which the emphasis was on aspects relating to generators, radiochemistry or physics were excluded. Although a multitude of tracers have been labelled with Ga over several decades, it has not been established in routine clinical practice yet. In addition, neuroendocrine and other oncological applications have dominated the field until relatively recently following reports of applications in infection and inflammation. The majority of publications to date involve small numbers of subjects in mainly preclinical settings. Differences in methodology preclude grouping of studies to reach a clear conclusion. There is wide scope for Ga tracer application outside oncological practice, which remains greatly underutilized. Larger clinical trials are needed to validate these applications.