Polymeric nanoencapsulation of alpha interferon increases drug bioavailability and induces a sustained antiviral response in vivo.

Polymeric nanoparticulate systems allow the encapsulation of bio-active substances, giving them protection against external agents and increasing the drug's bioavailability. The use of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers usually guarantees the harmless character of the formulation, and a controlled drug release is also assured. A relatively easy procedure to obtain polymeric formulations of bioactive agents is ionotropic gelation, which allows the synthesis of chitosan (CS) - sodium tri-polyphosphate nanoparticles (NPs) loading encapsulated proteins. In this work, Bovine serum albumin (BSA) model protein and a recombinant porcine alpha interferon variant were used to obtain nanoparticulate formulations. The internalization of the encapsulated material by cells was studied using a BSA-fluorescein system; the fluorescent conjugate was observable inside the cells after 20 h of incubation. The therapeutic CS-alpha interferon formulation showed a maximum of protein released in vitro at around 90 h. This system was found to be safe in a cytotoxicity assay, while biological activity experiments in vitro showed antiviral protection of cells in the presence of encapsulated porcine alpha interferon. In vivo experiments in pigs revealed a significant and sustained antiviral response through overexpression of the antiviral markers OAS2 and PKR. This proves the preservation of porcine alpha interferon biological activity, and also that a lasting response was obtained. This procedure is an effective and safe method to formulate drugs in nanoparticulate systems, representing a significant contribution to the search for more effective drug delivery strategies.

Centaura menor (Centaurium erythraea Rafn) / Centáurea (Centaurium erythraea Rafn) / Minor centaury, Centaurium erythraea

La centaura menor es una planta medicinal de uso tradicional en Europa empleada principalmente en ámbito digestivo debido a sus características amargo-eupépticas, posicionándose en este aspecto a la altura de la genciana (Gentiana lutea L.) o a las "nencias" de Sudamérica (Gentianella sp.). Más allá de este encasillamiento digestivo, la planta ha sido vastamente estudiada enlos últimos diez años, habiéndose descrito propiedades hipoglucemiantes, antimicrobianas y antiinflamatorias (AU)

A centáurea menor é uma planta medicinal usada tradicionalmente na Europa, principalmente para problemas na área digestiva devido às suas características amargo-eupépticas, posicionando-se a este respeito ao nível da genciana (Gentiana lutea L.) ou "nencias" da América do Sul (Gentianella sp.). Para além deste uso a nível digestivo, a planta tem sido amplamente estudada nos últimos dez anos, tendo-se descrito propriedades hipoglicemiantes, antimicrobianas e anti-inflamatórias (AU)

Centaury is a medicinal plant with traditional use in Europe, being used mainly in the digestive area, by his bittereupeptic characteristics, positioning itself in this regard, at the same efficacy of gentian (Gentiana lutea L.), or the "nencias" from South America (Gentianella sp.). Beyond this digestive typecasting, the herb has been vastly studied in the last ten years, and important properties being found, like hypoglycaemic, antimicrobial and antiinflammatory (AU)

Dual promoter lentiviral vector generates transgenic mice expressing E2-CSFV glycoprotein in their milk, but impairs early identification of transgenic embryos.

Lentiviral vectors containing the green fluorescent protein gene have been successfully used to select transgenic embryos before transfer to a surrogate mother. However, there are apparently no reports regarding early detection of transgenic embryos using a lentiviral vector carrying an additional transcription unit for tissue-specific expression of a valuable protein. In this study, two HIV-based lentiviral vectors were constructed. The first one contained the green fluorescent protein (GFP) coding sequence driven by the early SV40 promoter (Lv-G), whereas the other contained an additional transcription unit for the expression of E2 glycoprotein from classical swine fever virus, driven by a 1.5 kb αS1casein promoter from water buffalo (Lv-αS1cE2hisG). Microinjection of single-cell mouse embryos with Lv-G lentiviral vector rendered embryos which were GFP-positive, beginning at the four-cell stage. Of 33 mice born, 28 (81%) carried the transgene DNA and 15 (55.5%) were GFP-positive. Microinjection of Lv-αS1cE2hisG lentiviral vector yielded 28 mice born; although 24 (85%) carried the transgene DNA, none were GFP-positive, suggesting that the tissue-specific expression cassette interfered with expression of the ubiquitous trancriptional unit. In Lv-αS1cE2hisG transgenic mice, E2his was expressed in milk as a homodimer (at concentrations ≤ 0.422 mg/mL). This was apparently the first report of expression of a recombinant protein in the milk of transgenic animals generated by lentiviral transgenesis.

Avian CD154 enhances humoral and cellular immune responses induced by an adenovirus vector-based vaccine in chickens.

Recombinant adenoviral vectors have emerged as an attractive system for veterinary vaccines development. However, for poultry vaccination a very important criterion for an ideal vaccine is its low cost. The objective of this study was to test the ability of chicken CD154 to enhance the immunogenicity of an adenoviral vector-based vaccine against avian influenza virus in order to reduce the amount of antigen required to induce an effective immune response in avian. Chickens were vaccinated with three different doses of adenoviral vectors encoding either HA (AdHA), or HA fused to extracellular domain chicken's CD154 (AdHACD). Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay and relative quantification of IFN-γ showed that the adenoviral vector encoding for the chimeric antigen is able to elicit an improved humoral and cellular immune response, which demonstrated that CD154 can be used as a molecular adjuvant allowing to reduce in about 50-fold the amount of adenoviral vector vaccine required to induce an effective immune response.

Hoja de congorosa (Mayteni folium) / No disponible

Maytenus ilicifolia, (conocida como congorosa en español y espinheira-santa en portugués), es un arbusto silvestre que crece en países Sudamericanos, principalmente en el Sur de Brasil (Mata Atlántica), Este de Argentina, Centro y Este de Uruguay y Sur de Paraguay. Famosa entre los aborígenes de principios del siglo XIX como planta anticancerígena, hoy día la hoja de congorosa (Mayteni folium) es una droga utilizada para tratar problemas digestivos en forma de infusión. En Brasil constituye fitofármaco indicado principalmente en el tratamiento de la ulcera gástrica. Al respecto, numerosas investigaciones han demostrado las propiedades antiulcerogénicas, las cuales parecen estar relacionadas con la presencia de dos clases de compuestos: fenoles y triterpenos. Recientemente, la hoja de M. ilicifolia ha sido incorporada en Atención Primaria de Salud, tanto en Argentina como en el Brasil

Maytenus ilicifolia, (know as congorosa in Spanish and espinheira-santa in Portuguese) is a wild shrub that grows in South American countries, especially in South Brazil (Mata Atlántica), eastern Argentine, eastern and centre of Uruguay and South of Paraguay. Used by the indigenous people as anticancer plant in the beginning of XIX century, nowadays the leaves of M. ilicifolia (Mayteni folium) is employed as tea for the treatment of digestive aliments for stomach and ulcer illness treatment. In Brazil there is it is a phytomedicine indicated mainly for gastric ulcers. Several researches have demonstrated the antiulcerogenic properties, which seems to be closely related to the presence of two classes of substances: phenols and triterpenes. Recently, M. ilicifolia was incorporated in primary health care in Brazil as well as in Argentine