Does Sertraline Affect Hypothalamic Food Intake Peptides in the Rat Experimental Model of Chronic Mild Stress-Induced Depression?

Depression is a chronic, recurrent and life-threatening disease affecting approximately 15% of the world population. Depression is responsible for neuropathologies like decreased neurogenesis and increased dendritic atrophy. Antidepressant treatments increase hippocampal neurogenesis and neurotrophic factor expression. Based on this information, it was aimed to investigate effect of sertraline on depression in rats with chronic mild stress (CMS) model and to determine how it affects cell proliferation and hypothalamic peptide levels in hypothalamus. 56 adult male Wistar albino; control, depression(D), depression + sertraline, sertraline were divided into groups. Various stressors were applied to D for 30 days. Open field test (OFT) and forced swimming test (FST) were conducted to check whether the animals were depressed. On the 16th day osmotic minipump was placed subcutaneously and sertraline (10 mg/kg/day) was administered for 15 days. Behavior tests were done. Hypothalamic peptide gene expression levels were analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. Statistical evaluations were made using ANOVA. It caused a decrease in the percentage of movement in the D and control groups in the OFT, an increase in the immobility time in the D group in the FST, and an increase in the swimming behavior in the DS group. Animals did not show any anxiological behavior based on the elevated plus maze test results. CMS caused a decrease in GLUT2 and NPY gene expression in the hypothalamus of animals, an increase in POMC and FGFR2, and an increase in IGFIR and GLUT2 gene expression in the DS group. Sertraline has been shown to ameliorate the effects of CMS-induced depression. Sertraline is thought to have a positive regulatory effect on both the formation of neural precursor cells and the survival of newly formed neurons in the hypothalamus. Newly formed neurons in the hypothalamus express food intake-related NPY, POMC, GLUT2 neurons, and thus hypothalamic tanycytes may play a key role in the control of energy metabolism.

Exploring the therapeutic potential of Leuconostoc mesenteroides lysates in wound healing and immune modulation on keratinocyte cells.

The skin, being the body's largest organ, primarily functions as a formidable defense mechanism against potential microbial infections. The skin's microbiota, consisting of a complex assembly of microorganisms, exerts a pivotal influence on skin homeostasis by modulating keratinocytes and their cytokine secretion, thereby playing an integral role in promoting optimal cutaneous health. Leuconostoc mesenteroides finds extensive application in the production of fermented foods and bacteriocins. Empirical studies validate the effectiveness of L. mesenteroides treatments in enhancing immune function and demonstrating notable antioxidant characteristics. This study investigates the potential of L. mesenteroides in improving skin health and wound healing. It also aims to comprehend their impact on wound healing markers, cytokine production, and cell cycle regulation compared to ferulic acid, known for its wound healing effects. Our findings indicate that L. mesenteroides lysate possesses antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, along with the ability to mitigate their toxic effects in a pathogen-simulating model employing HaCaT keratinocyte cells. Additionally, the lysate demonstrated noteworthy wound closure after a 24-hour treatment, along with a significant reduction in interleukin-6 levels and oxidative stress index. Modulation of the cell cycle is evident by decreasing G0/G1 phases and increasing S and G2/M phases and enhanced expression of wound healing marker genes and proteins CDH1. In conclusion, L. mesenteroides lysate exhibits immune-modulating and antibacterial properties, offering potential alternatives to conventional treatments for various skin conditions. These findings contribute to the exploration of innovative approaches to enhancing human life through skin health and wound healing.

Composition Analysis of Salsola grandis and Its Effects on Colon Cancer Cells.

BACKGROUND: The success of drug treatment of colon cancer (CC), which is in the top three in terms of incidence and mortality among all cancers, is adversely affected by reasons, such as severe side effects and chemoresistance. Clinical, epidemiological and experimental studies have indicated the need for developing new alternative drugs for the treatment of CC. Plants are an important source of traditional medicines that have proven to be highly beneficial for the treatment of CC. AIM: In this study, we aimed to reveal the antioxidant properties and anti-carcinogenic activity of Salsola grandis methanol extract (SGME) on HT-29. METHODS: For this purpose, we used spectrophotometric methods to determine the antioxidant properties of SGME and LC-MS/MS analysis to measure the phenolic acid composition. We applied 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, the thiazolyl blue (MTT) method, to evaluate its effects on cell viability and ELISA assay, realtime PCR, and western blot method to reveal its effects on apoptosis. RESULTS: Spectrophotometric analyzes showed that SGME has the highest phenolic acid content, inhibits plasma lipid peroxidation and shows chelating activity and radical scavenging activity. Gene and protein expression analysis revealed the effects of SGME treatment on apoptosis genes/proteins. CONCLUSION: These findings showed that SGME has anticarcinogenic activity on CC due to its antioxidant, cell viability- suppressing and apoptosis-inducing properties.

Apelin triggers macrophage polarization to M2 type in head and neck cancer.

Cancer comes after cardiovascular diseases in terms of mortality rate in the world. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical interventions are the current cancer treatment. Recently, it has been observed that immunotherapeutic approaches provide a significant improvement when used along with these interventions. The mononuclear system mainly consists of macrophages that play an active role in the pathology of many diseases because of having high plasticity capacities. Previous research suggested that they can be used as an alternative to cancer treatment. Aim was to investigate the effect of apelin on macrophage polarization in the tumor microenvironment. Mouse macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cells and head and were chosen for this study. The apelin expression was knockdown in neck cell carcinoma cell line SCCL MT1 cells using shRNA technique. SCCL MT1 cells having normal or suppressed apelin expression were co-cultured with mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells. The effect of co-culturing on the expression of inflammatory genes in RAW264.7 cells was investigated. Suppressed apelin expression in SCCL MT1 cells resulted in elevated pro-inflammatory response in co-cultured macrophages. Expression of the IL1ß, IL6, and TNFα genes significantly increased, however anti-inflammatory cytokine levels were significantly decreased. However, in the control group, a downregulation was determined in pro-inflammatory genes, while an increase was observed in anti-inflammatory genes. The protein levels of these cytokines in concordance with the RT-PCR analysis. As a result of this study, apelin released from cancer cells was found to affect macrophage polarization. These results indicated that the apelin peptide may cause the intense presence of M2-type macrophages in the tumor niche, and the therapeutic approaches targeting of apelin in cancer cells may have a potential role in macrophage polarization.