Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Brn-3.2 In Retinal Ganglion Cell Differentiation, Jerin Marie Wright

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Within the retina, the POU domain of transcription factors brn-3.0, brn-3.1, and brn-3.2 are present only in retinal ganglion cells. These genes are believed to be involved in establishing neural cell lineages in mammals. In this study brn-3.2 was examined by comparing the number of ganglion cells present during postnatal development in normal mice (+/+), in mice homozygous (-/-) for the brn-3.2 gene, and in adult mice with a heterozygous gene deletion (+/-) for brn-3.2. Optic nerve cross sections were imaged by electron microscopy, and axon profiles counted systematically by hand. These counts were then related to the nerve cross …

A Preclinical Model Of Ionizing Radiation And Tnf-Alpha Gene Therapy For Cancer, Jun Li

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Long term control of high-grade brain tumors is rarely achieved with current therapeutic regimens. This study sought to determine if pretreatment with plasmid DNA expressing Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) could enhance the effect of ionizing radiation in an aggressive, rapidly growing glioma tumor (C6) model. Plasmid DNA is an attractive vector system for delivery of foreign genes into eukaryotic cells due to its advantages including low immunogenicity in vivo, lesser toxicity and relatively low cost. We have constructed a plasmid-based mammalian expression vector (pGL1-TNF) to secrete human TNF-α from cancer cells. Plasmid DNA was successfully transfected into C6 cells …

Functional Analysis Of Human Igfbp-6 In Human Osteoblasts, Tao Yan

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are a family of six secreted proteins that bind to and modulate the functions of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I and IGF-II). As a relatively new member of the IGF system, IGFBP-6 was found to be produced by human osteoblasts and exert significant biological effects on human osteoblasts.

Our previous studies indicated that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) caused more than a10 fold increase in IGFBP-6 production and a50-60% reduction of ALP activity in human osteoblasts. Based on these findings, we proposed the hypothesis that ATRA induced human osteoblast differentiation was mediated at least in part …

Acute Effects Of Whole-Body Proton Irradiation On The Immune System Of The C57bl/6 Mouse, Eric H. Kajioka

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The acute effects of proton whole-body irradiation (WBI) on leukocytes, lymphocytes, and hematological parameters in the spleen and blood of C57BI/6 mice were examined and compared to the effects of photon (gamma) WBI derived from a 60cobalt (60Co) source. Adult, female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to a single dose (3 Gy, 0.4 Gy/min dose rate) of either proton WBI at the Bragg peak, proton WBI at the entry plateau, or Co WBI, and sacrifice intervals were at 1,4, 7, and 10 days post- WBI. Flow cytometry analysis of the spleen and peripheral blood showed depression in cell counts for all …

Antitumor Effect Of Il-2, P53, And Bax Naked Gene Transfer In C6 Glioma Cells, Peyman Haghighat

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

[Abstract not included]

Use Of Bioinformatics In The Analysis Of Chemotaxis Proteins, Sean Andrew Bulloch

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Bacterial chemotaxis is one of the best-known signal transduction systems. Levels of attractants and repellents are sensed in the surrounding environment by various chemoreceptors. The signal is passed to the excitation pathway via the transfer of a phosphoryl group from the receptor-associated histidine kinase CheA to the response regulator CheY. Phospho-CheY binds to the flagellar motor switching the direction of rotation of the flagella and thus allowing the cell to move towards or away from the attractant or repellent. The phosphatase CheZ removes the phosphoryl group from phospho-CheY restoring default flagellar rotation. Adaptation to stimuli occurs via addition of methyl …

Engineering Secreted Proteins For Gene Transfer And Dna Vaccination, Jingxue Liu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In recent years gene therapy has become a promising way of alleviating incurable human ailments, its concept emerging as the ultimate therapy for many infectious and genetic diseases. Two important aspects of the development of successful gene therapy protocols are the ability to monitor gene transfer readily, and the establishment of new protocols for treating specific diseases. In this work, Renilla luciferase and human glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 65 were engineered for secretion to address some aspects of these issues.

Secreted reporter proteins are promising tools to study gene transfer and expression in a non-destructive manner, and bioluminescent proteins are …

Dna-Dna Checkerboard Hybridization To Identify Bacteria In Human Plaque Samples, Jasan Lee Zimmerman

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Previous research has shown that using DNA probes to identify the presence of specific bacteria in human plaque samples is superior to the commonly used anaerobic cultural procedures. Some periodontal pathogens are either uncultivable or very difficult to grow, such as Prevotella intermedia, P. nigrescens, and Eubacterium brachy. Digoxygenin probes were prepared for 15 oral bacteria. These probes were used with a checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization scheme to analyze whether human plaque samples contained any of the 15 bacterial species. Our results have shown that this method is successful in identifying bacterial DNA present in the subgingival patient plaque …

Amplification Of The Phenol Hydroxylase Promoter Region Of Pseudomonas Putida Cf600 As A Precursor For Transcriptional Fusion, Priya Bhat

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Clarification Of The Hybrid Origin Of Carex X Deamii Herm. (Cyperaceae) Based On Macro And Micro Morphological Characters, Paul B. Marcum

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The origin of Carex x deamii Herm. has been in question ever since it was named to science in 1938. Collections of the hybrid have always been associated with C. shortiana Dewey and either C. typhina Michx. or C. squarrosa L.. C. typhina and C. squarrosa are closely related taxa (Section Squarrosae) and often are morphologically similar. Because of this similarity, determining the correct parental species to the hybrid has been extremely difficult. It is known that the hybrid is sterile and only reproduces asexually. Pollen was analyzed to ascertain the viability of all four taxa. This study utilizes both …

The Expression Of The Crf1 Gene In Mouse Embryonic Development, Margaret Gruber

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

A mouse gene cloned in the laboratory of James and Olivia Smith at Baylor College of Medicine was found to be involved in motor function. This gene was named CRFl for Clq-Related Factor 1, and using in situ hybridization, it was found to be expressed mainly in the brainstem of adult mice. There is a gene similar to the CRFl gene in humans. By determining this gene's role in mouse development, more will be known about the development of human motor function.

To determine the stage of embryonic development at which the expression of this gene …

Developing A Gene Specific Probe For Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase Mrna, Stephen M. Kuntz

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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