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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Mitochondrial Damage Accumulation In Oocytes – A Potential Link Between Maternal Obesity And Increased Cardiometabolic Disease Risk In Offspring., Anna Louise Boudoures May 2017

Mitochondrial Damage Accumulation In Oocytes – A Potential Link Between Maternal Obesity And Increased Cardiometabolic Disease Risk In Offspring., Anna Louise Boudoures

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The developmental origins of health and disease (DoHAD) hypothesis suggests that negative maternal lifestyle choices, such as obesity, affect the health of her offspring. Clinical and laboratory studies support this hypothesis – offspring born to obese mothers are at increased risk for health conditions including cardiometabolic syndrome and congenital abnormalities. Maternal obesity damages the oocytes, contributing to the increased disease risk by transmitting damaged organelles and epigenetic modifications to the offspring. Mitochondria, the most abundant organelle in the oocyte, are damaged in oocytes from obese females. However, we do not understand if mitochondrial damage in oocytes is reversible nor why …


Decorin As A Multivalent Therapeutic Agent Against Cancer., Thomas Neill, Liliana Schaefer, Renato V. Iozzo Feb 2016

Decorin As A Multivalent Therapeutic Agent Against Cancer., Thomas Neill, Liliana Schaefer, Renato V. Iozzo

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Decorin is a prototypical small leucine-rich proteoglycan that epitomizes the multifunctional nature of this critical gene family. Soluble decorin engages multiple receptor tyrosine kinases within the target-rich environment of the tumor stroma and tumor parenchyma. Upon receptor binding, decorin initiates signaling pathways within endothelial cells downstream of VEGFR2 that ultimately culminate in a Peg3/Beclin 1/LC3-dependent autophagic program. Concomitant with autophagic induction, decorin blunts capillary morphogenesis and endothelial cell migration, thereby significantly compromising tumor angiogenesis. In parallel within the tumor proper, decorin binds multiple RTKs with high affinity, including Met, for a multitude of oncosuppressive functions including growth inhibition, tumor cell …


Autophagy Regulation After Diet And Exercise In Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Megan Elizabeth Rosa Jan 2016

Autophagy Regulation After Diet And Exercise In Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Megan Elizabeth Rosa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Along with the rise in obesity, rates of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have also increased. NAFLD may begin with fat accumulation in the liver, but can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and eventual cirrhosis. With no pharmacological treatment for NASH, lifestyle interventions appear vital to maintaining liver health. Previous work has shown aberrant mitochondrial content/quality and autophagy in models of NAFLD. Exercise is known to improve mitochondrial health and possibly autophagy, thus autophagy may be a key regulatory factor for treatment of obesity induced-NAFLD. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine how weight loss from diet …


Analysis Of Mitochondrial Turnover In Neuromuscular Junctions Of Parkin Mutants, Kenny Nguyen, Hyun Sung, Peter J. Hollenbeck Aug 2015

Analysis Of Mitochondrial Turnover In Neuromuscular Junctions Of Parkin Mutants, Kenny Nguyen, Hyun Sung, Peter J. Hollenbeck

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The accumulation of dysfunctional or damaged mitochondria in neurons has been linked to the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. It has been proposed that proteins PINK1 and Parkin regulate mitochondrial quality control by selectively targeting depolarized mitochondria for autophagic degradation, a process known as mitophagy. Though previously analyzed in the cell bodies and axons of neurons, the role of the PINK1/Parkin pathway in the synapse is unclear, and it is not known whether mitochondrial turnover occurs in the neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). To study this, intact Drosophila nervous systems were analyzed in vivo by performing gentle dissections …


Iron Alters Cell Survival In A Mitochondria-Dependent Pathway In Ovarian Cancer Cells., Edward Haller Feb 2015

Iron Alters Cell Survival In A Mitochondria-Dependent Pathway In Ovarian Cancer Cells., Edward Haller

Edward Haller

ABSTRACT The role of iron in the development of cancer remains unclear. We previously reported that iron reduces cell survival in a Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-dependent manner in ovarian cells; however, the underlying downstream pathway leading to reduced survival was unclear. Although levels of intracellular iron, ferritin/CD71 protein and reactive oxygen species did not correlate with iron-induced cell survival changes, we identified mitochondrial damage (via TEM) and reduced expression of outer mitochondrial membrane proteins (translocase of outer membrane: TOM20 and TOM70) in cell lines sensitive to iron. Interestingly, Ru360 (an inhibitor of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter) reversed mitochondrial changes and …