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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Metabolic Regulation During Extraembryonic Endoderm Differentiation, Mohamed Gatie Dec 2021

Metabolic Regulation During Extraembryonic Endoderm Differentiation, Mohamed Gatie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The inner cell mass undergoes orchestrated cellular divisions resulting in the formation of the epiblast (EPI) and primitive endoderm (PrE). Understanding the process of cell fate specification is crucial to appreciate the intricacies of proper embryonic development. While the mouse embryo is an excellent model, limitations do exist with number, technical challenges, and accessibility, therefore, in my thesis I employed two cell-based models to recapitulate the EPI-PrE fate in vitro. Many signaling pathways have been implicated in this lineage decision, metabolism and its downstream products have been recently regarded as a driver of lineage commitment. Using various biochemical, molecular, …


A Time-Course Characterization Of Muscle Function And Mitochondrial Markers During Colorectal Cancer-Induced Cachexia In Tumor-Bearing Male Mice, Ana Cabrera Ayuso Jul 2021

A Time-Course Characterization Of Muscle Function And Mitochondrial Markers During Colorectal Cancer-Induced Cachexia In Tumor-Bearing Male Mice, Ana Cabrera Ayuso

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cachexia is a multisystemic and multifactorial syndrome prevalent in cancer patients. It is clinically defined by involuntary loss of >5% weight in a six-month window, despite nutritional interventions. A negative energy balance characterizes cancer cachexia (CC), it is associated with weakness and fatigue in skeletal muscle. Impaired muscle function is associated with lower quality of life in cancer patients. Defects in mitochondrial function are strongly associated with muscle wasting. This study explored muscular contractile function and mitochondrial quality control (MQC) markers in soleus, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles of C26-induced male tumor-bearing mice during a 25-day time course. It …


Evaluating Bioenergetics And Mitochondrial Dynamics In Patient Fibroblasts With Pathogenic Mitochondrial Dna Mutations Causing Leigh Syndrome, Ajibola Bakare Jul 2021

Evaluating Bioenergetics And Mitochondrial Dynamics In Patient Fibroblasts With Pathogenic Mitochondrial Dna Mutations Causing Leigh Syndrome, Ajibola Bakare

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leigh syndrome (LS) is a rare fatal mitochondrial disorder of infants caused by pathogenic mutations in the nuclear (nDNA) or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. The extent to which pathogenic mtDNA variants regulate disease severity in LS is not well understood. The heterogeneous nature of this disorder, based in part by complex mitochondrial genetics, and the nuclear and mitochondrial cross-talk has made it particularly challenging to investigate and develop therapies for treating LS . While the prognosis is poor, several studies are underway to understand the pathophysiology of LS. This dissertation provides a comprehensive structural and functional analysis …


Characterizing The Effects Of Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (Pqq) Supplementation On Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Function And Myogenesis During Oxidative Stress And Iugr., Allyson J. Wood May 2021

Characterizing The Effects Of Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (Pqq) Supplementation On Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Function And Myogenesis During Oxidative Stress And Iugr., Allyson J. Wood

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) affects 10-15% of births and is associated with placental insufficiency (PI), resulting in fetal oxidative stress (OS). This OS is a factor in the predisposition to postnatal noncommunicable disease (NCD) of which muscle mitochondrial dysfunctional is a key aspect. Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), an antioxidant-like compound, is capable of OS reduction and promotes mitochondrial function, though limited research has focused on its effects in in utero skeletal muscle. This study sought to investigate the impact of in vitro H2O2, a model of OS, and an in vivo model of OS associated IUGR, with …


Review: The Bidirectional Relationship Between Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Inhibition And Import Machinery Malfunction In Parkinson’S Disease, Grace Riggs, Deepa Dabir May 2021

Review: The Bidirectional Relationship Between Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Inhibition And Import Machinery Malfunction In Parkinson’S Disease, Grace Riggs, Deepa Dabir

Honors Thesis

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by a loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) portion of the ventral midbrain, the region of the brain largely responsible for motor control, executive cognitive function, and emotional limbic activity (Sonne 2020). SNpc dopaminergic neurons are more vulnerable than those in other regions due to their high energy demand arising from long, highly branched, unmyelinated axons (Pissadaki & Bolam 2013). They also have a higher basal rate of oxidative phosphorylation, which has been hypothesized to further increase vulnerability in cases of PD (Pacelli et al., 2015). One of the major …


Mitochondrial Distribution Of Glycine Receptors In Motor Neuron Cell Lines, Katsiaryna Milashevich May 2021

Mitochondrial Distribution Of Glycine Receptors In Motor Neuron Cell Lines, Katsiaryna Milashevich

Student Theses and Dissertations

Although non-essential, glycine plays an important role in major metabolic reactions and is most known for its anti-inflammatory effects. An accumulation of contemporary research has shown that glycine is able to stabilize membrane potential using glycine receptors at the cellular level and to protect mitochondrial function directly, whether it is from inflammation, heavy metal poisoning, or ischemia-induced neuroinflammation. In this research, the existence of a hypothetical mitochondrial glycine receptor is examined. Immunofluorescence imaging was used to examine the presence of the glycine receptor subunits alpha 1 and alpha 2 in both non- differentiated and differentiated neuroblastoma cell lines. The preliminary …


Transactivation And Mitochondrial Activity Are Affected By High Temperature In C. Elegans Sperm, Jacqueline Mcvay Jan 2021

Transactivation And Mitochondrial Activity Are Affected By High Temperature In C. Elegans Sperm, Jacqueline Mcvay

Scripps Senior Theses

Sexual reproduction has a conserved flaw in that it is temperature sensitive. Exposure to high temperature leads to male infertility, but little is known about the underlying mechanism. Understanding these mechanisms is important for agriculture and reproductive medicine. Using C. elegans, we investigated two potential aspects of male fertility that may be affected by high temperature conditions: activation of sperm by seminal fluid and sperm mitochondrial activity. There are two pathways for sperm activation in C. elegans: the SPE-8 pathway in hermaphrodites and the TRY-5 pathway in male seminal fluid. Hermaphrodite sperm with a mutation in spe-8 can …