Life Sciences Commons^™

Maternal Separation Affects Dopamine Transporter Function In The Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat: An In Vivo Electrochemical Study, Jacqueline S. Womersley, Jennifer H. Hsieh, Lauriston A. Kellaway, Greg A. Gerhardt, Vivienne A. Russell

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a well-characterised model of this disorder and has been shown to exhibit dopamine dysregulation, one of the hypothesised causes of ADHD. Since stress experienced in the early stages of life can have long-lasting effects on behaviour, it was considered that early life stress may alter development of the dopaminergic system and thereby contribute to the behavioural characteristics of SHR. It was hypothesized that maternal separation would alter dopamine regulation by the transporter (DAT) in ways that distinguish SHR …

Rna Oxidation Adducts 8-Ohg And 8-Oha Change With Aβ42 Levels In Late-Stage Alzheimer's Disease, Adam M. Weidner, Melissa A. Bradley, Tina L. Beckett, Dana M. Niedowicz, Amy L.S. Dowling, Sergey V. Matveev, Harry Levine, Mark A. Lovell, M. Paul Murphy

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

While research supports amyloid-β (Aβ) as the etiologic agent of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the mechanism of action remains unclear. Evidence indicates that adducts of RNA caused by oxidation also represent an early phenomenon in AD. It is currently unknown what type of influence these two observations have on each other, if any. We quantified five RNA adducts by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy across five brain regions from AD cases and age-matched controls. We then used a reductive directed analysis to compare the RNA adducts to common indices of AD neuropathology and various pools of Aβ. Using data from four disease-affected brain …

Emotional Climate, Feeding Practices, And Feeding Styles: An Observational Analysis Of The Dinner Meal In Head Start Families, Sheryl O Hughes, Thomas G Power, Maria A Papaioannou, Matthew B Cross, Theresa A Nicklas, Sharon K Hall, Richard M Shewchuk

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: A number of studies conducted with ethnically diverse, low-income samples have found that parents with indulgent feeding styles had children with a higher weight status. Indulgent parents are those who are responsive to their child's emotional states but have problems setting appropriate boundaries with their child. Because the processes through which styles impact child weight are poorly understood, the aim of this study was to observe differences in the emotional climate created by parents (including affect, tone of voice, and gestures) and behavioral feeding practices among those reporting different feeding styles on the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire. A secondary …

Role Of Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase – Akt Signaling Pathway In The Age-Related Cytokine Dysregulation In Splenic Macrophages Stimulated Via Tlr-2 Or Tlr-4 Receptors, Mosoka Papa Fallah, R. Lakshman Chelvarajan, Beth A. Garvy, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Age-associated defects in both B-lymphocytes and macrophages in elderly result in a reduction in the efficacy of vaccines to many Gram positive bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae. Splenic macrophages from aged mice have been shown to have a defect in production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-12, IL-1β, TNF-α) but exhibit increased production of IL-10 upon TLR4 ligation. Here we showed that aged macrophages demonstrate similar cytokine dysregulation phenotype upon stimulation with TLR2 ligands, or killed S. pneumoniae. We hypothesized that an age-associated increase in activity of phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathway may be playing a causal role in …

Impaired Memory Cd8 T-Cell Responses Against An Immunodominant Retroviral Cryptic Epitope, Melanie R. Rutkowski, Cynthia A. Stevens, William R. Green

Dartmouth Scholarship

The immunodominant cryptic epitope SYNTGRFPPL, encoded within open reading frame 2 of the LP-BM5 retroviral gag gene, is critical for protection against retroviral-induced pathogenesis. The goal of this study was to dissect the memory response against this unique immunodominant cryptic epitope. Unlike the protective acute effector population of SYNTGRFPPL-specific CD8 T cells, long-lived SYNTGRFPPL-specific CD8 T cells lacked the ability to protect susceptible mice infected with LP-BM5 retrovirus. Compared to memory CD8 T cells against a conventional epitope with similar MHC-I specificity, primed and restimulated using similar conditions, long-lived SYNTGRFPPL-specific CD8 T cells were impaired in their ability to recall …

Aberrant Promoter Cpg Methylation Is A Mechanism For Impaired Phd3 Expression In A Diverse Set Of Malignant Cells., Trenton L. Place, Matthew P. Fitzgerald, Sujatha Venkataraman, Sabine U. Vorrink, Adam J. Case, Melissa L.T. Teoh, Frederick E. Domann

Journal Articles: Cellular & Integrative Physiology

BACKGROUND: The prolyl-hydroxylase domain family of enzymes (PHD1-3) plays an important role in the cellular response to hypoxia by negatively regulating HIF-α proteins. Disruption of this process can lead to up-regulation of factors that promote tumorigenesis. We observed decreased basal expression of PHD3 in prostate cancer tissue and tumor cell lines representing diverse tissues of origin. Furthermore, some cancer lines displayed a failure of PHD3 mRNA induction when introduced to a hypoxic environment. This study explores the mechanism by which malignancies neither basally express PHD3 nor induce PHD3 under hypoxic conditions.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using bisulfite sequencing and methylated DNA enrichment …

Specific Thiazolidinediones Inhibit Ovarian Cancer Cell Line Proliferation And Cause Cell Cycle Arrest In A Pparγ Independent Manner, Linah Al-Alem, R. Chase Southard, Michael W. Kilgore, Thomas E. Curry

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists, such as the thiazolinediones (TZDs), have been studied for their potential use as cancer therapeutic agents. We investigated the effect of four TZDs--Rosiglitazone (Rosi), Ciglitazone (CGZ), Troglitazone (TGZ), and Pioglitazone (Pio)--on ovarian cancer cell proliferation, PPARγ expression and PPAR luciferase reporter activity. We explored whether TZDs act in a PPARγ dependent or independent manner by utilizing molecular approaches to inhibit or overexpress PPARγ activity.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Treatment with CGZ or TGZ for 24 hours decreased proliferation in three ovarian cancer cell lines, Ovcar3, CaOv3, and Skov3, whereas Rosi and Pio had no …

Do Australian Adolescent Female Fake Tan (Sunless Tan) Users Practice Better Sun-Protection Behaviors Than Non-Users?, Melinda Williams, Sandra C. Jones, Peter Caputi, Donald C. Iverson

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To determine differences in sun-protection behaviours, and incidence of sunburn, between Australian adolescent female fake tan users and non-users. Design: Cross sectional survey. Method: 398 adolescent females aged 12 to 18 years participated in a survey at public venues, schools, and online. The main outcome measures were self-reported fake tan usage in the past 12 months, frequency of sunburns and habitual sun-protection behaviours. Setting: Surveys were completed in New South Wales, Australia. Results: The prevalence of self-reported use of fake tanning products in the past 12 months among Australian adolescent females was 34.5%. Female fake tan users were significantly …