Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A New Model For Hemoglobin Ingestion And Transport By The Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium Falciparum., Michelle D Lazarus, Timothy G Schneider, Theodore F Taraschi

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

The current model for hemoglobin ingestion and transport by intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites shares similarities with endocytosis. However, the model is largely hypothetical, and the mechanisms responsible for the ingestion and transport of host cell hemoglobin to the lysosome-like food vacuole (FV) of the parasite are poorly understood. Because actin dynamics play key roles in vesicle formation and transport in endocytosis, we used the actin-perturbing agents jasplakinolide and cytochalasin D to investigate the role of parasite actin in hemoglobin ingestion and transport to the FV. In addition, we tested the current hemoglobin trafficking model through extensive analysis of serial …

Transcriptional Regulatory Network Analysis During Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transformation Of Retinal Pigment Epithelium., Craig H Pratt, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Praveen Chakravarthula, Gregory E Gonye, Nancy J Philp, Gerald B Grunwald

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Phenotypic transformation of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells contributes to the onset and progression of ocular proliferative disorders such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). The formation of epiretinal membranes in PVR may involve an epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of RPE cells as part of an aberrant wound healing response. While the underlying mechanism remains unclear, this likely involves changes in RPE cell gene expression under the control of specific transcription factors (TFs). Thus, the purpose of the present study was to identify TFs that may play a role in this process.

METHODS: Regulatory regions of genes that are differentially regulated during …