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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Function Of Microglia Using Small Molecules To Combat Neurodegeneration, Gabrielle C. Williams, Priya Prakash, Gaurav Chopra
Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Function Of Microglia Using Small Molecules To Combat Neurodegeneration, Gabrielle C. Williams, Priya Prakash, Gaurav Chopra
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium
Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells that are responsible for maintaining homeostasis in healthy conditions. During injury or infection, resting microglia get activated and produce pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1b, IL-1a, IL-6, etc. along with reactive oxygen species like nitric oxide (NO) to combat neuroinflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inflammation is characterized by the activation of resident-immune cells in the brain called microglia that respond to the eat-me signals released by the toxic amyloid beta peptides as well as the dying neurons in the microenvironment. Recent studies have shown that activated microglia induce neuronal death by secreting …
Targeting Neuropeptides To Bone Fractures For Accelerated Healing, Nicholas A. Young, Jeffery J. Nielsen, Philip S. Low
Targeting Neuropeptides To Bone Fractures For Accelerated Healing, Nicholas A. Young, Jeffery J. Nielsen, Philip S. Low
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium
In patients over the age of 65 especially, bone fractures represent a significant disease burden. Non-invasive drug therapies are not available for bone fractures which represents a problem for this population. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP), two neuromodulator peptides in the glucagon superfamily, have demonstrated positive regulation of osteoblast proliferation and activity. Using acidic oligopeptides, we have developed ligands that target to and accumulate at fracture sites. These targeting ligands can be synthesized in sequence with bone anabolic peptides to minimize off target effects and increase potency at the fracture site to create safer and …