Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Dietary Phytoestrogens On Spermatogenesis And Male Reproductive Tract In Mice, Trenton A. Dalm

Masters Theses

Increases in infertility over the past 50 years are linked to environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). One type of EDC is phytoestrogens, commonly found in soy-based diets and foods such as cauliflower, tofu, and broccoli. Phytoestrogens may bind estrogen receptors and have positive or negative effects on receptor signaling. The developing male reproductive tract is potentially susceptible to endocrine disruptors leading to changes in adult reproductive function and possibly infertility. We hypothesized that dietary phytoestrogen exposure would have a dose dependent effect with the high diet yielding the lowest sperm count and worst performance compared to the medium …

Benzofuran Derivatives Substitute For The Discriminative Stimulus Effects Of 3,4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Mdma) In Male Sprague-Dawley Rats, Candace Johnson

Masters Theses

4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is currently under evaluation in phase III clinical trials as medication-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is expected to be approved by the FDA for clinical use in the near future. MDMA is also a popular abused substance with risks for cardiovascular toxicity and neurotoxicity, particularly when misused at higher doses. Characterization of the behavioral and neurochemical effects of novel psychoactive substances is an essential step in the development of safer alternative therapeutic agents. Drug discrimination is a preclinical behavioral assay with pharmacological specificity for characterizing in vivo drug actions in the central nervous system. This …

Does Epa Cause A Decrease In Inflammation Of Bend.3 Cells Through Ffar4?, Clay J. Weidenhamer

Masters Theses

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease initiated by low and oscillatory shear stress on the endothelium. The inflammatory process recruits leukocytes to the vessel wall by expression of the adhesion molecule VCAM-1. Activation of the NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway is responsible for the increase in VCM-1 expression. Omega 3 FAs, such as EPA, reduce the risk of atherosclerosis by decreasing this inflammatory response. The pathway by which omega 3 FAs is proposed to inhibit inflammation includes activating FFAR4 to decrease NF-κB activation thereby reducing expression of adhesion molecules. We hypothesized that treatment of endothelial cells with 30 μM EPA would decrease …

Synthesis, Characterization And Photophysical Properties Of Ytterbium Complexes Of Functionalized Porphyrins And Porpholactone, Beibei Liu

Masters Theses

The unique structure and superior properties of lanthanide porphyrins enable them to be used in a broad variety of applications, especially in medical diagnosis fields. This research focuses on modifying the porphyrin ligands in various places, resulting in broader absorption in the red region and strong emission in the near-infrared region for these ytterbium(III) porphyrin complexes. The design, synthesis and characterization for DMPH₂-BDP, DMPH₂-COOH, TPLH₂ ligands and YbDMP-BDP, YbDMP-COOH complexes are described. The photophysical properties of these ligands and complexes including their absorbance, fluorescence and quantum yields are also presented. Both the synthesized ligands and …

Assessment Of The Use Of Low Molecular Weight Diblock Copolymers For The Formation Of Stable, Tunable Droplet Interface Bilayers, Joseph Tawfik

Masters Theses

This thesis presents the use of diblock copolymers, poly(butadiene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PB_m PEO_n) and poly(isoprene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PI_mPEO_n), as amphiphilic molecular building blocks for the formation of synthetic polymer bilayer membranes using the droplet interface bilayer (DIB) technique. The DIB technique makes use of the self-assembly of amphiphilic macromolecules along oil-water droplet interfaces that can then be physically connected for the construction of liquid supported macromolecular bilayers at the droplet interface. These bilayer membranes are capable of hosting both naturally occurring and synthetic protein channels. This technique has been used to form synthetic bilayer membranes …

Organocatalyzed Synthesis Of Epoxides From Chalcones Utilizing Amino Acids, Sabrina N. Kegeler

Masters Theses

The epoxide functional group is important throughout the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in nature. In the chemical industry, epoxides are present in resins and fragrances. In the pharmaceutical industry, epoxide-containing compounds are used as intermediates in the manufacturing of drugs. In nature, many natural products contain epoxide groups and are used for medicinal purposes, and for models to create synthetic molecules.

One approach to epoxide synthesis involves the use of an alkene precursor, a base, and an oxidizing agent. This is where my investigations began. The first step was to optimize the epoxidation reaction, examining substrate scope, …

Microtransplantation Of Rat Brain Neurolemma Into Xenopus Laevis Oocytes To Study The Effect Of Environmental Toxicants On Endogenous Voltage-Sensitive Ion Channels, Edwin Murenzi

Masters Theses

Microtransplantation of mammalian neurolemma into Xenopus laevis oocytes has been used to study ion channels in terms of their structure and function in the central nervous system. Use of microtransplanted neurolemma is advantageous in that tissue can be obtained from various sources, ion channels and receptors are present in their native configuration and they can be used to evaluate numerous channelpathies caused by environmental toxicants. Here we show that Xenopus oocytes injected with fragments of rat brain neurolemma successfully express functional native ion channels that are assembled in their own plasma membrane. Using a high throughput two electrode voltage clamp …

The Oncolytic Potential Of Tanapoxvirus To Treat Retinoblastoma, John D. Christie

Masters Theses

Retinoblastoma is the leading cause of intraocular malignancy in children under 2 years of age. Current treatments, while generally effective in eliminating the tumor, have many negative side effects. Oncolytic virotherapy is the use of either wild type or recombinant viruses, to destroy tumor cells. There are currently several viruses being engineered as potential therapeutics for a wide range of cancers. They offer tumor specific alternative to current therapies with lesser toxicity. This study looked at the oncolytic efficacy of multiple tanapoxviruses (TPV) recombinants in an in vitro retinoblastoma. Here we have tested recombinants of TPV for their ability to …

Evolutionary Convergence Of The Caffeine Biosynthetic Pathway In Chocolate Followed Duplication Of A Constrained Ancestral Enzyme, Andrew J. O'Donnell

Masters Theses

Caffeine biosynthesis is widely distributed in flowering plants and requires three consecutive methylation steps of xanthine alkaloids. Genes that have previously been reported to participate in the multi-step pathway in Coffea sp. (coffee) and Camellia sinensis (tea) encode members of the SABATH family of methyltransferases. Two genes highly expressed in fruits of Theobroma cacao (cacao) are orthologous to the caffeine genes in tea and appear to have diversified following gene duplication. Biochemical characterization of the enzymes (XMTs) encoded by these genes strongly suggest an unprecedented major pathway to theobromine, a precursor to caffeine. These findings imply that caffeine biosynthesis evolved …

The Survival Of Mesophilic And Thermophilic Bacteria Subjected To Uv Irradiation, Sajida A. Shaikh

Masters Theses

Survival curves were determined for the mesophile, Bacillus licheniformis and the thermophile, Bacillus stearothermophilus after subjecting the cells to ultraviolet irradiation. Cells were grown at 37°C for the mesophile and at 55°C for the thermophile.

At low UV exposure times, the thermophile was more resistant to UV irradiation (had a better survival rate) than was the case for the mesophile. At higher exposure times, the situation was reversed, the mesophile having a greater survival rate than the thermophile.

The effect of changes in the temperature during irradiation was also determined. Thermophiles were greatly affected by changes in temperature while the …