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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Determination Of The Role Of Smu_833 In The Fitness And Virulence Of Cariogenic Streptococcus Mutans, Katherine Lynn Rainey
Determination Of The Role Of Smu_833 In The Fitness And Virulence Of Cariogenic Streptococcus Mutans, Katherine Lynn Rainey
All ETDs from UAB
Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay, is the most common infectious disease worldwide. The main etiological agent of dental caries is Streptococcus mutans which can readily form a biofilm on the surface of teeth and produce acids through the metabolism of dietary sugars, which is largely responsible for the demineralization and subsequent destruction of tooth enamel. In addition, S. mutans synthesizes extracellular glucosyltransferases (Gtfs) capable of breaking apart dietary sucrose and polymerizing the glucose subunits into the sticky glucan matrix of the biofilm, imperative for the formation of robust, three-dimensional biofilms. Currently used caries therapies are not species-specific and …
Metabolic And Oxidative Regulation Of Neuronal Autophagy And Survival, Matthew Dodson
Metabolic And Oxidative Regulation Of Neuronal Autophagy And Survival, Matthew Dodson
All ETDs from UAB
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease are all characterized by metabolic dysfunction, increased oxidative damage to proteins and organelles, formation of proteinaceous inclusions, decreased autophagic and proteasomal function, and eventual neuronal and glial cell death. While our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie many of these pathologies is constantly growing, their exact cause, onset, interplay and progression still remain unclear. The gap between the description of disease pathologies and understanding the fundamental mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, progression and potential therapeutics to mitigate disease progression is still large. Based on the observation that altered glucose utilization, …
Bioenergetics As A Biomarker Of Health And Disease, Philip Kramer
Bioenergetics As A Biomarker Of Health And Disease, Philip Kramer
All ETDs from UAB
The increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and many other diseases only recently associated with aberrant metabolism, have led to a de-mand for clinical assays to determine a patient’s mitochondrial health. With the rapidly growing interest in personalized medicine, such an assay would ideally be able to capture the metabolic changes associated with oxidative stress, inflammation, and therapy of a patient in a swift and non-invasive manner. Short of tissue biopsies, this burgeoning field of Translational Bioenergetics has had minimal success in obtaining sufficient human cells and the means to assess them both accurately and swiftly. The purpose of …
Energy Metabolism Of Platelets During Activation, Oxidative Stress And Storage, Saranya Ravi
Energy Metabolism Of Platelets During Activation, Oxidative Stress And Storage, Saranya Ravi
All ETDs from UAB
The principal function of platelets is to regulate hemostasis, and dysfunction of platelet aggregation or activation can lead to either excessive thrombotic or hemorrhagic complications. It has been shown that the ability to generate ATP and exposure to oxidative stress can affect platelet thrombotic potential. While platelet metabolism has been extensively studied, the importance of substrate availability and metabolic plasticity in regulating aggregation under physiological or pathological conditions is not well understood. In this dissertation, we examined the reliance of platelets on different metabolic substrates, the importance of ATP production for aggregation in response to thrombin stimulation, metabolic stress following …
The Role Of Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress In Cardiovascular Disease Development, Corey Michael Harrison
The Role Of Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress In Cardiovascular Disease Development, Corey Michael Harrison
All ETDs from UAB
An estimated 70 million Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the sequence of events leading to CVD are still controversial, there is a general consensus that atherosclerotic lesions result from oxidative stress associated with risk factor. For this study, it was hypothesized that endogenous mitochondrial oxidative stress would influence susceptibility to atherogenesis and mitochondrial damage mediated by CVD risk factor exposure. To test this hypothesis, atherosclerotic lesion formation, oxidant stress, and mitochondrial DNA damage were assessed in hypercholestoremic mice (apolipoprotein E null - apoE -/- SOD2 +/+) and mice with significantly decreased levels of the …
The Effects Of Environmental Ozone Exposure On Vascular Function, Oxidative Stress, And Atherosclerosis, Gin Chuang
The Effects Of Environmental Ozone Exposure On Vascular Function, Oxidative Stress, And Atherosclerosis, Gin Chuang
All ETDs from UAB
Exposure to air pollutants are known to induce airway inflammation, decrease lung function, and worsen existing pulmonary conditions such as asthma. Additionally, air pollutant exposure has also been shown to impact cardiovascular health. Although these pollutant-induced cardiovascular effects were considered to be mediated by the direct action of pollutants upon the cardiovascular tissue and/or the indirect release of pro-inflammatory factors into the circulation, the relative contribution of the two pathways remained equivocal. Recently, several epidemiology studies associated ozone exposure with cardiovascular mortalities. However, relatively few studies to date have examined ozone in this context. In order to address our hypothesis …
O-Glcnac Transferase Modulates Jnk1 And Foxo4 Transcription Factor To Resist Acute Oxidative Stress, Shiuh-Rong Ho
O-Glcnac Transferase Modulates Jnk1 And Foxo4 Transcription Factor To Resist Acute Oxidative Stress, Shiuh-Rong Ho
All ETDs from UAB
O-GlcNAcylation is an abundant and dynamic post-translational modification on serine and threonine residues of nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. O-GlcNAc Transferase (OGT) and Nuclear Cytoplasmic O-GlcNAcase and Acetyltransferase (NCOAT) are the only two enzymes and major regulators in this process. In the past two decades, many studies have demonstrated its important modulation roles in nutrient sensing, protein turnover, cell cycle progression, transcription, translation as well as stress resistance. Among these biological functions, the understanding of O-GlcNAcylation dependent oxidative stress is relatively unknown. This study aims to examine the effects of O-GlcNAcylation on JNK1 and FOXO4 transcription factors under acute oxidative stress …
Role Of Heme Oxygenase-1 In Acute Kidney Injury, Subhashini Bolisetty
Role Of Heme Oxygenase-1 In Acute Kidney Injury, Subhashini Bolisetty
All ETDs from UAB
Acute kidney injury (AKI), defined as the rapid loss of kidney function, is often seen in the setting of multiple organ failure in critically ill patients. Lack of established therapeutic approaches to overcome AKI has lead to unacceptably high incidence of morbidity and mortality in these patients. The molecular mechanisms that lead to AKI often have oxidative stress as a common pathogenic event. The kidney responds by prompt induction of its own anti-oxidant machinery including the highly inducible, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic gene-heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). This microsomal enzyme degrades pro-oxidant heme, which is released from heme proteins. The cytoprotective properties of …
Involvement Of Reactive Oxygen Species In The Acute Development Of Insulin Resistance Following Trauma And Hemorrhage, Lidong Zhai
Involvement Of Reactive Oxygen Species In The Acute Development Of Insulin Resistance Following Trauma And Hemorrhage, Lidong Zhai
All ETDs from UAB
Hyperglycemia develops in the intensive care unit in many patients following injury, infection and critical illness. However, little is known about the mechanism of acute development of insulin resistance that causes this hyperglycemia, even though reducing or normalizing the elevated glucose levels has become a major therapeutic target in many ICUs. Using rodent models of injury, acute hepatic insulin resistance occurs within minutes and continues for at least several hours even following fluid resuscitation. We have previously reported that TNF-alpha; is necessary for the hepatic insulin resistance in the rat following resuscitation. However, whether TNF-alpha; plays a role in the …
Oxidative Stress-Stimulated Vascular Calcification, Chang Hyun Byon
Oxidative Stress-Stimulated Vascular Calcification, Chang Hyun Byon
All ETDs from UAB
Oxidative stress plays a critical role in pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. However, the effect of oxidative stress-induced molecular signaling in development of vascular calcification, a feature of advanced atherosclerosis, has not been defined. Osteogenic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) is critical in development of vascular calcification. We determined hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress promoted a phenotypic switch of mouse primary VSMC from contractile to osteogenic phenotype. This effect was associated with increased expression and transactivity of Runx2, a key transcription factor for osteogenic differentiation. Inhibition of Runx2 using short hairpin RNA blocked oxidative stress-induced VSMC calcification. By contrast, adenovirus-mediated …