Chemicals and Drugs Commons^™

Chemical Modification And Evaluation Of Cells Towards Use As Delivery Tools, Bishnu Prasad Joshi

Doctoral Dissertations

CHEMICAL MODIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF CELLS TOWARDS USE AS DELIVERY TOOLS SEPTEMBER 2023 BISHNU PRASAD JOSHI M.S., SRI SATHYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Michelle E. Farkas Endogenous cells are being studied for use in various applications, such as next generation therapeutics and drug delivery vehicles. This is on account of their biocompatibility, amenable distribution profiles, and in many instances, recruitment to and localization of diseased tissues. Multiple cell types have been employed, including macrophages, stem cells, red blood cells, and T cells. Most examples of cell-based delivery utilize phagocytosed entities as …

Effects Of Sex And Estrous Cycle On Intravenous Oxycodone Self-Administration And The Reinstatement Of Oxycodone-Seeking Behavior In Rats, Nicole M. Hinds, Ireneusz D. Wojtas, Corinne A. Gallagher, Claire M. Corbett, Daniel F. Manvich

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

The increasing misuse of both prescription and illicit opioids has culminated in a national healthcare crisis in the United States. Oxycodone is among the most widely prescribed and misused opioid pain relievers and has been associated with a high risk for transition to compulsive opioid use. Here, we sought to examine potential sex differences and estrous cycle-dependent effects on the reinforcing efficacy of oxycodone, as well as on stress-induced or cue-induced oxycodone-seeking behavior, using intravenous (IV) oxycodone self-administration and reinstatement procedures. In experiment 1, adult male and female Long-Evans rats were trained to self-administer 0.03 mg/kg/inf oxycodone according to a …

Comparative Analysis Of The Effects Of Actual Versus Assumed Opioid Experience On The Regulation Of Ventral Striatal Opioid Receptor Gene Expression, Indu Mithra Madhuranthakam, Martin Job

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Rationale: We conducted experiments to assess the effect of prior opioid experience on gene expression changes. We compared the current experimenter-imposed short versus extended-access conditions of opioid self-administration and developed a new quantitative method to determine their effectiveness in identifying the role of opioid experience in regulating opioid receptor expression levels in the ventral striatum (VS) using an oxycodone self-administration/abstinence model.

Methods: In this study, male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=36) were trained for 20 days to self-administer oxycodone at 0.1 mg/kg/infusion under short access (n=15, or saline as controls n=3, for 3h/day) or extended access (n=15, or saline as controls n=3, …

Research Personnel Exposure To Carbon Dioxide During Euthanasia Procedures, Devon Nealer, Felicia Reibstein, Jennifer Bendorf, Emily Lafferty, Stephanie Ramborger, Taylor Swift, Jacqueline O'Malley, Thomas Boyle

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a commonly used euthanasia agent in animal facilities. This procedure is carried out by replacing oxygen with carbon dioxide in animal cages, thus providing a quick and painless method of euthanasia. Unfortunately, there has been limited research on the potential effects of human exposure to CO2 during euthanasia procedures.

Following a previous carbon dioxide exposure study in the vivarium at Rowan SOM in 2016, the CO2 cylinders and euthanasia chambers have been relocated to room 153 Science Center and the vivarium has adopted a localized exhaust that helps remove the contaminant at the source.

While the …

Mechanism-Driven Approaches And Novel Constructs For High Purity Rna Synthesis, Kithmie Malagodapathiranage

Doctoral Dissertations

RNA is poised to revolutionize medicine. By simply changing the sequence, one therapeutic can be converted into a wholly new one, with little or no change in manufacturing and formulation. While a single mRNA vaccine produced at massive scale can treat billions, the re-codability of RNA will also enable the widespread growth of personalized medicines. T7 RNA polymerase is highly efficient at the synthesis of therapeutic RNA, but is known to produce unintended RNA impurities during synthesis. These products arise from the encoded RNA rebinding the enzyme such that its 3’ end serves as a primer for extension. This leads …

Investigating The Antibacterial And Immunomodulatory Properties Of Lactobacillus Acidophilus Postbiotics, Rachael M. Wilson

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Probiotics are nonpathogenic microorganisms that have been extensively studied for their ability to prevent various infectious, gastrointestinal, and autoimmune diseases. The mechanisms underlying these probiotic effects have not been elucidated. However, we and other researchers have evidence suggesting that probiotic bacteria secrete metabolites that are antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory. As such, we developed a methodology to collect the secreted metabolites from a probiotic bacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and tested this cell free filtrate (CFF) both in vitro and in vivo. Using this CFF, we have demonstrated that L. acidophilus secretes a molecule(s) that has specific bactericidal activity against the opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas …

Accelerometry-Based Analysis Of Postural Sway In Parkinson's Disease Patients With Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia, Chandler Brock

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, with patient numbers projected to double to 12 million in the next 20 years. Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) is a major problem associated with the long-term use of levodopa for symptomatic treatment of PD. These involuntary movements can become disabling and may interfere with quality of life. Our prior research showed that PD w/ LID were less stable while standing (i.e., increased postural sway) and had a higher incidence of falls. The aim of this study is to determine if postural sway properties are altered by LID via decomposing the sway signal. We …

Examining The Oxidative Stress Effects In Rats Exposed To 2-Aminoanthracene In Utero And High Fat Diet Three Months After, Brianna A. Lanoix

Honors College Theses

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are organic compounds that are created synthetically or found in partially burned oil, gasoline, and coal. 2-aminoanthracene (2AA) is a common example of a PAH and can affect lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and resulting in inflammatory problems and oxidative stress. The objective of the research project is to investigate oxidative stress in relation to diabetes in rats exposed to 2AA in utero and a high fat diet later in life. Pregnant dams were separated into treatment groups based on their dosages of 2AA; 0 mg/kg (control), 50 mg/kg (low), 100 mg/kg (high). During the gestation -postpartum period, …

Identification Of Novel Biosynthetic Gene Clusters Encoding For Polyketide/Nrps-Producing Chemotherapeutic Compounds From Marine-Derived Streptomyces Hygroscopicus From A Marine Sanctuary, Hannah Ruth Flaherty

Honors Theses and Capstones

Nearly one out of six deaths in 2020, around ten million people, were caused by cancer, making it a leading cause of death worldwide (WHO, 2022). This major public health issue, in addition to the rise of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, provides a high demand for the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs to be used clinically to treat these conditions. The Streptomyces genus accounts to produce 39% of all microbial metabolites currently approved for human health, indicating its potential as an important species to study for antimicrobial and anticancer agents. The long linear genome of Streptomyces contains specialized sequences known as …