Genetic Processes Commons^™

Age-Associated Changes In Hearts Of Male Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 Rats, Ernest M. Walker Jr., Michael S. Nillas, Elsa I. Mangiarua, Sylvestre Cansino, Ryan G. Morrison, Romaine R. Perdue, William E. Triest, Gary L. Wright, Mark Studeny, Paulette Wehner, Kevin M. Rice, Eric R. Blough

Eric Blough

Aging is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, and fibrosis of the heart. The Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 (F344/BNF1) rat is recommended for age-related studies by the National Institutes on Aging because this hybrid rat lives longer and has a lower rate of pathological conditions than inbred rats. However, little is known about age-associated changes in cardiac and aortic function and structure in this model. This study evaluated age-related cardiac changes in male F344/BNF1 rats using ECHO, gross, and microscopic examinations. Rats aged 6-, 30-, and 36-mo were anesthetized and two-dimensional ECHO measurements, two-dimensional guided M-mode, Doppler M-mode, and other …

Age-Associated Changes In Hearts Of Male Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 Rats, Ernest M. Walker Jr., Michael S. Nillas, Elsa I. Mangiarua, Sylvestre Cansino, Ryan G. Morrison, Romaine R. Perdue, William E. Triest, Gary L. Wright, Mark Studeny, Paulette Wehner, Kevin M. Rice, Eric R. Blough

Silvestre P. Cansino

Aging is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, and fibrosis of the heart. The Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 (F344/BNF1) rat is recommended for age-related studies by the National Institutes on Aging because this hybrid rat lives longer and has a lower rate of pathological conditions than inbred rats. However, little is known about age-associated changes in cardiac and aortic function and structure in this model. This study evaluated age-related cardiac changes in male F344/BNF1 rats using ECHO, gross, and microscopic examinations. Rats aged 6-, 30-, and 36-mo were anesthetized and two-dimensional ECHO measurements, two-dimensional guided M-mode, Doppler M-mode, and other …

Age-Associated Changes In Hearts Of Male Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 Rats, Ernest Walker, Michael Nillas, Elsa Mangiarua, Sylvestre Cansino, Ryan Morrison, Romaine Perdue, William Triest, Gary Wright, Mark Studeny, Paulette Wehner, Kevin Rice, Eric Blough

Paulette S. Wehner

Aging is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, and fibrosis of the heart. The Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 (F344/BNF1) rat is recommended for age-related studies by the National Institutes on Aging because this hybrid rat lives longer and has a lower rate of pathological conditions than inbred rats. However, little is known about age-associated changes in cardiac and aortic function and structure in this model. This study evaluated age-related cardiac changes in male F344/BNF1 rats using ECHO, gross, and microscopic examinations. Rats aged 6-, 30-, and 36-mo were anesthetized and two-dimensional ECHO measurements, two-dimensional guided M-mode, Doppler M-mode, and other …

Age-Associated Changes In Hearts Of Male Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 Rats, Ernest M. Walker Jr., Michael S. Nillas, Elsa I. Mangiarua, Sylvestre Cansino, Ryan G. Morrison, Romaine R. Perdue, William E. Triest, Gary L. Wright, Mark Studeny, Paulette Wehner, Kevin M. Rice, Eric R. Blough

Mark A. Studeny

Aging is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy, dilatation, and fibrosis of the heart. The Fischer 344/Brown Norway F1 (F344/BNF1) rat is recommended for age-related studies by the National Institutes on Aging because this hybrid rat lives longer and has a lower rate of pathological conditions than inbred rats. However, little is known about age-associated changes in cardiac and aortic function and structure in this model. This study evaluated age-related cardiac changes in male F344/BNF1 rats using ECHO, gross, and microscopic examinations. Rats aged 6-, 30-, and 36-mo were anesthetized and two-dimensional ECHO measurements, two-dimensional guided M-mode, Doppler M-mode, and other …

Role Of Iron In Ethanol Derived Hepatic Stress, Jesse A. Thornton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Chronic alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Ethanol metabolism causes liver injury through alterations in hepatic metabolic state, redox status, and acetaldehyde adduct formations. Increased iron absorption is associated with chronic ethanol consumption and may play a role in ethanol induced oxidative stress. We tested the hypothesis that normal labile iron in the liver plays a role in ethanol related pathological stress, using C57/Bl6 mice pair-fed Lieber-DeCarli liquid ethanol diets for 11 and 22 weeks. Normal iron group mice received 55mg/kg iron as ferric citrate, whereas the low iron groups received 5mg/kg. …

Generation And Characterization Of Peptide Fusion Proteins, Brianna L. Probasco

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Pathogenic Th17 cells drive progression of many autoimmune diseases. Th17 cells develop from naïve T cells in the immune system after antigen-driven stimulation in a specific cytokine environment. Normally, T cells act to fight off infection, but when not properly controlled, they can cause disease. The cytokine interleukin-23 (IL-23) plays an essential role in the expansion of pathogenic Th17 cells. IL-23 is a heterodimeric protein, composed of a p19 alpha chain and a p40 beta chain. The p40 is also part of IL-12 and binds to the IL-12 receptor beta 1 (IL-12Rβ1) subunit. Thus, it follows that the IL-23 receptor …

Acute Hypersensitivity Of Pluripotent Testicular Cancer-Derived Embryonal Carcinoma To Low-Dose 5-Aza Deoxycytidine Is Associated With Global Dna Damage-Associated P53 Activation, Anti-Pluripotency And Dna Demethylation, Bijesh K. Biswal, Maroun J. Beyrouthy, Mary P. Hever-Jardine, David Armstrong, Craig R. Tomlinson, Brock C. Christensen, Carmen J. Marsit, Michael J. Spinella

Dartmouth Scholarship

Human embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells are the stem cells of nonseminoma testicular germ cells tumors (TGCTs) and share remarkable similarities to human embryonic stem (ES) cells. In prior work we found that EC cells are hypersensitive to low nanomolar doses of 5-aza deoxycytidine (5-aza) and that this hypersensitivity partially depended on unusually high levels of the DNA methyltransferase, DNMT3B. We show here that low-dose 5-aza treatment results in DNA damage and induction of p53 in NT2/D1 cells. In addition, low-dose 5-aza results in global and gene specific promoter DNA hypomethylation. Low- dose 5-aza induces a p53 transcriptional signature distinct from …

Immunologic Effects Of Gliotoxin In Rats: Mechanisms For Prevention Of Autoimmune Diabetes Mellitus, Honggang Liu, Susan H. Jackman, Henry Driscoll, Bryan Larsen

Susan H. Jackman

Various fungal products, such as gliotoxin (GT), have immunomodulating activity, a fact exploited previously by our group for prevention of autoimmune diabetes mellitus in BB/Wor rats. To understand better the immunologic effects in GT-treated rats, splenocytes from 65-day-old prediabetic diabetes-prone rats were phenotypically characterized after chronic treatment with GT. A parallel study examined the direct effects of GT on splenocyte preparations incubated with the mycotoxin. In vitro treatment of splenocytes with GT revealed relative decreases in CD4+ and increases in CD8+ T-cell subsets, whereas in vivo treatment with GT did not result in detectable alterations in relative CD4+ and CD8+ …

Immunologic Effects Of Gliotoxin In Rats: Mechanisms For Prevention Of Autoimmune Diabetes Mellitus, Honggang Liu, Susan H. Jackman, Henry Driscoll, Bryan Larsen

Henry Driscoll

Various fungal products, such as gliotoxin (GT), have immunomodulating activity, a fact exploited previously by our group for prevention of autoimmune diabetes mellitus in BB/Wor rats. To understand better the immunologic effects in GT-treated rats, splenocytes from 65-day-old prediabetic diabetes-prone rats were phenotypically characterized after chronic treatment with GT. A parallel study examined the direct effects of GT on splenocyte preparations incubated with the mycotoxin. In vitro treatment of splenocytes with GT revealed relative decreases in CD4+ and increases in CD8+ T-cell subsets, whereas in vivo treatment with GT did not result in detectable alterations in relative CD4+ and CD8+ …

Eradication Of Therapy-Resistant Human Prostate Tumors Using An Ultrasound-Guided Site-Specific Cancer Terminator Virus Delivery Approach, Adelaide Greco, Altomare Benedetto, Candace Howard, Sarah Kelly, Rounak Nande, Yulia Dementieva, Michele Miranda, Arturo Brunetti, Marco Salvatore, Luigi Claudio, Devanand Sarkar, Paul Dent, David Curiel, Paul Fisher, Pier Claudio

Pier P. Claudio

Intratumoral injections of a replication-incompetent adenovirus (Ad) expressing melanoma differentiation– associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (Ad.mda-7), a secreted cytokine displaying cancer-selective, apoptosis-inducing properties, profoundly inhibits prostate cancer (PC) growth in immune-incompetent animals. In contrast, Ad.mda-7 is ineffective in PCs overexpressing antiapoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 or Bcl-x L . However, intratumoral injections of a conditionally replication-competent Ad (CRCA) in which expression of the adenoviral E1A gene is driven by the cancer-specific promoter of progression-elevated gene-3 (PEG-3) and which simultaneously expresses mda-7/interleukin (IL)-24 in the E3 region of the Ad (Ad.PEG-E1A-mda-7), a cancer terminator virus (CTV), is highly active in these cells. A major …

Temporal And Spatial Changes Of Histone 3 K4 Dimethylation At The Ifn-Γ Gene During Th1 And Th2 Cell Differentiation, Heli Hamalainen-Laanaya, James Kobie, Chawnshang Chang, Wei-Ping Zeng

Wei-ping Zeng

Covalent modification of nucleosomal histones is an important mechanism for cytokine gene regulation in Th1 and Th2 cells. In this study, we analyzed the kinetics of histone H3 K4 dimethylation (H3K4me2) of the IFN-γ gene. Minimal levels of H3K4me2 were found in naive CD4 T cells. After 5 days of differentiation, H3K4me2 levels were elevated in both Th1 and Th2 cells at the −5.3 kb, the promoter, the intronic DNase I hypersensitive sites, and 3′ distal sites including the +9.5 kb and +16 kb sites. Th1 cells maintained high levels of H3K4me2 after longer time of culture. However, in Th2 …

The Differential Expression Of Egfl7 Transcripts During Angiogenesis In Human Fibrosarcoma, Navid Baktash

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The growth of a tumor depends on de novo angiogenesis, which involves multiple signaling cascades and is also a target for many anti-angiogenic therapies. Epidermal growth factor like (EGFL7), is a protein that is exclusively expressed by endothelial cells during angiogenesis and is necessary for the proper assembly of a sprout. However, EGFL7 is also upregulated in many tumors such as glioma and non-small cell lung cancer, associated with poor patient prognosis. We have previously shown that EGFL7 expression by tumor cells inhibits tumor angiogenesis, which is contrary to its requirement for angiogenesis when expressed by endothelial cells. As a …

Codon Optimization For Alpha 1-Antitrypsin Disease, Timothy Menz, Qiushi Tang, Lina Song, Christian Mueller, Terence R. Flotte

Christian Mueller

Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic disorder caused by defective production of alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT). Gene therapy approaches have been conducted in patients with AAT deficiency with successful AAT expression, but not to the therapeutic levels required to reduce the risk of emphysema. Codon optimization, a somewhat new and evolving technique, is used by many scientists to maximize protein expression in living organisms by altering translational and transcriptional efficiency as well as protein refolding. The purpose of this study was to develop single stranded and double stranded AAT gene constructs, test their protein expression in vitro, and compare with those …

Multi-Scale Modeling Of Angiotensin Ii Induced Neuronal Regulatory Mechanisms In The Brain, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli

Rajanikanth Vadigepalli

Poster Presentation.

Transcriptional Regulation Network Analysis Of The Hypertension-Perturbed Nucleus Tractus Solitarius, Gregory E. Gonye, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, Haiping Hao, James S. Schwaber

Rajanikanth Vadigepalli

Poster Presentation.

Chemosensitization Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma To Gemcitabine By Non-Invasive Radiofrequency Field-Induced Hyperthermia, Mustafa Raoof

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Gemcitabine is a potent nucleoside analogue against solid tumors however drug resistance rapidly emerges. Removal of gemcitabine incorporated in the DNA by repair mechanisms could potentially contribute to resistance in chemo-refractory solid tumors. In this study, we evaluated homologous recombination repair of gemcitabine-stalled replication forks as a potential mechanism contributing to resistance. We also studied the effect of hyperthermia on homologous recombination pathway to explain the previously reported synergy between gemcitabine and hyperthermia. We found that hyperthermia degrades and inhibits localization of Mre11 to gemcitabine-stalled replication forks. Furthermore, gemcitabine-treated cells that were also treated with hyperthermia demonstrate a prolonged passage …

Identification Of Conserved Splicing Motifs In Mutually Exclusive Exons Of 15 Insect Species, Patricia Buendia, John Tyree, Robert Laredo, Shu-Ning Hsu

School of Computing and Information Sciences

Background: During alternative splicing, the inclusion of an exon in the final mRNA molecule is determined by nuclear proteins that bind cis-regulatory sequences in a target pre-mRNA molecule. A recent study suggested that the regulatory codes of individual RNA-binding proteins may be nearly immutable between very diverse species such as mammals and insects. The model system Drosophila melanogaster therefore presents an excellent opportunity for the study of alternative splicing due to the availability of quality EST annotations in FlyBase.

Methods: In this paper, we describe an in silico analysis pipeline to extract putative exonic splicing regulatory sequences from a multiple …

Advancing Our Understanding Of The Inheritance And Transmission Of Pectus Excavatum, Lisa Horth, Michael W. Stacey, Virginia K. Proud, Kara Segna, Chelsea Rutherford, Donald Nuss, Robert E. Kelly

Bioelectrics Publications

Pectus excavatum is the most common congenital chest wall abnormality expressed in children, yet its inheritance is poorly understood. Here we present the first comprehensive assessment of the inheritance of this disorder. After evaluating 48 pedigrees and 56 clinical traits of probands and family members, we find strong evidence of autosomal recessive, genetic control for this disorder. Additionally there is likely more than one pectus disease-associated allele, as well as a relatively large number of disease allele carriers in the human population. Some clinical traits appear important and may serve as reliable indicators for predicting the likelihood of pectus excavatum …

Activity Of Analogs Of Anticancer Drugs On The Serine Protease Enzymes Subtilisin And Chymotrypsin, Dhatri Ravipati

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The anticancer activity of several platinum compounds is due to the formation of complexes with DNA. We hypothesize that the size and shape of the platinum compounds would impact interaction with proteins, and these interactions may be partly responsible for the anticancer activity. Chymotrypsin and subtilisin are serine proteases that have a histidine residue in the active site. We are investigating the inhibition of the digestive enzymes chymotrypsin and subtilisin by analogs of the anticancer drug cisplatin and trying to discern trends in the inhibition as the active site residues vary. In our research, we found that the enzyme subtilisin …

Enforced Expression Of Tbx1 In Fetal Thymic Epithelial Cells Antagonizes Thymus Organogenesis, Kim T. Cardenas

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Enforced expression of Tbx1 in fetal thymic epithelial cells antagonizes

thymus organogenesis

Kim T. Cardenas

The thymus and parathyroid glands originate from organ-specific domains of 3rd pharyngeal pouch (PP) endoderm. At embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5), the ventral thymus and dorsal parathyroid domains can be identified by Foxn1 and Gcm2 expression respectively. Neural crest cells, (NCCs) play a role in regulating patterning of 3rd PP endoderm. In addition, pharyngeal endoderm influences fate determination via secretion of Sonic hedgehog (Shh), a morphogen required for Gcm2 expression and generation of the parathyroid domain. Gcm2 is a downstream target of the transcription factor Tbx1, …