No abstract

Fresh tissue PA with short-term immunosuppression appears to be a promising technique that is easy to perform, is cost-effective, has low risk of side effects and minimal complications with compatibility for HLA conditions. A longer follow-up period and more case studies are needed to determine the risks and benefits of this procedure for future cases.

Permanent hypoparathyroidism is a severe clinical condition accompanied by low parathyroid hormone level. Conventional treatment requires lifelong medication, and daily drug usage has some side effects. To avoid this circumstance, transplantation is an alternative and curative option. Microencapsulation may be used as a transplantation approach particularly to evade immune response. In order to define treatment of permanent hypoparathyroidism, a 37‐year‐old female recipient who has permanent hypoparathyroidism was evaluated for 3 years. Routine tests, viral markers, and T and B lymphocyte cross‐match tests were analyzed. In addition intradermal skin test was performed for ultrapure alginate. Microencapsulation of cultured parathyroid cells was performed with ultrapure alginate. Cell suspension was prepared and spheroids were generated with calcium chloride. Afterward, transplantation was performed with a laparoscopic approach in the omental tissue. The recipient was discharged from the hospital without complications. Serum calcium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and phosphorus levels were observed throughout 1 year. During the follow‐up period, no complications were observed. Serum calcium levels were increased significantly on day 10 and PTH levels were increased on day 25 as well. According to our knowledge, this is the first study where ultrapure alginate‐based microencapsulated parathyroid cells were transplanted in the omental tissue. A significant increment of PTH levels was detected. Microencapsulated parathyroid cells showed the functionality of this technique for more than 1 year. This study showed that using ultrapure alginate‐based microencapsulation without immunosuppression appears to be a promising technique.

Graphical abstractHighlights  Protoporphyrin IX loaded Magnetoliposomes were produced small enough for intravenous application. Protoporphyrin IX loaded Magnetoliposomes indicated its efficacy in nano-molar concentration for the in vitro photodynamic therapy application.  White LED light source provides sufficient energy to stimulate protoporphyrin molecules in cell culture. AbstractBackground: Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is a well-known photosensitizer that has great potential

CD95 (Fas) is a complex integral protein that can be expressed in many cells. It induces apoptosis when interacted with its ligand CD95L (FasL). However, cancer cells are resistant to CD95-induced apoptosis because of the changes in death domain (DD) of CD95 (procaspase-8 and c-Flip). In this study, magnetic nanoparticles and lipid-based gene transfection methods were performed to provide active Fas expression in breast cancer cells. Plasmid DNA (pDNA), which can express both human Fas and GFP, was transfected to MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Expression of c-FLIP and caspase-8 and effect of monoclonal antibody FasL for apoptosis stimulation were investigated. Also transfection success of methods and effects on surface protein were compared. Western blot results indicated that MCF-7 cells do not express caspase-8 but express large amount of c-FLIP. Both lipid-based and magnetic nanoparticle-mediated gene transfection methods successfully applied. Caspase-8 apoptosis pathway was activated on transfected cells. Magnetic nanoparticle-mediated gene transfer is a successful non-viral method for transfection, and it does not affect the expression of other cell proteins, such as beta actin and lamin-B1. The raised c-FLIP concentration in cytosol inhibits apoptosis. However, transfection of CD95-GFP-tagged pDNA significantly increases apoptosis by activating caspase-8 pathway. FasL interaction indicated a slight increase of apoptosis in the transfected cells. The method and pDNA applied in this study have potentials to be used in gene therapy for breast cancer.

Study design: Experimental laboratory investigation of spinal cord conductivity alterations in a rat model of ischemic spinal cord injury (SCI). Objective: To observe the epidural spinal cord stimulation-induced electromyography responses, and to investigate the possible alterations of spinal cord conduction velocity (SCCV) and compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) after ischemic SCI in rats. Settings: Adnan Menderes University, Institute of Health Science, Aydin, Turkey. Methods: SCI was induced by transient occlusion of the abdominal aorta in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Spinal cord histopathology was examined to determine neuronal damage and Tarlov scale was used to grade locomotor functions. Epidural electrical stimulation of spinal cord was performed by monopolar needle electrodes sequentially at L1-L2 and L5-L6 levels, and CMAPs were recorded from the left gastrocnemius muscle by surface electrodes. Amplitudes and durations of CMAPs were evaluated and SCCVs were calculated by analyzing the latency difference of CMAPs. Results: Ischemia-induced SCI resulted in significant reduction of Tarlov scores and a significant decline in number of viable neurons. Similarly, a significant decrement was observed in SCCV following spinal cord ischemia. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that measurement of SCCV via epidural electrical stimulation is possible and displays a significant decline after spinal cord ischemia in rats. We suggest that this method can be beneficial to quantify neuronal damage after experimental ischemic SCI. Rats are commonly used in experimental studies owing to the firm analogy of spinal cord anatomy between these animals and humans. 2 Motor functions after SCI are generally evaluated by locomotor scales such as Basso Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) and Tarlov scales. These qualitative assessment methods are performed by visual inspection and scoring of hind limb activity, and mainly determine fine locomotor skills. 3 However, there are difficulties in objective determination of neurological status following SCI in rats, which drive the attempts for developing more quantitative methods. 4,5 Various alternative methods have been developed for quantitative determination of motor deficits after SCI in rodents, which involve employment of video assistance such as single-frame motion analysis, 5 automated quantitative gait analysis 4 or robotic devices. 6

Intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i) may have an important role in the development of chemoresistance, which is an essential problem in cancer chemotherapy. Cisplatin (DDP), which modulates the intracellular calcium concentration by different mechanisms, is an antineoplastic agent with high success rate in cancer therapies. We investigated the regulatory role of [Ca 2+ ] in cisplatin resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer cell line, in MDAH-2774, and its chemoresistant subclone MDAH-2774/DDP. The measurement of [Ca 2+ ] i using fluorescence microscope, and flow cytometry revealed that the amount of intracellular calcium decreased in cisplatin resistant cells compared to the amounts in parental cells. mRNA expression profiles of calcium homeostasisassociated major genes (IP 3 R1/2/3, RYR1/2, SERCA1/2/3, NCX1/2/3, PMCA1/2/3, and PMCA4) decreased in cisplatin resistant cell line in comparison to the expression profiles in parental cells. Owing to the changes in the expression of genes involved in calcium regulation, these results show, drug resistance may be prevented by introducing a new perspective on the use of inhibitors and activators of these genes, and thus of cytostatic treatment strategies, due to changes in the expression of genes involved in calcium regulation.

ÖzetAmaç: Enkapsülasyon, bir maddenin ya da bir karışımın diğer bir malzeme ya da sistemle kaplandığı ya da içine sıkıştırıldığı tekniktir. Mikroenkapsülasyon tekniği, tıp dahil olmak üzere pek çok farklı disiplin tarafından uygulanmaya çalışılan ve halen en uygun enkapsülasyon tekniğinin bulunması için araştırmaların yürütüldüğü bir tekniktir. Mikroenkapsülasyon tekniğinde birbirinden farklı maddeler uygulanabilir. Bu maddeler elde edilme kaynaklarına göre doğal ya da sentetiktir. Mikroenkapsülasyon tekniği tıp pratiğinde özellikle pankreas beta hücrelerinin, Tip 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) hastalarına verilmesinde kullanılmaktadır. Mikroenkapsülasyonun uygulandığı bir başka durum ise hipoparatiroidi tanılı hastalara paratiroid hücrelerinin verilmesidir. Paratiroid hücrelerinin, mikroenkapsülasyon işleminde kullanılabilebilmesinin en önemli özelliklerinden biri, hücrelerin görece homojen yapıda olmaları, eksikliğinin organizmada doğrudan gözlemlenebilir semptomlara neden olması dolayısıyla oluşacak yanıtın hızlıca belirlenebilmesidir.Yöntemler: Çalışmamızda paratiroidhiperplazisi tanısı almış insandan elde edilen paratiroid dokularından izole edilen hücreler, %2'lik ultra saf aljinat ile muamele edildi. İşlem sırasında her bir kapsül sayısı hesaplandı ve kapsül başına 5X106, 10X106, 20X106 ve 50X106 hücre eklendi. Sonrasında 75 gün boyunca içlerinde paratiroid hücresi bulunan kapsüllerin morfolojik özellikleri ve parathormonsekresyon yeteneklerinin zaman bağlı değişimi gözlemlendi. Bulgular: 75 gün sonrasında tüm gruplar için korele olarak parathormon düzeyinde düşüş tespit edildi. Kapsüler formasyonda ciddi bir bozulmanın görülmediği grup, 20X106 hücre uygulanan grup oldu. Sonuç: Çalışmamızda model olarak değerlendirdiğimiz paratiroid hücrelerinin kapsülasyonu için en uygun koşulları (kapsülasyonda kullanılacak madde, destekleyici tampon, uygulanan maddelerin yüzdeleri, miktarları) belirlendi. Ayrıca günlere bağlı olarak kapsüllerdeki bozulmalar da tespit edildi. İlerleyen çalışmalarda optimize ettiğimiz koşulların hipoparatiroidizm tanılı hasta gruplarında denenmesi ve sonuçların burada sunduğumuz in vitro deney sonuçları ile karşılaştırılması gerekmektedir.