Small molecules that increase the presynaptic function of aminergic cells may provide neuroprotection in Parkinson’s disease as well as treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression. Model genetic organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster may enhance the detection of new drugs via modifier or “enhancer/suppressor” screens, but this technique has not been applied to processes relevant to psychiatry. To identify new aminergic drugs in vivo, we used a mutation in the Drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter (dVMAT) as a sensitized genetic background, and performed a suppressor screen. We fed dVMAT mutant larvae ~1000 known drugs and quantitated rescue (suppression) of an amine-dependent locomotor deficit in the larva. To determine which drugs might specifically potentiate neurotransmitter release, we performed an additional secondary screen for drugs that require presynaptic amine storage to rescue larval locomotion. Using additional larval locomotion and adult fertility assays, we validated that at least one compound previously used clinically as an antineoplastic agent potentiates the presynaptic function of aminergic circuits. We suggest that structurally similar agents might be used to development treatments for Parkinson’s disease, depression and ADHD and that modifier screens in Drosophila provide a new strategy to screen for neuropsychiatric drugs. More generally, our findings demonstrate the power of physiologically based screens for identifying bioactive agents for select neurotransmitter systems.
Skin graft is effective method to reconstruct large lesions on the skin. Long-term injuries such as burns, skin ulcers, skin flaps, skin grafts... can affect the health of the patient. Skin plays a very important role because it protects the body from dehydration, helps regulate temperature, helps prevent pathogenic bacteria or viruses from entering the body and minimizes skin deformation. In recent years the cold plasma has been used to aid the treatment of chronic skin wounds, burns, ulcers,... To assess the effectiveness of the wound healing process of Plasma, this study uses non – invasive (assess the shrinkage of the wound, the temperature change of the wound) and invasive methods (regeneration of skin tissue structure) to evaluate the therapeutic effects of Dielectric Barrier Dissections Plasma (DBD Plasma) in skin graft surgery. Experimenting with the entire skin graft model on mice, this use of DBD Plasma treatment along with clinical evaluation methods, this is to compare wound healing time between wounds treated with plasma DBD and untreated wound. After 21 days of experimentation, evaluation methods and results processing tools, it was shown that wound healing of skin lesions on mice of the wound area treated with DBD Plasma faster than nontreatment about: (1) The surface shrinkage rate is about 25%; (2) The average wound temperature is less than 0.5-1oC; (3) Healing time is faster from 5 to 6 days. Therefore, DBD Plasma is able to be a potential treatment for wound healing combined with skin graft surgery in the future. The initial study of DBD model is the premise from which could be broader in other animals such as rabbits and pigs with skin structure closer to the human skin. And further, the DBD Plasma shows the potential for preclinical application to human skin graft.
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