@article{ThalSmetakHayashietal.2022, author = {Thal, Serge C. and Smetak, Manuel and Hayashi, Kentaro and F{\"o}rster, Carola Y.}, title = {Hemorrhagic cerebral insults and secondary Takotsubo syndrome: findings in a novel in vitro model using human blood samples}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {19}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms231911557}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-288305}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Intracranial hemorrhage results in devastating forms of cerebral damage. Frequently, these results also present with cardiac dysfunction ranging from ECG changes to Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). This suggests that intracranial bleeding due to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) disrupts the neuro-cardiac axis leading to neurogenic stress cardiomyopathy (NSC) of different degrees. Following this notion, SAH and secondary TTS could be directly linked, thus contributing to poor outcomes. We set out to test if blood circulation is the driver of the brain-heart axis by investigating serum samples of TTS patients. We present a novel in vitro model combining SAH and secondary TTS to mimic the effects of blood or serum, respectively, on blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity using in vitro monolayers of an established murine model. We consistently demonstrated decreased monolayer integrity and confirmed reduced Claudin-5 and Occludin levels by RT-qPCR and Western blot and morphological reorganization of actin filaments in endothelial cells. Both tight junction proteins show a time-dependent reduction. Our findings highlight a faster and more prominent disintegration of BBB in the presence of TTS and support the importance of the bloodstream as a causal link between intracerebral bleeding and cardiac dysfunction. This may represent potential targets for future therapeutic inventions in SAH and TTS.}, language = {en} } @article{IbrahimOhlsen2022, author = {Ibrahim, Eslam S. and Ohlsen, Knut}, title = {The old yellow enzyme OfrA fosters Staphylococcus aureus survival via affecting thiol-dependent redox homeostasis}, series = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, volume = {13}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology}, issn = {1664-302X}, doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2022.888140}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-274381}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Old yellow enzymes (OYEs) are widely found in the bacterial, fungal, and plant kingdoms but absent in humans and have been used as biocatalysts for decades. However, OYEs' physiological function in bacterial stress response and infection situations remained enigmatic. As a pathogen, the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus adapts to numerous stress conditions during pathogenesis. Here, we show that in S. aureus genome, two paralogous genes (ofrA and ofrB) encode for two OYEs. We conducted a bioinformatic analysis and found that ofrA is conserved among all publicly available representative staphylococcal genomes and some Firmicutes. Expression of ofrA is induced by electrophilic, oxidative, and hypochlorite stress in S. aureus. Furthermore, ofrA contributes to S. aureus survival against reactive electrophilic, oxygen, and chlorine species (RES, ROS, and RCS) via thiol-dependent redox homeostasis. At the host-pathogen interface, S. aureusΔofrA has defective survival in macrophages and whole human blood and decreased staphyloxanthin production. Overall, our results shed the light onto a novel stress response strategy in the important human pathogen S. aureus.}, language = {en} }