TY - JOUR A1 - Prinz, Johanna A1 - Karacivi, Aylin A1 - Stormanns, Eva R. A1 - Recks, Masha S. A1 - Kürten, Stefanie T1 - Time-Dependent Progression of Demyelination and Axonal Pathology in MP4-Induced Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis JF - PloS One N2 - Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by inflammation, demyelination and axonal pathology. Myelin basic protein/proteolipid protein (MBP-PLP) fusion protein MP4 is capable of inducing chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in susceptible mouse strains mirroring diverse histopathological and immunological hallmarks of MS. Limited availability of human tissue underscores the importance of animal models to study the pathology of MS. Methods Twenty-two female C57BL/6 (B6) mice were immunized with MP4 and the clinical development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was observed. Methylene blue-stained semi-thin and ultra-thin sections of the lumbar spinal cord were assessed at the peak of acute EAE, three months (chronic EAE) and six months after onset of EAE (long-term EAE). The extent of lesional area and inflammation were analyzed in semi-thin sections on a light microscopic level. The magnitude of demyelination and axonal damage were determined using electron microscopy. Emphasis was put on the ventrolateral tract (VLT) of the spinal cord. Results B6 mice demonstrated increasing demyelination and severe axonal pathology in the course of MP4-induced EAE. In addition, mitochondrial swelling and a decrease in the nearest neighbor neurofilament distance (NNND) as early signs of axonal damage were evident with the onset of EAE. In semi-thin sections we observed the maximum of lesional area in the chronic state of EAE while inflammation was found to a similar extent in acute and chronic EAE. In contrast to the well-established myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) model, disease stages of MP4-induced EAE could not be distinguished by assessing the extent of parenchymal edema or the grade of inflammation. Conclusions Our results complement our previous ultrastructural studies of B6 EAE models and suggest that B6 mice immunized with different antigens constitute useful instruments to study the diverse histopathological aspects of MS. KW - Multiple sclerosis KW - spinal cord KW - central nervous system KW - nerve fibers KW - inflammatory diseases KW - axons KW - mitochondria KW - mouse models Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146651 VL - 10 IS - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Masic, Anita A1 - Valencia Hernandez, Ana Maria A1 - Hazra, Sudipta A1 - Glaser, Jan A1 - Holzgrabe, Ulrike A1 - Hazra, Banasri A1 - Schurigt, Uta T1 - Cinnamic Acid Bornyl Ester Derivatives from Valeriana wallichii Exhibit Antileishmanial In Vivo Activity in Leishmania major-Infected BALB/c Mice JF - PLoS One N2 - Human leishmaniasis covers a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis to severe and lethal visceral leishmaniasis caused among other species by Leishmania major or Leishmania donovani, respectively. Some drug candidates are in clinical trials to substitute current therapies, which are facing emerging drug-resistance accompanied with serious side effects. Here, two cinnamic acid bornyl ester derivatives (1 and 2) were assessed for their antileishmanial activity. Good selectivity and antileishmanial activity of bornyl 3-phenylpropanoate (2) in vitro prompted the antileishmanial assessment in vivo. For this purpose, BALB/c mice were infected with Leishmania major promastigotes and treated with three doses of 50 mg/kg/day of compound 2. The treatment prevented the characteristic swelling at the site of infection and correlated with reduced parasite burden. Transmitted light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy of Leishmania major promastigotes revealed that compounds 1 and 2 induce mitochondrial swelling. Subsequent studies on Leishmania major promastigotes showed the loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm) as a putative mode of action. As the cinnamic acid bornyl ester derivatives 1 and 2 had exhibited antileishmanial activity in vitro, and compound 2 in Leishmania major-infected BALB/c mice in vivo, they can be regarded as possible lead structures for the development of new antileishmanial therapeutic approaches. KW - leishmania major KW - promastigotes KW - apoptosis KW - mitochondria KW - parasitic diseases KW - leishmania KW - leishmaniasis KW - mouse models Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125354 VL - 10 IS - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neuhaus, Winfried A1 - Schlundt, Marian A1 - Fehrholz, Markus A1 - Ehrke, Alexander A1 - Kunzmann, Steffen A1 - Liebner, Stefan A1 - Speer, Christian P. A1 - Förster, Carola Y. T1 - Multiple Antenatal Dexamethasone Treatment Alters Brain Vessel Differentiation in Newborn Mouse Pups JF - PLoS One N2 - Antenatal steroid treatment decreases morbidity and mortality in premature infants through the maturation of lung tissue, which enables sufficient breathing performance. However, clinical and animal studies have shown that repeated doses of glucocorticoids such as dexamethasone and betamethasone lead to long-term adverse effects on brain development. Therefore, we established a mouse model for antenatal dexamethasone treatment to investigate the effects of dexamethasone on brain vessel differentiation towards the blood-brain barrier (BBB) phenotype, focusing on molecular marker analysis. The major findings were that in total brains on postnatal day (PN) 4 triple antenatal dexamethasone treatment significantly downregulated the tight junction protein claudin-5, the endothelial marker Pecam-1/CD31, the glucocorticoid receptor, the NR1 subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, and Abc transporters (Abcb1a, Abcg2 Abcc4). Less pronounced effects were found after single antenatal dexamethasone treatment and in PN10 samples. Comparisons of total brain samples with isolated brain endothelial cells together with the stainings for Pecam-1/CD31 and claudin-5 led to the assumption that the morphology of brain vessels is affected by antenatal dexamethasone treatment at PN4. On the mRNA level markers for angiogenesis, the sonic hedgehog and the Wnt pathway were downregulated in PN4 samples, suggesting fundamental changes in brain vascularization and/or differentiation. In conclusion, we provided a first comprehensive molecular basis for the adverse effects of multiple antenatal dexamethasone treatment on brain vessel differentiation. KW - endothelial cells KW - protein expression KW - central nervous system KW - mouse models KW - pregnancy KW - tight junctions KW - sheep KW - angiogenesis Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125471 VL - 10 IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tsoneva, Desislava A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Bedenk, Kristina A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Cappello, Joseph A1 - Fischer, Utz A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Drug-encoded Biomarkers for Monitoring Biological Therapies JF - PLoS One N2 - Blood tests are necessary, easy-to-perform and low-cost alternatives for monitoring of oncolytic virotherapy and other biological therapies in translational research. Here we assessed three candidate proteins with the potential to be used as biomarkers in biological fluids: two glucuronidases from E. coli (GusA) and Staphylococcus sp. RLH1 (GusPlus), and the luciferase from Gaussia princeps (GLuc). The three genes encoding these proteins were inserted individually into vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 genome under the control of an identical promoter. The three resulting recombinant viruses were used to infect tumor cells in cultures and human tumor xenografts in nude mice. In contrast to the actively secreted GLuc, the cytoplasmic glucuronidases GusA and GusPlus were released into the supernatants only as a result of virus-mediated oncolysis. GusPlus resulted in the most sensitive detection of enzyme activity under controlled assay conditions in samples containing as little as 1 pg/ml of GusPlus, followed by GusA (25 pg/ml) and GLuc (≥375 pg/ml). Unexpectedly, even though GusA had a lower specific activity compared to GusPlus, the substrate conversion in the serum of tumor-bearing mice injected with the GusA-encoding virus strains was substantially higher than that of GusPlus. This was attributed to a 3.2 fold and 16.2 fold longer half-life of GusA in the blood stream compared to GusPlus and GLuc respectively, thus a more sensitive monitor of virus replication than the other two enzymes. Due to the good correlation between enzymatic activity of expressed marker gene and virus titer, we conclude that the amount of the biomarker protein in the body fluid semiquantitatively represents the amount of virus in the infected tumors which was confirmed by low light imaging. We found GusA to be the most reliable biomarker for monitoring oncolytic virotherapy among the three tested markers. KW - mouse models KW - vaccinia virus KW - luciferase KW - biomarkers KW - cytolysis KW - viral replication KW - cell cultures KW - blood Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125265 VL - 10 IS - 9 ER -