Publications by authors named "Elizabeth K Woehrling"
Article Synopsis
- Researchers are exploring the link between medications with off-target anticholinergic effects and sudden cognitive decline in older adults, emphasizing the need for urgent study.
- A co-culture model of human neurons and astrocytes (NT2.N/A) was used to assess how these cells respond to anticholinergic drugs and to analyze their potential cognitive risks when patients take multiple medications.
- The study found that the effects of certain drugs on cholinergic responses in astrocytes didn’t always match up with existing measurement scales, suggesting that those scales might not fully capture the risks of polypharmacy in older adults.
Article Synopsis
- Recent legislative changes are pushing for new methods to assess chemical hazards, moving away from whole animal testing.
- Since 2004, researchers have developed a human-based in vitro model using NT2.N/A cells composed of neurons and astrocytes to study neurotoxicity.
- The model successfully measures the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in response to neurotoxic chemicals, indicating specific neurotoxic effects without causing cell death, making it a potential alternative for cosmetics testing without animals.
Mood stabilising drugs such as lithium (LiCl) and valproic acid (VPA) are the first line agents for treating conditions such as Bipolar disorder and Epilepsy. However, these drugs have potential developmental effects that are not fully understood. This study explores the use of a simple human neurosphere-based in vitro model to characterise the pharmacological and toxicological effects of LiCl and VPA using gene expression changes linked to phenotypic alterations in cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany pesticides are used increasingly in combinations during crop protection and their stability ensures the presence of such combinations in foodstuffs. The effects of three fungicides, pyrimethanil, cyprodinil and fludioxonil, were investigated together and separately on U251 and SH-SY5Y cells, which can be representative of human CNS glial and neuronal cells respectively. Over 48h, all three agents showed significant reductions in cellular ATP, at concentrations that were more than tenfold lower than those which significantly impaired cellular viability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of the alpha-diketone derivatives 2,3- and 3,4-hexanediones were investigated in three non-neuronal cell lines (MCF7, HepG(2) and CaCo-2) as well as in the neuroblastoma line, SH-SY5Y. The MTT reduction assay was employed to determine the necrotic effects of the alpha-diketones and the neurotoxin 2,5-hexanedione over 4, 24 and 48 hr exposures. Flow cytometry was also used to study the effects of the three isomers on the cell cycle of the SH-SY5Y line only.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe toxicity of hexanedione isomers in neural and astrocytic cell lines.
Environ Toxicol Pharmacol
November 2006
The metabolite 2,5-hexanedione (HD) is the cause of neurotoxicity linked with chronic n-hexane exposure. Acute exposure to high levels of 2,5-HD, have also shown toxic effects in neuronal cells and non-neuronal cells. Isomers of 2,5-HD, 2,3- and 3,4-HD, added to foodstuffs, are reported to be non-toxic.
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