Mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1 modulates the response of rat hippocampus neural stem cells to rapid stretch injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the primary causes of long-term brain disabilities among military personnel and civilians, regardless of gender. A plethora of secondary events are triggered by a primary brain insult, increasing the complexity of TBI. One of the most affected brain regions is the hippocampus, where neurogenesis occurs throughout life due to the presence of neural stem cells (NSC).

The SIRT1 activator SRT2104 exerts exercise mimetic effects and promotes Duchenne muscular dystrophy recovery.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating genetic disorder, whose management is still a major challenge, despite progress in genetic and pharmacological disease-modifying treatments have been made. Mitochondrial dysfunctions contribute to DMD, however, there are no effective mitochondrial therapies for DMD. SIRT1 is a NAD-dependent deacetylase that controls several key processes and whose impairment is involved in determining mitochondrial dysfunction in DMD.

Deciphering Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy in the clinical trials era: where are we now?

Objectives: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a common genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle weakness, especially in the face, shoulders, and upper limbs. Despite extensive research, the underlying pathogenesis and clinical variability remain incompletely understood. This review aims to summarize recent advances in FSHD research, focusing on genetic and epigenetic factors and the potential for precision medicine.

Immunosenescence in skeletal muscle: The role-play in cancer cachexia chessboard.

With the increase in life expectancy, age-related conditions and diseases have become a widespread and relevant social burden. Among these, immunosenescence and cancer cachexia play a significant often intertwined role. Immunosenescence is the progressive aging decline of both the innate and adaptive immune systems leading to increased infection susceptibility, poor vaccination efficacy, autoimmune disease, and malignancies.

Tailored graphene nanoparticles for biomedical application: preliminary in vitro characterization of the functionality in model cell lines.

Thanks to an environmentally friendly physical treatment of high purity graphite, a good control of the structure of graphene nanoparticles (GNPs) has been obtained with the production of stable and reproducible GNPs water dispersions. The preparation protocol entailed ball-milling of synthetic graphite followed by sonication in water and centrifugation/separation procedures. This way, two different GNPs samples with slightly different structural characteristics were harvested: TOP60, showing an average lateral size of the graphene layers  = 70 nm and average number of stacked layers  = 4, and BOTTOM60, with  = 120 nm and  = 6.

Long non-coding RNAs and their role in muscle regeneration.

In mammals, most of the genome is transcribed to generate a large and heterogeneous variety of non-protein coding RNAs, that are broadly grouped according to their size. Long noncoding RNAs include a very large and versatile group of molecules. Despite only a minority of them has been functionally characterized, there is emerging evidence indicating long noncoding RNAs as important regulators of expression at multiple levels.

Report and Abstracts of the 20th Meeting of IIM, the Interuniversity Institute of Myology: Assisi, October 12-15, 2023.

The 2023 represented a milestone for the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM) since it marked twenty years of IIM activity joined with the 20th annual meeting organized by the association. The 20th IIM meeting took place in the fascinating town of Assisi, in the heart of central Italy, from 12 to 15 October. The commemorative 20th edition of the meeting represented a success in terms of participation and contributions as it brought together 160 myologists, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and patient organization representatives from Italy, several European countries (especially France), the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the USA.

WDR5 is required for DUX4 expression and its pathological effects in FSHD muscular dystrophy.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most prevalent neuromuscular disorders. The disease is linked to copy number reduction and/or epigenetic alterations of the D4Z4 macrosatellite on chromosome 4q35 and associated with aberrant gain of expression of the transcription factor DUX4, which triggers a pro-apoptotic transcriptional program leading to muscle wasting. As today, no cure or therapeutic option is available to FSHD patients.

DUX4 Role in Normal Physiology and in FSHD Muscular Dystrophy.

In the last decade, the sequence-specific transcription factor double homeobox 4 (DUX4) has gone from being an obscure entity to being a key factor in important physiological and pathological processes. We now know that expression of DUX4 is highly regulated and restricted to the early steps of embryonic development, where DUX4 is involved in transcriptional activation of the zygotic genome. While DUX4 is epigenetically silenced in most somatic tissues of healthy humans, its aberrant reactivation is associated with several diseases, including cancer, viral infection and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

Curcumin Affects HSP60 Folding Activity and Levels in Neuroblastoma Cells.

The fundamental challenge in fighting cancer is the development of protective agents able to interfere with the classical pathways of malignant transformation, such as extracellular matrix remodeling, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and, alteration of protein homeostasis. In the tumors of the brain, proteotoxic stress represents one of the main triggering agents for cell transformation. Curcumin is a natural compound with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties with promising potential for the development of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer as well as neurodegenerative diseases.

Non-Invasive Transcranial Nano-Pulsed Laser Therapy Ameliorates Cognitive Function and Prevents Aberrant Migration of Neural Progenitor Cells in the Hippocampus of Rats Subjected to Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to chronic diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and epilepsy. The hippocampus, one of the most affected brain region after TBI, plays a critical role in learning and memory and is one of the only two regions in the brain in which new neurons are generated throughout life from neural stem cells (NSC) in the dentate gyrus (DG). These cells migrate into the granular layer where they integrate into the hippocampus circuitry.

Nano-Pulsed Laser Therapy Is Neuroprotective in a Rat Model of Blast-Induced Neurotrauma.

We have developed a novel, non-invasive nano-pulsed laser therapy (NPLT) system that combines the benefits of near-infrared laser light (808 nm) and ultrasound (optoacoustic) waves, which are generated with each short laser pulse within the tissue. We tested NPLT in a rat model of blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT) to determine whether transcranial application of NPLT provides neuroprotective effects. The laser pulses were applied on the intact rat head 1 h after injury using a specially developed fiber-optic system.

The dissociation of the Hsp60/pro-Caspase-3 complex by bis(pyridyl)oxadiazole copper complex (CubipyOXA) leads to cell death in NCI-H292 cancer cells.

Cell survival and proliferation are central to carcinogenesis, involving various mechanisms among which those that impede apoptosis are important. In this, the role of the molecular chaperone Hsp60 is unclear since it has been reported that it can be both, pro- or anti-apoptotic. A solution to this riddle is crucial to the development of anti-cancer therapies targeting Hsp60.

Quantitative patterns of Hsps in tubular adenoma compared with normal and tumor tissues reveal the value of Hsp10 and Hsp60 in early diagnosis of large bowel cancer.

Large bowel carcinogenesis involves accumulation of genetic alterations leading to transformation of normal mucosa into dysplasia and, lastly, adenocarcinoma. It is pertinent to elucidate the molecular changes occurring in the pre-neoplastic lesions to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment. Heat shock proteins (Hsps), many of which are molecular chaperones, are implicated in carcinogenesis, and their variations with tumor progression encourage their study as biomarkers.

The histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA induces HSP60 nitration and its extracellular release by exosomal vesicles in human lung-derived carcinoma cells.

HSP60 undergoes changes in quantity and distribution in some types of tumors suggesting a participation of the chaperonin in the mechanism of transformation and cancer progression. Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a member of a family of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), has anti-cancer potential but its interaction, if any, with HSP60 has not been elucidated. We investigated the effects of SAHA in a human lung-derived carcinoma cell line (H292).