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Topic Review
Water between Membrane and Colloidal Theories for Cells
To incorporate water as a structural and thermodynamic component of biomembranes, the consideration of the membrane interphase as a bidimensional hydrated polar head group solution, coupled to the hydrocarbon region allows for the reconciliation of two theories on cells in dispute today: one considering the membrane as an essential part in terms of compartmentalization, and another in which lipid membranes are not necessary and cells can be treated as a colloidal system. The criterium followed is to describe the membrane state as an open, non-autonomous and responsive system using the approach of Thermodynamic of Irreversible Processes. The concept of an open/non-autonomous membrane system allows for the visualization of the interrelationship between metabolic events and membrane polymorphic changes. Therefore, the Association Induction Hypothesis (AIH) and lipid properties interplay should consider hydration in terms of free energy modulated by water activity and surface (lateral) pressure.
  • 653
  • 25 Aug 2022
Topic Review
FT-IR Spectroscopy Studies of Sphingolipids in Human Cells
Sphingolipids have attracted significant attention due to their pivotal role in cellular functions and physiological diseases. A valuable tool for investigating the characteristics of sphingolipids can be represented via Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, generally recognized as a very powerful technique that provides detailed biochemical information on the examined sample with the unique properties of sensitivity and accuracy.
  • 650
  • 06 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Oxidative Crosslinking of Peptides and Proteins
Covalent crosslinks within or between proteins play a key role in determining the structure and function of proteins. Some of these are formed intentionally by either enzymatic or molecular reactions and are critical to normal physiological function. Others are generated as a consequence of exposure to oxidants (radicals, excited states or two-electron species) and other endogenous or external stimuli, or as a result of the actions of a number of enzymes (e.g., oxidases and peroxidases). Increasing evidence indicates that the accumulation of unwanted crosslinks, as is seen in ageing and multiple pathologies, has adverse effects on biological function.
  • 648
  • 24 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Protein Binding of Benzofuran Derivatives
Benzofuran derivatives are synthetic compounds that are finding an increasing interest in the scientific community not only as building blocks for the realization of new materials, but also as potential drugs thanks to their ability to interact with nucleic acids, interfere with the amyloid peptide aggregation and cancer cell cycle. However, their ability to interact with proteins is a theme still in need of investigation for the therapeutic importance that benzofurans could have in the modulation of protein-driven processes, and for the possibility of making use of serum albumins as benzofurans delivery systems.
  • 641
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Amyloid Beta Oligomers
Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers are the most neurotoxic aggregates causing neuronal death and cognitive damage. A detailed elucidation of the aggregation pathways from oligomers to fibril formation is crucial to develop therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This review mainly focused on future perspective of Aβ peptide research using computer simulations.
  • 640
  • 27 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Tumor Microenvironment in Osteosarcoma Cells
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a malignancy that is becoming increasingly common in adolescents. OS stem cells (OSCs) form a dynamic subset of OS cells that are responsible for malignant progression and chemoradiotherapy resistance. The unique properties of OSCs, including self-renewal, multilineage differentiation and metastatic potential, 149 depend closely on their tumor microenvironment.
  • 630
  • 30 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Contributing Factors to Nuclear Mechanics
In eukaryotic cells, the nucleus houses the genomic material of the cell. The physical properties of the nucleus and its ability to sense external mechanical cues are tightly linked to the regulation of cellular events, such as gene expression. Nuclear mechanics and morphology are altered in many diseases such as cancer and premature ageing syndromes. Therefore, it is important to understand how different components contribute to nuclear processes, organisation and mechanics, and how they are misregulated in disease. Although, over the years, studies have focused on the nuclear lamina—a mesh of intermediate filament proteins residing between the chromatin and the nuclear membrane—there is growing evidence that chromatin structure and factors that regulate chromatin organisation are essential contributors to the physical properties of the nucleus.
  • 626
  • 31 May 2021
Topic Review
The Magnetoencephalogram
In 1968, biomagnetism pioneer David Cohen performed the first measurement of the magnetic field of the brain: the magnetoencephalogram (MEG). He detected the brain’s largest signal: the alpha rhythm. This nearly sinusoidal oscillation at a frequency of about 10 Hz is turned on or off by closing or opening your eyes.
  • 622
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Symptomatic Huntington’s Disease
This entry used a publically available dataset to perform in silico analysis using different bioinformatics tools (PathwayConnector, PathWalks, DyNet). The DEGs were identifed for the pre-symptomatic and symptomatic HD stages. The CACNA1I gene was the mostly highly rewired node among pre-symptomatic and symptomatic HD network. Prominent molecular pathways for each HD stage were then obtained, and metabolites related to each pathway for both disease stages were identified. The transforming growth factor beta (TGF- ) signaling (pre-symptomatic and symptomatic stages of the disease), calcium (Ca2+) signaling (pre-symptomatic), dopaminergic synapse pathway (symptomatic HD patients) and Hippo signaling (pre-symptomatic) pathways.  The genes, pathways and metabolites identified for each HD stage can provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that become altered in each disease stage. Our results can guide the development of therapies that may target the altered genes and metabolites of the perturbed pathways, leading to an improvement in clinical symptoms and hopefully a delay in the age of onset.
  • 621
  • 20 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Impact of Thermosensitive Liposome Properties on Drug Delivery
Thermosensitive liposomes (TSL) belong to the category of triggered nanoparticle drug delivery systems (DDS) where a drug associated with the DDS is released in response to an external trigger. TSL are triggered by heat and release the encapsulated drug when exposed to mild hyperthermia (HT), typically ~40–43 °C. TSL were first described more than four decades ago.
  • 613
  • 01 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Chondrocyte De-Differentiation for Nuclear Alterations
Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is a cell therapy to repair cartilage defects. In ACI a biopsy is taken from a non-load bearing area of the knee and expanded in-vitro. The expansion process provides the benefit of generating a large number of cells required for implantation; however, during the expansion these cells de-differentiate and lose their chondrocyte phenotype.
  • 611
  • 06 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Artificial Lipid Membranes for Viral Assembly Research
The cell plasma membrane is mainly composed of phospholipids, cholesterol and embedded proteins, presenting a complex interface with the cell environment. Enveloped viruses are also surrounded by a lipidic membrane derived from the host-cell membrane and acquired during the assembly at and the budding from the host cell plasma membrane. In this perspective, model membranes, composed of selected lipid mixtures mimicking plasma membrane chemical and physical properties, are tools of choice to decipher the first steps of enveloped viruses assembly. Hereafter are detailled some of the existing artificial lipid membranes and their contribution in deciphering the assembly process of 3 well known envelopped virus, the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), the Influenza virus (IfV) and the Ebola virus (EboV).
  • 605
  • 29 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Interfacial Adsorption of Bioengineered Monoclonal Antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an important class of biotherapeutics. MAbs, like any globular protein, are amphiphilic and readily adsorb to interfaces, potentially causing structural deformation and even unfolding. Desorption of structurally perturbed mAbs is often hypothesized to promote aggregation, potentially leading to the formation of subvisible particles and visible precipitates. Since mAbs are exposed to numerous interfaces during biomanufacturing, storage and administration, many studies have examined mAb adsorption to different interfaces under various mitigation strategies. 
  • 601
  • 05 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Delivery of Nitric Oxide in the Cardiovascular System
Nitric oxide (NO) is a key molecule in cardiovascular homeostasis and its abnormal delivery is highly associated with the occurrence and development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The assessment and manipulation of NO delivery is crucial to the diagnosis and therapy of CVD, such as endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerotic progression, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiovascular manifestations of coronavirus (COVID-19). 
  • 600
  • 18 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Substrate Selection in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases express multiple clinical phenotypes. A diversity of clinical phenotypes has been attributed to the ability of amyloidogenic proteins  to acquire multiple, self-replicating states referred to as strains. This article put forward a new hypothesis referred to as substrate selection hypothesis, according to which individual strains selectively recruit protein isoforms with a subset of posttranslational modifications that fit into strain-specific structures. As a result of selective recruitment, strain-specific patterns of posttranslational modifications are formed, giving rise to unique disease phenotypes.
  • 596
  • 24 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Approaches of Studying Lysosomal Ion Channels and Transporters
Lysosomes are acidic organelles, pH of about 4.6, considered as the digestive system of the animal cell. They act as the major compartment for detoxification of both the outer and the inner content of the cell. In fact, lysosomes represent the key players in degradation, recycling, autophagy, cell death, cell proliferation, cell defence, immunity–autoimmunity processes and therefore in maintenance of cellular homeostasis.  A distinct set of channels and transporters regulates the ion fluxes across the lysosomal membrane. Malfunctioning of these transport proteins and the resulting ionic imbalance is involved in various human diseases, such as lysosomal storage disorders, cancer, as well as metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. As a consequence, these proteins have stimulated strong interest for their suitability as possible drug targets.
  • 595
  • 23 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Emerging Pathogen-Detection Techniques in Agro-Food Sector
The agro-food sector is one of major contributors to the economy of a developing country. This sector offers a primary source of nutrition for livestock and also more than 80% of the food consumed by human beings. The monitoring of agro-food products is essential to maintain our civilization with food security via reducing the risk of infections. The diagnosis of pathogens can be carried out in plants themselves, in obtained food products, or in humans after the consumption of contaminated agro-foods.
  • 593
  • 29 Jul 2022
Topic Review
New Horizons in Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins
A third of both pro- and eukaryotic proteomes consist of membrane proteins. Housed in a milieu of hydrophobic molecules, they serve as crucial contacts of communication between the cytoplasm and non-cytosolic environments, making them essential pharmaceutical targets. While membrane proteins are notoriously difficult to investigate at any level, high-resolution structures of these targets only became feasible at the very end of the twentieth century. It was not until robust technological developments in the fields of X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and cryo-EM, that the scientific community at large, finally gained access to an ever-increasing number of atomic resolution structures, and began to rationalize how membrane proteins accommodate their function. As if the lack of structural information wasn’t enough to hamper progress, a higher level of complexity arose from the modern understanding of “one structure—one function” paradigm, a primitive simplification useful at the dawn of the scientific era, that has promptly lost credence to the complex maneuvers of membrane proteins.
  • 585
  • 26 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Technologies Enabling Single-Molecule Super-Resolution Imaging of mRNA
The transient nature of RNA has rendered it one of the more difficult biological targets for imaging. This difficulty stems both from the physical properties of RNA as well as the temporal constraints associated therewith. These concerns are further complicated by the difficulty in imaging endogenous RNA within a cell that has been transfected with a target sequence. These concerns, combined with traditional concerns associated with super-resolution light microscopy has made the imaging of this critical target difficult. 
  • 585
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Endogenous Metal Nanoparticles in Biological Systems
The blood and tissues of vertebrate animals and mammals contain small endogenous metal nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were observed to be composed of individual atoms of iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold, platinum, and other metals. Metal nanoparticles can bind proteins and produce proteinaceous particles called proteons. A small fraction of the entire pool of nanoparticles is usually linked with proteins to form proteons. These endogenous metal nanoparticles, along with engineered zinc and copper nanoparticles at subnanomolar levels, were shown to be lethal to cultured cancer cells. These nanoparticles appear to be elemental crystalline metal nanoparticles. It was discovered that zinc nanoparticles produce no odor response but increase the odor reaction if mixed with an odorant. Some other metal nanoparticles, including copper, silver, gold, and platinum nanoparticles, do not affect the responses to odorants. The sources of metal nanoparticles in animal blood and tissues may include dietary plants and gut microorganisms. The solid physiological and biochemical properties of metal nanoparticles reflect their importance in cell homeostasis and disease.
  • 568
  • 05 Nov 2021
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