First occurrence of Mosasauridae (Squamata) in the Maastrichtian (latest Cretaceous) of Alicante (Valencia Community, Eastern Spain)

8 p.

Erretinako distrofia heredagarrien mutazioetarako etekin handiko baheketa, Axiom Exome genotipatze mikrotxipetan oinarrituta

Axiom Exome DNA Genotipatze mikrotxipetan oinarriturik, etekin handiko baheketa (screening) genetikoa garatu da Excel bidez eginiko filtraketez baliatuta. Modu honetan, erretinako distrofia heredagarriak (EDH) modu eraginkorrean diagnostikatzea lortu nahi da. Ikerketa honetan, 55 familia ezberdinetakoak diren 80 EDHdun gaixok eta hauen 108 senitarteko osasuntsuk hartu dute parte. Guztira 188 norbanakoen odol periferikoa bildu eta hauen DNA laginak aztertu dira bi Axiom Exome Genotipatze Mikrotxip erabilita. Mikrotxip honen bidez, erretinako distrofietan zuzeneko eragina duten 181 generi dagozkien 5.044 aldaera aztertu dira. Hauetatik 82 genek Erretinosi Pigmentarioa (EP) izeneko gaixotasuna eragiten dute (sindromikoa edo ez-sindromikoa). Excelen oinarrituriko baheketa estrategia garatuz, gure populazioan EDHak eragiten dituzten aldaerak aurkitzea izan da xedea. Ondoren, aurkikuntza horretan lorturiko aldaera genetikoak, zuzeneko Sanger sekuentziazio bidez egiaztatu dira. Ikerketa honetan lorturiko emaitza nagusia, gaixotasunen eragile diren aldaera genetikoak identifikatzea izan da. Guztira 8 aldaera genetiko aurkitu dira, erretinako gaixotasuna eragiten duten 8 geneetan. 12 familiatako 15 gaixo eta 12 eramailetan aurkitu dira aldaera genetiko hauek. Ondorio modura, DNA genotipatze mikrotxip hauetatik lortzen den datu pila guztitik, biologikoki garrantzitsua den informazioa soilik eskuratu eta identifikatzeko aukera dagoela ikusi da, ikerketa honi esker garatu den Excel bidezko baheketa estrategia erabilita. Beraz, garaturiko Excel bidezko baheketa estrategiak aukera ematen du, EDH heterogeneo hauen karakterizazio molekularra modu eraginkorrean gauzatzeko. Erretinarako berariazkoak diren APEX mikrotxipen kostuarekin alderatuta eginiko analisien kostua 1/5 izatera jaisten da. Honek klinikoki garrantzia handia du, izan ere, ahalik eta gaixo gehien diagnostikatzeko aukera ematen du.

Alcohol-Related Brain Damage in Humans

Chronic excessive alcohol intoxications evoke cumulative damage to tissues and organs. We examined prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area (BA) 9) from 20 human alcoholics and 20 age, gender, and postmortem delay matched control subjects. H & E staining and light microscopy of prefrontal cortex tissue revealed a reduction in the levels of cytoskeleton surrounding the nuclei of cortical and subcortical neurons, and a disruption of subcortical neuron patterning in alcoholic subjects. BA 9 tissue homogenisation and one dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) proteomics of cytosolic proteins identified dramatic reductions in the protein levels of spectrin beta II, and alpha- and beta-tubulins in alcoholics, and these were validated and quantitated by Western blotting. We detected a significant increase in a-tubulin acetylation in alcoholics, a non-significant increase in isoaspartate protein damage, but a significant increase in protein isoaspartyl methyltransferase protein levels, the enzyme that triggers isoaspartate damage repair in vivo. There was also a significant reduction in proteasome activity in alcoholics. One dimensional PAGE of membrane-enriched fractions detected a reduction in beta-spectrin protein levels, and a significant increase in transmembranous alpha 3 (catalytic) subunit of the Na+, K+-ATPase in alcoholic subjects. However, control subjects retained stable oligomeric forms of a-subunit that were diminished in alcoholics. In alcoholics, significant loss of cytosolic alpha-and beta-tubulins were also seen in caudate nucleus, hippocampus and cerebellum, but to different levels, indicative of brain regional susceptibility to alcohol-related damage. Collectively, these protein changes provide a molecular basis for some of the neuronal and behavioural abnormalities attributed to alcoholics