In New Zealand, it is common for young people to mix 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP) containing 'party pills' and ethanol (drinking alcohol). However, there is no scientific literature which compares the individual and combined long-term effects of these substances. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide a comparison of BZP and ethanol's individual and combined effects on adulthood behaviour following repeated adolescent exposure. To investigate this 40 male and 40 female adolescent rats received daily exposure (post natal days 41 - 50) to BZP (10 mg/kg) and/or ethanol (2 g/kg) or saline vehicle (1 ml/kg) via intraperitoneal injection. Animals were tested in a Y maze, light/dark emergence box, and an open field during early adulthood (PND 78 - 81) and again during mid-adulthood (PND 117 - 120). Results found females treated with alcohol ambulated less in the open field. Interestingly, no other behavioural differences between the treatment groups were observed. Overall, it appeared that adolescent exposure to BZP and/or alcohol did not have long-term behavioural consequences, at least in rats. This finding was most likely due to the narrow range of testing ages adopted in the study.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Cardioprotective effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist exendin-4 (Ex-4), and GLP-1(9-36), a cleavage product of GLP-1, were examined in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) models of both isolated mouse hearts and cultured cardiac myocytes (CMs) using both wild-type (WT) and GLP-1R knockout (Glp1r-/-) mice. In WT hearts, GLP-1 and Ex-4 significantly improved left ventricular functional recovery vs. untreated controls following I/R, whether the drugs were administered prior to ischemia (pre-ischemia) or during reperfusion (post-ischemia). Surprisingly, the cardioprotective effects of pre- and post-ischemia treatments with GLP-1, but not Ex-4, remained evident in Glp1r-/- hearts. Although pre-ischemia infusion of GLP-1(9-36) induced lower functional recovery than untreated controls, post-ishemia infusion of GLP-1(9-36) augmented functional recovery and reduced infarct size to a similar extent to that of GLP-1 and Ex-4 in hearts from both WT and Glp1r-/- mice. Mass spectrometry was used to assay conversion of GLP-1 to GLP-1(9-36) in coronary effluents of isolated mouse hearts. Within 15 min of infusing GLP-1, significant amounts of GLP-1(9-36) were generated by the heart. By 30 min, only trace amounts of intact GLP-1 remained in coronary effluents indicating the heart rapidly converts GLP-1 to GLP-1(9-36). In CMs undergoing simulated I/R injury in vitro, both GLP-1(9-36) and Ex-4 significantly improved cell viability, LDH release and caspase-3 activation. These effects were significantly attenuated by co-treatments with LY294002, PD98059 and Ex(9-39), inhibitors of PI3K, ERK1/2, and GLP-1R respectively. The actions of Ex-4, but not GLP-1(9-36), were lost in CMs isolated from Glp1r-/- mice and only GLP-1(9-36), but not Ex-4, improved the survival of human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) undergoing simulated I/R injury. Of note, both GLP-1 and GLP-1(9-36) treatments also demonstrated potent vasodilatory effects, as manifested by increased coronary flow rates in isolated hearts and increased diameters of pre-constricted mesenteric arteries isolated from both WT and Glp1r-/- mice. The cardioprotective effects on isolated hearts and vasodilatory effects on isolated mesenteric arteries, induced by GLP-1 was blunted by co-treatment with a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) enzyme inhibitor known to block conversion of GLP-1 to GLP-1(9-36). Together, these data suggest that the beneficial effects of GLP-1 in I/R injury are mediated in part by GLP(9-36) and support the existence of a GLP-1(9-36) responsive, but Ex(9-39)-sensitive cardioprotective signaling pathway distinct from that associated with the classical GLP-1R.

The serotonin-1A (5-HT1A) receptor plays an important role in the regulation of the serotonin (5-HT) system as an autoreceptor on 5-HT neurons. The transcription factor CC2D1A/Freud-1 is a potent repressor of the 5-HT1A promoter in neuronal but not in non-neuronal cells. The clinical relevance of Freud-1 is evident in a naturally occurring mutation, resulting in a truncated form of Freud-1 lacking its C-terminal half, that is associated with non syndromic mental retardation in humans. Thus, it is of interest to clarify the structure and function of Freud-1. As Freud-1 was shown to interact with the transcriptional regulator Brg1 at the 5-HT1A promoter, identification of the structural domains mediating the Brg1/Freud-1 interaction is required to assess the role of Brg1 in Freud-1 repression. In this study, I used pull-down assays with recombinant proteins, co-immunoprecipitation studies and immunofluorescent staining with confocal microscopy to show that Freud-1 interacts directly with the C-terminus of Brg1 and that the C-terminal domain of Freud-1 is required for this interaction.

Esto es una prueba

Malaria vaccine research has been battling with persistent challenges, including polymorphisms of vaccine antigens, difficulties with production processes, and limited immune protection against the disease. Intrinsically unstructured proteins (IUPs) are a fairly newly classified group of proteins that have no stable 3D structure and are generally heat-resistant. They usually contain low complexity regions and repetitive sequences, both of which are distinct characteristics of the malaria proteome. Surprisingly, some of the vaccine candidates that have been extensively studied were later reported to have unstructured regions, some of which serve as targets of protective immunity. In keeping with their interesting immunological profiles and their unique properties, which are exceptionally beneficial for vaccine production, malarial IUP antigens may be good vaccine candidates. This PhD project has the following aims:- 1) to develop a synthetic unstructured protein antigen based on the Block 2 region of MSP-1, named the MSP-1 hybrid 2) to characterize a novel vaccine antigen derived from the MSP-3.3 protein, namely an IUP region of PF10_0347 gene product, for its potential as a vaccine candidate 3) to develop a second-generation vaccine by combining the MSP-1 hybrid, with two allelic variants of MSP-2, to overcome antigenic polymorphism and strain-specific immune responses 4) to validate protocols for IUP identification from proteins extracted from the malaria parasite. This study showed that 1) MSP-1 hybrid production was scalable, yielding high protein yields with comparable immunological properties to small-scale production. MSP-1 hybrid was shown to be compatible with different adjuvants, and elicited specific antibodies covering the whole range of Block 2 allelic diversities. 2) A novel antigen, MSP-3.3C, an IUP based on the 3’ region of the PF10_0347 gene, was cloned, expressed and purified. Anti-MSP3.3C antibodies showed very strong parasite growth inhibitory effects in vitro. 3) The MSP-multihybrid antigen was expressed using simple techniques, but only at low levels. It contains epitopes from all three parasite antigen components, and is recognized by specific naturally acquired antibodies. 4) an unconventional 2D gel technique was tested as a method of malaria parasite IUP identification. Plans for further validation of this technique were discussed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Escherichia coli est une espèce bactérienne à multiples facettes. En effet, certaines souches sont présentes à l’état commensal au niveau intestinal, ou sont utilisées comme probiotiques. À l’inverse, d’autres souches sont responsables d’infections intestinales ou extra-intestinales chez l’Homme et les animaux à sang chaud. Les souches d’E. coli pathogènes extra-intestinales (ExPEC) sont responsables de nombreuses maladies infectieuses (méningites néo-natales, infections urinaires, septicémies ou infections respiratoires). Plusieurs facteurs de virulence ont été identifiés chez les souches ExPEC (adhésines, invasines…) et notamment la protéine IbeA, mise en évidence dans une souche isolée d’un cas de méningite néo-natale humaine. Le gène ibeA est retrouvé chez différentes souches ExPEC, dont certaines d’origine aviaire. Il est localisé au sein de l’îlot génomique GimA, sur un des quatre opérons de cet îlot, entre ibeR codant un potentiel régulateur et ibeT codant un potentiel antiporteur. La protéine IbeA a été décrite comme jouant un rôle dans l’invasion bactérienne des cellules endothéliales microvasculaires de cerveau humain (HBMEC). Afin de mieux comprendre le rôle d’IbeA dans le processus infectieux et l’invasion cellulaire, nous avons étudié l’implication d’IbeA dans l’adhésion de la souche ExPEC d’origine aviaire BEN2908 puis tenté de déterminer la localisation de cette protéine et son lien avec la protéine IbeT. L’étude phénotypique comparative de la souche BEN2908 et de son mutant ?ibeA nous a montré qu’IbeA intervenait dès le stade de l’adhésion aux HBMEC. Des tests d’adhésion en absence des fimbriae de type 1 (adhésine majeure de notre souche) nous ont montré que dans ce contexte, IbeA n’avait pas d’action sur l’adhésion. Ce résultat nous a suggéré qu’il pouvait y avoir une baisse d’expression des fimbriae de type 1 à la surface bactérienne dans un mutant ?ibeA, ce que nous avons montré par dots blots. Pour comprendre comment IbeA entraînait une modification de l’expression des fimbriae de type 1, nous nous sommes intéressés au contrôle de l’expression des gènes de l’opéron fim. Nous avons ainsi montré que le promoteur de ces gènes, localisé sur un élément invertible, était préférentiellement dans une orientation ne permettant pas la transcription des gènes fim dans un mutant ?ibeA. Nous avons ensuite mis en évidence chez le mutant ?ibeA une baisse de l’expression des gènes fimB et fimE qui codent pour deux recombinases participant au contrôle de l’orientation de l’élément invertible. Ces baisses d’expression de fimB et fimE pourraient expliquer la diminution d’expression des fimbriae de type 1 dans le mutant ?ibeA. Enfin, des phénotypes similaires à ceux du mutant ?ibeA ont été observés chez un mutant ?ibeT. La localisation d’IbeA est indispensable pour comprendre comment cette protéine peut agir sur l’expression des recombinases FimB et FimE. Nous avons localisé IbeA dans le compartiment cytoplasmique, mais l’incertitude sur la fonctionnalité d’IbeA dans les constructions génétiques utilisées nécessite de confirmer ces premiers résultats. Enfin, nous avons recherché un rôle métabolique pour IbeA et IbeT étant données les homologies d’IbeT avec des transporteurs de composés carbonés. Nous avons observé qu’un mutant ?ibeT présentait un retard de croissance par rapport à la souche sauvage et au mutant ?ibeA dans des cultures en milieu minimum avec du fumarate, du succinate, du malate ou de l’aspartate comme seule source de carbone. Ces résultats suggèrent un lien entre le métabolisme de certains dicarboxylates, l’expression des fimbriae de type 1 et les protéines IbeA et IbeT. Ils ouvrent de nombreuses perspectives pour la compréhension du mécanisme d’action d’IbeA et IbeT. / Escherichia coli is bacterial species with multiple facets. Indeed, some strains are present at a commensal state in the intestinal tract of humans and warm-blooded animals, or are used as probiotics. Conversely, other strains are responsible for intestinal or extra-intestinal infections in Humans and warm-blooded animals. Extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) strains are responsible for multiple infectious diseases (neonatal meningitis, urinary tract infections, septicaemias or respiratory infections). Several virulence factors have been identified in ExPEC strains (adhesins, invasins,…) and notably the IbeA protein, originally identified in a strain isolated from a case of human neonatal meningitis. The ibeA gene is found in different ExPEC strains, of including strains avian origin. It is located on one of the four operon of the GimA genomic island, between ibeR coding a putative regulator and ibeT coding a putative antiporter. The IbeA protein is known for its role in bacterial invasion of human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC). In order to better understand the role of IbeA in the infectious process and cellular invasion, we have studied the involvement of IbeA in adhesion of the avian pathogenic E. coli strain BEN2908 and attempted to determine the localisation of this protein and its link with the IbeT protein. The comparative henotypic study of strain BEN2908 and its ?ibeA mutant showed that IbeA was involved in the adhesion to HBMEC. Adhesion tests in the absence of type 1 fimbriae ( the major adhesin of our strain) showed that IbeA did not have a direct role in adhesion in this context. This result suggested there could be a decrease in type 1 fimbriae expression at the bacterial surface in the ?ibeA mutant. This was demonstrated by dot blots. To understand how IbeA led to a modification of type 1 fimbriae, we investigated the role of IbeA in the control of the expression of genes that belong to the fim operon. Thus we showed that the promoter of these genes, located on an invertible element, was preferentially in an orientation preventing transcription of the fim genes in the ?ibeA mutant. Then, we highlighted in the ?ibeA mutant, a decrease of expression of the fimB and fimE genes encoding two recombinases involved in the orientational control of invertible element. These decreases of fimB and fimE expression could explain the reduction of type 1 fimbriae expression in the ?ibeA mutant. Lastly, phenotypes similar to that of the ?ibeA mutant were observed in a ?ibeT mutant. The localisation of IbeA is necessary to understand how this protein can act on fimB and fimE expression. We localised IbeA in the bacterial cytoplasm, but the doubt on the functionality of IbeA in the genetic constructions used demands that these results be confirmed. Finally, we have looked for a metabolic role for IbeA and IbeT, given the IbeT homology with carbon compound transporters. We have observed that, in minimal broth with fumarate, succinate, malate or aspartate as sole carbon sources, the ?ibeT mutant presented a lower growth rate than the wild type strain and ?ibeA mutant. Altogether, these results suggest a link between metabolism of dicarboxylates, type 1 fimbriae expression and IbeA and IbeT proteins. They open numerous perspectives for the comprehension of IbeA and IbeT mechanisms.