An organisms’ diet represents an exogenous influence that often yields colossal effects on long-term health and disease risk. The overconsumption of dietary sugars for example, has contributed to significant increases in obesity and type-2 diabetes; health issues that are costly both economically and in terms of human life. Individuals who are obese or are type-2 diabetic often have compromised oxygen delivery and an increased vulnerability to oxygen-deprivation related complications, such as ischemic strokes, peripheral arterial disease and myocardial infarction. Thus, it is of interest to identify the molecular changes glucose supplementation or hyperglycemia can induce, which ultimately compromise oxygen deprivation responses. By utilizing the Caenorhabditis elegans genetic model system, which is anoxia tolerant, I determined that a glucose-supplemented diet negatively impacts responses to anoxia and that the insulin-like signaling pathway, through fatty acid and ceramide biosynthesis and antioxidant activity, modulates anoxia survival. Additionally, a glucose-supplemented diet induces lipid accumulation. Use of RNA-sequencing analysis to compare gene expression responses in animals fed either a standard or glucose-supplemented diet revealed that glucose impacts the expression of genes involved with multiple cellular processes including lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, stress responses, cell division, and extracellular functions. Several of the genes we identified are homologous to human genes that are differentially regulated in response to metabolic diseases, suggesting that there may be conserved gene expression responses between C. elegans supplemented with glucose and a diabetic and/or obese state observed in humans. These findings support the utility of C. elegans to model specific aspects of the T2D disease process (e.g., glucose-induced sensitivity to oxygen deprivation) and identify potentially novel regulators of common complications seen in hyperglycemic and T2D patients (e.g., macrovascular complications).

A anóxia neonatal considerada relevante condição clínica mundial e vem sendo estudada no laboratório de Neurociências, ICB-USP, desde 2008. Agressões em períodos críticos de maturação do organismo, em especial do sistema nervoso, devido à sua alta demanda metabólica, podem modificar ou mesmo comprometer eventos ontogenéticos com complicações persistentes na vida adulta, sendo relacionada a retardo cognitivo e comportamental, tais como: epilepsia, déficit de atenção, hiperatividade, problemas de aprendizado, entre outros. Em ratos adultos ocorreu morte neuronal por apoptose e necrose, decréscimo da neurogênese e do volume no hipocampo após anóxia neonatal. Experimentos comportamentais evidenciaram alterações também na capacidade de aprendizagem, navegação espacial e ansiedade. Foi observado, que esse estímulo provoca retardo no desenvolvimento sensório-motor, além de ganho de peso em relação ao controle, e aumento do diâmetro rostro-caudal e naso-anal. A fim de avaliar as causas de alterações somáticas e de desenvolvimento, decidiu-se aprofundar, neste estudo, a análise da relação do hipotálamo e da leptina com as mesmas, e com o metabolismo energético assim como, com o crescimento do organismo. Para tanto, foram utilizados camundongos leptin reporters, os quais apresentam os receptores para leptina naturalmente fluorescentes. Foi adaptado modelo para indução de anóxia em camundongos machos por meio de testes de avaliação da ontogenia de reflexos; da pressão de oxigênio no sangue; da frequência cardíaca e dos níveis na Escala de Apgar. Tais testes evidenciaram prejuízos dos animais anoxiados no aparecimento dos reflexos de aceleração, geotaxia negativa, recuperação de decúbito e resposta ao susto; diminuições significativas de pressão de oxigênio e batimentos cardíacos durante período de exposição ao ambiente anóxico, além de níveis indicativos de ausência de oxigênio quando avaliados os fatores que compõe a escala de Apgar, em relação aos animais controle, validando o modelo para este estudo. Em seguida, foram analisados grupos anóxia macho e fêmea e controle macho e fêmea com relação a parâmetros corpóreos durante 60 dias de vida dos animais. Foi evidenciado que a anóxia neonatal afeta os parâmetros de maneiras distintas, porém em todas as análises, o grupo anóxia macho apresentou dimensões aumentadas em relação aos outros grupos. Quando comparada a co-localilzação de fos com receptores de leptina fluorescentes ativados, os resultados obtidos sugerem que apesar de não ter sido detectado diferença de valores de leptina circulante no sangue, houve alteração de peso corpóreo nos animais anóxia, em relação ao seu controle, o que se atribui a possível resistência dos receptores de leptina dos núcleos arqueado e dorsomedial, hipótese que deve ser explorada em experimentos futuros. / Neonatal anoxia is considered a relevant clinical condition and has been studied in the Neuroscience Laboratory, ICB-USP, since 2008. Damage caused to an organism during its maturation, particularly the damage that affects the high-metabolic nervous system, can modify or even compromise ontogenetic events with persistant complications in adulthood. Such complications are related to cognitive and behavioral retardation, and some known examples are: epilepsy, attention deficit, hyperactivity and learning problems. In adult rats, neuronal death occurs due to apoptosis, necrosis, decreased neurogenesis and decreased volume in the hippocampus after neonatal anoxia. Behavioral experiments also revealed changes in learning ability, spatial navigation and anxiety. It was also observed that neonatal anoxia causes delay in sensorimotor development, besides weight gain in relation to the control, and increase in the rostrocaudal and naso-anal diameter. In order to evaluate the causes of such somatic and developmental changes, this study analyzed the relationship between the hypothalamus and leptin, as well as their relationship with energy metabolism and the growth of the organism. Leptin reporter mice were used, which present naturally fluorescent leptin receptors. The anoxia model was adapted for male mice by means of the following tests: evaluation of the ontogeny of reflexes, the oxygen pressure in the blood, the heart rate and the levels on the Apgar Scale. These tests revealed damages to the anoxic animals by the appearance of different reflexes: acceleration, negative geotaxis, recovery of decubitus and response to scare; there was significant decrease in oxygen pressure and heart rate during exposure to the anoxic environment, in addition to levels in the Apgar scale which are indicative of oxygen absence when contrasted with control. Male and female anoxic groups and control were analyzed with respect to body parameters for a period of 60 days, and evaluated of leptin levels, Nissl staining and c-fos cell count by stereology performed. It was verified that neonatal anoxia affected the parameters in different ways, but overall the male anoxic group presented increased dimensions in relation to the other groups. Results obtained from the co-localization of fos and activated fluorescent leptin receptors suggest that, although it is not possible to observe differences in leptin values in the blood, the change in body weight of anoxic animals was due to a lack of activation of leptin receptors in arched and dorsomedial nuclei, suggesting a resistance to the effects of this hormone, hypothesis that should be explored in future experiments.

Hypoxia is a common patho-physiological phenomenon in many types of diseases, including tumors, myocardial infarction and cerebral ischemia. It is believed that hypoxia not only affects the cellular regulation pathways, but also interferes genome, transcriptome and proteome inside tumor, eventually enhances tumor development by increasing malignancy and metastatic potential, induction of resistance towards radiotherapy and chemotherapy, activation of angiogenic mechanism, etc. One of the major biological events for hypoxia is induction of apoptosis, which is believed to provide a selective pressure for tumor progression. However, the mechanism of hypoxia induced apoptosis is not well established. In the present study, the molecular mechanism of hypoxia induced apoptosis was investigated and was found to be different in human squamous carcinoma A431 cells and human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. In HepG2 cells, the conventional intrinsic apoptotic pathway that involved the activation of caspase-9 and -3 was found to be triggered by hypoxia through a newly identified p53 - Bnip-3 shunt. On the other hand, caspase-4 and -10 were found to be activated under hypoxia and may be related to hypoxia induced DNA fragmentation in A431 cells. Reoxygenation prior to hypoxia is the event after blood reperfusion in tumor vasculature. It is demonstrated in this study that reoxygenation is a distinctive stress from hypoxia, and it is very likely to be induced by reactive oxygen species. Apart from apoptosis, the mechanism for the development of drug resistance after hypoxia is also not yet clearly identified. In this study, resistance towards several common chemotherapeutic drugs after cells were subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation cycles were demonstrated. Among them, the possible role of the genes related to methotrexate and cisplatin resistance were also investigated. / Ho Yiu Fung. / "August 2006." / Adviser: Tim-Tak Kwok. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: B, page: 1393. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-176). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

O trauma constitui importante problema de saúde pública, com grande impacto sócio-econômico e muitas mortes. Visto que poucos pesquisadores traçam perfil epidemiológico e fatores preditores de óbito de forma integrada e prospectiva, este estudo foi idealizado com o objetivo de identificar preditores independentes de mortalidade em trauma e seu mapeamento populacional, visando melhorar o atendimento a politraumatizados graves. Após aprovação da comissão de ética em pesquisa institucional, estudo longitudinal, prospectivo e observacional foi conduzido entre 2010 e 2013 na região metropolitana da Grande São Paulo/Brasil com vítimas de politrauma grave (Injury Severity Score >15). A coleta de dados clínico-laboratoriais foi realizada em 4 momentos: 1- pré-hospitalar, 2- sala de emergência, 3- após 3 horas da admissão e 4- após 24 hs da admissão. O desfecho principal foi mortalidade em 30 dias. Os dados foram analisados com teste t de Student ou Mann-Whitney, ANOVA não paramétrica, e Equações de Estimação Generalizadas (EEG) para medidas repetidas (p < 0,05). A população total do estudo foi de 334 pacientes, sendo excluídos 124 por não adequação ao protocolo e incluídos 200 indivíduos na análise final. Os preditores independentes de mortalidade encontrados foram: saturação arterial de oxigênio de hemoglobina (OR=0,989; IC 95% 0,982-0,995- p < 0,001), pressão arterial diastólica (OR=0,998; IC 95% 0,995-0,998- p < 0,001), nível sérico de lactato (OR=1,046; IC 95% 1,012-1,082- p < 0,004), pontuação na escala de coma de Glasgow (OR=0,973;IC 95% 0,965-0,982-p < 0,001), quantidade de cristalóides infundidos (OR=1,013; IC 95% 1,000-1,025- p < 0,023 - a cada 1000 ml). Através das análises realizadas neste estudo foi possível concluir que os preditores independentes de mortalidade foram: hipoxemia, hipotensão arterial diastólica, hiperlactatemia, baixa pontuação na escala de coma de Glasgow e aumento de volume de cristalóides infundidos / Trauma is an important public health problem, with high socioeconomic impact and major adverse clinical outcomes. The epidemiological profile and predictors of death in trauma patients have not been addressed in an integrated and prospective way. Therefore, the present study was designed to identify independent predictors of mortality in trauma patients and their populational mapping to improve the care of severe polytrauma patients. After approval by the ethics in institutional research committee, the present longitudinal, prospective and observational study was conducted between 2010 and 2013 in the metropolitan area of São Paulo/Brazil with victims of severe polytrauma (Injury Severity Score >15). The collection of clinical and laboratory data was performed at 4 different time points: 1, pre-hospital; 2, in the emergency room; 3, at 3 hours after admission; and 4, at 24 hours after admission. The primary outcome was mortality within 30 days. The data were analyzed with Student\'s t-test or the Mann-Whitney test, nonparametric ANOVA and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) for repeated measures (p < 0.05). The total study population consisted of 334 patients. In total, 124 patients were excluded for not fitting the protocol, and 200 individuals were included in the final analysis. The independent predictors of mortality were as follows: arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation (OR=0.989, 95% CI 0.982-0.995, p < 0.001); diastolic blood pressure (OR=0.998, 95% CI 0.995-0.998, p < 0.001); serum lactate level (OR=1.046, 95% CI 1.012- 1.082, p < 0.004); score on the Glasgow coma scale (OR=0.973, 95% CI 0.965-0.982, p < 0.001); and the amount of infused crystalloid (OR=1.013, 95% CI 1.000-1.025, p < 0.023 - each 1000 ml). Through the analyses performed in this study, it was concluded that the independent predictors of mortality at any given time were as follows: hypoxemia; diastolic arterial hypotension; hyperlactatemia; a low score on the Glasgow coma scale; and volume of infused crystalloid

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-58).

Mammalian neurons rapidly undergo excitotoxic cell death during anoxia, while neurons from the anoxia-tolerant painted turtle can survive without oxygen for hours without apparent damage. An anoxia-mediated decrease in AMPA receptor currents are an important part of the turtle’s natural defence however the mechanism underlying it is unknown. Here I investigate a mechanism that involves activation of a mitochondrial KATP channel that subsequently signals a decrease in AMPAR currents. Whole-cell AMPAR currents were stable during normoxia, but anoxia or pharmacological activation of mKATP channels resulted in a 50% decrease in AMPAR currents. Conversely, mKATP antagonists blocked the anoxia-mediated decrease. Mitochondrial KCa channel modulators responded similarly. Blocking the Ca2+-uniporter also reduced normoxic AMPAR currents by 40%, and including BAPTA in the recording abolished the anoxia or agonist-mediated decrease. Therefore, the mKATP channel is involved in the anoxia-mediated down-regulation of AMPAR activity and is a common mechanism to reduce glutamatergic excitability.

Mammalian neurons rapidly undergo excitotoxic cell death during anoxia, while neurons from the anoxia-tolerant painted turtle can survive without oxygen for hours without apparent damage. An anoxia-mediated decrease in AMPA receptor currents are an important part of the turtle’s natural defence however the mechanism underlying it is unknown. Here I investigate a mechanism that involves activation of a mitochondrial KATP channel that subsequently signals a decrease in AMPAR currents. Whole-cell AMPAR currents were stable during normoxia, but anoxia or pharmacological activation of mKATP channels resulted in a 50% decrease in AMPAR currents. Conversely, mKATP antagonists blocked the anoxia-mediated decrease. Mitochondrial KCa channel modulators responded similarly. Blocking the Ca2+-uniporter also reduced normoxic AMPAR currents by 40%, and including BAPTA in the recording abolished the anoxia or agonist-mediated decrease. Therefore, the mKATP channel is involved in the anoxia-mediated down-regulation of AMPAR activity and is a common mechanism to reduce glutamatergic excitability.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

This study tested the hypothesis that decreasing the control O2 level from 95% to 40% (5% CO2 + 55% N2) maintains viability in caudal solitary complex (cSC) neurons in transverse slices (~300-400ꝳ) prepared from neonatal rat (P2-22) maintained at 32-34°C. The underlying rationale is to reduce exposure to redox and nitrosative stimuli generated during several hours of exposure to 95% O2 that produces a tissue O2 tension throughout the slice which is in excess of 203 kPa (2.0 atmospheres absolute,ATA) oxygen. Whole cell recordings of cSC neurons maintained in 40% O2 exhibited spontaneous firing and had similar membrane potentials (Vm) and input resistances (Rin) as cSC neurons maintained in 95% O2. Neurons maintained in 40% O2, however, had significantly lower intrinsic firing rates than those maintained in 95% O2. 67% of neurons maintained in 40% O2 control were stimulated by hyperoxia, compared to 81% of neurons maintained in 95% O2 that were stimulated by reoxygenation from relative hypoxia. cSC neurons maintained in 40% O2 also exhibited CO2/H+-sensitivity, including CO2/H+-excitation (31%) and CO2H+-inhibition (31%) and most CO2/H+-sensitive neurons were also stimulated by hyperoxia and reoxygenation or inhibited by lower O2. It is also suggested that acute exposure to lower concentrations of O2 may increase the incidence of CO2-inhibited cSC neurons. Anoxia reduced or eliminated all firing in essentially all cSC neurons. Our findings indicate that brainstem slice viability is retained in 40% O2 control and that hyperoxia is a general stimulant of many cSC neurons, including chemosensitive neurons. We therefore recommend that 40% O2 be used for brainstem electrophysiology studies.