Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae é o agente etiológico da pneumonia enzoótica, enfermidade distribuída mundialmente em rebanhos suínos nas fases de crescimento e terminação. A pneumonia enzoótica tem sido considerada uma das mais importantes causas de perdas econômicas na suinocultura mundial. Tendo em vista a disponibilidade dos genomas completos de três linhagens diferentes de M. pneumoniae, sendo duas patogênicas (linhagens 7448 e 232) e outra não patogênica (linhagem J) e a ausência de sistemas genéticos adequados para o estudo destes genomas, é necessidade emergente o desenvolvimento de ferramentas genéticas funcionais neste organismo. Atualmente, cinco espécies de micoplasmas possuem vetores replicativos disponíveis para transformação. No entanto nenhum deles possui a oriC de M. hyopneumoniae, e estudos sugerem que estes vetores são espécie-específicos e não seriam replicados em M. hyopneumoniae. Este trabalho teve como objetivos a construção de um vetor replicativo e o desenvolvimento de um sistema para transformação de M. hyopneumoniae. Os resultados alcançados constituem uma etapa prévia e imprescindível para o estudo de supostas regiões promotoras nesta espécie. O plasmídio replicativo pOSTM construído neste trabalho foi obtido a partir do vetor pUC18, adicionando-se a origem de replicação de M. hyopneumoniae e o cassete de expressão do gene de resistência à tetraciclina (tetM), controlado pelo promotor do gene da espiralina de Spiroplasma citri. A transformação foi realizada através de eletroporação e as células transformantes foram selecionadas pelo fenótipo de resistência à tetraciclina. Os transformantes resistentes à tetraciclina foram confirmados através da amplificação por PCR de porção do vetor inserido nas células. Tal comprovação permite concluir que o M. hyopneumoniae é um organismo susceptível à transformação e que o determinante tetM heterólogo é funcional neste patógeno. / Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is the etiological agent of enzootic pneumonia of pigs.The disease has a worldwide distribution in growing and finishing pigs. The enzootic pneumonia has been considered one of the most important causes of economic losses in the worldwide swine breeding. The now available complete sequences of the genomes of two pathogenic (7448 and 232) and one non-pathogenic strain (J) of M. hyopneumoniae and the lack of suitable genetic systems to study these genomes points to the emergent need for the development of functional genetic tools for this organism. Currently, there are replicating vectors available for five species of mycoplasmas. However none of them posses oriC of M. hyopneumoniae, and studies suggest that these vectors are species-specific and they would not be functional in M. hyopneumoniae. The aim of the present study was to construct a replicating vector and the development of a system for transformation of M. hyopneumoniae. These constitute a previous and essential stage for the study of putative promoter regions in this species. To construct the replicating plasmid pOSTM the oriC of M. hyopneumoniae and the expression cassette containing the gene for tetracycline resistance (tetM), controlled by spiralin gene promoter of Spiroplasma citri, were introduced into the vector pUC18. The transformation was achieved by electroporation and transformants were selected for tetracycline resistance. Tetracycline resistance transformants were confirmed through PCR amplification of portion of the inserted vector. Such evidence allows the conclusion that M. hyopneumoniae is amenable to transformation and heterologous tetM determinant is functional in this pathogen.

Nanopartículas luminescentes de silício poroso (NPSi) foram projetadas e preparadas por métodos de corrosão eletroquímica seguidas de ultrasonicação, em substratos de silício tipo-p, dopados com boro e com resistividades que variam de 10-20 e 1-10 ômega cm em soluções eletrolíticas compostas por ácido fluorídrico (HF) em etanol absoluto (C^2H^5OH). As condições de processamento envolvem a variação da densidade de corrente \"J\" tempo de anodização \"t\" e o controle da concentração do HF. Técnicas de microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), espectroscopia de absorção UV-Vis, espectroscopia de fluorescência, difração de raios-X e medidas de potencial zeta e tamanho de partícula foram usados para investigar as propriedades morfológicas e ópticas do material resultante. Nanopartículas com diâmetros de até 150 nm foram obtidas após filtragem através de filtros de membrana. A oxidação química em soluções de peróxido de hidrogénio e ácido sulfúrico permitiu a obtenção de Nanoparticulas com emissão de fluorescência na região verde (532 nm), vermelho (630 e 650 nm) e infravermelho próximo (862 e 980 nm) do espectro eletromagnético. A associação de NPSi com RGDfV foi estudada por espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear de próton (H-RMN). Um aumento na distribuição do tamanho e a intensidade de fluorescência foi observado após a funcionalização com RGDfV. Os efeitos citotóxicos do RGDfV e NPSi foram confirmados por ensaios de viabilidade celular pelo método MTT usando células de melanoma murino B16-F10 como modelo biológico. Estudos iniciais de internalização de PcCIAI por eletroporação foram realizados para futuros estudos de transfecção de moléculas de interferência (siRNA). / Luminescent porous silicon nanoparticles (NPSi) were synthesized by electrochemical etching followed by ultra-sonication of 1-10 and 10-20 ohm.cm resistive p-type silicon wafers in electrolytic solutions composed by hydrofluoric acid (HF) in absolute ethanol (C2H5OH), by changing current density (J), etching time (t) and HF concentration. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, dynamic ligth scattering (DLS), zetasize measurement, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to investigate the morphological and optical properties of the resulting material. Nanoparticles with diameter up to 150 nm were obtained after filtered through filtration membrane. The chemical oxidation in oxidizing solutions composed by hydrogen peroxide in sulfuric acid allowed the isolation of nanoparticles with fluorescence properties as expected, with emission in green (532 nm), red (630 and 650 nm) and near infrared (862 and 980 nm) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The association of NPSi with RGDfV was studied by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-NMR). The increase on size distribution and fluorescence intensity was observed after functionalization with RGDfV. The citotoxicity effects of RGDfV and NPSi was confirmed by MTT assays using B16-F10 melanoma murine cells, as a biological model. Initial studies of internalization PcClAl by electroporation were performed for future studies of transfection of interfering molecules (siRNA).

Câncer cervical é a terceira causa de morte em mulheres no mundo, e a quarta causa de morte em mulheres no Brasil. Seu principal agente etiológico é o vírus do papiloma humano (HPV), e diversos estudos estão sendo feitos na tentativa de desenvolver abordagens terapêuticas que combatam tumores induzidos por HPV. Nesse contexto, surgem às vacinas de DNA, capazes de induzir resposta imune específica contra esse tipo de tumores em camundongos. Entretanto essas vacinas apresentam baixa imunogenicidade em humanos, sendo necessária estudar abordagens que aumentem a potência dessas vacinas. Eletroporação in vivo (EP) é um método de entrega de vacinas de DNA, capaz de elevar potência das mesmas. Nosso grupo desenvolveu uma imunoterapia baseada em DNA (pgDE7h), e quando associamos a EP em nossa imunização pela via intramuscular, observamos aumento do efeito antitumoral e da frequência T CD8+E7-específicas e citotóxicas, migração de células para o sítio de inoculação do DNA, indução de células T polifuncionais e de memória, além de maior avidez de células T ativadas. / Cervical cancer is the third leading cause of death in women worldwide, and the fourth leading cause of death in women in Brazil. Its main etiological agent is human papilloma virus (HPV), and several studies are being done in trying to develop therapeutic approaches that fight tumors induced by HPV. In this context, there are the DNA vaccines are capable of inducing specific immune response against this type of tumors in mice. However, these vaccines have a low immunogenicity in humans, it is required to study approaches to increase the potency of these vaccines. In vivo electroporation (EP) is a method of delivering DNA vaccines, capable of raising power of the same. Our group has developed a DNA-based immunotherapy (pgDE7h), and when associate EP in our immunization by intramuscularly observed increase antitumor effect and frequency CD8+E7-specific and cytotoxic, cell migration for the inoculation site of the DNA polyfunctional T cell induction and memory, and higher avidity for activated T cells.

Orientador: Pedro Xavier de Oliveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T14:24:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Prado_LuizaNaiaraSiqueirado_M.pdf: 1448858 bytes, checksum: 14894261e1f5acfa5c112a5bd731af13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Apesar de a aplicação de campos elétricos de alta intensidade ser atualmente a única terapia disponível para interromper a fibrilação ventricular, esse processo pode causar lesões às células cardíacas, prejudicando sua contratilidade. Neste estudo, aplicamos pulsos elétricos de alta intensidade a miócitos isolados de ratos Wistar adultos. Obtivemos as curvas de letalidade por meio de análise de sobrevivência, que foram usadas para determinar a intensidade de campo necessária para matar 50% das células (EL50) e com esses valores obtivemos a curva de intensidade-duração (IxD) para letalidade para 10 durações diferentes: 0,1; 0,2; 0,5; 1; 3; 5; 10; 20; 35 e 70 ms. Também obtivemos a curva IxD para excitação celular, por meio dos valores de média ± erro padrão da média para a intensidade de campo limiar de excitação para todas as durações, e obtivemos uma relação entre letalidade e excitação em função da duração do pulso, chamada de Fator de Segurança (FS), um indicador de segurança estimulatória. Essa curva foi determinada a partir da divisão entre os pontos das curvas IxD de letalidade e excitação. Observamos que quanto me-nor a duração de pulso, maior a intensidade de campo que causa morte celular. Ao contrário do que se esperava, o maior valor de FS não correspondeu à menor duração utilizada (0,1 ms), mas sim à duração de 0,5 ms. Como o limiar de desfibrilação foi descrito como dependente da duração do pulso aplicado, nossos resultados indicam que o uso de estímulos com duração mais curta - em vez da duração tipicamente usada na clínica, de 10 ms - pode diminuir as lesões celulares, e, portanto, aumentar a efetividade da desfibrilação / Abstract: Although high intensity electric fields application is currently the only effective therapy available to terminate ventricular fibrillation, it may cause injury to cardiac cells, impairing their contractility. In this study we applied high electric field pulses with different durations to isolated rat ventricular myocytes. We obtained lethality curves by survival analysis, which were used to determine the value of applied electric field necessary to kill 50% of cells (EL50) and plotted a strength-duration (IxD) curve for lethality with 10 different durations: 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 35 and 70 ms. For the same durations we also obtained an IxD curve for excitation and established an indicator for stimulatory safeness, named Safety Factor (FS), as the ratio between the points on the IxD curve for lethality and the one for excitation. We found that the lower the pulse duration, the higher the electric field intensity required to cell death. Contrary to expecta-tions, the highest FS value does not correspond to the lowest pulse duration but to the one of 0.5 ms. As defibrillation threshold has been described as duration dependent, our results imply that the use of shorter stimulus duration - instead of the one typically used in the clinic (10 ms) - may decrease electric cell damage, therefore increasing defibrillation effectiveness / Mestrado / Engenharia Biomedica / Mestra em Engenharia Elétrica

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / In this work we presented the idea to perform excision assays using the piggyBac transposable element as enzyme supplier and the inverted terminal sequences of the element, both necessary for mobilization of a transposable element. Drosophila S2 cells were electroporated to perform insertion of two different plasmids in the cytoplasm of cells, a plasmid carrying the terminal inverted repeats of piggyBac element flanking a GFP gene and other with the transposase coding sequence enzyme which recognizes the terminal inverted repeats, excise of the region where the element is and insert it into another locus. This is a vector-helper system, in which a fragment is excised from a plasmid with the help of the transposase located in the other. Conventional PCR was used to verify excision events showing a 200bp amplification region where the fragment was excised and a region 3kb amplification reagion at times when the fragment was full, ie, it has not mobilized. The qPCR technique was used to quantify the excision of this fragment, carrying out comparisons of the amount of plasmid DNA recovered from the S2 cells after the end of experiment with serial dilutions of the original plasmids carrying the ITRs, which was used as standard. The results showed that the technique involving electroporation and qPCR is feasible and can be used to quantify mobilization of transposable elements. Paralleling with existing tools for this type of quantification, qPCR shows up as a very sensitive technique of detection mobilization, as well as a low cost technique budget. / Neste trabalho apresentamos a ideia de realizar ensaios de excisão utilizando o elemento transponível piggyBac como fornecedor da enzima e das sequências terminais invertidas do elemento, ambos necessários para mobilização. Células S2 de Drosophila melanogaster foram eletroporadas para que houvesse inserção de dois diferentes plasmídeos no citoplasma das células, um plasmídeo portando as repetições terminais invertidas do elemento piggyBac flanqueando um gene GFP e o outro com a sequência codificadora da enzima transposase, a qual reconhece as repetições terminais invertidas e excisa o elemento da região onde está inserido, num sistema vector-helper, em que um fragmento é excisado de um plasmídeo com ajuda da transposase localizada no outro. PCR convencional foi usado para verificar os eventos de excisão, mostrando uma região de amplificação de 200pb nos casos de excisão do fragmento e uma região amplicada de 3kb, nas ocasiões em que o fragmento ficou inteiro, ou seja, não foi mobilizado. A qPCR foi utilizada para quantificar a excisão desse fragmento, realizando comparações da quantidade de DNA plasmidial recuperado das células S2 após o término do experimento com diluições em série do plasmídeo com as ITRs, que foi utilizado como standard. Os resultados mostraram que a técnica envolvendo eletroporação e qPCR é exequível e pode ser utilizada para quantificar mobilização de elementos transponíveis. Fazendo um paralelo com as ferramentas já existentes para esse tipo de quantificação, qPCR mostra-se como uma técnica bastante sensível de detecção de mobilização, bem como uma técnica de baixo custo orçamentário.

Electric field mediated gene delivery modalities have preferable safety profiles with the ability to rapidly transfect cells in vitro and in vivo with high efficiency. However, the current state of the art has relied on trial and error studies that target the average cell within a population present in treated tissue to derive electric pulse parameters. This results in fixed gene electrotransfer (GET) parameters that are not universally optimum. Slow progress towards the validation of a mechanism that explains this phenomena has also hindered its advancement in the clinic. To date, GET methods utilizing feedback control as a means to optimize doses of electric field stimulation have not been investigated. However, with modern electric components the electric characteristics of tissue exposed to electric pulses can be measured in very short time scales allowing for a near instantaneous assessment of the effect these pulses have on cells and tissue. This information is ideal for use in optimizing GET parameters to ensure the conditions necessary for gene delivery can be created regardless of anisotropic tissue architecture and electrode geometry. Bioimpedance theory draws parallels between cell structures and circuit components in an attempt to use circuit theory to describe changes occurring at a cellular and tissue level. In short, a reduction in tissue impedance indicates a reduction to the opposition of current flow in a volume conductor indicating new pathways for current. It has been purported these new pathways exist in the cell membrane and indicate a degree of membrane permeability/destabilization that either indicates or facilitates the uptake of exogenous molecules, such as nucleic acids or plasmid DNA. This study evaluated the use of relative impedance changes from 10 Hz – 10 kHz that occur in tissue before and after GET to indicate relative increase in tissue and membrane permeability. An optimum reduction in impedance was then identified as an indicator of the degree of membrane permeability required to significantly enhance exogenous DNA uptake into cells. This study showed the use of impedance-based feedback control to optimize GET pulse number in real time to target 80% or 95% reduction in tissue impedance resulted in an 12 and 14 fold increase in transgene expression over controls and a 6 and 7 fold increase in transgene expression over fixed pulse open loop protocols.

Pocket proteins (pRb, p107 and p130) are well studied in the role of regulating cell proliferation by controlling progression through the G1/S phase of the cell cycle. Increasing genetic and anatomical evidence suggests that these proteins also control early differentiation and even later stages of cell maturation including neural migration. However, the multifaceted functions of pocket proteins in the regulation of cell proliferation and cell death has complicated our interpretation of their role during development. As a result, the mechanisms through which pocket proteins regulate neuronal migration and neural maturation remain unknown. Using a pRb and p107 double knock out model, we show that a population of upper layer cortical neurons fails to pass through the intermediate zone into the cortical plate. Importantly, these neurons are born at the appropriate time and have exited the cell cycle. In addition, the role of pocket proteins in radial migration is independent cell death, since this migration defect cannot be rescued by eliminating ectopic cell death through Bax deletion. We also show a novel role of pRb and p107 in development of the dorsal midline and guidance of callosal axons. In the absence of pRb and p107, the structures of the commissural plate are highly disorganized and the callosal axons fail to cross the midline. We identify primary defects in axon extension and expression of multiple guidance cues, which can be observed prior to the disorganization of the midline axon guidance structures. Through the use of in vitro cortical explants and in utero electroporation, we identify defects in the rate of axon extension and directional guidance independent from the midline. In addition, protein levels of Netrin and Neuropilin-1 are decreased in the absence of pRb and p107, which could mediate the function of pocket proteins in guiding callosal axons. Indeed, we identify a previously undescribed population of Netrin expressing cells in the cingulate cortex of control embryos which is lost in the pRb/p107 deficient littermates. We propose that these cells play a significant role in callosal axon guidance during normal development. The results presented in this dissertation define multiple novel roles of pRb and p107 in the regulation of radial migration and axon guidance, independent from the role of these pocket proteins in cell death and proliferation.

No description available.

<div>Pulsed electric fields (PEFs) can induce numerous biophysical phenomena, especially perturbation of the outer and inner membranes, that may be used for applications that include nonthermal pasteurization, enhanced permeabilization of tumors to improve the transport of chemotherapeutics for cancer therapy, and enhanced membrane permeabilization of individual cells to enhance RNA and DNA delivery for gene therapy. The applied electric field and pulse duration determine the density, size, and reversibility of the created membrane pores. PEFs with durations longer than the outer membrane’s charging time will induce pore formation with the potential for application in irreversible electroporation for cancer therapy and microorganism inactivation. Shorter duration PEFs, particularly on the nanosecond timescale (nsPEFs), induce a larger density of smaller membrane pores with the potential to permeabilize intracellular membranes, such as the mitochondria, to induce programmed cell death. Thus, the PEFs can effectively kill multiple types of cells, dependent upon the cells. This thesis assesses the ability of nsPEFs to kill different cell types, specifically microorganisms with and without antibiotics as well as varying the parameters to affect populations of immortalized leukemia cells (Jurkats).</div><div>Antibiotic resistance has been an acknowledged challenge since the initial development of penicillin; however, recent discoveries by the CDC and the WHO of microorganisms resistant to last line of defense drugs combined with predictions of potential infection cases reaching 50 million a year globally and the absence new drugs in the discovery pipeline highlight the need to develop novel ways to combat and overcome these resistance mechanisms. Repurposing drugs, exploring nature for new drugs, and developing enzymes to counter the resistance mechanisms may provide potential alternatives for addressing the scarcity of antibiotics effective against gram-negative infections. One may also leverage the abundance of drugs effective against gram-positive infections by using nsPEFs to make them effective against gram-negative infections, including bacterial species with multiple natural and acquired resistance mechanisms. Numerous drug and microbial combinations for different doses and pulse treatments were tested and presented here.</div><div>Low intensity PEFs may selectively target cell populations at different stages of the cell cycle (quiescence and mitosis) to modify cancer cell population dynamics. Experimental studies of cancer cell growth when exposed to a low number of nsPEFs, while varying pulse duration, field intensity and number of pulses reveals a threshold beyond which cell recovery is not possible, but also a point of diminishing returns if cell death is the intention. A theory comprised of coupled differential equations representing the proliferating and quiescent cells showed how changing PEF parameters altered the behavior of these cell populations after treatment. These results may provide important information on the impact of PEFs with sub-threshold intensities and durations on cell population growth and potential recurrence.</div>

This masteral thesis describes phenomenon of electroporation and it’s use to deal with occluded self-expandable metalic stent. Thesis briefly summarizes theory of electroporation, currently used medical treatments of occluded stents. The next part of the thesis is dedicated to current state of mathematical simulations of electroporation. The core of the thesis are simulations of electroporation effects on tissue of occluded metal stents.