The plant cell wall is a vitally important interface connecting plant cells to their outside environment and neighboring cells. Acting as a hub for defense, signaling, and physiological processes, the plant cell wall was a crucial innovation in plant evolution. Current cell wall models are largely based on what has been observed in plants like Arabidopsis, Pisum sativum, Nicotiana tabacum, and Phaseolus vulgaris. These models are unable to consider the variety of polymers in a given wall, the mechanical and functional properties such polymers impart, and the complexity of interactions among polymeric cell wall constituents. This work deepened the understanding of wall composition of specialized walls that fall outside of the scope of current plant cell wall models. A detailed survey of cell wall polymer distribution in the transfer cell walls in three key bryophyte species the model moss Physcomitrium patens, hornwort Phaeoceros carolinianus, and liverwort Marchantia polymorpha was done utilizing histochemical techniques in the light and florescent microscopes coupled with immunocytochemical localization with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). This work demonstrated that the occurrence, abundance, and types of polymers differ among taxa and between the two generations, are more influenced by developmental and life history needs than the similar function of the cells in individual taxa. A notable difference between generations was seen in M. polymorpha with the LM2 and JIM13 MAbs targeting AGP epitopes. However, findings in P patens appear to lack the differential labeling observed in both M. polymorpha and P. carolinianus. Using these same techniques, the walls and matrices involved in the process of spermatogenesis were examined in the moss P. patens and noted differences in abundance and location of cell wall polymers during sperm cell differentiation. Another notable finding of this work was that high concentrations of arabinose as components of AGP and pectins are important in the walls of P. patens during the process of spermatogenesis. The final study focused on utilizing herbarium specimens to explore the application of immunogold localization on dried collections of the moss Polytrichum up to 100 years old. The studies compiled in this dissertation demonstrate that the major cell wall components, cellulose, pectins, hemicelluloses, and callose, are constituents of special walls in three bryophytes, but they are differentially expressed within cell types and across these plants. Taken together, these works contribute significant new data on the composition of plant cell walls by focusing on bryophytes and the unique cell walls vital to the life history processes of spermatogenesis and placental function. These findings also show that both field-collected and herbarium samples are successfully labeled with MAbs at the TEM level, unlocking the potential for further studies across time and taxa using plant collections.

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Orientadores: João Palermo Neto, Antonio Armario Garcia / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T19:54:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Queiroz_JuliadeSouza_D.pdf: 6420413 bytes, checksum: 5de0fbd4bbb6451ff5729cbdc2fc74ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: A exposição do organismo a estressores psicossociais e ambientais altera de forma significativa o funcionamento do sistema imune. Os efeitos do estresse sobre a resposta imune têm sido atribuídos, principalmente, à ativação do eixo hipotálamo-pituitária-adrenal (HPA) com consequente aumento nos níveis de ACTH e glicocorticóides e à ativação do sistema nervoso autônomo simpático (SNAS), com liberação de catecolaminas. Nos últimos anos, a alga Chlorella vulgaris (CV) tem despertado o interesse da comunidade científica pelos seus efeitos moduladores sobre as defesas do hospedeiro imunossuprimido. Em estudos anteriores mostramos que o restabelecimento da geração de granulócitos-macrófagos nos órgãos hematopoéticos e a ativação das funções efetoras de fagócitos e linfócitos são cruciais na expressão da atividade imunomoduladora da alga. No entanto, nada se sabe sobre os efeitos da CV no sistema nervoso central em situações de estresse. Sendo assim, neste trabalho realizamos estudos pioneiros com relação ao efeito do tratamento com a alga sobre: 1) a ativação neuronal (c-fos) no córtex pré-frontal, septum lateral, núcleo da Rafe e lócus coeruleus; 2) a ativação do eixo HPA através da expressão do gen de hnCRF na região parvocelular do núcleo paraventricular do hipotálamo, mpdPVN, liberação de ACTH e de corticosterona e, 3) avaliação indireta da atividade do SNAS através dos níveis de glicose no plasma de animais estressados. Considerando-se a medula óssea ser o sítio de origem das células pluripotenciais das quais se originam as células do sistema hematopoético, e que este sistema é totalmente vulnerável ao controle neuroendócrino, avaliamos os efeitos do tratamento com CV sobre a hematopoese de animais estressados através dos 4) crescimento e diferenciação de precursores para granulócitos e macrófagos (CFU-GM); 5) presença de fatores estimuladores da formação de colônias do soro (colony stimulating activity - CSA); 6) quantificação de populações de células maduras e imaturas e 7) morte celular na população de células tronco. A regulação da produção de células hematopoéticas pelas células do estroma da medula óssea em camundongos estressados foi avaliada pela técnica de cultura líquida de longa duração de células da medula óssea (LTBMC), que consiste em um modelo ex vivo para o estudo das interações entre as células progenitoras hematopoéticas e as células do estroma. Nela avaliamos 8) o CFU-GM, níveis de IL-1? / IL-6 e quantificamos uma população madura e uma imatura. Nossos resultados mostraram que a aplicação do estressor produziu um aumento na expressão de c-fos em todas as áreas cerebrais avaliadas, assim como na expressão do gen de hnCRF na região mpdPVN. Os níveis de ACTH e corticosterona também estavam aumentados após o estresse, assim como os níveis de glicose. Na medula óssea observamos que a aplicação do estressor reduziu o número de CFU-GM, e aumentou os níveis de CSA no plasma. Houve um aumento na morte celular e redução no número de precursores hematopoéticos e de células maduras. Na LTBMC, um prejuízo na atividade funcional do estroma medular foi observado através: da redução do CFU-GM, dos níveis de IL-1? / IL-6 e do número de células imaturas e maduras. O aumento na expressão de c-fos após o estresse foi prevenida pelo tratamento com CV em todas as áreas avaliadas, com exceção da região magnocelular do PVN. O resultado mais acentuado do tratamento com CV foi observado na redução da expressão de c-fos no núcleo da Rafe e do gen para hnCRF no mpdPVN, que se encontrou em níveis semelhantes aos observados no grupo controle após o estresse. Todas as alterações hematopoéticas causadas pelo estresse foram prevenidas pelo tratamento com CV. Tomados em seu conjunto, nossos resultados mostraram que o efeito protetor da hematopoese pode ser devido a uma prevenção na ativação neuronal de áreas cerebrais relacionadas à decodificação do estressor do tipo emocional, reduzindo a amplitude de ativação do eixo HPA e do SNAS / Abstract: The exposition of the organism to psychosocial and environmental stressful stimuli alters the functioning of the immune system in a significant way. The effects of stress on the immune response are mainly attributed to the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA) with consequent increment on ACTH and glucocorticoids levels and, to the activation of the autonomic nervous system, with the incremented levels of cathecholamines. In the last years, increasing interests about the algae Chlorella vulgaris (CV) has been demonstrated by the scientific community, due to its modulatory effects on the defenses of the immunosuppressed host. In previous studies we demonstrated that the reestablishment of the generation of granulocytes and macrophages in bone marrow and, the activation of effectors functions of phagocytes and lymphocytes, are crucial features about the immunomodulatory activity from the algae. However, nothing is known about the activity of CV in the central nervous system. Thus, pioneer investigation was made in this work about the effect of treatment with the CV on: 1) neuronal activation (c-fos) in pre-frontal cortex, lateral septum, Rafe nucleus and locus coeruleus; 2) activation of the HPA axis by analysis of expression of the gen to hnCRF in the parvocelular region from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus -mpdPVN and the release of ACTH and corticosterone) and, 3) glucose levels, as an indirect indicator of autonomic nervous system activity. Considering that the bone marrow is the site of origin from pluripotent cells from which all cells from the hematopoietic system are originated, and also that this system is vulnerable to the neuroendocrine control, we evaluated the effects of the treatment with CV on the hematopoiesis of stressed animals through 4) growing and differentiation of precursors to granulocytes and macrophages (CFU-GM); 5) colony stimulating activity from the serum (CSA); 6) quantification of population of mature and immature populations and 7) cell death. The interaction between stromal cells and hematopoietic progenitors in stressed mice was evaluated by the technique of long term bone marrow culture (LTBMC). In the culture we evaluated 8) the CFU-GM, levels of IL-1? / IL-6 and quantification of mature and immature population. The application of the stressor produced an increase in the expression of c-fos in all brain areas evaluated and in the expression of the gen to hnCRF in mpdPVN. Increased levels of ACTH, corticosterone and glucose found in stressed animals corroborate these findings. Reduced numbers of CFU-GM in the bone marrow and increase in plasma CSA, increased cell death in stem cell population (LSK) and decreased numbers of hematopoietic precursors and of mature cells was also observed in stressed group. In LTBMC we observed impairment on the functional activity from medullar stroma, which was observed by reduction of: CFU-GM, IL-1? / IL-6 levels and number of immature and mature cells. Treatment with CV partially prevented increase in c-fos activation caused by stress in the brain except in the magnocelular region from PVN. The more accentuated result from treatment with CV of stressed animals was observed in the expression of c-fos in the Raphe nucleus and in the expression of the gen to hnCRF in mpdPVN, where levels were similar to that observed in control group. All hematopoietic alterations observed after stress were prevented by the treatment with CV. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the protective effect of the treatment with CV on hematopoiesis of stressed animals may be due to a prevention of the neuronal activation in areas related to the decodification of the emotional stressful stimuli, reducing the amplitude of HPA axis and autonomic nervous system activity / Doutorado / Farmacologia / Doutora em Farmacologia

Existing methods for pathogen/pollutant detection or wound infection monitoring employ high-cost instruments that could only be operated by trained personnel, and costly device-based detection requires a time-consuming field-to-lab process. This expensive process with multiple prerequisites prolongs the time that patients must wait for a diagnosis. Therefore, improved methods for point-of-care biosensing are necessary. In this study, we aimed to develop a direct, easy-to-use, portable, low cost, highly sensitive and selective sensor platform with the goal of pollutant detection and wound infection/cancer migration monitoring. This study has two main parts, including microfluidic, electrical, and optical sensing platforms. The first part, including chapters 2, 3, and 4, focuses on Bisphenol A (BPA) lateral flow assay (LFA) detection; the second part, including chapter 5 focuses on the electrical sensing platform fabrication for one of the markers of inflammation, matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9), monitoring/detection. In chapters 2, 3, and 4, we found that the few lateral flow assays (LFAs) established for detecting the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA have employed citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles (GNPs), which have inevitable limitations and instability issues. To address these limitations, in chapter 2, a more stable and more sensitive biosensor is developed by designing strategies for modifying the surfaces of GNPs with polyethylene glycol and then testing their effectiveness and sensitivity toward BPA in an LFA. In chapter 3, we describe the development of a new range-extended bisphenol A (BPA) detection method that uses a surface enhanced Raman scattering lateral flow assay (SERS-LFA) binary system. In chapter 4, we examine advanced bisphenol A (BPA) lateral flow assays (LFAs) that use multiple nanosystems. The assays include three nanosystems, namely, gold nanostars, gold nanocubes, and gold nanorods, which are rarely applied in LFAs, compared with general gold nanoparticles. The developed LFAs show different performances in the detection of BPA. In chapter 5, a stable electrical sensing platform is developed for MMP-9 detection.