A doença renal crônica (DRC) é um problema de saúde pública caracterizado por alta morbidade e mortalidade e com enorme impacto social e econômico no sistema de saúde. Uma das consequências mais graves da progressão da DRC é a albuminúria, que se deve principalmente a lesões no epitélio tubular proximal e na membrana basal glomerular. O aumento da permeabilidade da barreira de ultrafiltração glomerular à albumina está diretamente relacionado à lesão podocitária, principalmente devido à perda de processos podais, estresse oxidativo, estresse de reticulo endoplasmático e eventos apoptóticos. No entanto, os mecanismos celulares envolvidos em tais processos ainda não foram elucidados. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi investigar os mecanismos pelos quais a albumina participa na lesão de podócitos, considerando a contribuição da caveolina-1, IRE-1 fosforilado, PKC fosforilada, p38 MAPK fosforilada e caspase-12 clivada. Para isso, utilizamos podócitos de camundongos diferenciados, os quais foram distribuídos em quatro grupos experimentais: controle e tratados com albumina nas concentrações de 1, 5 e 10 mg/mL, em RPMI 1640 sem soro, durante 24 horas. Após o tratamento, a apoptose foi avaliada por citometria de fluxo. Para os experimentos de imunofluorescência, as células foram tratadas com albumina fluorescente conjugada à isotiocianato de fluoresceína (FITC) 1 mg/mL durante 30 min, 1h, 3h e 24h. As imagens foram obtidas por microscopia confocal, objetivo de 63x. A expressão de proteínas foi analisada por western blotting; GRP78, PKC , p38 MAPK e caspase-12 clivada foram avaliados 30 min, 1h, 3h e 24h após o tratamento das células com albumina 1 mg/mL. GAPDH foi usado como controle endógeno. A análise estatística foi avaliada pela ANOVA one-way seguida do pós teste de Bonferroni. Valores de p<0,05 foram considerados significativos. Nossos resultados mostram que o tratamento das culturas celulares de podócitos com albumina, na concentração de 1 mg/mL, durante 24h resultou em um aumento significativo na taxa de apoptose total em comparação com o controle. Com relação à imunofluorescência, colocalizações entre albumina FITC e caveolina-1 foram observadas no período de 30 min, 1h, 3h e 24h. Em relação à expressão proteica, observou-se um aumento significativo na expressão da proteína GRP78 no período de 1 hora após o tratamento com albumina, o que indica um possível estresse de retículo endoplasmático. No caso da proteína IRE-1 fosforilada houve aumento da expressão em 30 min, 1h, 3h e 24h em relação ao grupo controle. Além disso, um aumento significativo na expressão das proteínas PKC fosforilada, p38 MAPK fosforilada e caspase-12 clivada foi observado nos períodos de 1h, 3h e 24h após o tratamento com albumina. Estes dois últimos parâmetros foram reduzidos pelo co-tratamento das células com SB203580 (10-6 M), um inibidor específico da p38 MAPK. Estes resultados sugerem que a proteína caveolina-1 tem um papel importante na internalização da albumina nos podócitos. Além disso, a albumina induz a apoptose por ativação do estresse de retículo nessas células, principalmente através da via PKC /p38MAPK/caspase-12 clivada. / Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health problem characterized by high morbidity and mortality and with enormous social and economic impact on the health system. One of the most serious consequences of CKD progression is albuminuria, which is mainly due to lesions in the proximal tubular epithelium and the glomerular basement membrane. Increased permeability of the glomerular ultrafiltration barrier to albumin is directly related to podocyte lesion, mainly due to loss of foot processes, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptotic events. However, the cellular mechanisms involved in such processes have not yet been elucidated. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which albumin participates in podocyte injury, considering the contribution of caveolin-1, phosphorylated IRE-1, phosphorylated PKC, phosphorylated p38 MAPK, and cleaved caspase-12. For this, we used mice differentiated podocytes, which were distributed in four experimental groups: control and treated with serum concentrations of 1, 5 and 10 mg/mL in serum-free RPMI 1640 for 24 hours. After treatment, apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry. For the immunofluorescence experiments, the cells were treated with 1 mg/mL fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated (FITC) albumin for 30 min, 1h, 3h, and 24h. The images were obtained by confocal microscopy, 63x objective. Protein expression was analyzed by western blotting; GRP78, PKC , p38 MAPK and cleaved caspase-12 were evaluated 30 min, 1h, 3h and 24h after treatment of the cells with 1 mg/mL albumin. GAPDH was used as an endogenous control. Statistical analysis was assessed by one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-test. Values of p<0.05 were considered significant. Our results show that the treatment of cell cultures of podocytes with albumin at a concentration of 1 mg/mL for 24h resulted in a significant increase in the total apoptosis rate compared to the control. Regarding immunofluorescence, colocalizations between FITC albumin and caveolin-1 were observed in the period of 30 min, 1h, 3h and 24h. Regarding protein expression, a significant increase in GRP78 protein expression was observed within 1 hour of albumin treatment, indicating potential endoplasmic reticulum stress. In the case of the phosphorylated IRE-1 protein, expression increased in 30 min, 1h, 3h and 24h in relation to the control group. In addition, a significant increase in the expression of phosphorylated PKC, phosphorylated p38 MAPK and cleaved caspase-12 proteins was observed at 1h, 3h and 24h after albumin treatment. These latter two parameters were reduced by co-treatment of the cells with SB203580 (10-6 M), a specific inhibitor of p38 MAPK. These results suggest that caveolin-1 protein plays an important role in the internalization of albumin in podocytes. In addition, albumin induces apoptosis by activating the reticulum stress in these cells, mainly through the PKC / p38MAPK / caspase-12 pathway.

A interface formada por materiais biológicos e materiais sintéticos tem grande importância em aplicações biomédicas, tais como o desenvolvimento de biomateriais para implantes médicos, que tem como processo essencial a deposição de proteínas na superfície dos biomateriais, e ainda não é bem compreendido no nível molecular. Algumas proteínas sofrem mudanças conformacionais após a adsorção na interface sólido-líquido, afetando suas funções ou propriedades, e algumas técnicas podem medir mudanças conformacionais em interfaces sólido. É possível estudar a fluorescência intrínseca de proteínas: a posição do máximo na faixa espectral da fluorescência, a eficiência quântica e o tempo de vida de fluorescência são indicadores de mudanças no ambiente local de grupos de moléculas de proteína fluorescente. Por outro lado, Nanopartículas de ouro têm atraído muita atenção pela sua afinidade com materiais biológicos e suas propriedades ópticas. Nesta tese, estudamos a viabilidade de substratos de vidro, quartzo, mica e ITO (óxido de índio e estanho) modificado com quitosana, phtalocyanines (Ni, Fe e Ni) e poli(alilanina hidroclorada) (PAH) na adsorção de BSA em forma dos filmes produzidos pela técnica camada por camada. O sistema foi estudado por UV-Vis e espectroscopia de fluorescência estática e resolvida no tempo. A caracterização morfológica dos filmes foi realizada por microscopia de força atômica e microscopia óptica. Os resultados mostram que os filmes de BSA / HAP cresceram com eficiência quatro vezes maior do que os filmes feitos de quitosana, que o quartzo tem a melhor janela de trabalho de UV-vis e há uma relação entre o pH da BSA e o tempo vida de fluorescência do filme resultante. As nanopartículas de ouro foram produzidas pela redução química e estabilizada por quatro diferentes métodos. O crescimento das nanopartículas foi monitorado por UV-vis spectroscopy. A carga de superfície das nanopartículas e da BSA foi estimado em vários valores de pH por medidas de potencial zeta. Os resultados indicaram que as nanopartículas têm cargas negativas na faixa de pH estudada. Soluções de BSA foram preparadas em diferentes valores de pH, e levadas para interagir com as nanopartículas de ouro. Os dados de supressão de fluorescência da BSA mostraram uma maior afinidade da BSA com nanopartículas estabilizadas com sacarose, com pH próximo do ponto isoelétrico (IP) estimado para BSA. / The interface formed by biological materials and synthetic materials has great importance in biomedical applications such as the development of biomaterials for medical implants, which has as an essential process of protein adsorption on the surface of biomaterials, and is not yet well understood in the molecular level. Some proteins undergo conformational changes after adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces, affecting their functions or properties, and few techniques can measure conformational changes in solid interfaces. It is possible to study the intrinsic fluorescence of proteins: the position of the maximum in the spectral range of fluorescence, the quantum efficiency and lifetime of fluorescence are indicators of change in the local environment of fluorescent groups of protein molecules. On the other hand, gold nanopartículas have attracted much attention for its affinity with biological materials and their optical properties. In this thesis we study the feasibility of glass substrates, quartz, mica and ITO (Indium tin oxide) modified with chitosan, phtalocyanines (Ni, Fe and Ni) and poly (allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) on the adsorption of BSA in the form of films produced by the layer by layer technique. The system was studied by UV-Vis and static and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. Morphological characterization of the films was performed by atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy. The results indicate that the films of BSA/PAH grew with efficiency four times greater than the films made of chitosan, that the quartz has the best working window for UV-vis and there is a relationship between the pH of the BSA and lifetime of fluorescence of the resulting film. Gold nanoparticles were produced by chemical reduction and stabilized by four different methods. The growth of nanoparticles was monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy. The surface charge of nanoparticles and the BSA was estimated at various pH values by zeta potential measurements. The results indicated that the nanoparticles have negative charges in the pH range studied. BSA solutions were prepared at various pH values, were taken to interact with gold nanoparticles. Fluorescence quenching data of BSA showed a greater affinity of the BSA with nanoparticles stabilized with sucrose, at pH near the isoelectric point (IEP) estimated for BSA.

abstract: Cancer is a major public health challenge and the second leading cause of death in the United States. Large amount of effort has been made to achieve sensitive and specific detection of cancer, and to predict the course of cancer. Glycans are promising avenues toward the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer, because aberrant glycosylation is a prevalent hallmark of diverse types of cancer. A bottom-up “glycan node analysis” approach was employed as a useful tool, which captures most essential glycan features from blood plasma or serum (P/S) specimens and quantifies them as single analytical signals, to a lung cancer set from the Women Epidemiology Lung Cancer (WELCA) study. In addition, developments were performed to simplify a relatively cumbersome step involved in sample preparation of glycan node analysis. Furthermore, as a biomarker discovery research, one crucial concern of the glycan node analysis is to ensure that the specimen integrity has not been compromised for the employed P/S samples. A simple P/S integrity quality assurance assay was applied to the same sample set from WELCA study, which also afford the opportunity to evaluate the effects of different collection sites on sample integrity in a multisite clinical trial. Here, 208 samples from lung cancer patients and 207 age-matched controls enrolled in the WELCA study were analyzed by glycan node analysis. Glycan features, quantified as single analytical signals, including 2-linked mannose, α2‐6 sialylation, β1‐4 branching, β1‐6 branching, 4-linked GlcNAc, and outer-arm fucosylation, exhibited abilities to distinguish lung cancer cases from controls and predict survival in patients. To circumvent the laborious preparation steps for permethylation of glycan node analysis, a spin column-free (SCF) glycan permethylation procedure was developed, applicable to both intact glycan analysis or glycan node analysis, with improved or comparable permethylation efficiency relative to some widely-used spin column-based procedures. Biospecimen integrity of the same set of plasma samples from WELCA study was evaluated by a simple intact protein assay (ΔS-Cysteinylated-Albumin), which quantifies cumulative exposure of P/S to thawed conditions (-30 °C). Notable differences were observed between different groups of samples with various initial handling/storage conditions, as well as among the different collection sites. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biochemistry 2019

Heart failure is a progressive condition that affects over 5.7 million Americans and costs associated with heart failure account for 2-3 % of the national health care budget. The high rates of morbidity and mortality along with increased costs from readmissions associated with advanced heart failure have led to the exploration of advanced treatments such as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). LVADS have demonstrated morbidity and mortality benefit but cost remains extensive with costs per quality-adjusted years > $400,000. With this in mind, it is important to identify those who are most likely to benefit from an LVAD to avoid unfavorable outcomes and cost. Although general guidelines and criteria for patient eligibility have been established, choosing patients for LVAD implantation remains challenging. A new focus on patient selection involves the presence of frailty. While frailty has been studied in the elderly population and in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, frailty in patients undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) remains controversial. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine measures of frailty in patients undergoing LVAD implantation. The specific aims of this dissertation were to: (1) identify a feasible frailty measure in adults with end-stage heart failure who underwent LVAD implantation by testing the hypothesis that frailty would predict 30 day rehospitalization rates using Fried’s criteria, Short Physical Performance Battery test, handgrip strength, serum albumin and six minute walk test (2) Determine whether frailty measures improve 3 months post LVAD implantation (3) compare sensitivity of these three measures to change in frailty. Surgical approaches, including heart transplantation and LVAD implantation, for patients with end-stage heart failure was discussed in this dissertation. Data from two subsets of participants who underwent LVADS at the University of Kentucky between 2014 and 2017 were included in the analysis for this dissertation. In the first study, we found that none of the measures are good predictors of frailty in patients with advanced heart failure who undergo LVAD implantation. Handgrip was the only marker of frailty that predicted 30 day readmission but the relationship was a negative association. In the second study, six-minute walk and low serum albumin levels reflect short-term improvement in frailty. These simple measures may be used to determine those patients who are responsive to LVAD implantation. The findings of these studies filled some gaps in our understanding of markers of frailty in patients undergoing LVADs. We gained a better understanding of which markers of frailty are likely to improve in most people after LVAD implantation and thus frailty should not preclude candidate selection for an LVAD. Subsequently, more research is needed to investigate these markers and outcomes.

<p>With the studies performed in this theses the local drug delivery technique FibMat developed by the biotech company AddBIO, was shown to be applicable to other plasma proteins and drugs than the fibrinogen-bisphosphonate combination that is today being commercialized. Hence the potential for a broader field of application was demonstrated. The application targeted today is as a surface modification giving improved strength to bone around screws used in bone implants. The effect of changing protein and manufacturing conditions was studied with null ellipsometry. It was demonstrated that with changes in incubation temperature, pH and salinity the fibrinogen could be successfully exchanged for the plasma proteins human serum albumin and immunoglobulin G. With liquid scintillation counting it was shown that the developed protein multilayers were able to absorb and release the bone strengthening drug alendronic acid in levels comparable to that of the fibrinogen based ditto. Disk susceptibility tests with the bacteria S. Aureus showed a potential for antibacterial functionalization with gentamicin. The release was, in the case of the fibrinogen multilayer, detectable up to 48 hours. Similar test revealed an inability of silver nanoparticle incorporated protein multilayers to achieve inhibitory levels.</p>

Advances in recent nanoscience technologies have generated a new compilation of biocompatible, fluorescent nanoparticles derived from semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). QDs are extremely small in size and possess very large surface areas, which gives them unique physical properties and applications distinct from those of bulk systems. When exposed to biological fluid, these QDs may become coated with proteins and other biomolecules given their dynamic nature. These protein-QD systems may affect or enhance the changes in protein structure and stability, leading to the destruction of biological function. It is believed that these QDs can act as nucleation centers and subsequently promote protein fibril formation. Protein fibrillation is closely associated with many fatal human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases and a variety of systemic amyloidoses. This topic of protein-QD interaction brings about many key issues and concerns, especially with respect to the potential risks to human health and the environment. Herein, the behavioral effects of dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA)-capped CdSe/ZnS (core/shell) QDs in hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) and human serum albumin (HSA) protein systems were systematically analyzed. This study gives rise to a better understanding of the potentially useful application of these protein-QD systems in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine as a bioimaging tool and/or as a reference for controlled biological self-assembly processes.

Njurarna är ett organsystem med viktiga funktioner som exempelvis utsöndring av flertalet vattenlösliga substanser. För att sjukdomssymtom ska uppträda krävs mer än tre fjärdedelars bortfall av njurfunktionen, eftersom njurarna har en enorm reservkapacitet. Genom att analysera bland annat proteinerna albumin, immunoglobulin G, kappa och lambda i urin utreds om njurfunktionen fungerar som den ska. Analys av dessa proteiner kan ske med analysinstrumenten IMMAGE 800 från Beckman Coulter och BN ProSpec från DADE BEHRING. Båda dessa analysinstrument använder sig av metoden nefelometri, som är en metod där ljusspridning i en vätska eller gas kan mätas. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att analysera urinprover på både IMMAGE 800 och BN ProSpec och sedan jämföra resultaten. Under denna studie kalibrerades standardkurvor, genomfördes kvalitetskontroller och 37 prov analyserades. Samma prov analyserades flera gånger, både under samma dag och vid ett antal kommande dagar för att erhålla precisionen. Korrelationskoefficienten blev 0,999 för U-albumin; 0,998 för U-IgG; 0,947 för U-kappa och 0,883 för U-lambda. ProSpec kan således användas vid analys av U-albumin, U-IgG, U-kappa och U-lambda då den uppfyller EQUALIS kvalitetsmål.

Male rat mating is a suite of individual behaviors mediated by the actions of two metabolites of testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and estradiol (E2), on the brain. Individually, neither metabolite fully maintains or restores mating in castrated males, but both combined are as effective as T. Two hormone-responsive areas of the brain, the medial preoptic area (MPO) and the medial amygdala (MEA), are crucial for mating. These studies ask: by what mechanism(s) does E2 act in the MPO and MEA? We blocked the conversion of T to E2 in the MEA of intact male rats and sexual behavior was not maintained. We then infused antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) to estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-á) mRNA bilaterally to the MPO or the MEA of intact male rats to block ER-á expression. ODN infusion of the MPO attenuated mating but infusion of the MEA had no effect. These results suggest that ER-á is the behaviorally relevant estrogen receptor (ER) in the MPO but not in the MEA. ER was originally described in the cytoplasm and nucleus of cells. Recently plasma membrane associated ERs (mER) have been reported. We conjugated E2 to Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA-E2), a large protein that will not penetrate the plasma membrane, thus restricting the action of E2 to mER, and chronically delivered it to the MPO and MEA. BSA-E2 maintained mating if put in the MPO, but not in the MEA, suggesting a surface action of E2 is sufficient in the MPO. The MPO and MEA are reciprocally connected and probably constitute elements of a larger, steroid-responsive neural network that mediates male mating behavior. To begin to describe this purported circuit, we injected Pseudorabies virus (PRV) into the prostate gland and dually labeled PRV-immunoreactive cells for ER or androgen receptors. We found dual labeling in a forebrain diencephalic circuit that includes the MPO, the medial preoptic nucleus, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, the zona incerta, the periaqueductal gray and other areas that presumably mediate both autonomic and motor aspects of male mating. Together, the results of these studies begin to elucidate locations and mechanisms of E2 mediation of male sexual behavior.

Background and aims: The population of older people in our society is increasing. Agerelated changes in the skin results in a diminished perception of pain and pressure and a decreased microcirculation in the skin affects its ability to adapt to injury. Occurrence of pressure sore on geriatrikal clinics are 5-10%, witch means that between five and ten thousand patients gets daily treat for pressure sores. When the patient gets a pressure sore the need for help increases. A common apprehension is that if the patient’s affects with pressure sores it’s because of deficiency in care. According to the law, all nursing interventions should be performed according to scientific and evidence and the nurse’s assistants are responsible for how they perform. The aim of this study was to examine how much knowledge the nurses assistants in community care services has about preventing, predicting and locate riskfactors for pressure sores and if they get the right education. Methods: A questionnaire based on 20 questions was maid and used for this purpose. Out of 99 persons the questionnaires was answered bye 65 nurses assistants working in community care service in a small town in Sweden. Results: The results shown that the nurses assistants don’t use risk assessment scales in attempt to identify patients vulnerable to pressure sores and they are not well associated with the riskfactors. The study even shows that they have little knowledge in how to prevent pressure sores from appearing. The nursing model are some times out of date and the nurses assistants personal view attends to decide witch care they will perform instead of scientific and evidenced based nursing.

In this study, a methodology for separation of chiral molecules, by using enhanced ultrafiltration system was developed. Benzoin was the model chiral molecule studied. In the scope of developing this methodology, some parameters were investigated in the preliminary ultrafiltration experiments in order to set the operation conditions for enhanced ultrafiltration experiments. Due to the slight solubility of benzoin in pure water, 15% (v/v) Polyethylene glycol (PEG 400) and 30 % (v/v) Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were selected as cosolvents. Because of the high retention capacity of RC-10000 Da membranes for benzoin, a membrane saturation strategy was developed. In polymer enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) experiments bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as ligand. Effects of ligand concentration and pH on total benzoin retention and on enantiomeric excess (ee %) were investigated. Benzoin concentration was almost kept constant at ~10 ppm and ~50 ppm for 15% (v/v) PEG 400 and 30 % (v/v) DMSO cosolvents, respectively. It was observed that the increase either in pH or in BSA concentration yielded an increase in total benzoin retention. In 15% (v/v) PEG 400-water, with BSA concentration of 10000 ppm, at pH 10, total benzoin retention reached to 48.7%. For this cosolvent, at different pH values and at different BSA concentrations, all ee % values were about or less than 10%. When 50000 ppm BSA was dissolved in 30 % (v/v) DMSO-water, total benzoin retention increased to 41.3% at pH 10 and ee % reached 16.7 % at pH 11. In enzyme enhanced ultrafiltration (EEUF) experiments, specific to benzoin, apo form of Benzaldehyde Lyase (BAL, E.C. 4.1.2.38) was used as ligand. These experiments were performed with constant ~ 10 ppm benzoin concentration in only 15% (v/v) PEG 400 &ndash / water solvent. Effect of BAL concentration on total benzoin retention and ee% was investigated. It was found that / for all the studied BAL concentrations in the range of 650- 1936 ppm total benzoin retention and ee % were kept almost constant at ~75% and ~60%, respectively.