One step antibody-mediated isolation and patterning of multiple cell types in microfluidic devices

Cell-cell interactions play a key role in regeneration, differentiation, and basic tissue function taking place under physiological shear forces. However, current solutions to mimic such interactions by micro-patterning cells within microfluidic devices have low resolution, high fabrication complexity, and are limited to one or two cell types. Here, we present a microfluidic platform capable of laminar patterning of any biotin-labeled peptide using streptavidin-based surface chemistry. The design permits the generation of arbitrary cell patterns from heterogeneous mixtures in microfluidic devices. We demonstrate the robust co-patterning of α-CD24, α-ASGPR-1, and α-Tie2 antibodies for rapid isolation and co-patterning of mixtures of hepatocytes and endothelial cells. In addition to one-step isolation and patterning, our design permits step-wise patterning of multiple cell types and empty spaces to create complex cellular geometries in vitro. In conclusion, we developed a microfluidic device that permits the generation of perfusable tissue-like patterns in microfluidic devices by directly injecting complex cell mixtures such as differentiated stem cells or tissue digests with minimal sample preparation.     

Prostate specific antigen in patients of benign prostate hypertrophy and carcinoma prostate

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) has emerged as the most applicable and important tumor marker for carcinoma prostate. In the present study PSA was determined in serum of healthy subjects, patients of benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and Carcinoma Prostate (Ca−P) to evaluate its diagnostic efficiency in day to day management of prostate cancer patients and in differentiating patients of early prostate cancer from those with BPH. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) revealed 2 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml cut off serum PSA level for BPH and untreated carcinoma prostate patients (Ca−P). An extremely significant increase (P<0.0001) was observed in mean PSA concentration in BPH patients and adenocarcinoma prostate patients when compared to healthy males. Clinical relevance of PSA was highlighted by a case study of cancer patient prior to any therapy till death.     

Medicinal plants for treatment of diabetes mellitus

Many plants have been used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in Indian system of medicine and in other ancient systems of the world. Out of these only a few have been evaluated as per modern system of medicine. From many such plants only extracts have been prepared and their usefulness evaluated in experimental diabetes in animals. In some plants likeAllium cepa, Allium sativum, Ficus bengalensis, Gymnema sylvestre, Pterocarpus marsupium etc. active hypoglycemic principles have been isolated and their mechanism of action studied. Most of them seem to act directly on pancreas (pancreatic effect) and stimulate insulin level in blood. Some have extra pancreatic effect also by acting directly on tissues like liver, muscle etc. and alter favourably the activities of the regulatory enzymes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and other pathways. Since the plant products have less side effects, they have the potential as good hypoglycemic drugs. They may also provide clues for the development of new and better oral drugs for diabetes.     

Status and Interrelationship of Zinc,Copper, Iron,Calcium and Selenium in Prostate Cancer

Deficiency or excess of certain trace elements has been considered as risk factor for prostate cancer. This study was aimed to detect differential changes and mutual correlations of selected trace elements in prostate cancer tissue versus benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue. Zinc, copper, iron, calcium and selenium were analysed in histologically proven 15 prostate cancer tissues and 15 benign prostatic hyperplasia tissues using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Unpaired two tailed t test/Mann–Whitney U test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to compare the level of trace elements, elemental ratios and their interrelations. As compared to benign prostatic tissue, malignant prostatic tissue had significantly lower selenium (p = 0.038) and zinc (p = 0.043) concentrations, a lower zinc/iron ratio (p = 0.04) and positive correlation of selenium with zinc (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and iron (r = 0.76, p = 0.009). Considerably divergent interrelationship of elements and elemental ratios in prostate cancer versus benign prostatic hyperplasia was noted. Understanding of differential elemental changes and their interdependence may be useful in defining the complex metabolic alterations in prostate carcinogenesis with potential for development of element based newer diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic strategies. Further studies may be needed to elucidate this complex relationship between trace elements and prostate carcinogenesis.     

Mechanism of Antidiabetic Action of Compound GII Purified from Fenugreek (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Trigonella foenum graecum</Emphasis>) Seeds

To study the mechanism of action of water soluble compound GII purified from fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) seeds which was shown earlier to have antidiabetic effect in the subdiabetic, moderately and severely diabetic rabbits. In rabbits (1–1.5 kg bw) diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of 80 mg/kg bw of alloxan. They were fed with GII at a dose of 50 mg/kg bw daily once in the morning for 15 days in the subdiabetic and moderately diabetic and 30 days in the severely diabetic rabbits. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), LDL + VLDL cholesterol [(LDL + VLDL)C], HDL cholesterol [(HDL)C], total tissue lipids, glycogen and enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism (glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, polyol pathway) hexokinase, glucokinase, pyruvate kinase, malic enzyme, glucose-6-phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, aldose reductase and sorbitol dehydrogenase and antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase were estimated. Liver and kidney function parameters were also estimated. Treatment with GII for 15 days in the subdiabetic and moderately diabetic rabbits and for 30 days in the severely diabetic rabbits (i) decreased the elevated lipids TC, TG, (LDL + VLDL)C and increased the decreased (HDL)C, (ii) decreased the elevated liver and heart total lipids, TC and TG, (iii) increased the decreased liver and muscle glycogen, (iv) increased the decreased hexokinase, glucokinase, pyruvate kinase, malic enzyme, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, (v) decreased the increased glucose-6-phosphatase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, aldose reductase. Results thus show that treatment with GII compound purified from fenugreek seeds for 15 days in the subdiabetic and moderately diabetic and 30 days in the severely diabetic rabbits corrects the altered serum lipids, tissue lipids, glycogen, enzymes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogen metabolism, polyol pathway and antioxidant enzymes. Histopathological abnormalities (fatty infiltration and other cellular changes) seen in the pancreas, liver, heart and kidneys were repaired after treatment with GII. In fact partially damaged pancreas was repaired. Liver and kidney function test results were normal in the GII treated animals indicating that GII treatment is safe and free from any side effects.     

Purification and mechanism of action of antitubercular principle from garlic (Allium sativum) active against isoniazid susceptible and resistantMycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv

Allicin was prepared from the ethanol extract of garlic without the use of heat. It inhibited the growth ofMycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇R_v andM. tuberculosis TRC-C 1193 resistant to isoniazid completely when grown as surface cultures as well as shake cultures. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was 70 μg/ml for both organisms. Further purification of allicin over silica gel-G columns gave a chloroform elutable fraction called CEF-allicin which inhibited the growth of both the susceptible and the isoniazid resistant strains ofM. tuberculosis. Its MIC is 25 μg/ml and is the lowest reported so far when compared with very high inhibitory concentration of 1 to 3mg/ml reported by other workers. It completely inhibited the synthesis of lipids and DNA from¹⁴C-acetate and³H-thymidine respectively and almost completely that of proteins and glycine derived carbohydrates from¹⁴C-glycine ofM. tuberculosis within 6 hr of exposure to CEF-allicin.     

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2004 is shared by Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, who made fundamental discoveries concerning how cells regulate the breakdown of cellular proteins with extreme specificity. The three biochemists discovered ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, a process where an enzyme system tags unwanted proteins with many molecules of a small protein called ubiquitin and then sends then to the proteasome where they are broken down.     

Characterization and synthesis of homogeneous two-variable reactance functions

It is shown in this paper that Homogeneous Two-variable Reactance Polyno- mials (HTRP's) can be expressed as a product of linear factors in the two-variables. Further, a Homogeneous Two-variable Reactance Function (HTRF) can be characterized in terms of the alteration property involving the coefficients of the linear factors of the HTRP in the numerator and denominator. Synthesis procedures for HTRF's are discus- sed; these realizations follow from the single variable RL- or RC-functions associated with a HTRF. Additional properties of HTRF, which will enable us to generate Two- variable Positive Real Functions and Two-variable Reactance Functions are also discussed.