|
|
The immune response of naïve mice infected with the neuropathogenic schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti
Macháček, Tomáš ; Horák, Petr (advisor) ; Bilej, Martin (referee) ; Schabussova, Irma (referee)
Helminth neuroinfections represent a serious health issue, but the mechanisms of the host immune response often remain neglected despite the fact they might contribute to pathogenesis. This is partly due to the unavailability of clinical samples and the lack of suitable laboratory models. Herein, I focused on the characterization of several aspects of the immune response of mice infected with the neuropathogenic avian schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti. After the percutaneous infection of mice (accidental hosts), most T. regenti schistosomula are entrapped and eliminated in the skin, but the parasite antigens initiating the protective immune reaction are not known. Our in vitro experiments revealed that T. regenti cathepsin B2, a cysteine peptidase used for the skin penetration, activates bone marrow-derived dendritic cells much stronger than the parasite homogenate, suggesting its role in initiating the mixed type1/2 host immune response. However, some schistosomula manage to escape from the skin and continue their migration to the spinal cord. Here they crawl preferentially within the white matter which we demonstrated by the robust 3D imaging techniques, ultramicroscopy and micro-CT. The invasion of the spinal cord is accompanied by striking hypertrophy of astrocytes and microglia. We showed...
|
|
|
Identification of changes in membrane properties of astrocytes in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Vaňátko, Ondřej ; Turečková, Jana (advisor) ; Vlachová, Viktorie (referee)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurological disorder of the central nervous system characterized by loss of motor neurons and voluntary muscle degeneration. Astrocytes play a major role in regulation of the disease onset and progression due to their intimate association with neurons. Regulation of ionic homeostasis is one of their key functions and its failure has been linked to several neurological diseases. The aim of this thesis was to explore differences in membrane properties of astrocytes in ALS. To fulfill this aim, a double transgenic mouse strain with ALS-like phenotype and a specific expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein in astrocytes was generated. To phenotype this strain, two sensorimotor tests, wire grid hang test and rotarod test, were conducted. Immunohistochemistry was used to characterize the strain on a cellular level and to explore changes of specific ion channels. Functional properties of astrocytes were explored using the patch clamp technique. The double transgenic strain has the characteristic ALS-like phenotype and is comparable to the original strain with differences in symptom onset and progression between models and sexes. On the cellular level, there are characteristic ALS features, specifically loss of motor neurons and astrogliosis....
|
|
|
Practical aspects of single-cell RT-qPCR analysis
Žucha, Daniel ; Valihrach, Lukáš (advisor) ; Pavlínková, Gabriela (referee)
Recent breakthroughs in the RNA quantification of single cells are rapidly transforming the view on biology and medicine. Flexibility and sensitivity of reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) make it an ideal method for quantification of single-cell material, but its limits had not been yet fully explored. In this thesis, various factors influencing RT-qPCR performance in single-cell application have been assessed, including conditions of sample collection and processing, importance of quality control, performance of reverse transcription, preamplification and role of qPCR assays. We showed that prolonged time for single cell collection as well as repeated freeze-thaw cycles had negligible effect on RT-qPCR data quality. Direct lysis routinely applied for RNA extraction from single cells may be scaled up to 256 cells. The comprehensive comparison of 11 reverse transcriptases in low RNA input conditions identified 2 best-performing enzymes. Decrease in preamplification volume as well as poor primer design resulted in the loss of sensitivity. Finally, the established workflow has been applied to profile gene expression of astrocytes in mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) identifying important components of ALS-induced changes to astrocyte transcriptome. Altogether, the thesis...
|
|
| |
|
|
The role of AQP4 and TRPV4 channels in the ischemic brain edema: focusing on glial cells
Kročianová, Daniela ; Anděrová, Miroslava (advisor) ; Máčiková, Lucie (referee)
Cerebral ischemia, also known as stroke, is one of the most common causes of death. It is accompanied by the formation of edema, which can be characterized as an influx of water and osmolytes into the brain, causing volume alterations. We recognize two types of cerebral edema - vasogenic, characterized by the disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and increase of the extracellular volume, and cytotoxic, caused by the increase of the volume of cells, mainly glia. The major contributors to the formation of cytotoxic edema are the astrocytes, which, in physiological conditions, are responsible for the maintenance of the BBB and keeping the homeostasis of the brain and spinal cord or central nervous system. The mechanism responsible for the process of volume and osmotic changes are the transmembrane channels, mainly aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4). AQP4 is the main pathway for water influx as well as efflux when the edema subsides. TRPV4 is likely responsible for the maintenance of the osmotic balance of the organism, although its precise role in the formation of the edema has not yet been fully elucidated. The main aim of this thesis was to categorize the types of cerebral ischemia and edema, and to describe the process of cerebral edema formation and the...
|
|
| |
|
|
The role of AQP4 and TRVP4 channels in the ischemic brain edema: focusing on glial cells.
Kročianová, Daniela ; Anděrová, Miroslava (advisor) ; Máčiková, Lucie (referee)
Cerebral ischemia, also known as stroke, is one of the most common causes of death. It is accompanied by the formation of edema, which can be characterized as an influx of water and osmolytes into the brain, causing volume alterations. We recognize two types of cerebral edema - vasogenic, characterized by the disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and increase of the extracellular volume, and cytotoxic, caused by the increase of the volume of cells, mainly glia. The major contributors to the formation of cytotoxic edema are the astrocytes, which, in physiological conditions, are responsible for the maintenance of the BBB and keeping the homeostasis of the brain and spinal cord or central nervous system. The mechanism responsible for the process of volume and osmotic changes are the transmembrane channels, mainly aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4). AQP4 is the main pathway for water influx as well as efflux when the edema subsides. TRPV4 is likely responsible for the maintenance of the osmotic balance of the organism, although its precise role in the formation of the edema has not yet been fully elucidated. The main aim of this thesis was to categorize the types of cerebral ischemia and edema, and to describe the process of cerebral edema formation and the...
|
|
|
Production of cytokines in mice infected with bird schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti
Majer, Martin ; Macháček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Černý, Jan (referee)
The neuropathogenic trematode Trichobilharzia regenti (Schistosomatidae) infects the central nervous system of birds and mammals. During its migration through the spinal cord, the parasite causes tissue damage and triggers inflammation which is likely responsible for the elimination of the parasite. In this thesis, the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-17 were detected by immunohistochemistry in the affected spinal cord of C57BL/6J mice during the infection. Additionally, IL-4 and IL-6, participating in the regulation of the inflammation and tissue repair, respectively, were noticed. Astrocytes, microglia and other, yet unidentified cells, produced these cytokines. Furthermore, splenic T-lymphocytes were phenotyped by flow cytometry to characterize peripheral immune response. At the peak of nervous tissue inflammation, mixed (Th1/Th2) cellular immune response was observed. Taken together, this thesis extended the knowledge of cytokine immune response of mice infected with T. regenti and also confirmed that inflammation in the nervous tissue influences the polarization of peripheral immune response. Key words: cytokines, spleen, CNS, microglia, astrocytes, Trichobilharzia regenti, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry
|
|
|
Glial cells and their role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Vaňátko, Ondřej ; Anděrová, Miroslava (advisor) ; Černý, Jan (referee)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. It affects upper and lower motor neurons in the brain motor cortex, the brain stem and the spinal cord, causing their death, which results in denervation of voluntary muscles. Progressive muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the entire body gradually leads to worsening of the ability to move, speak, chew, swallow and eventually breath. Ultimately it results in affected individual's death due to respiratory muscle failure. Although first identified in 1869, no cure for ALS has been yet found. While early studies focused mainly on the research of motor neurons themselves, the attention has shifted towards glial cells in the past two decades. Glial cells are essential for proper neuron functioning and survival and it appears that they play a major role in ALS progression. The goal of this thesis is to review and summarize findings on the role of glial cells in ALS over the last years, focusing on four specific types of glial cells, namely astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes and NG2-glia. Key words: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, motor neuron, glia, astrocyte, microglia, oligodendrocyte, NG2-glia
|
|
|
The impact of opioids on the effect of cytostatic agents on the C6 and CCF-STTG1 astrocytoma cell lines
Honc, Ondřej ; Novotný, Jiří (advisor) ; Růžička, Jiří (referee)
Despite its numerous side effects, morphine and the opioids derived from this drug, belong among the only effective options for treatment of pain linked to oncological illness. The effect of opioids on the efficiency of cytostatics in vitro has been the subject of many papers but the results are often contradictory, which could be probably caused by the great variability of experimental models and approaches. Some recent studies indicate that the consequences of activation of opioid signaling in astrocytes display certain differences from other cell types. Glioblastoma multiforme, the tumor derived from astrocytes, belong among those with the worst prognosis, mostly for the frequent resistance to cytostatics. In this thesis we focused on the effect of morphine, methadone and DADLE on the efficiency of cytostatics of temozolomide, doxorubicin and vincristine on the cell lines C6 and CCF-STTG1 derived from glioblastomas. Also, we examined the effect of the above mentioned opioids on the level of oxidative cellular stress and using N-acetylcysteine, a ROS scavenger, we verified the role of oxidative stress in cellular systems activated by the effect of the mentioned opioids on the efficiency of cytostatics. We also assessed opioid receptors and the receptor TLR4 in the examined cell lines. The...
|
guest ::
