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The role of aquaporins in the Alzheimer's disease
Kubísková, Monika ; Turečková, Jana (advisor) ; Vlachová, Viktorie (referee)
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with complex pathophysiology affecting the central nervous system (CNS). In progress of the disease, various pathological changes occur in the brain, leading to neurodegeneration and subsequent impairment of physiological and cognitive functions. Although it is the most common cause of dementia in elderly, currently, there is no effective treatment for AD that that targets its underlying mechanisms. There are different theories as to which process is the key trigger for the development of AD. The generally accepted theory considers increased production of amyloid β (Aβ), its accumulation in the ECS and the formation of amyloid plaques as the main cause of the disease. However, recent studies show that the primary cause of amyloid plaque formation is not increased Aβ production, but rather its impaired clearance through the glymphatic system, the main component of which are aquaporin water channels, specifically aquaporin-4 (AQP4). The goal of this thesis is to provide an overview of the available knowledge on the involvement of aquaporins in AD pathophysiology, with a particular focus on AQP4 and its role in the glymphatic system. Key words: Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration, central nervous system, astrocytes, aquaporins,...
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Thermally gated TRP channels in nociceptive neurones
Chvojka, Štěpán ; Vlachová, Viktorie (advisor) ; Mrózková, Petra (referee)
Transduction ion channels are gated in response to a variety of external stimuli and this process is critical for the proper functioning of sensory neurons. These specialized proteins enable the survival of any organism, which depends on having adequate information about the external environment. The thermosensitive TRP (transient receptor potential) ion channels, whose molecular structure has been identified during last decades, enable the transduction of thermal stimuli in primary nociceptive neurons. During the last decade, molecular biological techniques have provided new tools for studying the structure of these specialized transduction ion channels in relation to their function and to understand more deeply their physiological roles. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to give an overview of recent evidence regarding the functional and physiological properties of sensory-neuron specific mammalian TRP ion channels that are activated by thermal stimuli: heat and cold.
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The role of nociceptive synaptic transmission modulation at the spinal cord level in different pain states
Adámek, Pavel ; Paleček, Jiří (advisor) ; Vaculín, Šimon (referee) ; Vlachová, Viktorie (referee)
Pain is a common symptom of many clinical syndromes and diseases. In particular, the treatment of neuropathic pain represents a serious public health issue because currently available analgesia is ineffective in many cases or it has adverse effects. Treatment of pain-related suffering requires knowledge of how pain signals are initially generated and subsequently transmitted by the nervous system. A nociceptive system plays a key role in this process of encoding and transmission of pain signals. Modulation of the nociceptive synaptic transmission in the spinal cord dorsal horn represents an important mechanism in the development and maintenance of different pathological pain states. This doctoral thesis has aimed to investigate and clarify some of the mechanisms involved in the modulation of the spinal nociceptive processing in different pain states. The main attention was paid to study the following issues: (I.) Which is the role of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid type 1 channels (TRPV1), Toll-Like Receptors 4 (TLR4), and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) in the development of neuropathic pain induced by paclitaxel (PAC) chemotherapy in acute in vitro, and subchronic in vivo murine model of PAC-induced peripheral neuropathy (PIPN)? (II.) How is affected spinal inhibitory synaptic control...
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Study of Structure-Function Relationship of Temperature-Gated TRP Channels
Benedikt, Jan ; Vlachová, Viktorie (advisor) ; Kršiak, Miloslav (referee) ; Blahoš, Jaroslav (referee)
Sensory physiology research was heavily influenced by molecular identification of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel family. Discovery of these unique family of membrane receptors allowed detailed study of their structure-function relationship. TRP channel expression in sensory neurons, but also apparently in keratinocytes provides living organisms with the ability to fast and accurately detect noxious thermal and chemical stimuli and to transmit this noxious signaling to higher nervous system structures. Despite recent efforts to elucidate molecular mechanisms of temperature or chemical activation of these non-selective cation channels, there is still no unifying hypothesis that is able to explain complex behaviour of these receptors. This dissertation aims to investigate three aspects of the TRP channel function: 1. Molecular characterization of acute desensitization of vanilloid receptor TRPV1 and investigation of the role of phosphorylation sites for calmodulin kinase II. 2. To characterize mechanisms of etanol-induced inhibition of menthol receptor TRPM8 and to find out possible physiological consequences of this inhibition. 3. To explore the role of inner pore region in activation gating of ankyrin receptor TRPA1 and identify amino acids involved in this process. Our findings contribute to...
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The role of charged residues in the activation and modulation of the TRPA1 ion channel
Zímová, Lucie ; Vlachová, Viktorie (advisor) ; Doležal, Vladimír (referee) ; Rokyta, Richard (referee)
Important receptor for sensing painful stimuli is ion channel TRPA1, which is expressed in peripheral endings of nociceptive neurons, where it serves as transducer of physical and chemical environmental signals to the language of the nervous system. The effort to understand the mechanisms of its activity on a molecular level is driven by the vision of progress in treatment of chronic pain in humans. Our work focused on C-terminal cytoplasmic domain of TRPA1 receptor, where we described i.a. the probable binding site for calcium, which is the most important TRPA1 modulator. Using the combination of homology modeling and molecular dynamic simulations with electrophysiological measurements we were able to explain molecular basis of familial pain syndrome caused by TRPA1 point mutation. We contributed to the understanding of the TRPA1 voltage-dependent activation mechanism by describing the amino acids in proximal C-terminus and in S4-S5 linker of transmembrane domain that are directly involved in voltage-dependent gating. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Cellular mechanisms of TRPA1 channel regulation
Barvíková, Kristýna ; Vlachová, Viktorie (advisor) ; Hudeček, Jiří (referee)
TRPA1 is a thermosensitive ion channel from the ankyrin subfamily of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) receptors. These proteins play essential roles in the transduction of wide variety of environmental and endogenous signals. TRPA1, which is abundantly expressed in primary nociceptive neurons, is an important transducer of various noxious and irritant stimuli and is also involved in the detection of temperature changes. Similarly to other TRP channels, TRPA1 is comprised of four subunits, each with six transmembrane segments (S1-S6), flanked by the cytoplasmic N- and C-terminal ends. In native tissues, TRPA1 is supposed to be regulated by multiple phosphorylation sites that underlie TRPA1 activity under physiological and various pathophysiological conditions. Using mutational approach, we predicted and explored the role of potential phosphorylation sites for protein kinase C in TRPA1 functioning. Our results identify candidate residues, at which phosho-mimicking mutations affected the channel's ability to respond to voltage and chemical stimuli, whereas the phospho-null mutations to alanine or glycine did not affect the channel activation. Particularly, we identify the serine 602 within the N-terminal ankyrin repeat domain 16, the substitution of which to aspartate completely abolished the TRPA1...
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