A simple and inexpensive method for investigating microbiological, enzymatic, or inorganic catalysis using standard histology and microbiology laboratory equipment: assembly, mass transfer properties, hydrodynamic conditions and evaluation

We introduce a generic, simple, and inexpensive method for performing microbiological, enzymatic, or inorganic catalysis with solids using standard histology and microbiology laboratory equipment. Histology cassettes were used to standardize hydrodynamic conditions and to protect the catalysts and their solid supports. Histology cassettes have the following advantages: they are readily available, inexpensive, solvent and acid resistant, automatable, and the slots in the cassette walls allow liquid to circulate freely. Standard Erlenmeyer flasks were used as reaction vessels. We developed a new camera to observe the movement and position of the histology cassettes as well as the liquid in the Erlenmeyer flasks. The camera produces a stable image of the rotating liquid in the Erlenmeyer flask. This visualization method revealed that in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask, stable operating conditions are achieved at a shaking frequency of 300 rpm and a fill volume of 30 ml. In vessels with vertical walls, such as beakers or laboratory bottles, the movement of the histology cassette is not reproducible. Mass transfer characterization using a biological model system and the chemical sulfite-oxidation method revealed that the histology cassette does not influence gas-liquid mass transfer.

Molecular and Functional Characterization of BDNF-Overexpressing Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells Established by Sleeping Beauty Transposon-Mediated Gene Transfer

More and more patients suffer from multifactorial neurodegenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, their pathological mechanisms are still poorly understood, which complicates the development of effective therapies. To improve treatment of multifactorial diseases, cell-based gene therapy can be used to increase the expression of therapeutic factors. To date, there is no approved therapy for dry AMD, including late-stage geographic atrophy. We present a treatment option for dry AMD that transfers the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene into retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells by electroporation using the plasmid-based Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system. ARPE-19 cells and primary human RPE cells were co-transfected with two plasmids encoding the SB100X transposase and the transposon carrying a BDNF transcription cassette. We demonstrated efficient expression and secretion of BDNF in both RPE cell types, which were further increased in ARPE-19 cell cultures exposed to hydrogen peroxide. BDNF-transfected cells exhibited lower apoptosis rates and stimulated neurite outgrowth in human SH-SY5Y cells. This study is an important step in the development of a cell-based BDNF gene therapy that could be applied as an advanced therapy medicinal product to treat dry AMD or other degenerative retinal diseases.

A linkage map of chromosome 6 based on 2 large kindreds segregating bipolar affective disorder

Twenty-eight markers, both simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), were genotyped on members of 2 large pedigrees (OOA, BIP167) segregating bipolar affective disorder. Using the multipoint program "build" of CRIMAP and odds of placement 1000:1, a unique sex-averaged map was generated that spans 227 cM and includes 26 markers. The two other markers were placed on the map with a lower likelihood. The female recombination map is larger than the male recombination map by about 80%. Linkage analysis between the polymorphisms and the disease in the OOA screening pedigree did not result in any significantly positive lod scores nor did a non-parametric, identity-by-descent, method generate any significant p-values. BIP167 was analyzed for allele sharing at the simple sequence repeat loci and significant associations were not found. At present we conclude, that the pedigrees under study do not have a major predisposition gene for bipolar affective disorder on chromosome 6 under the diagnostic and transmission models analyzed by the 2 different methods.

A follow-up report of a genome search for affective disorder predisposition loci in the Old Order Amish

Progress of a full-genome scan for predisposition loci for affective disorder in the Old Order Amish is reported. LOD-score results have been previously published for 51 loci on chromosomes 1 and 11, collectively. The present report contains results for an additional 367 loci throughout the genome with extensive coverage on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, and 21 (average marker density for these chromosomes = 10.7 cM). Analyses were conducted in a four-stage process: (1) two-point LOD scores were calculated for all loci under a dominant model with reduced penetrance, consistent with results of segregation analyses of these pedigrees; (2) a screen for the sharing of alleles in similarly affected individuals was used to highlight areas potentially important for further analysis; (3) the preceding areas and markers on densely covered chromosomes were analyzed using the affected-pedigree-member (APM) method; and (4) the sharing of extended haplotypes in affected individuals was examined in areas showing apparent clustering of significant allele sharing as assessed by the APM method. Of the 367 markers analyzed, no statistically significant LOD scores resulted. Some degree (P < .05) of allele sharing was found at 74 loci, and 3.8% of all markers analyzed (N = 14) passed more stringent significance criteria suggestive of linkage (P < or = .001 for at least one of the weighting functions). Multilocus APM and detailed exploration of extended haplotype sharing in areas highlighted by the APM analyses provided methods for more informative exploration of potentially suggestive results but did not identify areas clearly involved in the etiology of affective disorder in this population.