Iodine Intake Based on a Survey from a Cohort of Women at Their Third Trimester of Pregnancy from the Bosque County Chile

Adequate iodine nutrition is fundamental for all humans and is critical during pregnancy and lactation due to iodine forms part of the structure of thyroid hormones (THs) and it is required for THs function. Iodine is a scarce micronutrient that must be obtained from the diet. Sufficient iodine can be found in the nature from seafood and given it is not frequently consumed by Chileans, public health policies state that table salt in Chile must be iodized. Health plans must be monitored to determine if the intake of iodine is being appropriated and the population has not fallen in deficiency or excess. The aim of this work was to evaluate iodine intake in 26 women at the third trimester of pregnancy. Pregnant women are resident from El Bosque a low-income County located in Santiago de Chile. These Chilean pregnant women were recruited by nutritionist at the Centros de Salud familiar (CESFAM). A 24 h dietary recall (24 h-DR) was applied to them to evaluate iodine intake. Samples of urine and blood were taken by health professionals to analyze parameters of thyroid function and to measure urine iodine concentration (UIC). The survey analysis showed that the iodine consumption in these pregnant women derived mainly from salt, bread and milk and not from seafood. The survey analysis indicated that iodine intake was above the requirements for pregnant women. However, the average UIC indicated that iodine intake was adequate, suggesting the need to find a better parameter to determine iodine intake in pregnant women.

A method for characterizing the thermal stability and antimicrobial binding to Lipopolysaccharides of Gram-negative isogenic mutant strains

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) is widely employed to assess antimicrobial affinity for lipopolysaccharide (LPS); nevertheless, experiments are usually limited to commercially available-LPS chemotypes. Herein we show a method that uses Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to characterize homogeneity artificial vesicles of LPS (LPS-V) extracted from isogenic mutant bacterial strains before analyzing the antimicrobial binding by ITC. This method allows us to characterize the differences in the Polymyxin-B binding and gel to crystalline liquid (β↔α) phase profiles of LPS-V made of LPS extracted from Escherichia coli isogenic mutant strains for the LPS biosynthesis pathway, allowing us to obtain the comparable data required for new antimicrobial discovery. A method for:•Obtaining LPS vesicles from isogenic mutant bacterial strains.•Characterize artificial LPS vesicles homogeneity.•Characterize antimicrobial binding to LPS.

Lung pathology due to hRSV infection impairs blood-brain barrier permeability enabling astrocyte infection and a long-lasting inflammation in the CNS

The human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is the most common infectious agent that affects children before two years of age. hRSV outbreaks cause a significant increase in hospitalizations during the winter season associated with bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Recently, neurologic alterations have been associated with hRSV infection in children, which include seizures, central apnea, and encephalopathy. Also, hRSV RNA has been detected in cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) from patients with neurological symptoms after hRSV infection. Additionally, previous studies have shown that hRSV can be detected in the lungs and brains of mice exposed to the virus, yet the potential effects of hRSV infection within the central nervous system (CNS) remain unknown. Here, using a murine model for hRSV infection, we show a significant behavior alteration in these animals, up to two months after the virus exposure, as shown in marble-burying tests. hRSV infection also produced the expression of cytokines within the brain, such as IL-4, IL-10, and CCL2. We found that hRSV infection alters the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in mice, allowing the trespassing of macromolecules and leading to increased infiltration of immune cells into the CNS together with an increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain. Finally, we show that hRSV infects murine astrocytes both, in vitro and in vivo. We identified the presence of hRSV in the brain cortex where it colocalizes with vWF, MAP-2, Iba-1, and GFAP, which are considered markers for endothelial cells, neurons, microglia, and astrocyte, respectively. hRSV-infected murine astrocytes displayed increased production of nitric oxide (NO) and TNF-α. Our results suggest that hRSV infection alters the BBB permeability to macromolecules and immune cells and induces CNS inflammation, which can contribute to the behavioral alterations shown by infected mice. A better understanding of the neuropathy caused by hRSV could help to reduce the potential detrimental effects on the CNS in hRSV-infected patients.

The inflammatory response after an intestinal inflammatory challenge affects in an opposite manner to the female and male offspring gestated in hypothyroxinemia

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a highly frequent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which causes are unknown. We have shown that the offspring gestated under thyroxine (T4) deficiency, condition named hypothyroxinemia (HTX), shows inflammatory features at the intestine. Moreover, the offspring gestated under HTX (HTX-offspring) suffers strong experimental autoimmune disease. Suggesting that gestational HTX could imprint their offspring with a high immune response after an inflammatory challenge. Thus, we think that the HTX-offspring will be more prone to suffer IBD. To analyze this hypothesis C57BL6 pregnant mice were induced with gestational HTX during E10 to E15 by giving them methimazole in the tap-drinking water. Then, UC was induced to the HTX-offspring or control at postnatal P55 by giving them dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) in the tap-drinking water for six days. Body weight, pathological score of IBD and hidden blood in stool were analyzed daily. Then, mice were sacrificed at day 10 to evaluate their inflammatory response. For that histological analysis were performed in the intestine; the content of cytokines in serum and intestine by ELISA and the populations of innate and adaptive immune cells at the intestine and spleen by flow cytometry. Our results shown that the male and female offspring developed an opposite immune response to UC. The female HTX-offspring were more resistant and the male HTX-offspring were more sensitive to UC compared to their respective female and male control groups. Thus, our results suggest that the immune response of an individual can be set up during gestation and that the normal level of maternal T4 during gestation is fundamental for the proper function of the offspring immune system.

XTHs from Fragaria vesca: genomic structure and transcriptomic analysis in ripening fruit and other tissues

BACKGROUND

Fragaria vesca or 'woodland strawberry' has emerged as an attractive model for the study of ripening of non-climacteric fruit. It has several advantages, such as its small genome and its diploidy. The recent availability of the complete sequence of its genome opens the possibility for further analysis and its use as a reference species. Fruit softening is a physiological event and involves many biochemical changes that take place at the final stages of fruit development; among them, the remodeling of cell walls by the action of a set of enzymes. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolase (XTH) is a cell wall-associated enzyme, which is encoded by a multigene family. Its action modifies the structure of xyloglucans, a diverse group of polysaccharides that crosslink with cellulose microfibrills, affecting therefore the functional structure of the cell wall. The aim of this work is to identify the XTH-encoding genes present in F. vesca and to determine its transcription level in ripening fruit.

RESULTS

The search resulted in identification of 26 XTH-encoding genes named as FvXTHs. Genetic structure and phylogenetic analyses were performed allowing the classification of FvXTH genes into three phylogenetic groups: 17 in group I/II, 2 in group IIIA and 4 in group IIIB. Two sequences were included into the ancestral group. Through a comparative analysis, characteristic structural protein domains were found in FvXTH protein sequences. In complement, expression analyses of FvXTHs by qPCR were performed in fruit at different developmental and ripening stages, as well as, in other tissues. The results showed a diverse expression pattern of FvXTHs in several tissues, although most of them are highly expressed in roots. Their expression patterns are not related to their respective phylogenetic groups. In addition, most FvXTHs are expressed in ripe fruit, and interestingly, some of them (FvXTH 18 and 20, belonging to phylogenic group I/II, and FvXTH 25 and 26 to group IIIB) display an increasing expression pattern as the fruit ripens.

CONCLUSION

A discrete group of FvXTHs (18, 20, 25 and 26) increases their expression during softening of F. vesca fruit, and could take part in cell wall remodeling required for softening in collaboration with other cell wall degrading enzymes.

Maternal hypothyroxinemia impairs spatial learning and synaptic nature and function in the offspring

Neurological deficits in the offspring caused by human maternal hypothyroxinemia are thought to be irreversible. To understand the mechanism responsible for these neurological alterations, we induced maternal hypothyroxinemia in pregnant rats. Behavior and synapse function were evaluated in the offspring of thyroid hormone-deficient rats. Our data indicate that, when compared with controls, hypothyroxinemic mothers bear litters that, in adulthood, show prolonged latencies during the learning process in the water maze test. Impaired learning capacity caused by hypothyroxinemia was consistent with cellular and molecular alterations, including: 1) lack of increase of phosphorylated c-fos on the second day of the water maze test; 2) impaired induction of long-term potentiation in response to theta-burst stimulation to the Schaffer collateral pathway in the area 1 of the hippocampus Ammon's horn stratum radiatum, despite normal responses for input/output experiments; 3) increase of postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95), N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor subunit 1, and tyrosine receptor kinase B levels in brain extracts; and 4) significant increase of PSD-95 at the PSDs and failure of this molecule to colocalize with N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor subunit 1, as it was shown by control rats. Our findings suggest that maternal hypothyroxinemia is a harmful condition for the offspring that can affect key molecular components for synaptic function and spatial learning.