NanoAOX—a Novel Nanoparticle and Antioxidant Mixture Enhances the Growth of Plants In Vitro and In Vivo
Varsha Jayasankar (L) and Dheiksha Jayasankar (R) and Jay Subramanian (Bottom)
Antioxidants (e.g., ascorbic acid) are molecules that inhibit oxidation reactions by scavenging free radicals, atoms that contain unpaired electrons that can lead to damage in cells. Although plants are rich in antioxidants that are used well by human, whether antioxidant can boost the growth of plants themselves was not understood well. For instance, ascorbic acid has been identified to increase plant height, leaves number, and plant weight in canola, among others. Nanoparticles are extremely small particles often used for precision delivery, especially with drugs. It is known that nanoparticles could enter sub cellular spaces without any cost to the cell, unlike other macromolecules. By extending this observation to plants, we raised the question -can nanoparticles deliver nutrients, precisely inside the plant cells allowing them to grow faster. In this paper we described how nanoparticle can get into sub cellular space and having a synergistic effect with ascorbic acid on plant growth and development. Using hydroponic and tissue culture methods, this study showed a novel cost-effective method to boost plant development. This paper is a result of the Science Fair project by Dheiksha Jayasankar during her grade 8 and 9, which was placed 4th at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair at Phoenix AZ, in May 2019. She was mentored by her sister Varsha and the work was conducted in J Subramanian’s laboratory at the University of Guelph, Vineland facilities.
D. Jayasankar, V. Jayasankar, and J. Subramanian. NanoAOX—a novel nanoparticle and antioxidant mixture enhances the growth of plants in vitro and in vivo. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-58, 407–415, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-021-10242-9
Inflammasome Involvement in CS-induced Damage in HaCaT Keratinocytes
Authors from L to R, Mascia Benedusi, Francesca Ferrara, Franco Cervellati, Roxane Prieux, Anna Guiotto, and Giuseppe Valacchi
Among the main sources of environmental pollutants, cigarette smoke (CS) is of important concern for its detrimental effects on human health, being considered as the world’s leading preventable cause of death. Despite policy-based interventions such as tax increases on tobacco, health care prevention campaigns, enforcing bans on advertising, cigarette consumption is still increasing in many countries and the epidemic is shifting towards the developing world. Further than its well-known correlation with pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, many evidences have also shown detrimental effects of CS on our first barrier again the outdoor stressors, the skin. Indeed, CS has been linked to various dermatological conditions and pathologies such as acne, psoriasis, eczema, premature skin aging but also melanoma. Upon exposure to CS there is an alteration of cutaneous redox homeostasis, an increase in inflammatory skin responses, but also the activation of a new multiprotein signaling pathway, the inflammasome, an important innate immune sensor in human keratinocytes. However, the role of CS in the activation of cutaneous inflammasome has still not been investigated. Starting from this evidence, in this paper we demonstrated that CS exposure induces the assembly and activation of the cutaneous inflammasome through a redox-dependent mechanism. With this knowledge, therapeutic solutions may be developed targeting the altered markers, hence counteracting the detrimental impact of cigarette smoke or other outdoor oxidative stressors on human skin homeostasis.
Roxane Prieux, Francesca Ferrara, Franco Cervellati, Anna Guiotto, Mascia Benedusi, and Giuseppe Valacchi. Inflammasome Involvement in CS-induced Damage in HaCaT Keratinocytes. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-58, 335–348, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-022-00658-x
Isolation and Cultivation of Primary Muscle Cells from Lobster (Homarus Gammarus)
Research on artificial meat production is receiving great attention as a promising field in future food technology. Most current research on the culture and isolation of primary muscle cells, the main target cells for artificial meat production, are based on mammalian species, while studies on marine-animal are still rudimentary. Lobster, belonging to crustaceans, is considered one of the most expensive and delicious seafood meat. To date, there are no available isolation and cultivation methods for primary lobster muscle cells. In this paper, we describe the isolation procedures for primary muscle cells not only from adult lobster but also from lobster larvae. Moreover, evidence of the existence of muscle stem cells was provided in the isolated cell fraction. We further optimized the cultivation parameters (coating materials, temperature, molt and juvenile hormone) for the proliferation of the isolated primary lobster muscle cells. Interestingly, distinctly different characteristics were found during the isolation procedure and final isolation yield between adult lobster and lobster larvae. We believe that our study can contribute to building the first step towards research on the artificial seafood meat and our methods can be applied to other crustacean culture systems.
Mi Jang, Jana Scheffold, and Per Bruheim. Isolation and Cultivation of Primary Muscle Cells from Lobster (Homarus gammarus). In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Animal 58, 446–451. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-022-00698-3
