No abstract

1 Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal commonly found in industrial workplaces, a food contaminant and a major component of cigarette smoke. Cadmium can severely damage several organs, including the brain. In this work, we have studied both the cadmium toxicity on rat cortical neurons in culture and the possible protective eect of serum. 2 Our results indicate that: (1) cadmium is taken up by the neurons in a dose and serum dependent way; (2) cadmium, at concentrations from 1 mM or 10 mM (depending on the absence or the presence of serum) up to 100 mM, decreases the metabolic capacity, which was evaluated by the XTT (tetrazolium salt) test; (3) cadmium induces apoptosis and LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) release in a dose dependent way; (4) in a serum-free medium, the cadmium-induced apoptosis is accompanied by caspase-3 activation; (5) both the caspase-3 activation and the cadmium-induced apoptosis are reversed by N-acethyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aldehyde (Ac-DEVD-CHO), a selective caspase-3 inhibitor, indicating that the caspase-3 pathway is involved in cadmium-induced apoptosis in cortical neurons; and (6) the cadmium concentrations which produce caspase-3 activation do not modify the intracellular ATP levels; however, higher cadmium concentrations lead to both intracellular ATP depletion and ATP release, but do not increase the caspase-3 activity, indicating that cadmium also produces cellular death by necrosis. 3 These results suggest that cadmium induces either apoptosis or necrosis in rat cortical neurons, depending on the cadmium concentration.

IgE levels to rPen a 1 provided additional value to the diagnosis of shrimp allergy. Some allergens in mite extract are recognized by patients who are allergic to shrimp, though their clinical relevance remains unknown.

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that is expressed in neurons. However, in a group of neurodegenerative diseases named tauopathies – characterized by an increase in aggregated and/or hyperphosphorylated Tau – the protein accumulates inside other cells, such as astrocytes and microglia. Given that these glial cells do not produce Tau, its presence can be explained by internalization from the extracellular medium and consequent formation of Tau aggregates. Among internalization mechanisms, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) have been proposed to be responsible for fibrillary Tau uptake in various cell types. Here we studied whether monomeric Tau, which has been observed to be internalized by glial cells such as microglia, was also taken up by astrocytes. Although this Tau form was internalized from the extracellular medium by these cells, the mechanism of uptake was found to be independent of HSPGs.

Cup a 3 is a PR-5 protein derived from C. arizonica pollen. The expression of the protein under polluted conditions has a direct incidence on the pollen allergenicity, as has been demonstrated by skin tests and Radioallergosorbent test inhibition.