An involvement of the central serotonergic system has constantly been reported in the pathogenesis of suicide. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is the main source of serotonergic innervation of forebrain limbic structures disturbed in suicidal behaviour, in which an abnormal microglia reaction seems to play a role. In our present study, the density of microglia immunostained for the HLA-DR antigen was evaluated in the DRN. These analyses were carried out on paraffin-embedded brains from 24 suicidal and 21 non-suicidal patients; among them, 27 depressed (15 major depressive disorder and 12 bipolar disorder) and 18 schizophrenia (9 residual and 9 paranoid) patients and 22 matched controls without mental disorders. Only the non-suicidal depressed subgroup revealed significantly lower microglial reaction, i.e., a decreased density of HLA-DR positive microglia versus both depressed suicide victims and controls. The effect was not related to antidepressant or antipsychotic medication, as the former correlated positively with microglial density in non-suicidal depressed patients, and the latter had no effect. Moreover, the comparison of these results with previously published data from our workgroup in the same cohort (Krzyżanowska et al. in Psychiatry Res 241:43–46, 4) suggested a positive impact of microglia on ribosomal DNA transcription in DRN neurons in the non-suicidal depressed subgroup, but not in depressed suicidal cases. Therefore, the interaction between microglia and neurons in the DRN may be potentially involved in opposite ways regarding suicide facilitation and prevention in the tested subgroups of depressed patients.

Introduction Transplantation of the keratinocytes, fibroblasts, bone marrow, and adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stem cells may improve chronic wound healing by delivery of different cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, which play an essential role in wound healing. The purposes of this review were to check which cell lines are potentially beneficial in enhancement of wound healing and to describe the safety and efficacy of cell therapies in the clinical treatment of chronic wounds, as well as to summarize the pertinent literature and research progress in this field. Methods PubMed search engine and ClinicalTrials.gov were used to analyze the available data on cell therapies applied in treatment of chronic wound. The analysis included 51 articles, assessing the use of keratinocytes (10), fibroblasts (7), keratinocytes and fibroblasts (10), bone marrow–derived cells (20), and adipose tissue cells (4). Studies on the cell-based products that are currently available on the market (Dermagraft, EpiDex, Apligraf, and HP802-247) were also included, with majority of reports found on fibroblasts and keratinocytes studies. Results Cell-based therapies have a great potential to improve wound healing without major surgical procedures and donor-site morbidity. There is, however, a lack of guidelines on how the age of the patients, the general health conditions, and the coexistence of different diseases may affect the success of these therapies. Further studies are needed to determine the fate of transplanted cells and the number of cells required to obtain optimal effects and outcomes. Conclusions Despite many promising clinical trials on application of various stem cell–based therapies for treatment of chronic wounds, there is still a need for multicenter comparative studies assessing the dose response and the cell source response on the efficacy of chronic wound healing.

Prefrontal cortical regions, which are crucial for the regulation of emotionally influenced behaviour, play most probably a dominant role in the pathogenesis of suicide. The study was carried out on paraffin-embedded brain tissue blocks containing specimens from the anterior cingulate cortex (dorsal and ventral parts), the orbitofrontal cortex, and the dorsolateral cortex obtained from 23 suicide completers (predominantly violent) with unknown psychiatric diagnosis and 25 non-suicidal controls. The transcriptional activity of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) as a surrogate marker of protein biosynthesis was evaluated separately in layers III and V pyramidal neurons in regions of interest (ROIs) mentioned above by the AgNOR silver staining method bilaterally. The overall statistical analysis revealed a decrease of AgNOR area suggestive of attenuated rDNA activity in suicide victims versus controls, particularly in male subjects. Further ROI-specific post-hoc analyses revealed decreases of the median AgNOR area in suicides compared to non-suicides in all 16 ROIs. However, this effect was only significant in the layer V pyramidal neurons of the right ventral anterior cingulate cortex. Our findings suggest that decreased rDNA transcription in prefrontal pyramidal neurons plays possibly an important role in suicide pathogenesis.

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Effective wound management is an important determinant of the survival and prognosis of patients with severe burns. Thus, novel techniques for timely and full closure of full-thickness burn wounds are urgently needed. The purpose of this review is to present the current state of knowledge on the local treatment of burn wounds (distinguishing radiation injury from other types of burns) with the application of cellular therapies conducted in clinical studies. PubMed search engine and ClinicalTrials.gov were used to analyze the available data. The analysis covered 49 articles, assessing the use of keratinocytes (30), keratinocytes and fibroblasts (6), fibroblasts (2), bone marrow-derived cells (8), and adipose tissue cells (3). Studies on the cell-based products that are commercially available (Epicel®, Keraheal™, ReCell®, JACE, Biobrane®) were also included, with the majority of reports found on autologous and allogeneic keratinocytes. Promising data demonstrate the effectiveness of various cell-based therapies; however, there are still scientific and technical issues that need to be solved before cell therapies become standard of care. Further evidence is required to demonstrate the clinical efficacy and safety of cell-based therapies in burns. In particular, comparative studies with long-term follow-up are critical.