An Assessment of the Impact of Zidovudine on Rat Teeth Ontogenesis with Quantitative Laser Induced Fluorescence and an Histomorphological Analysis

Abstract

Azidothymidine is a well-known HIV drug. It is used to treat the early stages of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Longterm administration of the drug prolongs the life of the infected patient, improves his comfort, and increases the number of lymphocytes. However, it causes severe side effects and is less effective in patients over time. The side effects that may occur as a result of this preparation include anaemia, bone marrow impairment with neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, as well as myopathies and skin lesions [2-4]. Longterm use results in AZT resistance, as well as in skin disorders and myopathies, expressed in the development of HIV mutants [5,6]. Until now there have been no significant reports on the impact of antiretroviral therapy on dental organ development. Only a few studies have commented on the impact of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors on the embryo/foetus in animals and humans [7,8]. This fact encouraged the authors of the following study to conduct research on antiretroviral therapy of pregnant females based on an animal model, with the aim of investigating the effects on their teeth and the dental organs of their new-borns. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of Zidovudine administered to rat mothers on their teeth and on the development of the dental organ during ontogenesis

Crystal Structure and Conformational Dynamics of Pyrococcus furiosus Prolyl Oligopeptidase

“…While crystal structures show that different domain angles can be achieved in different structures (Fig. S1), and both NMR spectros-copy 40,41 and MD simulations have been used to study conformational dynamics in individual POPs, none of the previous MD studies reported spontaneous domain opening or closing during simulations 16,35,[42][43][44][45] . The microsecond MD simulations conducted herein show, for the first time, spontaneous conversion between the open and closed conformations of POP molecules (Fig.…”