Bioelectricity最新文献

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in lysosomal ion channels and transporters due to their critical role in maintaining lysosomal function and their involvement in a variety of diseases, particularly lysosomal storage diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent advancements in research techniques, including manual and automated patch clamp (APC) electrophysiology, solid-supported membrane-based electrophysiology (SSME), and fluorescence-based ion imaging, have further enhanced our ability to investigate lysosomal ion channels and transporters in both physiological and pathological conditions, spurring drug discovery efforts. Several pharmaceutical companies are now developing therapies aimed at modulating these channels and transporters to improve lysosomal function in disease. Small molecules targeting channels like transient receptor potential mucolipin (TRPML) 1 and TMEM175, as well as drugs modulating lysosomal pH, are currently in preclinical and clinical development. This review provides an overview of the role of lysosomal ion channels and transporters in health and disease, highlights the cutting-edge techniques used to study them, and discusses the therapeutic potential of targeting these channels and transporters in the treatment of various diseases. Furthermore, in addition to summarizing recent discoveries, we contribute novel functional data on cystinosin, TRPML1, and two-pore channel 2 (TPC2), utilizing both SSME and APC approaches.

The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis under the National Cancer Institute (NCI), supports research in diverse areas of cancer therapeutics such as microbial therapies, herbal remedies, and mind-body practices. Recently they have become especially interested in the emerging role of bioelectricity in cancer biology and organized a virtual meeting with some of the top scientists in the field. In this report, we overview this first-of-its-kind Naional Institute of Health (NIH)-sponsored meeting, which featured talks from 14 researchers exploring the role of bioelectricity in cancer biology. The talks covered a wide range of topics, including excellent background information on how cell collectives change their bioelectrical coupling and set points during cancer formation, new tools for reading and writing bioelectrical signatures in cells and whole organisms, how ion channels that are involved in setting those signatures affect canonical pathways in development and tumor growth, and the methods for modeling bioelectrical interactions and information transfer in cell collectives. Especially exciting were the translational technologies that were highlighted, including new diagnostics, metastasis inhibition therapies, and more efficient detection of surgical margins. The meeting concluded with funding opportunities available from the NCI Division of Cancer Biology, Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies Program, and the Small Business Innovation Research Development Center.

The 33^rd Ion Channels Meeting has been held in Sète, France, from September 8^th to 11^th. The congress gathered together senior and junior researchers from almost all over the world working on different fields of biology and pathophysiology. The colloquium opened with the plenary lecture on the action mechanisms of α2δ proteins in the trafficking of calcium channels and how these proteins can modulate the channels functional properties, given by Prof. Annette Dolphin. The five symposia of this edition were focused not only on several techniques for studying ion channels and their environment but also on ion channels and their involvement in cancer. Two symposia have been totally dedicated to genetic channelopathies, and the last one was devoted to glutamate receptors. All the presentations of the symposia are reported and summarized in this report meeting article.

The ever-increasing annual consumption of electrical energy for daily activities will unavoidably harm the financial well-being of individuals. Nonetheless, the availability of fuel sources that generate electrical energy including fossil fuels, oil, and coal remains decreasing, which results in becoming scarcer than ever. Conversely, fruits are one of the strategies that shed light on renewable energy source alternatives, considering the increasing studies of developments of fruits as energy sources in the few past decades. In this study, we review the extensive body of literature on prospective and potential components of fruits that can produce renewable electrical energy sources. It focuses on a fundamental for a comprehensive understanding of types of fruits, the synthesis process, and the mechanisms governing that fruits can generate electrical energy sources. Furthermore, this study outlines the challenges, plausible solutions, and prospects of the potential fruits that are sources of renewable energy for simple electricity production.

The following is a brief report of the inaugural Worldwide Sodium Channels Conference, held in Grindelwald, Switzerland, in January 2024. This excellent in-person conference followed the highly successful online Worldwide Sodium Channel Seminars series which started following the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021. We present here our highlights of the 45 presentations delivered over the two-and-a-half-day conference, focusing on key outputs from each of the eight sessions.

Objective: To determine whether adjuvant transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) inhibition with pirfenidone (PFD) can mitigate ureteral wall scarring and related complications in a rat model of upper urinary tract ablation with irreversible electroporation (IRE).

Methods: Transmural ablation of the ureter was performed with IRE in 24 rats. Post-IRE, animals were randomly assigned to receive PFD or no drug, followed by euthanasia at 2-, 5-, or 10-days. The complete urinary tract was extracted, and the dimensions of kidney and ureter were measured. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify collagen deposition, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) (myofibroblasts in ureter and kidney) and TGF-β (ureter only).

Results: Enlargement of the kidney and ureteral dilatation were apparent during gross necropsy of rats from both cohorts. The changes in anatomical measurements were significantly reduced in rats receiving PFD at Day 5 and 10 (p = 0.02 and 0.04, respectively). Collagen levels in the ureters gradually increased in rats from both cohorts at Day 2 and 5, but started to reduce by Day 10 in rats receiving PFD when compared with no treatment (p = 0.04). Myofibroblast levels and TGF-β staining in the ureters was lower in rats receiving PFD on Day 5 and 10, respectively (p < 0.01). Collagen levels and myofibroblast staining of the kidneys from rats receiving PFD was significantly lower than control on Days 5 and 10.

Conclusion: Adjuvant PFD can reduce myofibroblast activity and ureteral fibrosis at the site of IRE ablation, enabling safe soft tissue ablation adjacent or involving the upper urinary tract.