👤 Lamya'a M Dawud

The microbiome-gut-brain axis, by modulating bidirectional immune, metabolic, and neural signaling pathways in the host, has emerged as a target for the prevention and treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Oral administration of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG; ATCC 53103) exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, although the precise mechanisms by which LGG benefits host physiology and behavior are not known. The goal of this study was to explore the general effects of LGG on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome and a biological signature of anti-inflammatory signaling in the central nervous system (CNS) of undisturbed, adult male rats. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics were conducted using CSF samples collected after 21 days of oral treatment with live LGG (3.34 × 107 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL in the drinking water (resulting in an estimated delivery of ∼1.17 × 109 CFU/day/rat) or water vehicle. Gene enrichment analysis (using DAVID, v. 6.8) and protein-protein interactions (using STRING, v. 11) were used to explore physiological network changes in CSF. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) was performed to assess gene expression changes of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus. Genes associated with anti-inflammatory signaling that were analyzed included Il10, Tgfb1, Il4, and IL-4-responsive genes, Cd200, Cd200r1, and Mrc1 (Cd206). Oral LGG administration altered the abundance of CSF proteins, increasing the abundance of five proteins (cochlin, NPTXR, reelin, Sez6l, and VPS13C) and decreasing the abundance of two proteins (CPQ, IGFBP-7) in the CSF. Simultaneously, LGG increased the expression of Il10 mRNA, encoding the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 10, in the hippocampus. Oral LGG altered the abundance of CSF proteins associated with extracellular scaffolding, synaptic plasticity, and glutamatergic signaling. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that oral administration of LGG improves memory and cognition, and promotes a physiological resilience to neurodegenerative disease, by increasing glutamatergic signaling and promoting an anti-inflammatory environment in the brain. Show less

Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) gene plays a key role in the regulation of body weight and energy homeostasis. This study aims to evaluate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the MC4R gene with live body weight and hormonal assays in two breeds of sheep that differ in productive performance, Awassi and Arabi. All known coding sequences of the MC4R gene were covered in this study. DNA samples from 150 animals (Awassi and Arabi breed) were genotyped by PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) to assess their pattern of genetic variation. Concerning exon 1, clear heterogeneity was detected with three different SSCP-banding patterns. The sequencing reactions confirmed these variations by detecting the presence of the two novel SNPs, 107G/C and 138A/C, and three genotypes, GC, AC and AA. The 107G/C SNP was detected in GC genotype, while the 138A/C was detected on both GC and AC genotypes. The other SSCP-banding pattern (AA genotype) did not show any detectable unique variation. Both SNPs were closely and strongly linked in both breeds (D' and r Show less