Sucrose-Responsive Intercommunicated Janus Nanoparticles Network

Inspired by biological systems, the development of artificial nanoscale materials that communicate over a short distance is still at its early stages. This work shows a new example of a cooperating system with intercommunicated devices at the nanoscale. The system is based on the new sucrose-responsive Janus gold-mesoporous silica (Janus Au-MS) nanoparticles network with two enzyme-powered nanodevices. These nanodevices involve two enzymatic processes based on invertase and glucose oxidase, which are anchored on the Au surfaces of different Janus Au-MS nanoparticles, and N-acetyl-L-cysteine and [Ru(bpy)3]2+ loaded as chemical messengers, respectively. Sucrose acts as the INPUT, triggering the sequential delivery of two different cargoes through the enzymatic control. Nanoscale communication using abiotic nanodevices is a developing potential research field and may prompt several applications in different disciplines, such as nanomedicine.

"N.A.M.E." FUN! Emojis may illustrate structure-function relationships of neurotransmitters to health professions students

This article provides a qualitative examination of student responses to an enjoyable online experience illustrating structure-function relationships of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the human nervous system via text messaging emojis (often employed during mobile phone messaging). The "N.A.M.E." (Neurotransmitters as Messaging Emojis) FUN! experience was presented to 218 undergraduate health professions students enrolled in a Human Physiology Course during Spring 2020 (N = 118) and Spring 2021 (N = 100) semesters as a learning tool, during a time in which students struggled with the concepts of neurotransmitter function. Additional goals for this fun experience design are to: 1) Engage health professions students in the topics of chemical messengers in the nervous system, 2) As a learning tool for students enrolled in the Human Physiology courses and a 3) Memorization online worksheet for select neurotransmitter function. Student participants were able to access the online neurotransmitter fun experience via mobile phone and/or laptops. Resulting analysis of the voluntary and anonymous survey highlight positive responses in both Spring 2020 and 2021 semesters, to the online "N.A.M.E." experience, and further the recommendation of student participants to include this online experience in future lecture assignments for the Human Physiology course. Here, we examine several data sets (tables), as we review student choices for matching emojis to neurotransmitter function and qualitative responses on the efficacy of this online match-up fun as a learning tool in Human Physiology for health professions course.

An impairment in brain function

ADHD is usually due to a depletion of certain chemical messengers in the front part of the brain. The major cause of this depletion relates to a number of defective genes. ADHD shares some of its causative genes with certain other conditions, so having ADHD makes also having these other conditions more likely. To help many children with learning and behavioural difficulties, we need to treat an impairment in their brain function. This chapter discusses impairment in brain function as a cause of ADHD, including executive function deficits, frontal lobe underactivity, neurotransmitter depletion, gene defects, and non-genetic factors. It also describes the mechanism of comorbidity.

Correlation of CoViD-19 Infection and Tumorigenesis

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (CoViD-19) has emerged to be the biggest global health issue globally and has now infected over 20 million people. The correlation between inflammation during viral infection and cancer is unknown. This review surveys soluble proteins produced during the severe viral infection and might influence tumorigenesis. Inflammation is a fast and primitive defense reaction to pathogens that limits tissue damage and stimulates repair mechanisms. It is initiated by local cells that detect pathogens or trauma and send chemical messengers such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α to other cells. Sometimes, the overexpression of chemical messengers can influence the whole body and change signaling pathways in vulnerable cells. This comprehensive review collected information about CoViD-19, cytokine release syndrome (CRS), coagulation system changes, cancer initiation, and cancer progression. There are concerns about future challenges in convalescent patients who had severe infection and cytokine storm.

Electrochemical Detection of Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are important chemical messengers in the nervous system that play a crucial role in physiological and physical health. Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters have been correlated with physical, psychotic, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, addiction, depression, and schizophrenia. Although multiple neurotechnological approaches have been reported in the literature, the detection and monitoring of neurotransmitters in the brain remains a challenge and continues to garner significant attention. Neurotechnology that provides high-throughput, as well as fast and specific quantification of target analytes in the brain, without negatively impacting the implanted region is highly desired for the monitoring of the complex intercommunication of neurotransmitters. Therefore, it is crucial to develop clinical assessment techniques that are sensitive and reliable to monitor and modulate these chemical messengers and screen diseases. This review focuses on summarizing the current electrochemical measurement techniques that are capable of sensing neurotransmitters with high temporal resolution in real time. Advanced neurotransmitter sensing platforms that integrate nanomaterials and biorecognition elements are explored.

Pheromone components affect motivation and induce persistent modulation of associative learning and memory in honey bees

Since their discovery in insects, pheromones are considered as ubiquitous and stereotyped chemical messengers acting in intraspecific animal communication. Here we studied the effect of pheromones in a different context as we investigated their capacity to induce persistent modulations of associative learning and memory. We used honey bees, Apis mellifera, and combined olfactory conditioning and pheromone preexposure with disruption of neural activity and two-photon imaging of olfactory brain circuits, to characterize the effect of pheromones on olfactory learning and memory. Geraniol, an attractive pheromone component, and 2-heptanone, an aversive pheromone, improved and impaired, respectively, olfactory learning and memory via a durable modulation of appetitive motivation, which left odor processing unaffected. Consistently, interfering with aminergic circuits mediating appetitive motivation rescued or diminished the cognitive effects induced by pheromone components. We thus show that these chemical messengers act as important modulators of motivational processes and influence thereby animal cognition.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of S-lipidated lipopeptides of a connexin 43 channel inhibitory peptide

Lipidated Peptide5 analogues are able to mediate hemichannel openings leading to inhibition of chemical messengers to the extracellular matrix.

Neurotransmitter and Behaviour

Neurotransmitters play a major role in everyday life and functioning. Everything known about human behaviour suggests it is regulated entirely by the human brain. Brain cells (neurons) communicate with one another (synaptic transmission) and with other cells in the body through small molecules called neurotransmitters (NT). NT are released by neurons and picked up by targeted cells through NT receptors (NTR). Increase or decrease in the production of any of these molecules due to any reason can produce profound effects on behaviour. Knowledge of the pathways involved in NT function has allowed development of drugs that modulate these pathways up or down. Scientists do not yet know exactly how many neurotransmitters exist, but more than 200 chemical messengers have been identified.