Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: Monocytes From Depressed Patients Display an Altered Pattern of Response to Endotoxin Challenge.
Monocytes from depressed patients display an altered pattern of response to endotoxin challenge.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS One. 2013; 8(1): e52585
Lisi L, Camardese G, Treglia M, Tringali G, Carrozza C, Janiri L, Dello Russo C, Navarra P
It is now well established that major depression is accompanied and characterized by altered responses of the immune-inflammatory system. In this study we investigated the pro-inflammatory activation of monocytes isolated from depressed patients as a parameter not influenced by such confounds as the time of day, the nutritional and exercise status or the age and gender of patients. Monocytes from depressed patients and from healthy controls were isolated in vitro; after 24-h incubation under basal conditions, cells were exposed for 24-h to 100 ng/ml of endotoxin (bacterial lipopolysaccharide, LPS). We found that monocytes from drug-free depressed patients and controls release the same amounts of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) under basal conditions, whereas monocytes from patients are dramatically less reactive to LPS (8.62-fold increase vs previous 24 hrs) compared to healthy controls (123.3-fold increase vs previous 24 hrs). Such blunted prostanoid production was paralleled by a reduction in COX-2 gene expression, whereas other pro-inflammatory mediators, namely interleukin-1? (IL-1 ?) and -6 (IL-6) showed a trend to increased gene expression. The above changes were not associated to increased levels of circulating glucocorticoids. After 8 months of antidepressive drug treatment, the increase in PGE2 production after the endotoxin challenge was partially restored, whereas the increase in IL-1 ? and -6 levels observed at baseline was completely abolished. In conclusion, our findings show that the reactivity of monocytes from depressed patients might be considered as a marker of the immune-inflammatory disorders associated to depression, although the lack of paired healthy controls at follow-up does not allow to conclude that monocyte reactivity to endotoxin is also a marker of treatment outcome.
HubMed – drug
Weed or wheel! FMRI, behavioural, and toxicological investigations of how cannabis smoking affects skills necessary for driving.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS One. 2013; 8(1): e52545
Battistella G, Fornari E, Thomas A, Mall JF, Chtioui H, Appenzeller M, Annoni JM, Favrat B, Maeder P, Giroud C
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug, however its effects on cognitive functions underling safe driving remain mostly unexplored. Our goal was to evaluate the impact of cannabis on the driving ability of occasional smokers, by investigating changes in the brain network involved in a tracking task. The subject characteristics, the percentage of ?(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol in the joint, and the inhaled dose were in accordance with real-life conditions. Thirty-one male volunteers were enrolled in this study that includes clinical and toxicological aspects together with functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and measurements of psychomotor skills. The fMRI paradigm was based on a visuo-motor tracking task, alternating active tracking blocks with passive tracking viewing and rest condition. We show that cannabis smoking, even at low ?(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol blood concentrations, decreases psychomotor skills and alters the activity of the brain networks involved in cognition. The relative decrease of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent response (BOLD) after cannabis smoking in the anterior insula, dorsomedial thalamus, and striatum compared to placebo smoking suggests an alteration of the network involved in saliency detection. In addition, the decrease of BOLD response in the right superior parietal cortex and in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex indicates the involvement of the Control Executive network known to operate once the saliencies are identified. Furthermore, cannabis increases activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, suggesting an increase in self-oriented mental activity. Subjects are more attracted by intrapersonal stimuli (“self”) and fail to attend to task performance, leading to an insufficient allocation of task-oriented resources and to sub-optimal performance. These effects correlate with the subjective feeling of confusion rather than with the blood level of ?(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol. These findings bolster the zero-tolerance policy adopted in several countries that prohibits the presence of any amount of drugs in blood while driving.
HubMed – drug
Isolation of Salmonella Mutants Resistant to the Inhibitory Effect of Salicylidene acylhydrazides on Flagella-Mediated Motility.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS One. 2013; 8(1): e52179
Martinez-Argudo I, Veenendaal AK, Liu X, Roehrich AD, Ronessen MC, Franzoni G, van Rietschoten KN, Morimoto YV, Saijo-Hamano Y, Avison MB, Studholme DJ, Namba K, Minamino T, Blocker AJ
Salicylidene acylhydrazides identified as inhibitors of virulence-mediating type III secretion systems (T3SSs) potentially target their inner membrane export apparatus. They also lead to inhibition of flagellar T3SS-mediated swimming motility in Salmonella enterica serovar. Typhimurium. We show that INP0404 and INP0405 act by reducing the number of flagella/cell. These molecules still inhibit motility of a Salmonella ?fliH-fliI-fliJ/flhB((P28T)) strain, which lacks three soluble components of the flagellar T3S apparatus, suggesting that they are not the target of this drug family. We implemented a genetic screen to search for the inhibitors’ molecular target(s) using motility assays in the ?fliH-fliI/flhB((P28T)) background. Both mutants identified were more motile than the background strain in the absence of the drugs, although HM18 was considerably more so. HM18 was more motile than its parent strain in the presence of both drugs while DI15 was only insensitive to INP0405. HM18 was hypermotile due to hyperflagellation, whereas DI15 was not hyperflagellated. HM18 was also resistant to a growth defect induced by high concentrations of the drugs. Whole-genome resequencing of HM18 indicated two alterations within protein coding regions, including one within atpB, which encodes the inner membrane a-subunit of the F(O)F(1)-ATP synthase. Reverse genetics indicated that the alteration in atpB was responsible for all of HM18’s phenotypes. Genome sequencing of DI15 uncovered a single A562P mutation within a gene encoding the flagellar inner membrane protein FlhA, the direct role of which in mediating drug insensitivity could not be confirmed. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of T3SS export apparatus function and drug target identification.
HubMed – drug
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