Human Brain Cells Mature in Mice Forebrain

I've been working on scrounging up some information for a debate that I will be doing in one of my classes this semester. The debate is about human cloning, and while researching this I happened to come across this article about the recent research of Human Brain cells that were developed in a laboratory and have shown to grow in the brains of mice. Researches transplanted these developed brain cells into the brains of mice, and believe that they have potential of treating people with Parkinson's disease, Epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease. These cells may also help with complications of spinal cord injuries. This Medial Ganglionic eminence (MGE) cell is a human nerve-cell progenitor. The Ganglionic eminence is a transitory brain structure thats found in the embryonic and fetal stages of neurodevelopment. The researches of this experiment said "development of these human MGE cells within the mouse brain mimics what occurs in human development".  This Medial Ganglionic eminence could contribute to the learning and memory disorders that are found in the brain.

 

We all have nerve circuits in our brains, and sometimes these nerve circuits become overactive which is why people have certain neurological disorders. Kriegstein, has seen that the MGE cells are useful in better controlling these overactive nerve circuits that are responsible for these disorders. Interneurons can help control the balance of activity of these nerve circuits, and based on this research most Medial Ganglionic eminence cells are restricted to producing these interneurons. Human embryonic stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells are two types of cells that have "virtually unlimited potential" to be any type of human cell. These researches took the differentiation of the human pluripotent stem cells derived from human skin, and generated MGE cells in the lab. These MGE cells were transplanted into the brains of mice that do not reject human tissue. When this was done these researchers found that these "MGE-like cells" had survived in the rodents forebrain. They eventually matured to become subtypes of these interneurons that help to control activity of nerve cells.

These findings by Kriegstein, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, John Rubenstein, Cory Nicholas, and Jiadong Chen have become incredibly helpful for the study of human diseases. Where these mature interneurons malfunction in the human body. Nicholas timed the delivery of the factors to determine the shapes of their developmental path, and also kept up with he progress along the way. Chen studied more about the interneurons throughout the research. He carefully looked at the physiological and firing properties, along with synapse formations between the neurons. 

As of now Kriegstein, Nicholas and some of the other researchers are trying to focus on transplanting these cells to certain places within the nervous system that show to be overactive and hope to see if these cells will help to functionally integrate the regulation of these overactive sites. This is done by the neuropathic pain and spasticity of mice, rather then through the spinal cords. These all make connections to Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's. Another part of their future research that I found to be incredibly amazing, was the fact that they would like to plan to develop MGE cells from induced pluripotent stem cells that are derived from skins cells of those who have autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. If they are able to do this they can possible find throughout the development of those interneurons what goes wrong, and why they become abnormal causing these types of disorders in people. Their only set back is the time it takes for an interneuron to develop. In mice these MGE-like cells developed between 7-9 months, which is why they are interested to speed this process up in humans. 

I think that this research has become a great start to other treatments for people with these kinds of disorders, and its amazing that their research is on the right path when testing it through these mice. I'm interested to hear about the rest of this research in the future if it goes where they plan for it to go. Gives lots of hope to those that live with these disorders, and also those that are around individuals that live with this. 

References:

Cory R. Nicholas, Jiadong Chen, Yunshuo Tang, Derek G. Southwell, Nadine Chalmers, Daniel Vogt, Christine M. Arnold, Ying-Jiun J. Chen, Edouard G. Stanley, Andrew G. Elefanty, Yoshiki Sasai, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, John L.R. Rubenstein, Arnold R. Kriegstein. Functional Maturation of hPSC-Derived Forebrain Interneurons Requires an Extended Timeline and Mimics Human Nerual Development. Cell Stem Cell, 2013; 12 (5): 573 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2013.04.005

LabMice_1686684c.jpg

176045_shutterstock_5993554_Hardwired_Neurons_000.jpg

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

Stress

Well it's about to be that time of the semester where everybody starts to become a little overwhelmed. Only 3 weeks of school left means lots of cramming in, and lots of study time. To me and many other college students it also means lots of STRESS!

(Photo)

Most of us already know the causes of stress. Bad family environments, overworking, frustration, exhaustion, etc. But what really causes stress in our bodies? Is it just an emotional feeling, or is there actually something going on with our organs, nerves, and even muscles in ourselves?

Stress activates the sympathetic branch of autonomous nervous system. Not only does it activate this nervous system but stress even has specific hormones, that are released. Epinephrine is a hormone, that many of us know as adrenaline. When we are stressed, and have feelings such as anger, or fear, this hormone is released and causes our heart rates to increase, our muscle strength, blood pressure, and even our sugar metabolism increase. For some instances this hormone is even used as a stimulant for cardiac arrest. The other hormone that gets released when we experience stress is called Cortisol. This hormone is secreted by the adrenal glands of our body, and helps with immune function, glucose metabolism (correlates with the epinephrine hormone), regulation of blood pressure, inflammatory response, and even the release of insulin to maintain a blood sugar level.

According to ScienceDaily, the sympathetic nervous output produce the Fight-or-Flight response. It allows our body to divert blood flow to large muscles in our body's as our bodies prepare to either fight off something, or run from something. The less blood flow to our digestive system, and even some of our other organs that don't necessarily run or fight, causes some different symptoms we may experience when feeling stressed. These symptoms include, dry mouth, motor agitation, sweating, enlarge pupils, and even insomnia.

If the stress is continued, activating the sympathetic nervous system, then the parasympathetic nervous system doesn't activate, which doesn't allow for good blood flow to other organs and muscles in the body. This also prevents good bowel movements, and the pupils will even constrict.

As far as preventing stress, there really is no medical management or exercises to do. In most cases for myself, and other college students that may be feeling some stress these next few weeks, it's better to just adapt to what needs to be done. Get yourself in the mindset now of studying constantly, not getting a ton of sleep (as bad as that sounds), just push yourself now, so that at the last minute things won't feel as if there piled on to you, causing the stress to increase. Stress is clearly bad on our bodies, but if we push through it now, once these few weeks are over we can all recuperate our bodies, and be back to normal. Stress-free, and having a great summer!

(Photo 2)

References

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(medicine)

Cervical Cancer DNA based testing

A long time ago before I was even born, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer. Unfortunately I was never able to meet her, as my mother was only 18 years old, and I wasn't even thought of then! I do wish more then anything that she could have been around for me to at least meet her but because of this terrible disease that many women have it was not possible.

According to CDC.org in 2009 approximately 12,357 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer. A Pap smear test is the most general way cervical cancer is tested in women. Now days they don't require women to have pap smears until their 21 years of age. This is something that I don't necessarily agree with. Some young women, like myself, have a family history of cervical cancer. This is why I feel that if you do have a family history of this, it shouldn't matter your age to have a pap smear.

These pap smear tests will show some abnormalities in the cervix of women, which gives warning to doctors that it may be the cause of cervical cancer, or HPV. There are many different types of abnormalities that can be found in a pap test. Some such as, atypical abnormal cells, can show a high risk of HPV in women. HPV can later lead to pre-cancerous cells of the cervix. Only further tests after an abnormal pap smear exam can determine the diagnosis of the abnormalities found. Having HPV which is incredibly common for sexually active women (as men are a carrier of this), makes women at a much higher risk for cervical cancer.

I recently came across an article that discussed DNA-based testing that can identify those that have higher risks of cervical cancer, rather then doing a "repeat pap smear". This is all based on a "Cochrane systematic review". When these abnormalities found in the pap tests are looked at under a microscope, doctors can determine whether they'll need treatment for this cervical cancer. Because the human papillomavirus is the main cause of cancer, this DNA based method, known as the Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) tests DNA from strains of the virus that are a higher risk of cervical cancer. This article has shown this method to be more accurate than doing more pap smear tests. This was proven by the authors who compared these methods with one another by reviewing 39 studies, involving 13,196 women total. The lead researcher, Marc Arbyn of the Unit of Cancer Epidemiology at the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels, Belgium stated, "Based on these findings, the HC2 test can be recommended as a way of triaging women with an ASCUS smear". Women that show to have the more mild abnormalities require more specific test that will "triage" women with the LSIL (mild abnormalities).

Having a DNA based test that is shown to be more accurate then doing a repeat pap smear test would be great for future women that receive abnormal pap smear results. I feel that it's a great resource for many women to use. Considering some pap smear results can come back abnormal due to many other reasons, its much harder to pin point the exact abnormalities. Usually, doctors have to do many other specific tests to determine a true diagnosis for the abnormalities. Based on the research done by these authors, a DNA based test would give a more accurate diagnostic. The DNA based test can target whether there are atypical abnormal cells, or even pre-cancerous cells. This could really save a lot of lives from young women. As I said before men are carriers for the HPV virus, and many sexually active women are exposed to that. Women could have this virus that later causes cervical cancer and not even know about it. In some cases women get the HPV virus, but their body's will get rid of it on their own. Other women don't have this luck, as my grandmother. I feel that regardless the age of women, if they are sexually active a pap smear test should be done. You shouldn't have to wait until you're 21 years of age.  

References:

Marc Arbyn, Jolien Roelens, Cindy Simoens, Frank Buntinx, Evangelos Paraskevaidis, Pierre PL Martin-Hirsch, Walter J Prendiville. Human papillomavirus testing versus repeat cytology for triage of minor cytological cervical lesions. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008054.pub2

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008054.pub2/abstract;jsessionid=0E39970AA84160FEC0EAA1B0BB8D54C3.d04t04
Pap smear testing
DNA photo
http://www.cdc.gov/hpv/

R.I.P to my grandmother <3

How life may have first emerged on Earth

I came across something that I think about constantly, and am still baffled at the thought. Our existence on earth, us humans, how exactly did we get on earth, what put us here? Some believe we evolved from apes, chimpanzees, etc.  but how did apes, chimpanzees and other such monkeys get on earth? Those that believe in certain religions feel that the gods, and higher powers put us on earth. Me, well I believe its all scientific, even though evolution is scientific I feel that theres a lot more to it, then just that of it being science.

Professor Michael Blaber and his team may have discovered something through his three year study, to better help us all understand where and how life began on earth. Him and his team came up with data that supported the hypothesis that 10 amino acids that may have existed on earth around 4 billion years ago were capable of forming foldable proteins in a high-salt environment. Halophiles are known as microorganisms that live and grow in high salt content environments. According to Think quest the saline (salt) content in a halophilic environment is 10 times that of the saline content in ocean water. These organisms use many alcohols, sugars, and amino acids to contain the salt content inside the cell. These halophiles were the beginning of life on earth, tiny microorganisms that can replicate.
What makes this article How life may have first emerged on earth so interesting is that it deals with a lot of information I'm studying about in my genetics class. Blaber stated "The current paradigm on the emergence of life is that RNA came first and in a high-temperature environment," but he does explain that based on the data of his study its much more in "favor" that proteins came first in a halophile environment. Due to the amino acids found in Blaber's study, he can prove that proteins came before RNA, because of the complex folding of proteins done by amino acids. He also believes that the origin of life did not start with a halophilic environment, better yet living organisms just adapted to it. Michael says  "Our study of the prebiotic amino acids and protein design and folding suggests the opposite."

The folding of proteins is incredibly important, because it allows for those proteins to link with other proteins, it allows folding to occur for essential structures that help organisms function. For example, DNA is made of proteins, if those proteins could not fold, or connect with other proteins than DNA wouldn't exist, and neither would living organisms. Proteins that are made of amino acids are crucial for humans to carry oxygen to our cells, our ability to move our muscles, and also our genetic make up (Importance of Proteins).

Comet and Meteorite fragments that were found in Russia's Ural Mountain region predate earth, and shows that the 10 prebiotic amino acids are in the formation of our solar system. When the earth passes through loose fields of debris from comets, and a ton of other fragments, meteor showers occur (Comet and Meteorite Fragments in Russia's Ural Mountains ). This would explain how these amino acids were shown to be in the formation of our solar system, and help Michael Blaber with his study about the existence of life on earth. 

Our bodies use approximately 20 amino acids, and 10 of those are the prebiotic amino acids that may be the reason for our existence on earth. The time frame of these amino acids (3.5-3.9 billion years ago), earths conditions, and atmosphere (salty oceans (halophilic), hot, steamy atmosphere without oxygen) at this time frame help to prove the emergence of life on earth.
Blaber and his lab use a technique called "top-down symmetric deconstruction"to see if these small spontaneous building blocks can be composed of ONLY the 10 prebiotic amino acids, and still fold. If Blaber can show this happens, then its very likely to believe that life on earth emerged from a halophilic environment, where many scientists will have to go back and redirect there study's to the proteins as a first view of life on earth.

How exactly did we emerge on earth? How did anything emerge on earth? These will still remain questions that hurt my brain from thinking so much, being so curious, and even confused about it. Michaels study seems to be on the right track and I couldn't be more interested in it. His team is very lucky to be a part of something like that, so big, so questionable, but also very much on the right track to a successfully proven hypothesis. 

REFERENCES:
http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0003986112002652-fx1.jpg
http://questgarden.com/76/45/9/090210180935/images/earth.jpg
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/07/tagishlake-article-2012-nasa-s_wide-3fbce255b99c784cd4d7659391138b442cee240f-s6-c10.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NknVO7Adu0w/ScI6tvhA8fI/AAAAAAAAGK8/RAfmQhpVVLw/s400/04_02.jpg
http://www.fsu.edu

Brain scans that may predict future criminal behavior

Earlier I happened to be checking out a few different articles on Science Daily's website, and noticed an interesting topic that caught my attention "Brain Scans might predict future criminal behavior". Before I became set on being an Immunologist, I was interested in Forensics criminology, which is probably why I found this article to be so interesting. 
The Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) is the frontal part of the cingulate cortex in the brain. The ACC has many different autonomic functions, it regulates blood pressure, heart rate, and also has a lot to do with decision making, and impulse control. 

The studied that was done here focused on the levels of ACC found in brain scans of inmates. They found that inmates who had pretty low levels of Anterior cingulate activity were TWICE as likely to re-offend than those inmates who had higher levels. The study looked at 96 adult male offenders aged 20-52, who had all volunteered for the study. The time period lasted for up to 4 years, so that they could later do brain scans on these inmates after they were released from prison. The Mind Research Network's Mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging System (MRI) was used in their study, and also for a numerous amount of mental tests that the inmates had to go through. The MRI is a technique that'll use radio waves, and magnetic fields to create very detailed images of tissues and organs in the body (MRI). Because the angular cingulate cortex of the brain deals with decision making, and impulses, MRI's that show people with damage to this part of the brain are more likely to become aggressive, and even be considered in the "Psychopathic personality genre". 

 This study is incredibly unique and great for the future of criminal behavior. There is clearly a link between the anterior cingulate cortex levels in the brain that go along with criminal behavior, and offenders. This can be used to help offenders whose brain is damaged in this area by therapy, and treatments that can reduce the risk of these offenders to reoffend. Although this may seem like a very good outcome to better predict criminal behavior, Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics still believes "Much more work needs to be done, but this line of research could help to make our criminal justice system more effective". If this method becomes affective in the future I believe that there will be quite a decrease in criminal behavior. Considering most of the crime done in the world is done by previous offenders. It's said that those who offend once, are very likely to offend again. This would make absolute sense when looking at it through the study of brain scans, and the ACC levels found in their MRI's. If there can be therapeutic rehabilitation that focuses on this part of the brain to increase the activity of the ACC levels than maybe these offenders won't reoffend. I really found this topic to be interesting, and could possibly make a huge change on the criminal behavior being done in the world.

REFERENCES:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/MRI_anterior_cingulate.png

http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/wp-content/blogs.dir/455/files/2012/04/i-3c9f6c2f2b93b55da67670c6b971f067-ACC.JPG

http://duke.edu

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/15/6223

http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2013/03/20/1219302110.DCSupplemental

Supercooling water

Earlier this week while I was gone on vacation in the Keys of Florida, I saw a video online that just baffled me. It had to do with supercooling water, something I've never even heard of before. The video was shown to me by a friend.

 A man claims he had a water bottle in his car unopened which he would have expected the water to freeze in the bottle, but it hadn't. He then says that he threw the bottle in the passenger seat, and it instantly started to freeze from top to bottom. You'll see in the video that he demonstrates this again, by leaving a water bottle outside all night, the water doesn't freeze, he then takes the bottle upside down and taps the top. From there you can visibly see ice form from top to bottom of the whole bottle, within seconds.

I then started doing a little research on what exactly would cause this to happen. After reading a few different articles online I figured out that this is something called "Supercooling". According to Science Daily this article states that "Supercooling, a state where liquids do not solidify even below their normal freezing point...". This supercooled liquid is stuck in a metastable state, even though its below its freezing point. Metastable state is an excited state of an atom, nucleus or other system that has a longer life time than the ordinary excited state. This metastable state can only be achieved in the liquids that do not contain seeds that are needed to start crystallization. These seeds needed to crystalize need some sort of nucleus to hang on to, that way the crystals can form. Which would cause the liquid to start to freeze instantly. According to an article on Squidoo.com liquids will not form to a solid if there are no seed crystals or nucleus around the liquid. Although, there is a maximum freezing point that will allow the liquid to freeze with or without seed crystals, and nucleus. This maximum temperature is -42 degrees Celsius. If I remember correctly as stated in the video the temperature outside was -20 degrees Celsius, which wouldn't be quite the maximum freezing point.

Some believe that because there may be some impurities in the water bottle, due to it being filtered water that helps with the supercooling. When the impurities are shaken (when the water bottle is flipped upside down) seed crystals are able to attach to those air bubbles, and/or small impurities. Once on seed crystal can attach to something it will start to crystalline, which then becomes a chain reaction. A crystalline structure is then formed, causing the liquid in the water bottle to freeze within seconds right in front of you. 

This video was incredibly unique and mind boggling. I highly recommend any of you science oriented people to take a look at this video. If you haven't heard of supercooling before it really makes you think, what could possibly cause something like this to happen? Why would the liquid freeze when being left outside at its freezing temperature? When researching more about this "supercooling" method, I found out that it's a very easy experiment to test on your own at home. I have yet to try it, but I absolutely plan to as it actually hurt my brain to think for so long about how this could happen. I hope that you all find the video as interesting as me, and possibly try the experiment on your own as well!

REFERENCES 

http://youtu.be/O47-QOWRTrk

http://www.esrf.eu

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7292/full/nature08986.html
signs-of-supercooling.700x700.jpg
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7292/full/4641137a.html

Hi guys. I'm very new to this whole blogging experience. This is just a test run blog post. Bare with me please, I'll be posting some things that interest me very much. I hope you all enjoy!
Thanks,
Jade