Project description:Cerebral palsy is primarily an upper motor neuron disease that results in a spectrum of progressive movement disorders. Secondary to the neurological lesion, muscles from patients with cerebral palsy are often spastic and form debilitating contractures that limit range of motion and joint function. With no genetic component, the pathology of skeletal muscle in cerebral palsy is a response to aberrant neurological input in ways that are not fully understood. This study was designed to gain further understanding of the skeletal muscle response to cerebral palsy using microarrays and correlating the transcriptional data with functional measures. Hamstring biopsies from gracilis and semitendinosus muscles were obtained from a cohort of patients with cerebral palsy (n=10) and typically developing patients (n=10) undergoing surgery. Affymetrix HG-U133A 2.0 chips (n=40) were used and expression data was verified for 6 transcripts using quantitative real-time PCR, as well as for two genes not on the microarray. Chips were clustered based on their expression and those from patients with cerebral palsy clustered separately. Significant genes were determined conservatively based on the overlap of three summarization algorithms (n=1,398). Significantly altered genes were analyzed for over-representation among gene ontologies, transcription factors, pathways, microRNA and muscle specific networks. These results centered on an increase in extracellular matrix expression in cerebral palsy as well as a decrease in metabolism and ubiquitin ligase activity. The increase in extracellular matrix products was correlated with mechanical measures demonstrating the importance in disability. These data lay a framework for further studies and novel therapies. Skeletal muscle biopsies from both the gracilis and semitendinosus were obtained during surgery for 20 pediatric subjects for affymetrix microarray analysis. We obtained a group of 10 patients undergoing medial hamstring lengthening in the cerebral palsy group and 10 patients undergoing ACL reconstruction with hamstring autograft in the control group. This provided 40 microarrays in 4 groups to analyze the effect of cerebral palsy and also differences between muscles.
Project description:Cerebral palsy is primarily an upper motor neuron disease that results in a spectrum of progressive movement disorders. Secondary to the neurological lesion, muscles from patients with cerebral palsy are often spastic and form debilitating contractures that limit range of motion and joint function. With no genetic component, the pathology of skeletal muscle in cerebral palsy is a response to aberrant neurological input in ways that are not fully understood. This study was designed to gain further understanding of the skeletal muscle response to cerebral palsy using microarrays and correlating the transcriptional data with functional measures. Hamstring biopsies from gracilis and semitendinosus muscles were obtained from a cohort of patients with cerebral palsy (n=10) and typically developing patients (n=10) undergoing surgery. Affymetrix HG-U133A 2.0 chips (n=40) were used and expression data was verified for 6 transcripts using quantitative real-time PCR, as well as for two genes not on the microarray. Chips were clustered based on their expression and those from patients with cerebral palsy clustered separately. Significant genes were determined conservatively based on the overlap of three summarization algorithms (n=1,398). Significantly altered genes were analyzed for over-representation among gene ontologies, transcription factors, pathways, microRNA and muscle specific networks. These results centered on an increase in extracellular matrix expression in cerebral palsy as well as a decrease in metabolism and ubiquitin ligase activity. The increase in extracellular matrix products was correlated with mechanical measures demonstrating the importance in disability. These data lay a framework for further studies and novel therapies.
Project description:Cerebral palsy is caused be an upper motor neuron lesion which casues spasticity as well as secondary effects on muscle . Muscle from cerebral palsy patients is has been shown to be smaller, with more ECM and longer sarcomere lengths; We used microarrays to globally investigate the transcriptional adaptations of cerebral palsy muscle and research which muscle pathways are altered in the diseased state Experiment Overall Design: Muscle biopsies were taken from children undergoing surgery which exposed wrist muscle extensors (n=8) and flexors (n=8) in both cerebral palsy patients (n=6) and control patients (n=2) for RNA extraction and hybridization to Affymetrix GeneChips . Cerebral palsy patients were classified by a number of clinical scores.
Project description:Cerebral palsy is caused be an upper motor neuron lesion which casues spasticity as well as secondary effects on muscle . Muscle from cerebral palsy patients is has been shown to be smaller, with more ECM and longer sarcomere lengths We used microarrays to globally investigate the transcriptional adaptations of cerebral palsy muscle and research which muscle pathways are altered in the diseased state Keywords: Disease state analysis
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of human mesenchymal stem cells comparing normoxic MSCs cells with hypoxic MSCs cells. Hypoxia may inhibit senescence of MSCs during expansion. Goal was to determine the effects of hypoxia on global MSCs gene expression.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.