Lipofuscin

The chorioretinal junction comprises the retinal pigment epithelium, Bruch's membrane (BM), and adjacent choroidal capillaries. Its significance lies in its ability to support the retina mechanically and metabolically. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to record the senescent changes affecting all the constituents of the chorioretinal junction in 40 histological specimens across the whole spectrum of the adult age range. This study included light microscopy, with hematoxylin and eosin and PAS stains, and fluorescent microscopy...

Juvenile Batten disease (JBD) is an inherited disorder that is characterized by the development of blindness, seizures, and progressive motor, psychiatric, and cognitive impairment. A model of JBD expressing the predominant human mutation (Cln3 (∆ex7/8) ) has been explored. Dissociated brain cultures from Cln3 (∆ex7/8) knock-in mice were compared to wild type (WT) for effects on granules of ceroid lipofuscin (CL) and neuronal structure. Utilizing high content image analysis of CL granules identified with antibodies to mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit c or tripeptidyl peptidase-1, significant increases in the areas for both immunoreactive granules were observed in Cln3 (∆ex7/8) cultures in comparison to WT...

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy used to be elucidated by biomechanical, stretch-sensitive or neurohumoral mechanisms. However, a series of hints have indicated that hypertrophy process simulates senescence program. However, further evidence need to be pursued. To verify this hypothesis and examine whether cardiac senescence is a novel mechanism of hypertrophy induced by isoproterenol, 2-month-old male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to isoproterenol infusion (0.25mg/kg/day) for 7 days by subcutaneous injection)...

Increasing evidence suggests that overt oxidative stress within the retina plays an important role in the progression of age-related retinal decline, and in particular, in the disease age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Nuclear factor erythroid 2-like 2 (Nrf2) is a master transcription factor that upregulates numerous of antioxidant/detoxification genes. Nrf2(-/-) mice develop progressive retinal degeneration that includes the formation of drusen-like deposits, lipofuscin, and sub-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) deposition of inflammatory proteins...

Autofluorescent compounds present in intestinal tissue often hinder the ability to utilize multiple, spectrally different, fluorophores. In addition, fixatives and blocking solutions may contribute to background autofluorescence or nonspecific immunofluorescent labeling. During immunofluorescence protocol development, autofluorescent pigments were observed in frozen bovine mid-ileal intestinal tissue sections. Coagulant fixatives, normal serum blocking, histochemical stains Sudan Black B (SBB) and 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB), and spectral separation using imaging software were compared for their ability to reduce autofluorescence, as well as their effect on immunofluorescent labeling...

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are the environmental pollutants of growing concern. The aim of this study was to indicate the effects of typical PPCPs on the marsh frog Pelophylax ridibundus. We treated male frogs with waterborne ibuprofen (IBU, 250ng·L(-1)), triclosan (TCS, 500ng·L(-1)), or estrone (E1, 100ng·L(-1)) for 14days. Common vulnerability of the frogs was detected from dramatic decrease of Zn, total and metalated metallothionein (MT) concentrations, Zn/Cu ratio, the elevation of activity of glutathione-S-transferase, cathepsin D and DNA instability in the liver, the depletion of cholinesterase in the brain and cortisol in the blood plasma in all exposures...

Progranulin (GRN) and TMEM106B are associated with several common neurodegenerative disorders including frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). A TMEM106B variant modifies GRN-associated FTLD risk. However, their functional relationship in vivo and the mechanisms underlying the risk modification remain unclear. Here, using transcriptomic and proteomic analyses with Grn(-/-) and Tmem106b(-/-) mice, we show that, while multiple lysosomal enzymes are increased in Grn(-/-) brain at both transcriptional and protein levels, TMEM106B deficiency causes reduction in several lysosomal enzymes...

A comparative analysis of fluorescence lifetime of lipofuscin granule fluorophores contained in the retinal pigment epithelium cells from human cadaver eyes in normal state and in the case of visualized pathology was carried out. Measurements of fluorescence lifetimes of bis-retinoids and their photooxidation and photodegradation products were carried out using the method of counting time-correlated photons. Comparative analysis showed that, in the case of visualized pathology, the contribution of photooxidation and photodegradation products of bis-retinoids to the total fluorescence of the retinal pigment epithelium cell suspension increases in comparison with the norm...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: The ginseng berry has various bioactivities, including antidiabetic, anticancer, antiinflammatory, and antioxidative properties. Moreover, we have revealed that the active antiaging component of the ginseng berry, syringaresinol, has the ability to stimulate longevity via gene activation. Despite the many known beneficial effects of ginseng, its effects on skin aging are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of ginseng and the ginseng berry on one of the skin aging processes, melanogenesis, and age-related pigment lipofuscin accumulation, to elucidate the mechanism of action with respect to antiaging...

Imaging techniques based on retinal autofluorescence have found broad applications in ophthalmology because they are extremely sensitive and noninvasive. Conventional fundus autofluorescence measures fluorescence intensity of retinal fluorophores. It mainly derives its signal from lipofuscin at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium. Fundus autofluorescence, however, can not only be characterized by the spatial distribution of the fluorescence intensity or emission spectrum, but also by a characteristic fluorescence lifetime function...

Despite the increasing use of mussels in environmental monitoring and ecotoxicological studies, their genomes and gene functions have not been thoroughly explored. Several cDNA microarrays were recently proposed for Mytilus spp., but putatively identified partial transcripts have rendered the generation of robust transcriptional responses difficult in terms of pathway identification. We developed a new low density oligonucleotide microarray with 465 probes covering the same number of genes. Target genes were selected to cover most of the well-known biological processes in the stress response documented over the last decade in bivalve species at the cellular and tissue levels...

AIMS: Retinoic acid (RA) has a vital importance in order to ensure continuity and morphology in many tissues. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have significant roles in proliferation, the formation of cancers, and metastasis. In this study the effects of RA on MMP-2 production in cells of rat uterus were investigated. METHODS: Twenty-four adult Spraque Dawley rats were divided into two groups, the experimental group was treated with 40mg/kg/day 13-cis RA for 5days by gavage...

Progranulin deficiency due to heterozygous null mutations in the GRN gene is a common cause of familial frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), while homozygous loss-of-function GRN mutations cause neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL). Aged progranulin-knockout mice display highly exaggerated lipofuscinosis, microgliosis, and astrogliosis, as well as mild cell loss in specific brain regions. Progranulin is a secreted glycoprotein expressed in both neurons and microglia, but not astrocytes, in the brain. We generated conditional progranulin-knockout mice that lack progranulin in nestin-expressing cells (Nes-cKO mice), which include most neurons as well as astrocytes...

The histopathological features of cutaneous hyperpigmentation in Addison disease have very occasionally been reported, and they include acanthosis, hyperkeratosis, focal parakeratosis, spongiosis, superficial perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate, basal melanin hyperpigmentation, and superficial dermal melanophages. We present a study on 2 biopsies from the arm and the thigh in a 77-year-old woman with a long clinical history of Addison disease as well as senile purpura and alopecia of female pattern. The patient presented diffuse hyperpigmentation of the skin, more pronounced on her face, and left upper forehead...

Romanowsky-Giemsa (RG) stains were devised during the 19th century for identifying plasmodia parasites in blood smears. Later, RG stains became standard procedures for hematology and cytology. Numerous attempts have been made to apply RG staining to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections, with varied success. Most published work on this topic described RG staining methods in which sections were overstained, then subjected to acid differentiation; unfortunately, the differentiation step often caused inconsistent staining outcomes...

A variety of tissue biomolecules and intracellular structures are known to be autofluorescent. However, autofluorescent signals in brain tissues often confound analysis of the fluorescent markers used for immunohistochemistry. While investigating tissue and cellular pathologies induced by 3-nitropropionic acid, a mitochondrial toxin selective for striatal neurons, we encountered many autofluorescent signals confined to the lesion core. These structures were excited by blue (wavelength = 488 nm) and yellow-orange (555 nm), but not by red (639 nm) or violet (405 nm) lasers, indicating that this autofluorescence overlaps with the emission spectra of commonly used fluorophores...

The review considers various aspects of myocardium aging in normal and dilated cardiomyopathy (DC). There is a partial fibrosis of the heart tissue due to accumulation of collagen type 1, and accumulation of amyloid during normal aging. Men myocardial aging is accompanied by loss of cardiomyocytes and increased volume of the remaining cells, whereas in women this effect is absent. There is an expression of nuclear proteins decrease (lamin A and C), the accumulation of lipofuscin, increased content of reactive oxygen species, reduction of protein synthesis Sirt1 in cardiomyocytes with aging...

Purpose: Microaneurysms are present in healthy old-age human retinas. However, to date, no age-related pathogenic mechanism has been implicated in their formation. Here, cellular senescence, a hallmark of aging and several age-related diseases, has been analyzed in the old-age human retina and in the retina of a progeric mouse. Methods: Retinas were obtained from 17 nondiabetic donors and from mice deficient in Bmi1. Cellular senescence was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, senescent-associated β-galactosidase activity assay, Sudan black B staining, conventional transmission electron microscopy, and immunoelectronmicroscopy...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.