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Efforts are intensifying to identify new biofuel sources in response to the pressing need to mitigate environmental pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, which are key contributors to global warming and various worldwide calamities. Algae and microalgae present themselves as excellent alternatives for solid-gaseous fuel production, given their renewable nature and non-polluting characteristics. However, making biomass production from these organisms economically feasible remains a challenge. This article collates various studies on the use of lignocellulosic waste, transforming it from environmental waste to valuable organic supplements for algae and microalgae cultivation. The focus is on enhancing biomass production and the metabolites derived from these biomasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a rare neurodegenerative disease caused by an abnormal polyglutamine expansion within the ataxin-3 protein (ATXN3). This leads to neurodegeneration of specific brain and spinal cord regions, resulting in a progressive loss of motor function. Despite neuronal death, non-neuronal cells, including astrocytes, are also involved in SCA3 pathogenesis. Astrogliosis is a common pathological feature in SCA3 patients and animal models of the disease. However, the contribution of astrocytes to SCA3 is not clearly defined. Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 2 (IP3R2) is the predominant IP3R in mediating astrocyte somatic calcium signals, and genetically ablation of IP3R2 has been widely used to study astrocyte function. Here, we aimed to investigate the relevance of IP3R2 in the onset and progression of SCA3. For this, we tested whether IP3R2 depletion and the consecutive suppression of global astrocytic calcium signalling would lead to marked changes in the behavioral phenotype of a SCA3 mouse model, the CMVMJD135 transgenic line. This was achieved by crossing IP3R2 null mice with the CMVMJD135 mouse model and performing a longitudinal behavioral characterization of these mice using well-established motor-related function tests. Our results demonstrate that IP3R2 deletion in astrocytes does not modify SCA3 progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug repurposing and drug combination are two strategies that have been widely used to overcome the traditional development of new anticancer drugs. Several FDA-approved drugs for other indications have been tested and have demonstrated beneficial anticancer effects. In this connection, our research group recently reported that Tacrine, used to treat Alzheimer's Disease, inhibits the growth of breast cancer MCF-7 cells both alone and in combination with a reference drug. In this view, we have now coupled Tacrine with the model amphipathic cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) MAP, to ascertain whether coupling of the CPP might enhance the drug's antiproliferative properties. To this end, we synthesized MAP through solid-phase peptide synthesis, coupled it with Tacrine, and made a comparative evaluation of the parent drug, peptide, and the conjugate regarding their permeability across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), ability to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in vitro, and antiproliferative activity on cancer cells. Both MAP and its Tacrine conjugate were highly toxic to MCF-7 and SH-SY5Y cells. In turn, BBB-permeability studies were inconclusive, and conjugation to the CPP led to a considerable loss of Tacrine function as an AChE inhibitor. Nonetheless, this work reinforces the potential of repurposing Tacrine for cancer and enhances the antiproliferative activity of this drug through its conjugation to a CPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]