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Depression poses a significant threat to global physical and mental health, impacting around 3.8% of the population with a rising incidence. Current treatment options primarily involve medication and psychological support, yet their effectiveness remains limited, contributing to high relapse rates. There is an urgent need for innovative and more efficacious treatment modalities. Stem cell therapy, a promising avenue in regenerative medicine for a spectrum of neurodegenerative conditions, has recently garnered attention for its potential application in depression. While much of this work remains preclinical, it has demonstrated considerable promise. Identified mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of stem cell therapy encompass the stimulation of neurotrophic factors, immune function modulation, and augmented monoamine levels. Nonetheless, these pathways and other undiscovered mechanisms necessitate further investigation. Depression fundamentally manifests as a neurodegenerative disorder. Given stem cell therapy's success in addressing a range of neurodegenerative pathologies, it opens the door to explore its application in depression treatment. This exploration may include repairing damaged nerves directly or indirectly and inhibiting neurotoxicity. Nevertheless, significant challenges must be overcome before stem cell therapies can be applied clinically. Successful resolution of these issues will ultimately determine the feasibility of incorporating stem cell therapies into the clinical landscape. This narrative review provides insights into the progress of research, potential avenues for exploration, and the prevailing challenges in the implementation of stem cell therapy for treatment of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A facile reprecipitation-encapsulation method is used for the preparation of ratiometric fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) for sensing intracellular oxygen. The surface of the NPs is modified in-situ with poly-L-lysine, which renders good biocompatibility and enables easy internalization into living cells. The sensor NPs contain a red fluorescent probe whose fluorescence is sensitive to oxygen with a quenching response of 77 % on going from nitrogen saturation to oxygen saturation, and a reference dye giving a green signal that acts as an oxygen-independent reference. The ratio of the two emissions serves as the analytical information and is sensitive to dissolved oxygen in the 0-43 ppm concentration range. When incorporated into cells, the ratio of the signals increases by 400 % on going from oxygen-saturated to oxygen-free environment. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Arterial stiffening is associated with structural and biomechanical alterations in the aorta. However, there are still gaps in our understanding as to how the structure and properties of arteries across the vasculature are altered with high PWV.Objective: To determine whether altered ultrastructural and nanomechanical properties are exhibited in the internal mammary artery (IMA) in high PWV patients. Methods: Human IMA biopsies were obtained from patients with known carotid-femoral PWV. Patients were grouped as low PWV (8.5 ± 0.7 ms−1, n = 8) and high PWV (13.4 ± 3.0 ms−1, n = 9). With Peakforce QNM atomic force microscopy (AFM) the nanomechanical (elastic modulus) and morphological properties (collagen fibril diameter and D-Period) of the IMA were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the relationship of nanomechanical and structural data with proteomics data (small leucine rich proteoglycans, SLRPs) [1] and patient metadata. Results: PCA analysis shows that the nano-scale elastic modulus was one of the key variables which separated low and high PWV groups and was correlated with PWV. Furthermore, nano-scale alterations in adventitial collagen fibrils were evident. D-Period and collagen fibril diameter were found to be negatively correlated. Most SLRPs were closely grouped in the PCA analysis. Conclusions: Although the IMA is not involved in the carotid-femoral pathway, patients with high PWV exhibited distinct alterations in the IMA at the nano-scale relative to those with low PWV. Our approach provides new insight into systemic structure-property changes in the vasculature, and also provides a novel method for characterizing small biopsy samples for arterial stiffening studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]