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El presente artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el impacto que tiene el liderazgo en la cultura organizacional de las empresas familiares de Ecuador. El estudio se caracteriza como una investigación cuantitativa, con un tipo hipotético deductiva, con diseño transversal, de carácter descriptivo – correlacional. La muestra de estudio estuvo constituida por 382 empresas familiares. La obtención de datos se ha hecho a través de un instrumento de medición con 35 items en escala de Likert, mismo que fue validado con el alfa de Cronbach con un valor de 0,976 y mediante el estadístico Rho de Sperman se pudieron validara las hipótesis, obteniendo los siguientes resultados: El liderazgo impacta en la cultura organizacional con una correlación p “Rho” de Spearman de 0,920. La influencia idealizada impacta en la cultura organizacional con un coeficiente p (Rho) Spearman de 0,870. La motivación inspiracional impacta en la cultura organizacional con un coeficiente p (Rho) Spearman de 0,960. La estimulación intelectual impacta en la cultura organizacional con un coeficiente p (Rho) Spearman de 0,958. La consideración individualizada impacta en la cultura organizacional de las empresas familiares de Ecuador con un coeficiente p (Rho) Spearman de 0,847.

Para entender el comportamiento de consumo, sobre todo de distintos segmentos poblacionales, se debe profundizar en sus necesidades, hábitos, deseos, emociones, aspiraciones, motivaciones, experiencias, entre otros elementos propios de cada individuo o grupo etario. El ser humano por naturaleza es influenciable (sigue modas y tendencias culturales), más aun en una era de convivencia digital, acelerada por la pandemia del Covid-19, obligando a instituciones públicas y privadas a re direccionar sus planes estratégicos, en pro de no sacrificar participación en el mercado, acogiendo a la tecnología como su mejor activo funcional, mejorando la sistematización (hardware y software), con herramientas y medios de masificación colectiva para no perder el contacto con los clientes, sobre todo es fases de confinamiento, en una inclusión mutua. Se tomó como objeto de estudio al Ecuador, un país como cualquier otro en tiempos de crisis sanitaria, con necesidades de toda índole, pero con amplios esfuerzos para superarlas. Los hallazgos permitieron conocer cuál es la conducta del consumidor generacional, su grado de adaptación tecnológica y los principales medios de contacto utilizados (redes sociales). El objetivo planteado fue “determinar de qué manera la tecnología influye en el comportamiento de consumo de los distintos grupos etarios de Ecuador”. Aplicando el método deductivo indirecto, sustentado en varias tipologías investigativas, con un instrumento en escala de Likert y el programa IBM SPSS Statistics – 25, se realizó la comprobación de las hipótesis, por medio de coeficiente p (Rho) de Spearman, el cual desplego un grado de correlación alto (0,624) en el supuesto general.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a pin‐to‐plate cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on U‐251 MG three‐dimensional (3D) glioblastoma spheroids under different conditions. 3D tumorspheres showed higher resistance to the CAP treatment compared to 2D monolayer cells. A single CAP treatment was able to induce cytotoxicity, while multiple CAP treatments augmented this effect. CAP was also able to induce cytotoxicity throughout the tumoursphere, and we identified that reactive oxygen species(ROS) plays a major role, while H2O2plays a partial role in CAP‐induced cytotoxicity in tumour-spheres. We conclude that ROS‐dependent cytotoxicity is induced uniformly throughout glioblastoma and epidermoid tumourspheres by direct CAP treatment.

Background Neuroinflammation contributes to neuronal degeneration in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, how brain inflammatory factors mediate the progression of neurodegeneration is still poorly understood. Experimental models of PD have shed light on the understanding of this phenomenon, but the exploration of inflammation-driven models is necessary to better characterize this aspect of the disorder. The use of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce a neuroinflammation-mediated neuronal loss is useful to induce reliable elimination of dopaminergic neurons. Nevertheless, how this model parallels the PD-like neuroinflammation is uncertain.Methods In the present work, we used the direct LPS stereotactic injection as a model inductor to eliminate dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) in rats and reevaluated the microanatomy of inflammatory reaction three and seven days after the insult. For this, we analyzed the tissue with high resolution confocal microscopy to assess the neuronal loss, the vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons, as well as the activation of lesion-associated microglia and macrophages (LAMMs) together with the visualization of their phagocytic capacity. In addition, we set up a co-culture of BV2 microglia and PC12 dopaminergic cells to understand the role of LPS-mediated neuroinflammatory toxicity versus phagocytosis.Results High-resolution 3D histological examination revealed that, although LPS induced a reliable elimination of SNpc dopaminergic neurons, it also generated a massive neuroinflammatory response. This inflammation-mediated injury was characterized by a damaged parenchyma occupied by a vast population of LAMMs undertaking wound compaction and scar formation. LAMMs tiled the entire lesion and engaged in long-standing phagocytic activity to resolve the injury. Additionally, modeling LPS inflammation in a cell culture system helped to understand the role of phagocytosis and cytotoxicity in dopaminergic degeneration and indicated that LAMM-mediated toxicity and phagocytosis coexist during LPS-mediated dopaminergic elimination.Conclusions This type of severe inflammatory-mediated injury appears to be different from the ageing-related PD scenario where the architectural structure of the parenchyma is preserved. Thus, the necessity to explore new experimental models to properly mimic the inflammatory compound observed in PD degeneration.

T cells engage with antigen-presenting cells to form immunological synapses. These intimate contacts are characterized by the complex arrangement of molecules at the intercellular interface, which has been described as the supramolecular activation cluster (SMAC). However, due to T cells functioning without SMAC formation and the difficulties of studying these complex arrangements in vivo, its biological importance has been questioned. In light of recent data, we focus this review on the putative functionality of SMACs in T-cell synaptic contacts in vivo and emphasize the therapeutic potential of SMAC manipulation in immune-driven diseases.

The interest in studying neuroimmune interactions is increasing in the scientific community, and for many researchers, immunity is becoming a crucial factor in the understanding of the physiology of the normal brain as well as the biology underlying neurodegenerative diseases. Mounting data over the last two decades point toward immune and inflammatory alterations as important mediators of the progressive dopaminergic degeneration in Parkinson’s disease. The purpose of this review is to address, under a historical perspective, as well as in the light of recent reports, the glial-mediated inflammatory and immune responses that occur in Parkinsonism. In line with this, this review also evaluates and highlights available anti-inflammatory drugs and putative targets for Parkinson’s disease therapy for the near future.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor and almost all patients die because of relapses. GBM-derived cells undergo cell death without nuclear fragmentation upon treatment with different apoptotic agents. Nuclear dismantling determines the point-of-no-return in the apoptotic process. DFF40/CAD is the main endonuclease implicated in apoptotic nuclear disassembly. To be properly activated, DFF40/CAD should reside in the cytosol. However, the endonuclease is poorly expressed in the cytosol and remains cumulated in the nucleus of GBM cells. Here, by employing commercial and non-commercial patient-derived GBM cells, we demonstrate that the natural terpenoid aldehyde gossypol prompts DFF40/CAD-dependent nuclear fragmentation. A comparative analysis between gossypol- and staurosporine-treated cells evidenced that levels of neither caspase activation nor DNA damage were correlated with the ability of each compound to induce nuclear fragmentation. Deconvoluted confocal images revealed that DFF40/CAD was almost completely excluded from the nucleus early after the staurosporine challenge. However, gossypol-treated cells maintained DFF40/CAD in the nucleus for longer times, shaping a ribbon-like structure piercing the nuclear fragments and building a network of bridged masses of compacted chromatin. Therefore, GBM cells can fragment their nuclei if treated with the adequate insult, making the cell death process irreversible., This work was supported by grants SAF2017-83206-R funded by MCIN/Government of Spain (to V.J.Y.), SLT008/18/00028 from the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya (to J.B.), PGC2018-096003-B-I00 funded by MCI/AEI/10.130339/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe (to C.B.), and RTI2018-098027-B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe (to D.R.-M.). The ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence Program, grant SEV-2017-0706 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. The ICN2 is under the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. L.M.-E. was recipient of a “Personal Investigador en Formació” fellow (BQ-2016-2) from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and later supported by Oncobell program (IDIBELL)., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2021-001214-S)

Ursolic acid (UA) is a bioactive compound which has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in a variety of cancer cell lines. UA activates various signalling pathways in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), however, the relationship between cell death and migration has yet to be elucidated. UA induces a dose dependent cytotoxic response demonstrated by flow cytometry and biochemical cytotoxicity assays. Inhibitor and fluorescent probe studies demonstrated that UA induces a caspase independent, JNK dependent, mechanism of cell death. Migration studies established that UA inhibits GBM cell migration in a time dependent manner that is independent of the JNK signalling pathway. The cytotoxic insult induced by UA resulted in the formation of acidic vesicle organelles (AVOs), speculating activation of autophagy. However, inhibitor and spectrophotometric analysis demonstrated that autophagy was not responsible for the formation of the AVOs and confocal microscopy identified the AVO’s as lysosomes. Further investigation using isosurface visualisation of confocal imaging determined co-localisation of lysosomes with the previously identified acidic vesicles, thus providing evidence that lysosomes are likely to be playing a role in UA induced cell death.Collectively, our data identifies that UA rapidly induces a lysosomal associated mechanism of cell death in addition to UA acting as an inhibitor of GBM cell migration.Abstract Figure

The cellular complexity of glioblastoma microenvironments is still poorly understood. In-depth, cell-resolution tissue analyses of human material are rare but highly necessary to understand the biology of this deadly tumor. Here we present a unique 3D visualization revealing the cellular composition of human GBM in detail and considering its critical association with the neo-vascular niche. Our images show a complex vascular map of human 3D biopsies with increased vascular heterogeneity and altered spatial relationship with astrocytes or glioma-cell counterparts. High-resolution analysis of the structural layers of the blood brain barrier showed a multilayered fenestration of endothelium and basement membrane. Careful examination of T cell position and migration relative to vascular walls revealed increased infiltration corresponding with tumor proliferation. In addition, the analysis of the myeloid landscape not only showed a volumetric increase in glioma-associated microglia and macrophages relative to GBM proliferation but also revealed distinct phenotypes in tumor nest and stroma. Images and data sets are available on demand as a resource for public access.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) have potential as both diagnostic and therapeutic vehicles. However, selective targeting and uptake in cancer cells remains challenging. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) can be combined with AuNP to achieve synergistic anti-cancer cytotoxicity. To explore synergistic mechanisms, we demonstrate both rate of AuNP uptake and total amount accumulated in U373MG Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells are significantly increased when exposed to 75 kV CAP generated by dielectric barrier discharge. No significant changes in the physical parameters of AuNP were caused by CAP but active transport mechanisms were stimulated in cells. Unlike many other biological effects of CAP, long-lived reactive species were not involved, and plasma-activated liquids did not replicate the effect. Chemical effects induced by direct and indirect exposure to CAP appears the dominant mediator of enhanced uptake. Transient physical alterations of membrane integrity played a minor role. 3D-reconstruction of deconvoluted confocal images confirmed AuNP accumulation in lysosomes and other acidic vesicles, which will be useful for future drug delivery and diagnostic strategies. Toxicity of AuNP significantly increased by 25-fold when combined with CAP. Our data indicate that direct exposure to CAP activates AuNP-dependent cytotoxicity by increasing AuNP endocytosis and trafficking to lysosomes in U373MG cells.

T cells effectively explore the tissue in search for antigens. When activated, they dedicate a big amount of energy and resources to arrange a complex structure called immunological synapse (IS), containing a particular distribution of molecules defined as supramolecular activation clusters (SMACs), and become polarized toward the target cell in a manner that channels the information specifically. This arrangement is symmetrical and requires the polarization of the MTOC and the Golgi to be operational, especially for the proper delivery of lytic granules and the recycling of molecules three dimensionally segregated at the clustered interface. Alternatively, after the productive encounter, T cells need to rearrange again to newly navigate through the tissue, changing back to a motile state called immunological kinapse (IK). In this IK state, the MTOC and the Golgi apparatus are repositioned and recruited at the back of the T cell to facilitate motility, while the established symmetry of the elements of the SMACs is broken and distributed in a different pattern. Both states, IS and IK, are interchangeable and are mainly orchestrated by the MTOC/Golgi complex, being critical for an effective immune response.

Hypoxic pseudopalisades are a pathological hallmark of human glioblastoma, which is linked to tumour malignancy and aggressiveness. Yet, their function and role in the tumour development have scarcely been explored. It is thought that pseudopalisades are formed by malignant cells escaping from the hypoxic environment, although evidence of the immune component of pseudopalisades has been elusive. In the present work, we analyse the immunological constituent of hypoxic pseudopalisades using high-resolution three-dimensional confocal imaging in tissue blocks from excised tumours of glioblastoma patients and mimic the hypoxic gradient in microfluidic platforms in vitro to understand the cellular motility. We visualize that glioblastoma-associated microglia and macrophages abundantly populate pseudopalisades, displaying an elongated kinetic morphology across the pseudopalisades, and are oriented towards the necrotic focus. In vitro experiments demonstrate that under hypoxic gradient, microglia show a particular motile behaviour characterized by the increase of cellular persistence in contrast with glioma cells. Importantly, we show that glioblastoma-associated microglia and macrophages utilize fibres of glioma cells as a haptotactic cue to navigate along the anisotropic structure of the pseudopalisades and display a high phagocytic activity at the necrotic border of the pseudopalisades. In this study, we demonstrate that glioblastoma-associated microglia and macrophages are the main immune cells of pseudopalisades in glioblastoma, travelling to necrotic areas to clear the resulting components of the prothrombotic milieu, suggesting that the scavenging features of glioblastoma-associated microglia and macrophages at the pseudopalisades serve as an essential counterpart for glioma cell invasion., In this article, Saavedra-Lopez and colleagues described that glioblastoma-associated microglia and macrophages infiltrate hypoxic pseudopalisades, a well-known invading niche of extremely aggressive brain tumours. They show these highly motile immune cells with great phagocytic capacity as a counterpart of the glioma cell invasion., Graphical Abstract

T cells effectively explore the tissue in search for antigens. When activated, they dedicate a big amount of energy and resources to arrange a complex structure called immunological synapse (IS), containing a particular distribution of molecules defined as supramolecular activation clusters (SMACs), and become polarized toward the target cell in a manner that channels the information specifically. This arrangement is symmetrical and requires the polarization of the MTOC and the Golgi to be operational, especially for the proper delivery of lytic granules and the recycling of molecules three dimensionally segregated at the clustered interface. Alternatively, after the productive encounter, T cells need to rearrange again to newly navigate through the tissue, changing back to a motile state called immunological kinapse (IK). In this IK state, the MTOC and the Golgi apparatus are repositioned and recruited at the back of the T cell to facilitate motility, while the established symmetry of the elements of the SMACs is broken and distributed in a different pattern. Both states, IS and IK, are interchangeable and are mainly orchestrated by the MTOC/Golgi complex, being critical for an effective immune response.

Room temperature Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) has shown promising efficacy for the treatment of cancer but the exact mechanisms of action remain unclear. Both apoptosis and necrosis have been implicated as the mode of cell death in various cancer cells. We have previously demonstrated a caspase-independent mechanism of cell death in p53-mutated glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells exposed to plasma. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in caspase-independent cell death induced by plasma treatment. We demonstrate that plasma induces rapid cell death in GBM cells, independent of caspases. Accumulation of vesicles was observed in plasma treated cells that stained positive with acridine orange. Western immunoblotting confirmed that autophagy is not activated following plasma treatment. Acridine orange intensity correlates closely with the lysosomal marker Lyso TrackerTM Deep Red. Further investigation using isosurface visualisation of confocal imaging confirmed that lysosomal accumulation occurs in plasma treated cells. The accumulation of lysosomes was associated with concomitant cell death following plasma treatment. In conclusion, we observed rapid accumulation of acidic vesicles and cell death following CAP treatment in GBM cells. We found no evidence that either apoptosis or autophagy, however, determined that a rapid accumulation of late stage endosomes/lysosomes precedes membrane permeabilisation, mitochondrial membrane depolarisation and caspase independent cell death.

Ursolic acid (UA) is a bioactive compound which has demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in a variety of cancer cell lines. UA activates various signalling pathways in Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and offers a promising starting point in drug discovery, however, understanding the relationship between cell death and migration has yet to be elucidated. UA induces a dose dependent cytotoxic response demonstrated by flow cytometry and biochemical cytotoxicity assays. Inhibitor and fluorescent probe studies demonstrate that UA induces a caspase independent, JNK dependent, mechanism of cell death. Migration studies established that UA inhibits GBM collective cell migration in a time dependent manner that is independent of the JNK signalling pathway. Cytotoxicity induced by UA results in the formation of acidic vesicle organelles (AVOs), speculating the activation of autophagy. However, inhibitor and spectrophotometric analysis demonstrated that autophagy was not responsible for the formation of the AVOs. Confocal microscopy and isosurface visualisation determined co-localisation of lysosomes with the previously identified AVOs, thus providing evidence that lysosomes are likely to be playing a role in UA induced cell death. Collectively, our data identify that UA rapidly induces a lysosomal associated mechanism of cell death in addition to UA acting as an inhibitor of GBM collective cell migration.

Background Glioblastoma (GBM) or grade IV astrocytoma is one of the most devastating human cancers. The loss of DFF40/CAD, the key endonuclease that triggers oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation during apoptosis, has been linked to genomic instability and cell survival after radiation. Despite the near inevitability of GBM tumor recurrence after treatment, the relationship between DFF40/CAD and GBM remains unexplored. Methods We studied the apoptotic behavior of human GBM-derived cells after apoptotic insult. We analyzed caspase activation and the protein levels and subcellular localization of DFF40/CAD apoptotic endonuclease. DFF40/CAD was also evaluated in histological sections from astrocytic tumors and nontumoral human brain. Results We showed that GBM cells undergo incomplete apoptosis without generating oligonucleosomal DNA degradation despite the correct activation of executioner caspases. The major defect of GBM cells relied on the improper accumulation of DFF40/CAD at the nucleoplasmic subcellular compartment. Supporting this finding, DFF40/CAD overexpression allowed GBM cells to display oligonucleosomal DNA degradation after apoptotic challenge. Moreover, the analysis of histological slices from astrocytic tumors showed that DFF40/CAD immunoreactivity in tumoral GFAP-positive cells was markedly reduced when compared with nontumoral samples. Conclusions Our data highlight the low expression levels of DFF40/CAD and the absence of DNA laddering as common molecular traits in GBM. These findings could be of major importance for understanding the malignant behavior of remaining tumor cells after radiochemotherapy.

Since the proper activation of T cells requires the physical interaction with target cells through the formation of immunological synapses (IS), an alteration at this level could be a reason why tumors escape the immune response. As part of their life cycle, it is thought that T cells alternate between a static phase, the IS, and a dynamic phase, the immunological kinapse (IK), depending on high or low antigen sensing. Our investigation performed in tissue samples of human glioma shows that T cells are able to establish synapsing interactions not only with glioma tumorigenic cells, but also with stromal myeloid cells. Particularly, the IS displaying a T cell receptor-rich (TCR-rich) central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC) is preferentially established with stromal cells, as opposed to malignant cells. Conversely, T cells in the malignant areas showed distinct morphometric parameters compared with nonneoplastic tissue - the former characterized by an elongated shape, well-suited to kinaptic dynamics. Importantly, high-resolution 3-dimensional analyses demonstrated the existence of bona-fide IK preferentially arranged in malignant areas of the tumor. This imbalance of IS/IK states between these 2 microenvironments reveals the low antigenic sensing of T cells when patrolling tumorigenic cells and reflects the immunoevasive environment of the tumor.

In this chapter, we describe the technical details to visualize and analyze effector immunological synapses between T cells and astrocytes in the brain with high-resolution confocal imaging. This procedure is critical for the optimal and even penetration of labeling antibodies within the nerve tissue to obtain accurate staining and allow a uniform three-dimensional analysis of the T cell-astrocyte interactions. We emphasize here the comprehensive exploration of the tissue and analysis with confocal microscope as well as the display of microanatomical details of the three-dimensional reconstruction for interface visualization (including peripheral and central supramolecular activation clusters, effector molecules, and other organelles such as microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) and Golgi apparatus).

In this chapter, we describe the technical details to visualize and analyze effector immunological synapses between T cells and astrocytes in the brain with high-resolution confocal imaging. This procedure is critical for the optimal and even penetration of labeling antibodies within the nerve tissue to obtain accurate staining and allow a uniform three-dimensional analysis of the T cell-astrocyte interactions. We emphasize here the comprehensive exploration of the tissue and analysis with confocal microscope as well as the display of microanatomical details of the three-dimensional reconstruction for interface visualization (including peripheral and central supramolecular activation clusters, effector molecules, and other organelles such as microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) and Golgi apparatus).

Resumen El Prof. Juan Jose Barcia-Goyanes inicio la neurocirugia desde la anatomia y la neuropsiquiatria como respuesta a una necesidad de un servicio denominado: «Enfermedades nerviosas» en 1931 en el Hospital General de Valencia. Desde la primera intervencion, con los metodos e instrumentos que ya se usaban en Europa y EE.UU., la actividad neuroquirurgica fue el motor del servicio, donde nacieron las especialidades auxiliares: neurorradiologia, neurofisiologia, neuropatologia y tecnicas nuevas como la estereotaxia, la neurocirugia funcional y la palencefalografia. El servicio cumple este ano su 80 aniversario. La produccion bibliografica del Prof. Barcia abarco tanto las materias de neurologia, neurocirugia y psiquiatria, como de antropologia, pensamiento medico, historia de la medicina, morfologia e historia del lenguaje anatomico en su obra de madurez: «Onomatologia anatomica nova», asi como una interesante obra poetica. Fue miembro fundador de la Sociedad Luso-espanola de Neurocirugia y de la Sociedad de Neurocirugia de Levante.

V. Annese, C. Barcia, F. Ros-Bernal, A. Gomez, C. M. Ros, V. De Pablos, E. Fernandez-Villalba, M.-E. De Stefano and M. T. Herrero (2013) Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology39, 132–143 Evidence of oligodendrogliosis in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinsonism Aims: Mice and nonhuman primates administered with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) represent elective experimental models of Parkinsonism, in which degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway is associated with prominent neuroinflammation, characterized by activated microglia and astrocytes in both substantia nigra (SN) and striatum. To date, it is unknown whether oligodendrocytes play a role in these events. Methods: We performed a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of oligodendrocyte-associated changes induced by acute and chronic MPTP treatment, in the SN and striatum of mice and macaques respectively. Oligodendrocytes were immunolabelled by cell-specific markers and analysed by confocal microscopy. Results: In both experimental models, MPTP treatment induces an increase in oligodendrocyte cell number and average size, as well as in the total area occupied by this cell type per tissue section, accompanied by evident morphological changes. This multifaceted array of changes, herein referred to as oligodendrogliosis, significantly correlates with the reduction in the level of dopaminergic innervation to the striatum. Conclusions: This event, associated with early damage of the dopaminergic neurone axons and of the complex striatal circuits of which they are part, may result in an important, although neglected, aspect in the onset and progression of Parkinsonism.

After trauma brain injury, a large number of cells die, releasing neurotoxic chemicals into the extracellular medium, decreasing cellular glutathione levels and increasing reactive oxygen species that affect cell survival and provoke an enlargement of the initial lesion. Alpha-lipoic acid is a potent antioxidant commonly used as a treatment of many degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis or diabetic neuropathy. Herein, the antioxidant effects of lipoic acid treatment after brain cryo-injury in rat have been studied, as well as cell survival, proliferation in the injured area, gliogenesis and angiogenesis. Thus, it is shown that newborn cells, mostly corresponded with blood vessels and glial cells, colonized the damaged area 15 days after the lesion. However, lipoic acid was able to stimulate the synthesis of glutathione, decrease cell death, promote angiogenesis and decrease the glial scar formation. All those facts allow the formation of new neural tissue. In view of the results herein, lipoic acid might be a plausible pharmacological treatment after brain injury, acting as a neuroprotective agent of the neural tissue, promoting angiogenesis and reducing the glial scar formation. These findings open new possibilities for restorative strategies after brain injury, stroke or related disorders.

Neuroinflammation is present in almost every injury of the central nervous system. This response is intended to resolve tissue damage and restore homeostasis. However, in pathological conditions, inflammation may cause direct damage and contribute to neuronal degeneration. Many, if not all, movement disorders show neuroinflammatory changes in the areas of tissue degeneration. Debate still persists on whether these inflammatory changes are a mere consequence or a cause of the local damage. Increasing data suggest the latter, since a broad range of pathological alterations, including genetic, are able to modify the inflammatory scenario and induce or at least contribute to the appearance of movement disorders. In the present chapter, we review inflammatory-mediated alterations in the most prevalent movement disorders, emphasizing the paradigm of Parkinson's disease, and suggest that anti-inflammatory drugs may be a positive therapeutic option for movement disorders.

The adaptive immune response to viral vectors reduces vector-mediated transgene expression from the brain. It is unknown, however, whether this loss is caused by functional downregulation of transgene expression or death of transduced cells. Herein, we demonstrate that during the elimination of transgene expression, the brain becomes infiltrated with CD4 and CD8 T cells and that these T cells are necessary for transgene elimination. Further, the loss of transgene-expressing brain cells fails to occur in the absence of IFNγ, perforin, and TNFα receptor. Two methods to induce severe immune suppression in immunized animals also fail to restitute transgene expression, demonstrating the irreversibility of this process. The need for cytotoxic molecules and the irreversibility of the reduction in transgene expression suggested to us that elimination of transduced cells is responsible for the loss of transgene expression. A new experimental paradigm that discriminates between downregulation of transgene expression and the elimination of transduced cells demonstrates that transduced cells are lost from the brain upon the induction of a specific antiviral immune response. We conclude that the anti-adenoviral immune response reduces transgene expression in the brain through loss of transduced cells Fil: Zirger, Jeffrey M.. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos Fil: Puntel, Mariana. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Bergeron, Josee. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos Fil: Wibowo, Mia. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Moridzadeh, Rameen. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Bondale, Niyati. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos Fil: Barcia, Carlos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos Fil: Kroeger, Kurt M.. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Liu, Chunyan. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Castro, Maria Graciela. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of Michigan; Estados Unidos Fil: Lowenstein, Pedro R.. Cedars Sinai Medical Center; Estados Unidos. University of California at Los Angeles. School of Medicine; Estados Unidos. University of Michigan; Estados Unidos

Resumen Introduccion El abordaje quirurgico de la region hipofisaria ha evolucionado desde las vias transcraneales, a las sublabiales y transseptales microscopicas hasta los abordajes endoscopicos actuales. Objetivos El objetivo de este trabajo es exponer y reflexionar sobre nuestra experiencia en el abordaje transnasal transesfenoidal endoscopico de los tumores hipofisarios, con las modificaciones que hemos introducido para mejorar la exeresis del tumor y disminuir la iatrogenia. Material y metodos A lo largo de 9 anos hemos intervenido a 37 pacientes afectos de adenomas hipofisarios mediante abordaje transesfenoidal endoscopico. Utilizamos lentes de 0 y 30 grados, navegador optico, instrumental habitual de endoscopia nasal y brazo articulado para fijacion de la optica en el tiempo neuroquirurgico. Se accede a la celda hipofisaria mediante esfenoidotomia bilateral. Resultados La neumatizacion esfenoidal ha sido suficiente en todos los pacientes. Las complicaciones postperatorias mas frecuentes han sido la diabetes insipida y los transtornos endocrinologicos. Rinolicuorrea postoperatoria en un paciente. Secuela nasal definitiva ninguna. Tiempo medio de estancia hospitalaria 5 dias. Conclusiones El abordaje endoscopico guiado con el navegador aporta grandes ventajas: rapidez, seguridad, disminucion de la iatrogenia, preservacion de la via aerea nasal. La reseccion de un fragmento de tabique nasal adyacente al rostrum mejora la manejabilidad de los instrumentos hacia los margenes tumorales. La fijacion del endoscopio estabiliza la vision y permite al segundo cirujano ayudar con mas eficacia.

The immunological synapse between T cells and tumor cells is believed to be important for effective tumor clearance. However, the immunological synapse has never been imaged or analyzed in detail in human tissue. In this work, intercellular interactions between T cells and tumor cells were analyzed in detail in human glioblastoma. After characterization of the population of infiltrating T cells by multiple immunofluorescence staining and stereological quantification, the microanatomy of T cell-tumor cell intercellular communication was analyzed in detail using confocal microscopy and three-dimensional rendering. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes that infiltrated human glioblastoma underwent rearrangement when in contact with tumor cells, to form a three-dimensional structure in the intercellular contact area; this was characterized by microclusters of the CD3/TCR complex, re-arrangement of the cytoskeleton, and granzyme B polarization. In addition, such T cell-targeted cells show fragmentation of the microtubular system and increased expression levels of cleaved caspase 3, which suggests that cytotoxic T lymphocytes likely provoke changes in tumor cells and subsequently induce cell death. These results show that the formation of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte immunological synapse occurs in human tissue and may be relevant for the effective immune-mediated clearance of tumorigenic cells, therefore opening up new avenues for glioblastoma immunotherapy.

The recent knowledge that 10 years after transplantation surviving human fetal neurons adopt the histopathology of Parkinson's disease suggests that Lewy body formation takes a decade to achieve. To determine whether similar histopathology occurs in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-primate models over a similar timeframe, the brains of two adult monkeys made parkinsonian in their youth with intermittent injections of MPTP were studied. Despite substantial nigral degeneration and increased alpha-synuclein immunoreactivity within surviving neurons, there was no evidence of Lewy body formation. This suggests that MPTP-induced oxidative stress and inflammation per se are not sufficient for Lewy body formation, or Lewy bodies are human specific.

The clearance of virally infected cells from the brain is mediated by T cells that engage antigen-presenting cells to form supramolecular activation clusters at the immunological synapse. However, after clearance, the T cells persist at the infection site and remain activated locally. In the present work the long-term interactions of immune cells in brains of monkeys were imaged in situ 9 months after the viral inoculation. After viral immunity, the persistent infiltration of T cells and B cells was observed at the infection sites. T cells showed evidence of T-cell receptor signaling as a result of contacts with B cells. Three-dimensional analysis of B-cell-T-cell synapses showed clusters of CD3 in T cells and the segregation of CD20 in B cells, involving the recruitment of CD40 ligand at the interface. These results demonstrate that immunological synapses between B cells and T cells forming three-dimensional microclusters occur in vivo in the central nervous system and suggest that these interactions may be involved in the lymphocyte activation after viral immunity at the original infection site.

Kupfer-type immunological synapses are thought to mediate intercellular communication between antiviral T cells and virally infected target Ag-presenting brain cells in vivo during an antiviral brain immune response. This hypothesis predicts that formation of Kupfer-type immunological synapses is necessary for polarized distribution of effector molecules, and their directed secretion toward the target cells. However, no studies have been published testing the hypothesis that cytokines can only form polarized clusters at Kupfer-type immunological synapses. Here, we show that IFN-γ and granzyme-B cluster in a polarized fashion at contacts between T cells and infected astrocytes in vivo. In some cases these clusters were found in Kupfer-type immunological synapses between T cells and infected astrocytes, but we also detected polarized IFN-γ at synaptic immunological contacts which did not form Kupfer-type immunological synaptic junctions, i.e., in the absence of polarization of TCR or LFA-1. This indicates that TCR signaling, which leads to the production, polarization, and eventual directed secretion of effector molecules such as IFN-γ, occurs following the formation of both Kupfer-type and non-Kupfer type immunological synaptic junctions between T cells and virally infected target astrocytes in vivo.

Expression of the immune-stimulatory molecule Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) and the conditional cytotoxic enzyme herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) provides long-term immune-mediated survival of large glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) models in rodents. A limitation for predictive testing of novel antiglioma therapies has been the lack of a glioma model in a large animal. Dogs bearing spontaneous GBM may constitute an attractive large-animal model for GBM, which so far has remained underappreciated. In preparation for a clinical trial in dogs bearing spontaneous GBMs, we tested and optimized adenovirus-mediated transgene expression with negligible toxicity in the dog brain in vivo and in canine J3T glioma cells. Expression of the marker gene beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal) was higher when driven by the murine (m) than the human (h) cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter in the dog brain in vivo, without enhanced inflammation. In the canine brain, beta-Gal was expressed mostly in astrocytes. beta-Gal activity in J3T cells was also higher with the mCMV than the hCMV promoter driving tetracycline-dependent (TetON) transgene expression within high-capacity adenovirus vectors (HC-Ads). Dog glioma cells were efficiently transduced by HC-Ads expressing mCMV-driven HSV1-TK, which induced 90% reduction in cell viability in the presence of ganciclovir. J3T cells were also effectively transduced with HC-Ads expressing Flt3L under the control of the regulatable TetON promoter system, and as predicted, Flt3L release was stringently inducer dependent. HC-Ads encoding therapeutic transgenes under the control of regulatory sequences driven by the mCMV promoter are excellent vectors for the treatment of spontaneous GBM in dogs, which constitute an ideal preclinical animal model.

The innate immune response, characterized by the rapid induction of proinflammatory genes, plays an important role in immune responses to viral vectors utilized in gene therapy. We demonstrate that several innate proinflammatory mRNAs, i.e., those coding for the interferon (IFN)-regulated proteins interferon regulatory factor 1, 2,5-oligoadenylate synthetase, and double-stranded-RNA-dependent protein kinase as well as those coding for the chemokines RANTES, IFN--inducible protein 10, and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, were all increased in a statistically significant manner in response to 1 10 8 IU, but not lower doses, of a first-generation adenovirus injected into the naive brain. This indicates the presence of a threshold dosage of adenovirus needed to elicit an acute innate inflammatory response. The innate immune response is the first line of defense against viral infection and is also stimulated upon infection with virus-derived gene transfer vectors. Interferons (IFNs) and IFN-regulated genes produced by infected cells induce enzymes capable of degrading incoming viral mRNAs, block- ing viral protein synthesis, and eventually killing infected cells (7). In addition, chemokines provide signals for the recruit- ment of numerous cell types into infected tissues (5, 15-17, 21, 22, 27). Adenoviral vector (Adv) infection of the liver is well characterized and results in an influx of neutrophils, mono- cytes, macrophages, and NK cells and the induction of inflam- matory genes, i.e., the genes for tumor necrosis factor alpha, IFN-, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-12, and IL-1 (11, 12). Simi- larly, injection of Adv into the brain causes a dose-dependent infiltration of macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and NK cells (2-4, 23-25). However, the dose response and time course and the roles of interferons and chemokines in the innate immune response to the injection of adenovirus into the brain remain unknown. In the liver, innate immune responses reduce viral input genomes 90% in under 24 h (30). Thus, the effects of adenoviral vectors on innate immune responses in the cen- tral nervous system (CNS) deserve further consideration. We utilized RAd35 (a human cytomegalovirus carrying lacZ), a first-generation adenoviral vector that is described elsewhere (8, 18, 19, 29). C57BL/6 mice were anesthetized using ketamine (75 mg/kg of body weight) and medetomidine (0.5 mg/kg) and injected in the right striatum with 1 10 5 to 1 10 8 infectious units (particle/infectious-unit ratio, 30) of RAd35 (free of endotoxin and replication-competent adeno- virus) or saline in 0.5 l, sacrificed, and perfused with oxygen- ated Tyrode's solution alone or followed by 4% paraformalde

The lack of professional afferent APCs in naive brain parenchyma contributes to the systemic immune ignorance to Ags localized exclusively within the brain. Dendritic cells (DCs) appear within the brain as a consequence of inflammation, but no molecular mechanisms accounting for this influx have been described. In this study we demonstrate that Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) recruits plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs; >50-fold; p < 0.001) to the brain parenchyma. These pDCs expressed IFN-α, the hallmark cytokine produced by pDCs, indicating recruitment and activation in situ of bona fide pDCs within the brain parenchyma. Flt3L did not increase the numbers of conventional DCs, macrophages, or B, T, NK, NKT, or microglial cells within the brain. Our data demonstrate that Flt3L reconstitutes a crucial afferent component of the immune response, namely, professional APCs within the brain parenchyma, and this could counteract the intrinsic systemic immune ignorance to Ags localized exclusively within the brain.

Gene therapy aims to revert diseased phenotypes by the use of both viral and nonviral gene delivery systems. Substantial progress has been made in making gene transfer vehicles more efficient, less toxic, and nonimmunogenic and in allowing long-term transgene expression. One of the key issues in successfully implementing gene therapies in the clinical setting is to be able to regulate gene expression very tightly and consistently as and when it is needed. The regulation ought to be achievable using a compound that should be nontoxic, be able to penetrate into the desired target tissue or organ, and have a half-life of a few hours (as opposed to minutes or days) so that when withdrawn or added (depending on the regulatable system used) gene expression can be turned “on” or “off” quickly and effectively. Also, the genetic switches employed should ideally be nonimmunogenic in the host. The ability to switch transgenes on and off would be of paramount importance not only when the therapy is no longer needed, but also in the case of the development of adverse side effects to the therapy. Many regulatable systems are currently under development and some, i.e., the tetracycline-dependent transcriptional switch, have been used successfully for in vivo preclinical applications. Despite this, there are no examples of switches that have been employed in a human clinical trial. In this review, we aim to highlight the main regulatable systems currently under development, the gene transfer systems employed for their expression, and also the preclinical models in which they have been used successfully. We also discuss the substantial challenges that still remain before these regulatable switches can be employed in the clinical setting.

Glioblastoma multiforme is an intracranial tumor that has very poor prognosis. Patients usually succumb to their disease 6 to 12 months after they are diagnosed despite very aggressive treatment modalities. We tested the efficacy of a potent differentiation and proliferation factor for the professional antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs), i.e., Flt3L, for its potential role as a novel therapy for gliomas. We investigated the ability of recombinant adenoviral vectors encoding human soluble Flt3L (hsFlt3L) to improve the survival of Lewis rats bearing intracranial syngeneic CNS-1 gliomas. We show that RAdhsFlt3L can improve survival in a dose-dependent manner. Seventy percent of rats survive when treated with 8 x 10(7) pfu RAdhsFlt3L (P < 0.0005). In addition we demonstrate in both naive Lewis rats and C57BL/6 mice the presence of increased numbers of cells bearing DC markers (OX62 and MHCII, in rats, or CD11C, 33D1, MHCII, and F4/80, but not DEC205, in mice) in sites of brain delivery of RAdhsFlt3L. These results show that expression of hsFlt3L in the brain leads to the presence of cells displaying DC markers. We demonstrate that treatment with hsFlt3L leads to inhibition of tumor growth and significantly increased life span of animals implanted with syngeneic CNS-1 glioma cells. Animals that had survived for long periods, i.e., 6 months, had eliminated the implanted tumors after neuropathological analysis; on the other hand, some of the 3-month survivors still appeared to harbor brain tumors. Our results have profound implications for immune-mediated brain tumor therapy and also suggest the ability to recruit DC-like cells within the brain parenchyma in response to the local expression of Flt3L from adenoviral vectors.

Inflammatory changes have been found in Parkinson's disease, in humans intoxicated with the parkinsonian toxin MPTP, and in animal models of the disease. However, it is still not known whether inflammatory changes are responsible for active nerve cell death or if they have a protective role against neurodegeneration. In this study, we analyzed the glial reaction in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and the striatum of monkeys rendered parkinsosian by chronic MPTP injections. At postmortem examination 1 year after the last MPTP injection, the density of astroglial cells and activated microglial cells in the SNpc, but not in the striatum, of MPTP-intoxicated animals was significantly higher than in the two control animals. These data suggest that neurodegeneration was still active despite the absence of the agent triggering cell death and that the glial reaction is associated with long-term neurodegeneration.