Neurodegenerativní onemocnění, mezi něž patří např. Alzheimerova a Parkinsonova nemoc, se kvůli své neustále se zvyšující prevalenci a nedostupnosti efektivní léčby staly jedním z nejpalčivějších problémů moderní medicíny. Ačkoli existují látky s potenciálním terapeutickým účinkem, hematoencefalická bariéra vytváří účinnou překážku pro transport léků do centrálního nervového systému. Naději pro vyřešení tohoto problému přinesl nástup nanotechnologií umožňujících přípravu částic s přesně navrženými vlastnostmi pro překročení hematoencefalické bariéry. Širokému využití nanočástic pro transport léků brání nedostatečné zmapování jejich biologických vlastností a bezpečnostních rizik. Pokrok v této oblasti společně s rostoucím porozuměním patogenezi neurodegenerativních onemocnění by v budoucnu mohl vést k nalezení jejich efektivní léčby., Due to the continually rising prevalence and lack of effective therapy, neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, are among the most serious problems of modern medicine. Even though promising compounds with potential therapeutic effect have been developed, blood-brain barrier impedes their transport to the central nervous system. Nanotechnologies produce particles with properties that enable them to cross the blood-brain barrier and thus provide hope in solving this problem. Wide utilization of nanoparticles for transportation of drugs is prevented by our limited knowledge of their biological properties and their safety profile. Further developments in this field together with increasing understanding of the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration may lead to development of effective therapy in the future. Key words: blood-brain barrier – dendrimers – liposomes – nanotubes – carbon – nanoparticles – neurodegenerative diseases The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study. The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE “uniform requirements” for biomedical papers., and M. Filipová, R. Rusina, K. Holada
Toxoplasmosis is a common parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908), an obligate parasite capable of infecting a range of cell types in almost all warm-blooded animals. Upon infecting an intermediate host, the parasites differentiate into tachyzoites which rapidly infect host tissues. Usually, the invading parasites are cleared by the immune system and administered drugs, but some tachyzoites differentiate into bradyzoites forming tissue cysts. These tissue cysts could serve as a source for re-infection and exacerbations. Currently, treatment for toxoplasmosis is limited and, moreover, there are no drugs for treating the cystic stage thus rendering toxoplasmosis a global burden. Recently, we demonstrated that inorganic nanoparticles showed promising activity against the tachyzoite stage T. gondii. In the present study, we evaluated nanoparticles for effect on bradyzoite formation in vitro. Data revealed that the nanoparticles limited bradyzoite burden in vitro. Further, the nanoparticles decreased the bradyzoite-specific BAG-1 promoter activity relative to the untreated control under a bradyzoite-inducing culture condition, even though this reduction in BAG-1 promoter activity waned with increasing concentrations of nanoparticles. In contrast, a parallel experiment under normal cell culture conditions showed that the nanoparticle treatment mildly increased the BAG-1 promoter activity relative to the untreated control. Taken together, the findings are evidence that nanoparticles not only possess anti-tachyzoite potential but they also have anti-bradyzoite potential in vitro., Oluyomi Stephen Adeyemi, Yuho Murata, Tatsuki Sugi, Yongmei Han, Kentaro Kato., and Obsahuje bibliografii