iBB

The ability to differentiate neural progenitors (NP) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provides an opportunity to develop new applications for cellular therapy, disease modelling and drug screening. SCERG-iBB researchers developed a platform that can be applied towards the study of the effect of neurotoxic molecules that impair normal embryonic development, such as the antiepileptic drug valproic acid (VPA). It was verified that exposure to VPA led to a prevalence of NP structures over neuronal differentiation, confirmed by analysis of the expression of neural cell adhesion molecule, and neural rosette number and morphology. This methodology can potentially complement current toxicity tests for the detection of teratogenic compounds that can interfere with normal embryonic development. The work was published in Toxicology Letters.

Lipid hydroperoxides have recently been recognized as key mediators of diseases (such as neurodegenerative disorders or Type II diabetes) and cell death. In a recent work, structural and dynamic perturbations induced by the hydroperoxidized POPC lipid (POPC-OOH) in fluid POPC membranes were addressed using advanced small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and fluorescence methodologies. Notably, this multidisciplinary approach revealed that the hydroperoxide group located at the membrane interface, promotes a higher membrane hydration and microviscosity, with a strikingly lower order and bending rigidity, an unusual trend in membrane biophysics, which ultimately compromises membrane structure organization. This international work co-led by Ana M. Melo (BSIRG-iBB) and Rosangela Itri (Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo) was recently published in Langmuir and involved other BSIRG-iBB researchers (Ana Coutinho, Alexander Fedorov and Manuel Prieto).