TY - JOUR A1 - Abebe, Zeweter A1 - Haki, Gulelat Desse A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. A1 - Henkel, Ina M. A1 - Baye, Kaleab T1 - Low breastmilk vitamin A concentration is prevalent in rural Ethiopia JF - European journal of clinical nutrition N2 - Background There is scant information on the breastmilk vitamin A (BMVA) concentration of lactating women in developing countries, partly due to lack of methods applicable in-field. Objective To assess BMVA concentrations of samples collected from lactating women of children aged 6-23 months, in Mecha district, Ethiopia. Subjects/methods Data on socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected from randomly selected lactating women (n = 104). Breast milk samples were collected and vitamin A concentrations were analyzed using HPLC and iCheck FLUORO then the two measurements were compared. Results The prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)) among lactating women was 17%. Seventy six percent of the BMVA values were < 1.05 mu mol/l and 81% were < 8 mu g/g fat. The mean BMVA concentration accounted to 41% of the estimated average value for mothers in developing countries. The BMVA values from HPLC and iCheck were correlated (r = 0.59, p = < 0.001), but it was not strong. Conclusions The result indicates the low vitamin A status of the lactating women and their children. It further indicates that intake assessments should not use average BMVA composition. The possibility of using iCheck for monitoring interventions designed to improve vitamin A status of lactating women with low BMVA requires further investigation. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0334-4 SN - 0954-3007 SN - 1476-5640 VL - 73 IS - 8 SP - 1110 EP - 1116 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Alker, Wiebke A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja A1 - Schomburg, Lutz A1 - Haase, Hajo T1 - A Zinpyr-1-based fluorimetric microassay for free zinc in human serum T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Zinc is an essential trace element, making it crucial to have a reliable biomarker for evaluating an individual’s zinc status. The total serum zinc concentration, which is presently the most commonly used biomarker, is not ideal for this purpose, but a superior alternative is still missing. The free zinc concentration, which describes the fraction of zinc that is only loosely bound and easily exchangeable, has been proposed for this purpose, as it reflects the highly bioavailable part of serum zinc. This report presents a fluorescence-based method for determining the free zinc concentration in human serum samples, using the fluorescent probe Zinpyr-1. The assay has been applied on 154 commercially obtained human serum samples. Measured free zinc concentrations ranged from 0.09 to 0.42 nM with a mean of 0.22 ± 0.05 nM. It did not correlate with age or the total serum concentrations of zinc, manganese, iron or selenium. A negative correlation between the concentration of free zinc and total copper has been seen for sera from females. In addition, the free zinc concentration in sera from females (0.21 ± 0.05 nM) was significantly lower than in males (0.23 ± 0.06 nM). The assay uses a sample volume of less than 10 µL, is rapid and cost-effective and allows us to address questions regarding factors influencing the free serum zinc concentration, its connection with the body’s zinc status, and its suitability as a future biomarker for an individual’s zinc status. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1086 KW - zinc KW - free zinc KW - serum KW - biomarker KW - fluorescent probe KW - Zinypr-1 Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-472833 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1086 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baesler, Jessica A1 - Kopp, Johannes F. A1 - Pohl, Gabriele A1 - Aschner, Michael A1 - Haase, Hajo A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja A1 - Bornhorst, Julia T1 - Zn homeostasis in genetic models of Parkinson’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans JF - Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology KW - Caenorhabditis elegans KW - Zinc KW - Zinc homeostasis KW - Parkinson disease KW - Labile zinc Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.05.005 SN - 0946-672X VL - 55 SP - 44 EP - 49 PB - Elsevier GMBH CY - München ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baesler, Jessica A1 - Kopp, Johannes Florian A1 - Pohl, Gabriele A1 - Aschner, Michael A1 - Haase, Hajo A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja A1 - Bornhorst, Julia T1 - Zn homeostasis in genetic models of Parkinson’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans JF - Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology N2 - While the underlying mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are still insufficiently studied, a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors is emphasized. Nevertheless, the role of the essential trace element zinc (Zn) in this regard remains controversial. In this study we altered Zn balance within PD models of the versatile model organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) in order to examine whether a genetic predisposition in selected genes with relevance for PD affects Zn homeostasis. Protein-bound and labile Zn species act in various areas, such as enzymatic catalysis, protein stabilization pathways and cell signaling. Therefore, total Zn and labile Zn were quantitatively determined in living nematodes as individual biomarkers of Zn uptake and bioavailability with inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) or a multi-well method using the fluorescent probe ZinPyr-1. Young and middle-aged deletion mutants of catp-6 and pdr-1, which are orthologues of mammalian ATP13A2 (PARK9) and parkin (PARK2), showed altered Zn homeostasis following Zn exposure compared to wildtype worms. Furthermore, age-specific differences in Zn uptake were observed in wildtype worms for total as well as labile Zn species. These data emphasize the importance of differentiation between Zn species as meaningful biomarkers of Zn uptake as well as the need for further studies investigating the role of dysregulated Zn homeostasis in the etiology of PD. KW - Caenorhabditis elegans KW - Zinc KW - Zinc homeostasis KW - Parkinson disease KW - Labile zinc Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.05.005 VL - 55 SP - 44 EP - 49 PB - Elsevier CY - München ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Basaran, Nursen A1 - Duydu, Yalcin A1 - Ustundag, Aylin A1 - Taner, Gokce A1 - Aydin, Sevtap A1 - Anlar, Hatice Gul A1 - Yalcin, Can Özgür A1 - Bacanli, Merve A1 - Aydos, Kaan A1 - Atabekoglu, Cem Somer A1 - Golka, Klaus A1 - Ickstadt, Katja A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja A1 - Werner, Matthias A1 - Meyer, Sören A1 - Bolt, Hermann M. T1 - Evaluation of the DNA damage in lymphocytes, sperm and buccal cells of workers under environmental and occupational boron exposure conditions JF - Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis N2 - Industrial production and use of boron compounds have increased during the last decades, especially for the manufacture of borosilicate glass, fiberglass, metal alloys and flame retardants. This study was conducted in two districts of Balikesir; Bandirma and Bigadic, which geographically belong to the Marmara Region of Turkey. Bandirma is the production and exportation zone for the produced boric acid and some borates and Bigadic has the largest B deposits in Turkey. 102 male workers who were occupationally exposed to boron from Bandirma and 110 workers who were occupationally and environmentally exposed to boron from Bigadic participated to our study. In this study the DNA damage in the sperm, blood and buccal cells of 212 males was evaluated by comet and micronucleus assays. No significant increase in the DNA damage in blood, sperm and buccal cells was observed in the residents exposed to boron both occupationally and environmentally (p = 0.861) for Comet test in the sperm samples, p = 0.116 for Comet test in the lymphocyte samples, p = 0.042 for micronucleus (MN) test, p = 0.955 for binucleated cells (BN), p = 1.486 for condensed chromatin (CC), p = 0.455 for karyorrhectic cells (KHC), p = 0.541 for karyolitic cells (KLY), p = 1.057 for pyknotic cells (PHC), p = 0.331 for nuclear bud (NBUD)). No correlations were seen between blood boron levels and tail intensity values of the sperm samples, lymphocyte samples, frequencies of MN, BN, KHC, KYL, PHC and NBUD. The results of this study came to the same conclusions of the previous studies that boron does not induce DNA damage even under extreme exposure conditions. KW - Boric acid KW - Boron exposure KW - DNA damage KW - Comet assay Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2018.12.013 SN - 1383-5718 SN - 1879-3592 VL - 843 SP - 33 EP - 39 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Başaran, Nurşen A1 - Duydu, Yalçın A1 - Üstündağ, Aylin A1 - Taner, Gökçe A1 - Aydin Dilsiz, Sevtap A1 - Anlar, Hatice Gül A1 - Yalçin, Can Özgür A1 - Bacanli, Merve A1 - Golka, Klaus A1 - Schwerdtle, Tanja A1 - Bolt, Hermann M. T1 - Environmental boron exposure does not induce DNA damage in lymphocytes and buccal cells of females DNA damage in lymphocytes and buccal cells of boron exposed females JF - Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology N2 - Boron (B) compounds are essential for plants and animals and beneficial for humans in nutritional amounts. I animals and humans increasing evidence have shown beneficial effects on B compounds on nutrition and on antioxidant status. The genotoxic effects of environmental B exposure in women living in boron-rich and boronpoor areas was examined in this study. For this purpose, the DNA damage in the lymphocytes and buccal cells of females were assessed by Comet and micronucleus (MN) assays respectively. No significant difference was observed in the DNA damage of the lymphocytes of B exposed groups of female volunteers in Comet assay. Even buccal micronucleus (MN) frequency observed in the high exposure group was significantly lower than the low exposure group (p < 0.05). The results of this study came to the same conclusions of the previous studies that boron does not induce DNA damage even under extreme exposure conditions. KW - Boric acid KW - Boron exposure KW - DNA damage Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtemb.2019.03.004 SN - 0946-672X VL - 53 SP - 150 EP - 153 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - München ER - TY - GEN A1 - Beckmann, Nadine A1 - Becker, Katrin Anne A1 - Kadow, Stephanie A1 - Schumacher, Fabian A1 - Kramer, Melanie A1 - Kühn, Claudine A1 - Schulz-Schaeffer, Walter J. A1 - Edwards, Michael J. A1 - Kleuser, Burkhard A1 - Gulbins, Erich A1 - Carpinteiro, Alexander T1 - Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency ameliorates Farber disease T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Farber disease is a rare lysosomal storage disorder resulting from acid ceramidase deficiency and subsequent ceramide accumulation. No treatments for Farber disease are clinically available, and affected patients have a severely shortened lifespan. We have recently reported a novel acid ceramidase deficiency model that mirrors the human disease closely. Acid sphingomyelinase is the enzyme that generates ceramide upstream of acid ceramidase in the lysosomes. Using our acid ceramidase deficiency model, we tested if acid sphingomyelinase could be a potential novel therapeutic target for the treatment of Farber disease. A number of functional acid sphingomyelinase inhibitors are clinically available and have been used for decades to treat major depression. Using these as a therapeutic for Farber disease, thus, has the potential to improve central nervous symptoms of the disease as well, something all other treatment options for Farber disease can’t achieve so far. As a proof-of-concept study, we first cross-bred acid ceramidase deficient mice with acid sphingomyelinase deficient mice in order to prevent ceramide accumulation. Double-deficient mice had reduced ceramide accumulation, fewer disease manifestations, and prolonged survival. We next targeted acid sphingomyelinase pharmacologically, to test if these findings would translate to a setting with clinical applicability. Surprisingly, the treatment of acid ceramidase deficient mice with the acid sphingomyelinase inhibitor amitriptyline was toxic to acid ceramidase deficient mice and killed them within a few days of treatment. In conclusion, our study provides the first proof-of-concept that acid sphingomyelinase could be a potential new therapeutic target for Farber disease to reduce disease manifestations and prolong survival. However, we also identified previously unknown toxicity of the functional acid sphingomyelinase inhibitor amitriptyline in the context of Farber disease, strongly cautioning against the use of this substance class for Farber disease patients T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1087 KW - Farber disease KW - lysosomal storage disorders KW - acid ceramidase KW - acid sphingomyelinase KW - amitriptyline Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441282 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1087 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bornhorst, Julia A1 - Nustede, Eike Jannik A1 - Fudickar, Sebastian T1 - Mass Surveilance of C. elegans-Smartphone-Based DIY Microscope and Machine-Learning-Based Approach for Worm Detection JF - Sensors N2 - The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is often used as an alternative animal model due to several advantages such as morphological changes that can be seen directly under a microscope. Limitations of the model include the usage of expensive and cumbersome microscopes, and restrictions of the comprehensive use of C. elegans for toxicological trials. With the general applicability of the detection of C. elegans from microscope images via machine learning, as well as of smartphone-based microscopes, this article investigates the suitability of smartphone-based microscopy to detect C. elegans in a complete Petri dish. Thereby, the article introduces a smartphone-based microscope (including optics, lighting, and housing) for monitoring C. elegans and the corresponding classification via a trained Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) feature-based Support Vector Machine for the automatic detection of C. elegans. Evaluation showed classification sensitivity of 0.90 and specificity of 0.85, and thereby confirms the general practicability of the chosen approach. KW - Caenorhabditis elegans KW - machine learning KW - smartphone KW - microscope KW - SVM KW - HOG Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061468 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 19 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Castro, Jose Pedro A1 - Fernando, Raquel A1 - Reeg, Sandra A1 - Meinl, Walter A1 - Almeida, Henrique A1 - Grune, Tilman T1 - Non-enzymatic cleavage of Hsp90 by oxidative stress leads to actin aggregate formation BT - A novel gain-of-function mechanism JF - Redox Biology N2 - Aging is accompanied by the accumulation of oxidized proteins. To remove them, cells employ the proteasomal and autophagy-lysosomal systems; however, if the clearance rate is inferior to its formation, protein aggregates form as a hallmark of proteostasis loss. In cells, during stress conditions, actin aggregates accumulate leading to impaired proliferation and reduced proteasomal activity, as observed in cellular senescence. The heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone that binds and protects the proteasome from oxidative inactivation. We hypothesized that in oxidative stress conditions a malfunction of Hsp90 occurs resulting in the aforementioned protein aggregates. Here, we demonstrate that upon oxidative stress Hsp90 loses its function in a highly specific non-enzymatic iron-catalyzed oxidation event and its breakdown product, a cleaved form of Hsp90 (Hsp90cl), acquires a new function in mediating the accumulation of actin aggregates. Moreover, the prevention of Hsp90 cleavage reduces oxidized actin accumulation, whereas transfection of the cleaved form of Hsp90 leads to an enhanced accumulation of oxidized actin. This indicates a clear role of the Hsp90cl in the aggregation of oxidized proteins. KW - Oxidative stress KW - Protein oxidation KW - Heat shock protein 90 KW - Proteasome KW - Protein aggregates Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2019.101108 SN - 2213-2317 VL - 21 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chen, Xiaomin A1 - Hanschen, Franziska S. A1 - Neugart, Susanne A1 - Schreiner, Monika A1 - Vargas, Sara A. A1 - Gutschmann, Björn A1 - Baldermann, Susanne T1 - Boiling and steaming induced changes in secondary metabolites in three different cultivars of pak choi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis) JF - Journal of Food Composition and Analysis N2 - Pak choi (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis) is a leafy vegetable that is widely available in Asia and consumed in rising quantities in Europe. Pak choi contains high levels of secondary plant metabolites, such as carotenoids, chlorophylls, glucosinolates, phenolic compounds, and vitamin K, which are beneficial for humans if consumed on a regular basis. The evaluation of the genotype-induced variation of secondary plant metabolites revealed that the cultivar ‘Amur’ contained the highest concentration of secondary plant metabolites. Furthermore, steaming retained more chlorophylls, glucosinolates, phenolic acids and flavonoid compounds than boiling. In contrast, both domestic cooking methods – boiling, and steaming – reduced the formation of glucosinolate breakdown products, especially the undesired epithionitriles and nitriles but less of the health-beneficial isothiocyanates. KW - Pak choi KW - Secondary metabolites KW - Glucosinolates KW - Carotenoids KW - Chlorophylls KW - Flavonoids KW - Vitamin K KW - Domestic cooking Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2019.06.004 SN - 0889-1575 SN - 1096-0481 VL - 82 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER -