Vol 15, No 1 (2023)

The problem of low efficiency of nanotherapeutic drugs challenges the creation of new alternative biomedical nanosystems known as robotic nanodevices. In addition to encapsulating properties, nanodevices can perform different biomedical functions, such as precision surgery, in vivo detection and imaging, biosensing, targeted delivery, and, more recently, detoxification of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds. Nanodevices for detoxification are aimed at removing toxic molecules from biological tissues, using a chemical- and/or enzyme-containing nanocarrier for the toxicant to diffuse inside the nanobody. This strategy is opposite to drug delivery systems that focus on encapsulating drugs and releasing them under the influence of external factors. The review describes various kinds of nanodevices intended for detoxification that differ by the type of poisoning treatment they provide, as well as the type of materials and toxicants. The final part of the review is devoted to enzyme nanosystems, an emerging area of research that provides fast and effective neutralization of toxins in vivo.

Pemphigus vulgaris is a severe, socially significant autoimmune disease associated with autoantibodies to the desmoglein 3 antigen. The disease affects all age groups, beginning at 18 years of age; the mortality rate of pemphigus can reach as high as 50%, depending on a patient’s age and a number of other factors. There is no highly selective or personalized therapy for pemphigus vulgaris at the moment. One of the well-known therapeutic approaches to the disease is to use rituximab, an anti-CD20 antibody that can help achieve B cell depletion in peripheral blood. To solve the problem of nonspecific elimination of B cells in patients with pemphigus vulgaris, it is reasonable to use specific immunoligands, their choice being based on an assessment of the level of autoantibodies specific to each of the fragments of desmoglein. In this work, the proportion of autoreactive B cells in patients diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris is found to be 0.09–0.16%; a positive correlation was revealed between the antibody level and the number of autoreactive B cells to various fragments of desmoglein.

Catalepsy is a behavioral condition that is associated with severe psychopathologies, including schizophrenia, depression, and Parkinson’s disease. In some mouse strains, catalepsy can be induced by pinching the skin at the scruff of the neck. The main locus of hereditary catalepsy in mice has recently been linked to the 105–115 Mb fragment of mouse chromosome 13 by QTL analysis. We performed whole-genome sequencing of catalepsy-resistant and catalepsy-prone mouse strains in order to pinpoint the putative candidate genes related to hereditary catalepsy in mice. We remapped the previously described main locus for hereditary catalepsy in mice to the chromosome region 103.92–106.16 Mb. A homologous human region on chromosome 5 includes genetic and epigenetic variants associated with schizophrenia. Furthermore, we identified a missense variant in catalepsy-prone strains within the Nln gene. Nln encodes neurolysin, which degrades neurotensin, a peptide reported to induce catalepsy in mice. Our data suggest that Nln is the most probable candidate for the role of major gene of hereditary, pinch-induced catalepsy in mice and point to a shared molecular pathway between catalepsy in mice and human neuropsychiatric disorders.

NMDA glutamate receptors play an important role in normal and pathophysiological nociception. At the periphery, they can interact with TRPV1 ion channels. The blockade of TRPV1 ion channels decreases NMDA-induced hyperalgesia, and NMDA receptor antagonists suppress the pain response to the TRPV1 agonist capsaicin. Since TRPV1 ion channels and NMDA receptors can functionally interact at the periphery, it would be interesting to investigate the possibility that they interact in the CNS. A single subcutaneous injection of 1 mg/kg of capsaicin was found to raise the thermal pain threshold in the tail flick test in mice, which reproduces the spinal flexion reflex, owing to the ability of capsaicin to cause long-term desensitization of nociceptors. Preventive administration of either noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists (high-affinity MK-801 20 µg/kg and 0.5 mg/kg subcutaneously; low-affinity hemantane 40 mg/kg intraperitoneally) or the selective TRPV1 antagonist BCTC (20 mg/kg intraperitoneally) inhibit the capsaicin-induced increase in the pain threshold. Capsaicin (1 mg/kg, subcutaneous injection) induces transient hypothermia in mice, which is brought about by hypothalamus-triggered vegetative reactions. This effect is prevented by BCTC but not by the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists.

Changes in the structure of the N-acyl group in N-acylated amino acid derivatives significantly affect both the recognition and activity of penicillin acylases on this series of substrates. However, penicillin acylases from both Alcaligenes faecalis and Escherichia coli are capable of removing the N-benzyloxycarbonyl protecting group in amino acid derivatives under mild conditions without the use of toxic reagents. Efficiency in using penicillin acylases in preparative organic synthesis can be improved by utilizing modern rational enzyme design methods.

Bacterial infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens pose an extremely serious and elusive problem in healthcare. The discovery and targeted creation of new antibiotics are today among the most important public health issues. Antibiotics based on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are of particular interest due to their genetically encoded nature. A distinct advantage of most AMPs is their direct mechanism of action that is mediated by their membranolytic properties. The low rate of emergence of antibiotic resistance associated with the killing mechanism of action of AMPs attracts heightened attention to this field. Recombinant technologies enable the creation of genetically programmable AMP producers for large-scale generation of recombinant AMPs (rAMPs) or the creation of rAMP-producing biocontrol agents. The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris was genetically modified for the secreted production of rAMP. Constitutive expression of the sequence encoding the mature AMP protegrin-1 provided the yeast strain that effectively inhibits the growth of target gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. An antimicrobial effect was also observed in the microculture when a yeast rAMP producer and a reporter bacterium were co-encapsulated in droplets of microfluidic double emulsion. The heterologous production of rAMPs opens up new avenues for creating effective biocontrol agents and screening antimicrobial activity using ultrahigh-throughput technologies.

Several different methods of DNA library preparation for paleogenetic studies are now available. However, the chemical reactions underlying each of them can affect the primary sequence of ancient DNA (aDNA) in the libraries and taint the results of a statistical analysis. In this paper, we compare the results of a sequencing of the aDNA libraries of a Bronze Age sample from burials of the Caucasian burial ground Klady, prepared using three different approaches: (1) shotgun sequencing, (2) strategies for selecting target genomic regions, and (3) strategies for selecting target genomic regions, including DNA pre-treatment with a mixture of uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) and endonuclease VIII. The impact of the studied approaches to genomic library preparation on the results of a secondary analysis of the statistical data, namely F4 statistics, ADMIXTURE, and principal component analysis (PCA), was analyzed. It was shown that preparation of genomic libraries without the use of UDG can result in distorted statistical data due to postmortem chemical modifications of the aDNA. This distortion can be alleviated by analyzing only the single nucleotide polymorphisms caused by transversions in the genome.