Insect pheromones are crucial for survival and reproduction because they influence insect behavior, communication, and interactions within and outside the colony. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have one of the most complex pheromonal communication systems. One pheromone, known as Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP), is released by the queen bee to regulate physiology, behavior, and gene expression in the female worker caste. The pheromone acts as a signal of queen presence that suppresses worker reproduction. In the absence of reproduction, young workers focus on taking care of the queen and larvae, known as nurse tasks, while older workers forage. In nurse bees, QMP has fundamental physiological impacts, including increasing abdominal lipid stores and increasing the protein content of hypopharyngeal glands (HPG). The HPG are worker-specific glands that can synthesize royal jelly used in colony nourishment. In workers, larger HPG signifies the ability to secrete royal jelly, while shrunken glands are characteristic of foragers that do not make jelly. While it is known that QMP increases abdominal lipid stores, the underlying mechanism is unclear: Does the pheromone simply make workers consume more pollen which provides lipids and protein, or does QMP also increase lipogenesis? In this study, I measured abdominal lipogenesis as fatty acid synthase (FAS) activity and monitored abdominal protein content and HPG size in caged, nurse-aged worker bees. In cages, workers were exposed to QMP or not, and they were provided with a lipid less diet in a full factorial design experiment. I found that QMP did not influence abdominal FAS activity or protein, but significantly increased HPG size. The data also revealed a significant positive correlation between abdominal protein and HPG size. My results do not support the idea that QMP modulates lipogenesis in worker bees, but my data can be interpreted to reflect that QMP mobilizes abdominal protein for the production of jelly in the HPG. This finding is in line with a previous study revealing a role of honey bee Brood Pheromone in mobilization of a major protein used in jelly production. Overall, my results support a fundamental role of QMP in worker metabolic processes associated with colony nourishment.
One of the identified health risk areas for human spaceflight is infectious disease, particularly involving environmental microorganisms already found on the International Space Station (ISS). In particular, bacteria belonging to the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) which can cause human disease in those who are immunocompromised, have been identified in the ISS water supply. This present study characterized the effect of spaceflight analog culture conditions on Bcc to certain physiological stresses (acid and thermal as well as intracellular survival in U927 human macrophage cells). The NASA-designed Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV) bioreactor was used as the spaceflight analogue culture system in these studies to grow Bcc bacterial cells under Low Shear Modeled Microgravity (LSMMG) conditions. Results show that LSMMG culture increased the resistance of Bcc to both acid and thermal stressors, but did not alter phagocytic uptake in 2-D monolayers of human monocytes.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the developed world and often occurs following myocardial infarction. Apelin is an endogenous prepropeptide that has been studied for its role in improving cardiac contractility and vasodilation but suffers from a short half-life in the body. By encasing apelin in a nanoparticle patch, we were able to slowly release apelin to cardiac tissue and observe its effects for one month following induced myocardial infarction surgery in mice. This study demonstrates that the apelin nanoparticles can protect the heart from myocardial-induced heart failure, observing overall improved cardiac function and reduction of fibrotic scarring associated with post-myocardial infarction compared to a nontreated group.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is an emerging procedure in regenerative medicine that offers a non-surgical minimally invasive way for tissue repair and regeneration. PRP has many different bioactive molecules that are able to influence and help achieve greater recovery and regenerative outcomes. Diet has many effects on platelets and looking at the mechanism in which platelet function and aggregation are affected with different diets shows how they are able to affect PRP therapy. Looking at these mechanisms allows for better physician recommendations for preprocedural diets to optimize efficacy. This paper conducts a systematic review to investigate the influence that diet can have on PRP outcomes. It was shown that high fat diets lower the efficacy of treatment while the Mediterranean diet helps promote platelet function and help efficacy. The future is to look at more diets while also integrating lifestyle choice before treatment for optimal outcomes.
