arXiv subjects

Valentina Cappello

Publications and source records attributed to Valentina Cappello.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Effects of fixatives on myelin molecular order probed with RP-CARS microscopy

When live imaging is not feasible, sample fixation allows preserving the ultrastructure of biological samples for subsequent microscopy analysis. This process could be performed with various methods, each one affecting differently the biological structure of the sample. While these alterations were well-characterized using traditional microscopy, little information is available about the effects of the fixatives on the spatial molecular orientation of the biological tissue. We tackled this issue by employing Rotating-Polarization Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (RP-CARS) microscopy to study the effects of different fixatives on the myelin sub-micrometric molecular order and micrometric morphology. RP-CARS is a novel technique derived from CARS microscopy that allows probing spatial orientation of molecular bonds while maintaining the intrinsic chemical selectivity of CARS microscopy. By characterizing the effects of the fixation procedures, the present work represents a useful guide for the choice of the best fixation technique(s), in particular for polarisation-resolved CARS microscopy. Finally, we show that the combination of paraformaldehyde and glutaraldehyde can be effectively employed as a fixative for RP-CARS microscopy, as long as the effects on the molecular spatial distribution, here characterized, are taken into account.

q-bio.TO↗

arXiv2020

RP-CARS reveals molecular spatial order anomalies in myelin of an animal model of Krabbe disease

Krabbe disease (KD) is a rare demyelinating sphingolipidosis, often fatal in the first years of life. It is caused by the inactivation of the galactocerebrosidase (GALC) enzyme that causes an increase in the cellular levels of psychosine considered to be at the origin of the tissue-level effects. GALC is inactivated also in the Twitcher (TWI) mouse: a genetic model of KD that is providing important insights into the understating of the pathogenetic process and the development of possible treatments. In this article an innovative optical technique, RP-CARS, is proposed as a tool to study the degree of order of the CH2 bonds inside the myelin sheaths of TWI-mice sciatic-nerve fibres. RP-CARS, a recently developed variation of CARS microscopy, is able to combine the intrinsic chemical selectivity of CARS microscopy with molecular-bond-spatial-orientation sensibility. This is the first time RP-CARS is applied to the study of a genetic model of a pathology, leading to the demonstration of a post-onset progressive spatial disorganization of the myelin CH2 bonds. The presented result could be of great interest for a deeper understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying the human KD and, moreover, it is an additional proof of the experimental validity of this microscopy technique.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2018

Piezoelectric Barium Titanate Nanostimulators for the Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme

Major obstacles to the successful treatment of gliolastoma multiforme are mostly related to the acquired resistance to chemotherapy drugs and, after surgery, to the cancer recurrence in correspondence of residual microscopic foci. As innovative anticancer approach, low-intensity electric stimulation represents a physical treatment able to reduce multidrug resistance of cancer and to induce remarkable anti-proliferative effects by interfering with Ca2+ and K+ homeostasis and by affecting the organization of the mitotic spindles. However, to preserve healthy cells, it is utterly important to direct the electric stimuli only to malignant cells. In this work, we propose a nanotechnological approach based on ultrasound-sensitive piezoelectric nanoparticles to remotely deliver electric stimulations to glioblastoma cells. Barium titanate nanoparticles (BTNPs) have been functionalized with an antibody against the transferrin receptor (TfR) in order to obtain the dual targeting of blood-brain barrier and of glioblastoma cells. The remote ultrasound-mediated piezo-stimulation allowed to significantly reduce in vitro the proliferation of glioblastoma cells and, when combined with a sub-toxic concentration of temozolomide, induced an increased sensitivity to the chemotherapy treatment and remarkable anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects.

physics.bio-ph↗