METHODS: The study enrolled 54 patients with primary brain tumors. DNA extracted from paired tissue and blood samples was subjected to Sanger sequencing to identify alterations in the entire mtDNA. The associations between clinicopathological characteristics and mutations were evaluated. Cox-regression multivariate analysis was conducted to identify factors significantly associated with survival, and Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the survival of patients with and without mutations.
RESULTS: Overall, 29.6% of the patients harbored 19 somatic mutations distributed across 15 loci within the mtDNA. Notably, 36.8% of these mutations were not previously documented in MITOMAP. One newly identified mutation caused a frameshift in the ATPase6 gene, resulting in a premature stop codon. Three mutations were classified as deleterious in the MitImpact2 database. Overall, 1097 mtDNA polymorphisms were identified across 331 different locations. Patients with mutations exhibited significantly shorter survival than patients without mutations.
CONCLUSIONS: mtDNA mutations negatively affected the survival outcomes of Malaysian patients with primary brain tumors. However, studies with larger samples are needed to confirm the association between mutation burden and survival rates.
METHODS: Embryonic day 18 (E-18) rat hippocampus neurons were cultured with poly-L-lysine coated glass coverslips. Following optimisation, KA (0.5 μM), a chemoconvulsant agent, was administered at three different time-points (30, 60 and 90 min) to induce seizure in rat hippocampal neuronal cell culture. We examined cell viability, neurite outgrowth density and immunoreactivity of the hippocampus neuron culture by measuring brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), γ-amino butyric acid A (GABAA) subunit α-1 (GABRA1), tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB), and inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R/IP3) levels.
RESULTS: The results revealed significantly decreased and increased immunoreactivity changes in TrkB (a BDNF receptor) and IP3R, respectively, at 60 min time point.
CONCLUSION: The current findings suggest that TrkB and IP3 could have a neuroprotective role which could be a potential pharmacological target for anti-epilepsy drugs.