Detection and semi-quantitative determination of low abundance GFAP mRNA in mouse brain by capillary electrophoresis coupled with laser-induced fluorescence

Impaired nerve conduction velocity in MPTP-treated mouse model of Parkinson's disease

Electrophysiological examination can provide valuable information on functional abnormalities in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although there are numerous reports on biochemical and molecular alterations in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced experimental parkinsonism in mice, the mode of electrophysiology in this animal model of PD is not clear. This study provides a comparative evaluation of corticomotor evoked potential (CMEP), compound muscle action potential (CMAP) and motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) in mice treated with MPTP (30 mg/kg, ip, daily for 4 days) or saline (control group). Although the CMEP latencies were similar in both the groups, the CMEP amplitude was non-significantly decreased in MPTP-treated mice. There was a significant increase in the CMAP latency (1.37 ± 0.03 versus 1.20 ± 0.02 ms) and decrease in CMAP amplitude (4.50 ± 0.89 versus 8.31 ± 0.86 mV) in MPTP-treated mice as compared with control group. This prolonged conduction time resulted in a significant decrease in NCV in MPTP-treated mice (21.98 ± 0.54 m/s) as compared with control mice (24.47 ± 0.33 m/s). There was a significant depletion of striatal dopamine in MPTP-treated animals. These findings demonstrate that systemic administration of MPTP significantly impairs both the central and peripheral nervous systems in mice. However, the resemblance of this neurophysiological status with idiopathic PD or other animal models of PD is not clear and requires additional studies.

Capillary electrophoresis methods for microRNAs assays: a review

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that conduct important roles in many cellular processes such as development, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. In particular, circulating miRNAs have been proposed as biomarkers for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other illnesses. Therefore, determination of miRNA expression levels in various biofluids is important for the investigation of biological processes in health and disease and for discovering their potential as new biomarkers and drug targets. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is emerging as a useful analytical tool for analyzing miRNA because of its simple sample preparation steps and efficient resolution of a diverse size range of compounds. In particular, CE with laser-induced fluorescence detection is a promising and relatively rapidly developing tool with the potential to provide high sensitivity and specificity in the analysis of miRNAs. This paper covers a short overview of the recent developments and applications of CE systems in miRNA studies in biological and biomedical areas.

Capillary electrophoresis at the omics level: Towards systems biology

Emerging systems biology aims at integrating the enormous amount of existing omics data in order to better understand their functional relationships at a whole systems level. These huge datasets can be obtained through advances in high-throughput, sensitive, precise, and accurate analytical instrumentation and technological innovation. Separation sciences play an important role in revealing biological processes at various omic levels. From the perspective of systems biology, CE is a strong candidate for high-throughput, sensitive data generation which is capable of tackling the challenges in acquiring qualitative and quantitative knowledge through a system-level study. This review focuses on the applicability of CE to systems-based analytical data at the genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic levels.