12:00 – 12:30 Gergana Mincheva

Extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stem cells reverse neuroinflammation and cognitive and motor impairment in rats with mild liver damage

Cirrhotic patients may develop minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE), with mild cognitive impairment, psychomotor slowing and motor incoordination. Human mesenchymal stem cells derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) have been proposed as therapy for different diseases due to their immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties. The aim of this study was to assess if MSC-EVs reverse cognitive and motor impairment in rats with mild liver damage and identifying the underlying mechanisms. Mild liver damage was induced by intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 during four weeks. MSC-EVs were isolated from human adipose tissue-derived stem and were injected intravenously. We assessed cognitive and motor impairment with different behavioral tests, neuroinflammation and neurotransmission alterations were assessed by immunohistochemistry and Western Blot. MSC-EVs injected intravenously reduce neuroinflammation in hippocampus and cerebellum and reverse cognitive and motor impairment in rats with mid liver damage. This suggests that MSC-EVs are a promising therapy which could be used to improve MHE and the quality of life in cirrhotic patients.

12:30 – 13:00 Irene Soler

Unveiling transcriptomic sex differences of multiple sclerosis: an in silico atlas across cell types analysing scRNA-seq and snRNA-seq data

 Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the leading cause of nontraumatic disability in young adults. Its major hallmark is myelin damage in the central nervous system, resulting in chronic neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Sex differences in the incidence, prevalence, disease progression, symptom variability, and response to treatment of MS have been reported. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these differences remain poorly understood. The aim of this work is to exhaustively characterize sex bias in MS by cell type. To this end, we performed an in silico analysis of scRNA-seq and snRNA-seq data using the R programming language. First, we performed a systematic review in public repositories following the PRISMA guidelines. Three datasets were identified, each representing a different MS subtype. Then, we processed each selected dataset independently. After the annotation of the different cell types, all of them were fully characterized with the following analyses: differential gene expression, functional profiling, signaling pathways and cell-cell communication. In this seminar, we will focus on the secondary progressive MS subtype in nervous tissue, where the results obtained for astrocytes, microglia, neurons, oligodendrocytes, and oligodendrocyte precursor cells will be addressed