The effect of interleukin-8 on the viability of injected adipose tissue in nude mice

Adipose tissue injection as a free graft for the correction of soft-tissue defects is a widespread procedure in plastic surgery. The main problem in achieving long-term soft-tissue augmentation is partial absorption of the injected fat and hence the need for overcorrection and re-injection. The purpose of this study was to improve the viability of the injected fat by the use of interleukin-8. The rationale for the use of interleukin-8 was its abilities to accelerate angiogenesis and attract inflammatory cells and fibroblasts, providing the injected adipocytes more feeding vessels and a well-established graft bed to enhance their viability. Human adipose tissue, obtained by suction-assisted lipectomy, was re-injected into the subcutis in the scalp of nude mice. Interleukin-8 (0.25 ng) was injected subcutaneously to the scalp as a preparation of the recipient site 24 hours before the fat injection and was added to the fat graft itself (25 ng per 1 cc of injected fat). In the control group, pure fat without interleukin-8 was injected and no interleukin-8 was added for the preparation of the recipient site. One cubic centimeter of fat was injected in each animal in both the study and control groups. There were 10 animals in each group. The animals were euthanized 15 weeks after the procedure. Graft weight and volume were measured and histologic evaluation was performed. In addition, triglyceride content and adipose cell sizes were measured as parameters for fat cells viability. Histologic analysis demonstrated significantly less cyst formation in the group treated with interleukin-8. No significant differences were found between the groups with regard to graft weight and volume or the other histologic parameters investigated. No significant differences were demonstrated in adipose cell sizes and their triglyceride content. In conclusion, less cyst formation, indicating improved quality of the injected fat, can be obtained by the addition of interleukin-8. Further studies of various dosages of interleukin-8 and their long-term effect are required before these encouraging results could be applied clinically.     

Human peripheral blood eosinophils induce angiogenesis

Eosinophils play a crucial role in allergic reactions and asthma. They are also involved in responses against parasites, in autoimmune and neoplastic diseases, and in fibroses. There is increasing evidence that angiogenesis plays an important role in these processes. Since eosinophils are known to produce angiogenic mediators, we have hypothesized a direct contribution of these cells to angiogenesis. The effect of human peripheral blood eosinophil sonicates on rat aortic endothelial cell proliferation (in vitro), rat aorta sprouting (ex vivo) and angiogenesis in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (in vivo) have been investigated. To determine whether eosinophil-derived vascular endothelial growth factor influences the eosinophil pro-angiogenic activity, eosinophil sonicates were incubated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies and then added to the chorioallantoic membrane. Vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA expression and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor density on the endothelial cells were also evaluated. Eosinophils were found to enhance endothelial cell proliferation and to induce a strong angiogenic response both in the aorta rings and in the chorioallantoic membrane assays. Pre-incubation of eosinophil sonicates with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies partially reduced the angiogenic response of these cells in the chorioallantoic membrane. Eosinophils also increased vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA production on endothelial cells. Eosinophils are able to induce angiogenesis and this effect is partially mediated by their pre-formed vascular endothelial growth factor. This strongly suggests an important role of eosinophils in angiogenesis-associated diseases such as asthma.     

Mating system, philopatry and patterns of kinship in the cooperatively breeding subdesert mesite Monias benschi

In the first molecular study of a member of the threatened avian family, Mesitornithidae, we used nine polymorphic microsatellite loci to elucidate parentage, patterns of within-group kinship and occurrence of extra-group paternity in the subdesert mesite Monias benschi, of southwest Madagascar. We found this cooperatively breeding species to have a very fluid mating system. There was evidence of genetic monogamy and polygynandry: of the nine groups with multiple offspring, six contained one breeding pair with unrelated helpers and three contained multiple male and female breeders with related helpers. Although patterns of within-group kinship varied, there was a strong positive relationship between group size and relatedness, suggesting that groups form by natal philopatry. There was also a strong positive correlation between within-sex and between-sex relatedness, indicating that unlike most cooperatively breeding birds, philopatry involved both sexes. In contrast to predictions of kin selection and reproductive skew models, all monogamous groups contained unrelated individuals, while two of the three polygynandrous groups were families. Moreover, although between-group variation in seasonal reproductive success was related to within-group female relatedness, relatedness among males and between the sexes had no bearing on a group's reproductive output. While kin selection may underlie helping behaviour in females, factors such as direct long-term fitness benefits of group living probably determine helping in males. Of the 14 offspring produced by fully sampled groups, at least two were sired by males from neighbouring groups: one by a breeding male and one by a nonbreeding male, suggesting that males may augment their reproductive success through extra-group paternity.     

The relative efficiency of penetrance estimators for sib pairs

Here we present analytical studies to evaluate the relative efficiency of commonly used penetrance estimators using linkage designs. We investigated three different methods of estimating penetrance using sib pairs: Maximum likehood estimation (MLE) with trait information alone, MLE with both trait and marker information and the MOD score approach. Modeling sib pairs with unknown phase, we evaluated the asymptotic relative efficiency between estimators under either random sampling or single ascertainment for an autosomal dominant or recessive disease. We then provide plots of the asymptotic relative efficiency, enabling researchers to easily determine regions where the MOD score or segregation alone performs with comparable efficiency relative to joint segregation and linkage.     

Exploring the relationship between parental relatedness and male reproductive success in the Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella

Recent genetic studies of natural populations have shown that heterozygosity and other genetic estimates of parental relatedness correlate with a wide variety of fitness traits, from juvenile survival and parasite resistance to male reproductive success. Many of these traits involve health and survival, where the underlying mechanism may involve changes in the effectiveness of the immune system. However, for traits such as reproductive success, the likely mechanisms remain less obvious. In this paper, we examine the relationship between heterozygosity and a range of traits that contribute to male reproductive success, including time spent on territories and competitiveness. Our analysis is based on observational and genetic data from eight consecutive breeding seasons at a colony of the Antarctic fur seal, Arctocephalus gazella. Overall, male reproductive success was found to correlate strongly with internal relatedness (IR, a form of heterozygosity). When different components of success were analyzed, we found that IR correlates independently with reproductive longevity, time spent ashore, and competitive ability per unit mating opportunity on the study beach, with more heterozygous males being more successful. Behavioral observations were sufficiently detailed to allow examination of how daily mean IR values for males present on the beach varied within seasons and from year to year. Again, significant variation was found both among and within seasons, with more homozygous males appearing less able to hold territories in poor seasons when pup production is low and, within a season, at both the start of the season and to some extent around the peak of female estrus. Finally, we tested whether the benefits of high heterozygosity are due mainly to a genomewide effect (e.g. inbreeding depression) or to single locus heterosis by asking whether the relationship between IR and male success was robust to the removal of any single locus or to any pair of loci. Since the relationship remained significant in all cases, we favor a multilocus explanation for the effects we report.     

Simulations of action of DNA topoisomerases to investigate boundaries and shapes of spaces of knots

The configuration space available to randomly cyclized polymers is divided into subspaces accessible to individual knot types. A phantom chain utilized in numerical simulations of polymers can explore all subspaces, whereas a real closed chain forming a figure-of-eight knot, for example, is confined to a subspace corresponding to this knot type only. One can conceptually compare the assembly of configuration spaces of various knot types to a complex foam where individual cells delimit the configuration space available to a given knot type. Neighboring cells in the foam harbor knots that can be converted into each other by just one intersegmental passage. Such a segment-segment passage occurring at the level of knotted configurations corresponds to a passage through the interface between neighboring cells in the foamy knot space. Using a DNA topoisomerase-inspired simulation approach we characterize here the effective interface area between neighboring knot spaces as well as the surface-to-volume ratio of individual knot spaces. These results provide a reference system required for better understanding mechanisms of action of various DNA topoisomerases.     

Ignoring linkage disequilibrium among tightly linked markers induces false-positive evidence of linkage for affected sib pair analysis

Most multipoint linkage programs assume linkage equilibrium among the markers being studied. The assumption is appropriate for the study of sparsely spaced markers with intermarker distances exceeding a few centimorgans, because linkage equilibrium is expected over these intervals for almost all populations. However, with recent advancements in high-throughput genotyping technology, much denser markers are available, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) may exist among the markers. Applying linkage analyses that assume linkage equilibrium to dense markers may lead to bias. Here, we demonstrated that, when some or all of the parental genotypes are missing, assuming linkage equilibrium among tightly linked markers where strong LD exists can cause apparent oversharing of multipoint identity by descent (IBD) between sib pairs and false-positive evidence for multipoint model-free linkage analysis of affected sib pair data. LD can also mimic linkage between a disease locus and multiple tightly linked markers, thus causing false-positive evidence of linkage using parametric models, particularly when heterogeneity LOD score approaches are applied. Bias can be eliminated by inclusion of parental genotype data and can be reduced when additional unaffected siblings are included in the analysis.     

Regulation of type VI adenylyl cyclase by Snapin, a SNAP25-binding protein

In the present study, we used the N terminus (amino acids 1 approximately 160) of type VI adenylyl cyclase (ACVI) as bait to screen a mouse brain cDNA library and identified Snapin as a novel ACVI-interacting molecule. Snapin is a binding protein of SNAP25, a component of the SNARE complex. Co-immunoprecipitation analyses confirmed the interaction between Snapin and full-length ACVI. Mutational analysis revealed that the interaction domains of ACVI and Snapin were located within amino acids 1 approximately 86 of ACVI and 33-51 of Snapin, respectively. Co-localization of ACVI and Snapin was observed in primary hippocampal neurons. Moreover, expression of Snapin specifically eliminated protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated suppression of ACVI, but not that of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) or calcium. Mutation of the potential PKC and PKA phosphorylation sites of Snapin did not affect the ability of Snapin to reverse the PKC inhibitory effect on ACVI. Phosphorylation of Snapin by PKC or PKA therefore might not be crucial for Snapin action on ACVI. In contrast, Snapin(Delta33-51), which harbors an internal deletion of amino acids 33-51 did not affect PKC-mediated inhibition of ACVI, supporting that amino acids 33-51 of Snapin comprises the ACVI-interacting region. Consistently, Snapin exerted no effect on PKC-mediated inhibition of an ACVI mutant (ACVI-DeltaA87), which lacked the Snapin-interacting region (amino acids 1-86). Snapin thus reverses its action via direct interaction with the N terminus of ACVI. Collectively, we demonstrate herein that in addition to its association with the SNARE complex, Snapin also functions as a regulator of an important cAMP synthesis enzyme in the brain.     

Infection of specific dendritic cells by CCR5-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 promotes cell-mediated transmission of virus resistant to broadly neutralizing antibodies

The tropism of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 for chemokine receptors plays an important role in the transmission of AIDS. Although CXCR4-tropic virus is more cytopathic for T cells, CCR5-tropic strains are transmitted more frequently in humans for reasons that are not understood. Phenotypically immature myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) are preferentially infected by CCR5-tropic virus, in contrast to mature mDCs, which are not susceptible to infection but instead internalize virus into a protected intracellular compartment and enhance the infection of T cells. Here, we define a mechanism to explain preferential transmission of CCR5-tropic viruses based on their interaction with mDCs and sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies. Infected immature mDCs differentiated normally and were found to enhance CCR5-tropic but not CXCR4-tropic virus infection of T cells even in the continuous presence of neutralizing antibodies. Infectious synapses also formed normally in the presence of such antibodies. Infection of immature mDCs by CCR5-tropic virus can therefore establish a pool of infected cells that can efficiently transfer virus at the same time that they protect virus from antibody neutralization. This property of DCs may enhance infection, contribute to immune evasion, and could provide a selective advantage for CCR5-tropic virus transmission.