Influence of Hydrocortisone on Chick Embryo Retina Development

Treatment of chick embryos in ovo with hydrocortisone-21-phosphate (a single dose of 150 micrograms) caused a marked reduction of retinal thymidine kinase activity 24 h later. The inhibitory effect was highest (65-70%) in 8-10-day-old embryos and declined with age, disappearing after day 15. It was accompanied by a reduction in thickness of the retinal layers. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) treatment (10 micrograms daily for 2 days) also produced an age-dependent inhibitory effect on retinal thymidine kinase, whereas treatment with a single dose of 200 micrograms of metopirone, a compound that prevents the 11 beta-hydroxylation of steroid molecules in the adrenal glands, impeded the decrease in thymidine kinase activity that normally occurs in chick embryo retina after day 9 of development. In addition, metopirone prevented the inhibition exerted by ACTH on thymidine kinase activity but had no effect on the action of hydrocortisone.     

Estrogen receptors: new perspectives in breast cancer management

The imbalance between proliferative and differentiative estrogenic effect, caused by quantitative and qualitative alteration of the estrogen receptor (ER) expression, may play a determinant role in mammary neoplastic transformation. Our studies demonstrate that ER levels are significantly higher in human mammary neoplastic tissues when compared to perineoplastic tissues and that increased ER expression is associated with ER gene hypomethylation. During progressive multifactorial carcinogene, ER overexpression may represent an early step in neoplastic transformation. In fact, high levels of ER represent good markers of differentiation and can predict the likelihood of benefiting from anti-estrogen therapy. Nevertheless, about 35% of ER-positive breast cancers are resistant to endocrine therapy and 10% of ER-negative tumors behave as hormone-sensitive tumors. Recent studies on ER mRNA variants, which naturally occur in human breast tumors, demonstrated mutations, deletions and alternative splicings, yielding deletions of exons 3, 4, 5 and 7. ER variants exhibited altered functions or changed the responsiveness to hormonal therapy. Analysis of these variants could be a useful parameter to better predict tumor responsiveness to anti-estrogen therapy. Recently, a regain of hormonal responsiveness by ER-negative breast cancer cells has been reported following ER gene transfection. However, estradiol treatment inhibits rather than stimulates cell growth as well as the metastatic and invasive potential of the ER gene transduced cells. Transfer of the ER gene may be considered as a new therapeutic approach in the management of hormone-independent breast cancer.     

Autonomy of acetylcholinesterase differentiation in muscle lineage cells of ascidian embryos

The two muscle lineage blastomeres were removed surgically from Ciona intestinalis embryos at the eight-cell stage and allowed to develop in isolation. Acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that occurs only in muscle cells of the developing larva, was detected histochemically in progeny cells of these isolated blastomers. Acetylcholinesterase differentiation in muscle lineage cells is not, therefore, dependent on inductive interactions with embryonic tissues derived from other eight-cell stage blastomeres.     

Extensive exchange of rat liver microsomal phospholipids

Liver microsomal fractions were prepared from rats injected with a single dose of choline [¹⁴C] methylchloride or with single or multiple doses of ³²P_i. Exchangeability of microsomal phospholipids was determined by incubation with an excess of mitochondria and phospholipid exchange proteins derived from beef heart, beef liver or rat liver. Labeled phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol were found to act as a single pool and were 85–95% exchangeable in 1–2 h. High latencies of mannose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase activities and impermeability of microsomes to EDTA proved that phospholipid exchange proteins did not have access to the intracisternal space. If microsomal membranes are largely composed of phospholipid bilayers, the experiments suggest that one or more of the phospholipid classes in microsomal membranes undergo rapid translocation between the inner and outer portions of the bilayer.     

Field distribution and quality factor of surface plasmon resonances of metal meshes for mid-infrared sensing

We studied surface plasmon sensors based on micrometric metal meshes by optical transmission spectroscopy as a function of the angle of incidence. The mesh period was set to 2 μm for operation at mid-infrared wavelengths. Metal meshes on dielectric substrates were compared to suspended meshes obtained with a lift-off-free fabrication process, which reduces plasmon damping and increases the quality factor up to 25. We have numerically calculated the electric field distribution of “dark” quadrupole-like modes and found that the suspended mesh provides an enhanced interaction volume extending up to hundreds of nanometers in free space. Our sensors have been experimentally tested and they exhibited a sensitivity up to 1.4?·?10^?3?nm^?1, at least 1 order of magnitude better than standard mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy.     

Mechanistic insights into the role of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning

Large carnivores can exert top–down effects in ecosystems, but the size of these effects are largely unknown. Empirical investigation on the importance of large carnivores for ecosystem structure and functioning presents a number of challenges due to the large spatio-temporal scale and the complexity of such dynamics. Here, we applied a mechanistic global ecosystem model to investigate the influence of large-carnivore removal from undisturbed ecosystems. First, we simulated large-carnivore removal on the global scale to inspect the geographic pattern of top–down control and to disentangle the functional role of large carnivores in top–down control in different environmental contexts. Second, we conducted four small-scale ecosystem simulation experiments to understand direct and indirect changes in food-web structure under different environmental conditions. We found that the removal of top–down control exerted by large carnivores (> 21 kg) can trigger large trophic cascades, leading to an overall decrease in autotroph biomass globally. Furthermore, the loss of large carnivores resulted in an increase of mesopredators. The magnitude of these changes was positively related to primary productivity (NPP), in line with the ‘exploitation ecosystem hypothesis’. In addition, we found that seasonality in NPP dampened the magnitude of change following the removal of large carnivores. Our results reinforce the idea that large carnivores play a fundamental role in shaping ecosystems, and further declines and extinctions can trigger substantial ecosystem responses. Our findings also support previous studies suggesting that natural ecosystem dynamics have been severely modified and are still changing as a result of the widespread decline and extinction of large carnivores.     

Next Generation Semiconductor Based-Sequencing of a Nutrigenetics Target Gene (GPR120) and Association with Growth Rate in Italian Large White Pigs

The GPR120 gene (also known as FFAR4 or O3FAR1) encodes for a functional omega-3 fatty acid receptor/sensor that mediates potent insulin sensitizing effects by repressing macrophage-induced tissue inflammation. For its functional role, GPR120 could be considered a potential target gene in animal nutrigenetics. In this work we resequenced the porcine GPR120 gene by high throughput Ion Torrent semiconductor sequencing of amplified fragments obtained from 8 DNA pools derived, on the whole, from 153 pigs of different breeds/populations (two Italian Large White pools, Italian Duroc, Italian Landrace, Casertana, Pietrain, Meishan, and wild boars). Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), two synonymous substitutions and one in the putative 3′-untranslated region (g.114765469C > T), were identified and their allele frequencies were estimated by sequencing reads count. The g.114765469C > T SNP was also genotyped by PCR-RFLP confirming estimated frequency in Italian Large White pools. Then, this SNP was analyzed in two Italian Large White cohorts using a selective genotyping approach based on extreme and divergent pigs for back fat thickness (BFT) estimated breeding value (EBV) and average daily gain (ADG) EBV. Significant differences of allele and genotype frequencies distribution was observed between the extreme ADG-EBV groups (P < 0.001) whereas this marker was not associated with BFT-EBV.     

Palmitoylethanolamide and luteolin ameliorate development of arthritis caused by injection of collagen type II in mice

IntroductionN-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA) is an endogenous fatty acid amide belonging to the family of the N-acylethanolamines (NAEs). Recently, several studies demonstrated that PEA is an important analgesic, antiinflammatory, and neuroprotective mediator. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of co-ultramicronized PEA + luteolin formulation on the modulation of the inflammatory response in mice subjected to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA).MethodsCIA was induced by an intradermally injection of 100 μl of the emulsion (containing 100 μg of bovine type II collagen (CII)) and complete Freund adjuvant (CFA) at the base of the tail. On day 21, a second injection of CII in CFA was administered. Mice subjected to CIA were administered PEA (10 mg/kg 10% ethanol, intraperitoneally (i.p.)) or co-ultramicronized PEA + luteolin (1 mg/kg, i.p.) every 24 hours, starting from day 25 to 35.ResultsMice developed erosive hind-paw arthritis when immunized with CII in CFA. Macroscopic clinical evidence of CIA first appeared as periarticular erythema and edema in the hindpaws. The incidence of CIA was 100% by day 28 in the CII-challenged mice, and the severity of CIA progressed over a 35-day period with a resorption of bone. The histopathology of CIA included erosion of the cartilage at the joint. Treatment with PEA or PEA + luteolin ameliorated the clinical signs at days 26 to 35 and improved histologic status in the joint and paw. The degree of oxidative and nitrosative damage was significantly reduced in PEA + luteolin-treated mice, as indicated by nitrotyrosine and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Plasma levels of the proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines were significantly reduced by PEA + luteolin treatment.ConclusionsWe demonstrated that PEA co-ultramicronized with luteolin exerts an antiinflammatory effect during chronic inflammation and ameliorates CIA.