Genetic Targets of Hydrogen Sulfide in Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury – A Microarray Study

Recently, we have shown that inhalation of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) protects against ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). In the present study, we aimed to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms of H₂S-dependent lung protection by analyzing gene expression profiles in mice. C57BL/6 mice were subjected to spontaneous breathing or mechanical ventilation in the absence or presence of H₂S (80 parts per million). Gene expression profiles were determined by microarray, sqRT-PCR and Western Blot analyses. The association of Atf3 in protection against VILI was confirmed with a Vivo-Morpholino knockout model. Mechanical ventilation caused a significant lung inflammation and damage that was prevented in the presence of H₂S. Mechanical ventilation favoured the expression of genes involved in inflammation, leukocyte activation and chemotaxis. In contrast, ventilation with H₂S activated genes involved in extracellular matrix remodelling, angiogenesis, inhibition of apoptosis, and inflammation. Amongst others, H₂S administration induced Atf3, an anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic regulator. Morpholino mediated reduction of Atf3 resulted in elevated lung injury despite the presence of H₂S. In conclusion, lung protection by H₂S during mechanical ventilation is associated with down-regulation of genes related to oxidative stress and inflammation and up-regulation of anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory genes. Here we show that Atf3 is clearly involved in H₂S mediated protection.     

Protein turnover and cellular autophagy in growing and growth-inhibited 3T3 cells

The relationship between growth, protein degradation, and cellular autophagy was tested in growing and in growth-inhibited 3T3 cell monolayers. For the biochemical evaluation of DNA and protein metabolism, growth-inhibited 3T3 cell monolayers with high cell density and growing 3T3 cell monolayers with low cell density were labeled simultaneously with [14C]thymidine and [3H]leucine. The evaluation of the DNA turnover and additional [3H]thymidine autoradiography showed that 24 to 5% of 3T3 cells continue to replicate even in the growth-inhibited state, where no accumulation of protein and DNA can be observed. Cell loss, therefore, has to be assumed to compensate for the ongoing cell proliferation. When the data of protein turnover were corrected for cell loss, it was found that the rate constant of protein synthesis in nongrowing monolayers was reduced to half the value found in growing monolayers. Simultaneously, the rate constant of protein degradation in nongrowing monolayers was increased to about 1.5-fold the value of growing monolayers. In parallel to the increased rate constant of protein degradation, the cytoplasmic volume fraction of early autophagic vacuoles (AVs) as determined by electron microscopic morphometry was found to be increased twofold in nongrowing 3T3 cell monolayers when compared with the volume fraction of early AVs in growing 3T3 cell monolayers. These data are in agreement with the assumption that cellular autophagy represents a major pathway of regulating protein degradation in 3T3 cells and that the regulation of autophagic protein degradation is of relevance for the transition from a growing to a nongrowing state.     

Karyological stability and microevolution of a cell suspension culture ofBrachycome dichromosomatica (Asteraceae)

A long-term suspension culture ofBrachycome dichromosomatica (2n = 4) was induced from a cotyledon-derived callus. Subcultures were obtained every week up to three years. The bulk of the cultures displayed a stable diploid karyotype, while one cell line evolved with 2n = 5 chromosomes in the 86th reinoculation. No further chromosomal change occurred also in that cell line. It is assumed that the fifth chromosome is the expression of a trisomy 2.The chromatin ultrastructure was of the species-specific chromomeric type in the wild-type line, while the trisomic line displayed more condensed chromatin, what probably indicates a rather inactive state of the extra-chromosome.Brachycome dichromosomatica is suggested to represent an ideal species to follow-up karyotype stability and/or variation in cell culture.As a former student W. N. dedicates this paper in gratitude and admiration to Prof. DrElisabeth Tschermak-Woess on the occasion of her 70th birthday. Prof.Woess with her scientific work has stimulated in an unique manner the study of nuclear structures in plants, of endopolyploidy and polytene chromosomes, and has thus established the basis for the rapidly increasing research in these fields.     

Intracellular distribution of DNA methyltransferase during the cell cycle

The intracellular distribution of DNA methyltransferase has been analyzed in synchronously proliferating human cells. The localization of DNA methyltransferase was determined immunocytochemically using monoclonal antibodies directed against this enzyme. DNA methyltransferase was found to accumulate predominantly in nuclei with weak cytoplasmic staining. The DNA methyltransferase antigen was absent in early G1 phase, appeared in late G1 prior to the onset of DNA synthesis and persisted throughout S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. Mitotic cells showed a particularly strong staining intensity. These results show that DNA methyltransferase levels fluctuate during the cell cycle. This has possible implications on the stability of the DNA methylation pattern.