Dye permeability at phase transitions in single and binary component phospholipid bilayers

By encapsulating a pH-sensitive dye, phenol red, in multilamellar liposomes of DMPC, DPPC and DMPC/DPPC mixtures, the permeability of these phospholipid bilayers to dye as a function of temperature has been studied. For both DMPC and DPPC liposomes, dye release begins well below the main gel-to-liquid-crystalline phase transition (24°C and 42°C, respectively) at temperatures corresponding to the onset of the pretransition (about 14°C and 36°C, respectively) with DPPC liposomes exhibiting a permeability anomaly at the main phase transition (42°C). The perturbation occurring in the bilayer structure that allows the release of encapsulated phenol red (approx. 5 Å diameter) is not sufficient to permit the release of encapsulated haemoglobin (approx. 20 Å diameter, negatively charged). In liposomes composed of a range of DMPC/DPPC mixtures, dye release commences at the onset of the pretransition range (determined by optical absorbance measurements) and increases with increasing temperature until the first appearance of liquid crystalline phase after which no further dye release occurs. Interestingly, the dye retaining properties of DMPC and DPPC liposomes well below their respective pretransition temperature regions are very different: DMPC liposomes release much encapsulated dye at incubation temperatures of 5°C whilst DPPC liposomes do not.     

RADIOAUTOGRAPHY OF CHOLESTEROL IN LUNG : An Assessment of Different Tissue Processing Techniques

30 Swiss albino mice aged 8 days were injected intraperitoneally with 0.2 ml of a solution of 4% N,N-dimethyl-formamide in 5% dextrose in water containing cholesterol-1,2-³H (~1 mCi/ml). Lung tissue was embedded in an Epon mixture after either acetone and propylene oxide dehydration, partial ethanol and Epon 812 dehydration, or the precipitation of cholesterol by digitonin succeeded by partial dehydration. The distribution of cholesterol-1,2-³H in lung parenchyma in 1µ Epon section radioautograms was compared with that in frozen section radioautograms and was found to be independent of the manner of tissue processing. Grain distribution in the tissue was essentially the same whether 16, 63, 93, or 100% radioactivity was retained in the lung. However, grain distribution in the alveolar spaces differed, presumably due to displacement of pulmonary surfactant, which contains cholesterol. Intracellular distribution of cholesterol, in electron microscope radioautograms, was the same with either 51% or 93% retention of radioactivity in the lung. Loss of radioactivity into the various processing solutions was monitored. The various processing techniques have different drawbacks.     

Flesinoxan Dose-Dependently Reduces Extracellular 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in Rat Median Raphe and Dorsal Hippocampus Through Activation of 5-HT1A Receptors

Abstract: The effects of systemic administration of the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) 5-HT_1A receptor agonists flesinoxan and 8-hydroxy-2-(di- n -propylamino)tetralin on extracellular 5-HT were measured using microdialysis probes in both median raphe nucleus and dorsal hippocampus. Both 5-HT_1A agonists dose-dependently decreased dialysate 5-HT levels from both brain regions. The effects of flesinoxan in the median raphe (0.3 mg/kg) and dorsal hippocampus (1.0 mg/kg) could be blocked by the 5-HT_1A receptor antagonist N -[2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]- N -(2-pyridyl)cyclohexane carboxamide trihydrochloride (WAY 100,635) at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg s.c. The antagonist itself had no effect at this dosage. Local perfusion of flesinoxan for 30 min through the dialysis probe into the median raphe region at concentrations of 20, 100, and 1,000 n M resulted in a significant decrease in dialysate 5-HT content from both regions. The effect of 100 n M flesinoxan could be blocked by coperfusion of 1,000 n M WAY 100,635. The data indicate that flesinoxan is a potent 5-HT_1A receptor agonist and also support the notion that somatodendritic 5-HT_1A autoreceptors regulate both terminal and somatodendritic 5-HT release.     

Acoustic localization of terrestrial wildlife: Current practices and future opportunities

Autonomous acoustic recorders are an increasingly popular method for low‐disturbance, large‐scale monitoring of sound‐producing animals, such as birds, anurans, bats, and other mammals. A specialized use of autonomous recording units (ARUs) is acoustic localization, in which a vocalizing animal is located spatially, usually by quantifying the time delay of arrival of its sound at an array of time‐synchronized microphones. To describe trends in the literature, identify considerations for field biologists who wish to use these systems, and suggest advancements that will improve the field of acoustic localization, we comprehensively review published applications of wildlife localization in terrestrial environments. We describe the wide variety of methods used to complete the five steps of acoustic localization: (1) define the research question, (2) obtain or build a time‐synchronizing microphone array, (3) deploy the array to record sounds in the field, (4) process recordings captured in the field, and (5) determine animal location using position estimation algorithms. We find eight general purposes in ecology and animal behavior for localization systems: assessing individual animals' positions or movements, localizing multiple individuals simultaneously to study their interactions, determining animals' individual identities, quantifying sound amplitude or directionality, selecting subsets of sounds for further acoustic analysis, calculating species abundance, inferring territory boundaries or habitat use, and separating animal sounds from background noise to improve species classification. We find that the labor‐intensive steps of processing recordings and estimating animal positions have not yet been automated. In the near future, we expect that increased availability of recording hardware, development of automated and open‐source localization software, and improvement of automated sound classification algorithms will broaden the use of acoustic localization. With these three advances, ecologists will be better able to embrace acoustic localization, enabling low‐disturbance, large‐scale collection of animal position data.     

Insulin responsiveness of glucose transporter 4 in 3T3-L1 cells depends on the presence of sortilin

Insulin-dependent translocation of glucose transporter 4 (Glut4) to the plasma membrane of fat and skeletal muscle cells plays the key role in postprandial clearance of blood glucose. Glut4 represents the major cell-specific component of the insulin-responsive vesicles (IRVs). It is not clear, however, whether the presence of Glut4 in the IRVs is essential for their ability to respond to insulin stimulation. We prepared two lines of 3T3-L1 cells with low and high expression of myc₇-Glut4 and studied its translocation to the plasma membrane upon insulin stimulation, using fluorescence-assisted cell sorting and cell surface biotinylation. In undifferentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, translocation of myc₇-Glut4 was low regardless of its expression levels. Coexpression of sortilin increased targeting of myc₇-Glut4 to the IRVs, and its insulin responsiveness rose to the maximal levels observed in fully differentiated adipocytes. Sortilin ectopically expressed in undifferentiated cells was translocated to the plasma membrane regardless of the presence or absence of myc₇-Glut4. AS160/TBC1D4 is expressed at low levels in preadipocytes but is induced in differentiation and provides an additional mechanism for the intracellular retention and insulin-stimulated release of Glut4.Adipocytes, skeletal muscle cells, and some neurons respond to insulin stimulation by translocating intracellular glucose transporter 4 (Glut4) to the plasma membrane. In all these cells, the insulin-responsive pool of Glut4 is localized in small membrane vesicles, the insulin-responsive vesicles (IRVs; Kandror and Pilch, 2011 ; Bogan, 2012 ). The protein composition of these vesicles has been largely characterized (Kandror and Pilch, 2011 ; Bogan, 2012 ). The IRVs consist predominantly of Glut4, insulin-responsive aminopeptidase (IRAP), sortilin, low-density-lipoprotein receptor–related protein 1 (LRP1), SCAMPs, and VAMP2. Glut4, IRAP, and sortilin physically interact with each other, which might be important for the biogenesis of the IRVs (Shi and Kandror, 2007 ; Shi et al., 2008 ). In addition, the IRVs compartmentalize recycling receptors, such as the transferrin receptor and the IGF2/mannose 6-phosphate receptor, although it is not clear whether these receptors represent obligatory vesicular components or their presence in the IRVs is explained by mass action (Pilch, 2008 ), inefficient sorting, or other reasons.Deciphering of the protein composition of the IRVs is important because it is likely to explain their unique functional property: translocation to the plasma membrane in response to insulin stimulation. Even if we presume that IRV trafficking is controlled by loosely associated peripheral membrane proteins, the latter should still somehow recognize the core vesicular components that create the “biochemical individuality” of this compartment. In spite of our knowledge of the IRV protein composition, however, the identity of the protein(s) that confer insulin sensitivity to these vesicles is unknown.Insulin responsiveness of the IRVs was associated with either IRAP or Glut4. Thus it was shown that Glut4 interacted with the intracellular anchor TUG (Bogan et al., 2003 , 2012 ), whereas IRAP associated with other proteins implemented in the regulation of Glut4 translocation, such as AS160 (Larance et al., 2005 ; Peck et al., 2006 ), p115 (Hosaka et al., 2005 ), tankyrase (Yeh et al., 2007 ), and several others (reviewed in Bogan, 2012 ). Results of these studies, or at least their interpretations, are not necessarily consistent with each other, as the existence of multiple independent anchors for the IRVs is, although possible, unlikely.Ablation of the individual IRV proteins has also led to controversial data. Thus knockout of IRAP decreases total protein levels of Glut4 but does not affect its translocation in the mouse model (Keller et al., 2002 ). On the contrary, knockdown of IRAP in 3T3-L1 adipocytes has a strong inhibitory effect on translocation of Glut4 (Yeh et al., 2007 ). In yet another study, knockdown of IRAP in 3T3-L1 adipocytes did not affect insulin-stimulated translocation of Glut4 but increased its plasma membrane content under basal conditions (Jordens et al., 2010 ). By the same token, total or partial ablation of Glut4 had various effects on expression levels, intracellular localization, and translocation of IRAP (Jiang et al., 2001 ; Abel et al., 2004 ; Carvalho et al., 2004 ; Gross et al., 2004 ; Yeh et al., 2007 ). Knockdown of either sortilin or LRP1 decreased protein levels of Glut4 (Shi and Kandror, 2005 ; Jedrychowski et al., 2010 ).One model that might explain these complicated and somewhat inconsistent results is that depletion of either major integral protein of the IRVs disrupts the network of interactions between vesicular proteins and thus decreases the efficiency of protein sorting into the IRVs (Kandror and Pilch, 2011 ). Correspondingly, the remaining IRV components that cannot be faithfully compartmentalized in the vesicles are either degraded (Jiang et al., 2001 ; Keller et al., 2002 ; Abel et al., 2004 ; Carvalho et al., 2004 ; Shi and Kandror, 2005 ; Yeh et al., 2007 ; Jedrychowski et al., 2010 ) or mistargeted (Jiang et al., 2001 ; Jordens et al., 2010 ), depending on experimental conditions and types of cells used in these studies. In other words, knockdown of any major IRV component may decrease vesicle formation along with insulin responsiveness. Thus, in spite of a large body of literature, the identity of protein(s) that confer insulin responsiveness to the IRVs is unknown.Here we used a gain-of-function approach to address this question. Specifically, we attempted to “build” functional IRVs in undifferentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes by forced expression of the relevant proteins. Undifferentiated preadipocytes do not express Glut4 or sortilin and lack IRVs (ElJack et al., 1999 ; Shi and Kandror, 2005 ; Shi et al., 2008 ). Correspondingly, IRAP, which is expressed in these cells, shows low insulin response (Ross et al., 1998 ; Shi et al., 2008 ). We found that ectopic expression of increasing amounts of Glut4 in undifferentiated preadipocytes does not lead to its marked translocation to the plasma membrane upon insulin stimulation. On the contrary, sortilin expressed in undifferentiated preadipocytes was localized in the IRVs and was translocated to the plasma membrane in response to insulin stimulation. Moreover, upon coexpression with Glut4, sortilin dramatically increased its insulin responsiveness to the levels observed in fully differentiated adipocytes. Thus sortilin may represent the key component of the IRVs, which is responsible not only for the formation of vesicles (Shi and Kandror, 2005 ; Ariga et al., 2008 ; Hatakeyama and Kanzaki, 2011 ), but also for their insulin responsiveness. It is worth noting that sortilin levels are significantly decreased in obese and diabetic humans and mice (Kaddai et al., 2009 ). We thus suggest that sortilin may be a novel and important target in the fight against insulin resistance and diabetes.Our experiments also demonstrate that undifferentiated preadipocytes lack a mechanism for the full intracellular retention of Glut4 that can be achieved by ectopic expression of AS160/TBC1D4.     

A molecular phylogenetic analysis of Speyeria and its implications for the management of the threatened Speyeria zerene hippolyta

The genetic structure of lineages can provide important information for delineating “evolutionarily significant units” (ESUs) for conservation, and for planning actions to protect and restore taxa threatened with extinction. Speyeria zerene hippolyta, the Oregon silverspot butterfly, is a U.S.A. federally threatened subspecies that is the focus of considerable conservation effort, but whose evolutionary relationships with other Speyeria taxa are not well-understood. We conducted a genetic analysis of nine Speyeria species and 25 subspecies from western U.S.A., using both mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Our goal was to determine whether such data supported (a) S. z. hippolyta’s designation as an ESU, and (b) the current morphologically-based taxonomy of Speyeria spp. Our data for S. z. hippolyta were equivocal; while nuclear markers resolved all these individuals into a single clade, mtDNA data suggested the existence of two clades. Aside from S. cybele, which was consistently supported as monophyletic, our data provided little support for most of the species currently recognized for western U.S. Speyeria, including S. zerene, and even less for the many subspecies designations. These genetic findings stand in contrast to the morphological differences recognized by experts, and suggest a relatively recent origin for many of these taxa. Two of 66 individuals screened for Wolbachia infection tested positive for this symbiont. Our results provide no persuasive evidence that S. z. hippolyta should lose its status as an ESU, but they have important implications for ongoing management actions such as population augmentation.     

Calcium and iron as key drivers of brown moss composition through differential effects on phosphorus availability

Brown moss-dominated rich fens are characterized by minerotrophic conditions, in which calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) concentrations show large variations. We examined the relative importance of Ca and Fe in relation to the occurrence of three typical brown moss species: Scorpidium scorpioides, Scorpidium cossonii, and Hamatocaulis vernicosus. Peat chemistry was examined in 24 stands of brown moss-dominated rich fens: 12 in the Netherlands and 12 in central Sweden. Ca and Fe turned out to be important drivers of brown moss composition. Fens dominated by Scorpidium scorpioides or Scorpidium cossonii were characterized by high pore water Ca-concentrations and total soil Ca-contents, but low P-availability. In these Ca-rich, but Fe-poor fens, foliar N:P ratios of vascular vegetation exceeded 20?g?g^?1, indicating phosphorus (P)-limitation due to Ca-P precipitation or low P-sorption capacity due to low Fe-levels. In contrast, fens dominated by Hamatocaulis vernicosus were characterized by high pore water Fe-concentrations and total soil Fe-contents, but also relatively high P-availability. N:P ratios in these fens were below 13.5?g?g^?1, indicating potential nitrogen (N)-limitation. We conclude that the relative roles of Ca and Fe, as related to the geohydrological conditions present, strongly determine the brown moss composition in rich fens through their differential effects on plant P-availability.