Mathematical model of honeycomb construction

We developed a mathematical model and an algorithm for numerical treatment of a model of honeycomb construction in a beehive. The model contains essential features of the bee-bee and bee-wax interactions, and in a qualitative way captures the dynamics of parallel comb construction. The construction is represented by a set of dynamical coupled partial differential equations for the density of bees situated on the hive ceiling, and the quantity of wax distributed by the bees. A spectral algorithm is invented for treatment of these equations, based on a modified thin-sheet gain scheme and a fast Fourier transform technique.Work at City College supported in part by the Army Research Office and the Department of Energy     

Respective contributions of leader and trail during recruitment to food inTetramorium bicarinatum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Summary This paper describes the food recruitment strategy of the antTetramorium bicarinatum, at both the individual and collective levels. The general organisation of recruitment used by this species during the exploitation of sucrose solutions shows similarities with group recruitment described for other species. However, our experiments demonstrate that inT. bicarinatum, the first trail laid by a recruiter during its return trip to the nest is more efficient than in other species using group recruitment, for exampleTetramorium impurum. Moreover, the efficiency of the first trail of aT. bicarinatum recruiter is comparable with that ofTapinoma erraticum, a species that uses mass recruitment. Despite the efficiency of the trail, choice experiments show that the recruited workers prefer to follow the leader rather than the first trail, suggesting the emission of a more attractive signal by the leader on its way back to the food. The function of the leader in this strategy is discussed in terms of collective decisions.     

Effects of low-chloride solutions on action potentials of sheep cadiac purkinje fibers

The rapid repolarization during phase 1 of the action potential of sheep cardiac purkinje fibers has been attributed to a time- and voltage-dependent chloride current. In part, this conclusion was based on experiments that showed a substantial slowing of phase 1 when larger, presumably impermeant, anions were substituted for chloride in tyrode’s solution. We have re- examined the electrical effects of low-chloride solutions. We recorded action potentials of sheep cardiac purkinje fibers in normal tyrode’s solution and in low-chloride solutions made by substituting sodium propionate, acetylglycinate, methylsulfate, or methanesulfonate for the NaCl of Tyrode’s solution. Total calcium was adjusted to keep calcium ion activity of test solutions equal to that of control solutions. Propionate gave qualitatively variable results in preliminary experiments; it was not tested further. Low-chloride solutions made with the other anions gave much more consistent results: phase 1 and the notch that often occurs between phases 1 and 2 were usually unaffected, and the action potential duration usually increased. The only apparent change in the resting potential was a transient 3-6 mV depolarization when low-chloride solution was first admitted to the chamber, and a symmetrical transient hyperpolarization when chloride was returned to normal. If a time- and voltage-dependent chloride current exists in sheep cardiac purkinje fibers, our results suggest that it plays little role in generating phase 1 of the action potential.     

Plasminogen activator and collagenase production by cultured capillary endothelial cells

Cultured bovine capillary endothelial (BCE) cells produce low levels of collagenolytic activity and significant amounts of the serine protease plasminogen activator (PA). When grown in the presence of nanomolar quantities of the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), BCE cells produced 5-15 times more collagenolytic activity and 2-10 times more PA than untreated cells. The enhanced production of these enzymes was dependent on the dose of TPA used, with maximal response at 10(-7) to 10(-8) M. Phorbol didecanoate (PDD), an analog of TPA which is an active tumor promoter, also increased protease production. 4-O-methyl-TPA and 4α-PDD, two analogs of TPA which are inactive as tumor promoters, had no effect on protease production. Increased PA and collagenase activities were detected within 7.5 and 19 h, respectively, after the addition of TPA. The TPA-stimulated BCE cells synthesized a urokinase-type PA and a typical vertebrate collagenase. BCE cells were compared with bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cells and bovine embryonic skin (BES) fibroblasts with respect to their production of protease in response to TPA. Under normal growth conditions, low levels of collagenolyic activity were detected in the culture fluids from BCE, BAE, and BES cells. BCE cells produced 5-13 times the basal levels of collagenolytic activity in response to TPA, whereas BAE cells and BES fibroblasts showed a minimal response to TPA. Both BCE and BAE cells exhibited relatively high basal levels of PA, the production of which was stimulated approximately threefold by the addition of TPA. The observation that BCE cells and not BAE cells produced high levels of both PA and collagenase activities in response to TPA demonstrates a significant difference between these two types of endothelial cells and suggests that the enhanced detectable activities are a property unique to bovine capillary and microvessel and endothelial cells.     

Dissociation of intracellular lysosomal rupture from the cell death caused by silica

The relationship between intracellular lysosomal rupture and cell death caused by silica was studied in P388d(1) macrophages. After 3 h of exposure to 150 μg silica in medium containing 1.8 mM Ca(2+), 60 percent of the cells were unable to exclude trypan blue. In the absence of extracellular Ca(2+), however, all of the cells remained viable. Phagocytosis of silica particles occurred to the same extent in the presence or absence of Ca(2+). The percentage of P388D(1) cells killed by silica depended on the dose and the concentration of Ca(2+) in the medium. Intracellular lyosomal rupture after exposure to silica was measured by acridine orange fluorescence or histochemical assay of horseradish peroxidase. With either assay, 60 percent of the cells exposed to 150 μg silica for 3 h in the presence of Ca(2+) showed intracellular lysosomal rupture, was not associated with measureable degradation of total DNA, RNA, protein, or phospholipids or accelerated turnover of exogenous horseradish peroxidase. Pretreatment with promethazine (20 μg/ml) protected 80 percent of P388D(1) macrophages against silica toxicity although lysosomal rupture occurred in 60-70 percent of the cells. Intracellular lysosomal rupture was prevented in 80 percent of the cells by pretreatment with indomethacin (5 x 10(-5)M), yet 40-50 percent of the cells died after 3 h of exposure to 150 μg silica in 1.8 mM extracellular Ca(2+). The calcium ionophore A23187 also caused intracellular lysosomal rupture in 90-98 percent of the cells treated for 1 h in either the presence or absence of extracellular Ca(2+). With the addition of 1.8 mM Ca(2+), 80 percent of the cells was killed after 3 h, whereas all of the cells remained viable in the absence of Ca(2+). These experiments suggest that intracellular lysosomal rupture is not causally related to the cell death cause by silica or {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"A23187","term_id":"833253","term_text":"A23187"}}A23187. Cell death is dependent on extracellular Ca(2+) and may be mediated by an influx of these ions across the plasma membrane permeability barrier damaged directly by exposure to these toxins.     

From Aggregation to Dispersion: How Habitat Fragmentation Prevents the Emergence of Consensual Decision Making in a Group

In fragmented landscape, individuals have to cope with the fragmentation level in order to aggregate in the same patch and take advantage of group-living. Aggregation results from responses to environmental heterogeneities and/or positive influence of the presence of congeners. In this context, the fragmentation of resting sites highlights how individuals make a compromise between two individual preferences: (1) being aggregated with conspecifics and (2) having access to these resting sites. As in previous studies, when the carrying capacity of available resting sites is large enough to contain the entire group, a single aggregation site is collectively selected. In this study, we have uncoupled fragmentation and habitat loss: the population size and total surface of the resting sites are maintained at a constant value, an increase in fragmentation implies a decrease in the carrying capacity of each shelter. For our model organism, Blattella germanica, our experimental and theoretical approach shows that, for low fragmentation level, a single resting site is collectively selected. However, for higher level of fragmentation, individuals are randomly distributed between fragments and the total sheltered population decreases. In the latter case, social amplification process is not activated and consequently, consensual decision making cannot emerge and the distribution of individuals among sites is only driven by their individual propensity to find a site. This intimate relation between aggregation pattern and landscape patchiness described in our theoretical model is generic for several gregarious species. We expect that any group-living species showing the same structure of interactions should present the same type of dispersion-aggregation response to fragmentation regardless of their level of social complexity.