Spatial Analysis of Slowly Oscillating Electric Activity in the Gut of Mice Using Low Impedance Arrayed Microelectrodes

Smooth and elaborate gut motility is based on cellular cooperation, including smooth muscle, enteric neurons and special interstitial cells acting as pacemaker cells. Therefore, spatial characterization of electric activity in tissues containing these electric excitable cells is required for a precise understanding of gut motility. Furthermore, tools to evaluate spatial electric activity in a small area would be useful for the investigation of model animals. We thus employed a microelectrode array (MEA) system to simultaneously measure a set of 8×8 field potentials in a square area of ∼1 mm². The size of each recording electrode was 50×50 µm², however the surface area was increased by fixing platinum black particles. The impedance of microelectrode was sufficiently low to apply a high-pass filter of 0.1 Hz. Mapping of spectral power, and auto-correlation and cross-correlation parameters characterized the spatial properties of spontaneous electric activity in the ileum of wild-type (WT) and W/W^v mice, the latter serving as a model of impaired network of pacemaking interstitial cells. Namely, electric activities measured varied in both size and cooperativity in W/W^v mice, despite the small area. In the ileum of WT mice, procedures suppressing the excitability of smooth muscle and neurons altered the propagation of spontaneous electric activity, but had little change in the period of oscillations. In conclusion, MEA with low impedance electrodes enables to measure slowly oscillating electric activity, and is useful to evaluate both histological and functional changes in the spatio-temporal property of gut electric activity.     

Karyotype evolution in Curimatidae (Teleostei, Characiformes) from the Amazon region. II. Centric fissions in the genus Potamorhina

Using cytogenetic analysis following Giemsa staining, nucleolar organizer region (NOR) staining, and C-banding, three distinct karyotypes in three species of curimatids belonging to the fish genus Potamorhina were identified: 2n = 54/44 M + 10 SM (P. pristigaster), 2n = 56/52 M + 2 SM + 2 ST (P. latior), and 2n = 102/2 M + 2 SM + 98 A (P. altamazonica). A 2n = 54 was considered to be the ancestral diploid number and the different karyotypes were probably the result of centric fissions. Both the NOR pattern and constitutive heterochromatin pattern are species specific.     

Cross-sectional Area-corrected Compression Modulus of Food Gel

The linearity of the stress-strain relationship for food gel is limited to a very narrow range of the strain (usually less than 0.1 as a Cauchy measure). The reason is thought due to the change in cross-sectional area of the gel upon deformation. In this report, the cross-sectional area was approximately corrected of the compressed gel on the assumption that the gel expanded uniformly without changing its volume upon compression. In cases when the initial Young’s modulus was calculated from the thus-corrected area for some food gels, the linearity was increased for a wider range of strain.     

Structural characterization and dynamics of globotetraosylceramide in vascular endothelial cells under TNF-α stimulation

In several vascular inflammatory reactions (i.e. immunity and thrombosis) inflammatory mediators lead to the activation of vascular endothelial cells (EC). To date, a number of functional molecules induced on the surface of activated-EC have been identified. We report here that Globotetraosylceramide (Gb4), a glycosphingolipid expressed in EC, is a novel inducible molecule on EC activated by TNF-α. The cell surface expression of Gb4 is increased in a time-dependent manner under TNF-α stimulation, which shows distinct expression kinetics of major proteins induced by TNF-α on EC. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis revealed that the enhanced Gb4 predominantly contains C24:0 fatty acid in the ceramide moiety. Isolated caveolae/lipid raft-enriched detergent insoluble membrane domains in activated-EC predominantly contain this molecular species of Gb4. Gb4 containing C16:0 fatty acid in the ceramide moiety, which is known to constitute the major species of Gb4 in plasma, is also found as a major molecular species in EC. These observations indicate that Gb4, especially with very long fatty acid, is enhanced in EC during its inflammatory reaction, and suggest the potential utility of Gb4 as a biomarker for monitoring inflammation status of EC involving its related diseases.     

A combined stain for identifying epithelial cells of the gastric mucosa

New techniques are proposed for differentiating each type of gastric epithelial cell in the same tissue section. The techniques combine the following stains: paradoxical concanavalin A staining (PCS) to identify mucous neck cells, periodic acid Schiff-concanavalin A staining to distinguish mucous neck cells from surface mucous cells, and a modified Bowie's stain to demonstrate zymogen granules of chief cells. Feulgen hydrolysis preceding the Bowie stain was found to remove most of the nonspecific coloration encountered with the original Bowie method. The results obtained by the new sequences were as follows: Feulgen hydrolysis-PCS-Bowie staining: mucous neck cells stained brown and chief cell zymogen granules deep blue. The other mucin-secreting cells remained unstained; Feulgen hydrolysis-PAS-concanavalin A-Bowie staining: mucous neck cells stained brown, zymogen granules stained deep blue to purplish blue and surface mucous cells stained purplish red.     

Common signal transduction system shared by STE2 and STE3 in haploid cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: autocrine cell-cycle arrest results from forced expression of STE2

Induction of STE2 expression using the GAL1 promoter both in a wild-type MATalpha strain and in a MATalpha ste3 strain caused transient cell-cycle arrest and changes in morphology ('shmoo'-like phenotype) in a manner similar to alpha cells responding to alpha-factor. In addition, STE2 expressed in a MATalp[ha ste3 mutant allowed the cell to conjugate with alpha cells but at an efficiency lower than that of wil-type alpha cells. This result indicates that signal(s) generated by alpha-factor in alpha cells can be substituted by signal(s) generated by the interaction of alpha-factor with the expressed STE2 product. When STE2 or STE3 was expressed in a matalpha1 strain (insensitive to both alpha- and a-factors), the cell became sensitive to alpha- or a-factor, respectively, and resulted in morphological changes. These results suggest that STE2 and STE3 are the sole determinants for alpha-factor and a-factor sensitivity, respectively, in this strain. On the other hand, expression of STE2 in an a/alpha diploid cell did not affect the alpha-factor insensitive phenotype. Haploid-specific components may be necessary to transduce the alpha-factor signal. These results are consistent with the idea that STE2 encodes an alpha-factor receptor and STE3 encodes an a-factor receptor, and suggest that both alpha- and a-factors may generate an exchangeable signal(s) within haploid cells.