CELL PENETRATION BY ACIDS : VI. THE CHLOROACETIC ACIDS.

Measurements of the penetration of tissue from Chromodoris zebra are believed to show that a determining factor in penetration involves the establishment of a critical pH (near 3.5) in relation to superficial cell proteins. The rapidity with which this state is produced depends upon acid strength, and upon some property of the acid influencing the speed of absorption; hence it is necessary to compare acids within groups of chemical relationship. The actual speed of penetration observed with any acid is dependent upon two influences: preliminary chemical combination with the outer protoplasm, followed by diffusion. The variation of the temperature coefficient of penetration velocity with the concentration of acid, and the effect of size (age) of individual providing the tissue sample agree in demonstrating the significant part played by diffusion. In comparing different acids, however, their mode of chemical union with the protoplasm determines the general order of penetrating ability.     

Robust development as a consequence of generated positional information

The origin and robustness of morphogenesis are studied by dynamical system modeling of a cell society, in which cells possessing internal chemical reaction dynamics interact with each other through their mutual interaction with diffusive chemicals in a two-dimensional medium. It is found that stem-type cells differentiate into various cell types (where a cell 'type' is defined by a type of intra-cellular dynamics) due to a dynamic instability caused by cell-cell interactions in a manner described by the isologous diversification theory. The differentiations are spatially regulated by the concentration of chemicals in the medium, while the chemical concentrations are locally influenced by the intra-cell dynamics. Through this reciprocal relationship, chemical concentrations come to exhibit spatial variation as differentiated cell types begin to emerge, and as a result the regulation exercised by the chemical concentrations become spatially inhomogeneous. This reinforces the process of differentiation, through which spatial patterns of differentiated cells appear. Within this reciprocal relationship, the concentration gradients are read and interpreted by the cell as positional information. A spatial order of cells realized in this process represents a stable state of the system governed by this reciprocal relationship, and that the developmental process through which this state is realized is robust with respect to perturbations. The dependence of the morphogenesis on history and the community effect in cell differentiation are also discussed.     

Relationship between thermodynamic driving force and one-way fluxes in reversible processes

Chemical reaction systems operating in nonequilibrium open-system states arise in a great number of contexts, including the study of living organisms, in which chemical reactions, in general, are far from equilibrium. Here we introduce a theorem that relates forward and reverse fluxes and free energy for any chemical process operating in a steady state. This relationship, which is a generalization of equilibrium conditions to the case of a chemical process occurring in a nonequilibrium steady state in dilute solution, provides a novel equivalent definition for chemical reaction free energy. In addition, it is shown that previously unrelated theories introduced by Ussing and Hodgkin and Huxley for transport of ions across membranes, Hill for catalytic cycle fluxes, and Crooks for entropy production in microscopically reversible systems, are united in a common framework based on this relationship.     

Bioadhesive properties of polygalacturonides against colonic epithelial membranes

Diseases of the gastrointestinal system are often related with irritations or pathological changes of mucous membranes. In an ex vivo system based on porcine colonic tissue various neutral and acidic polysaccharides were tested concerning their bioadhesive potential in order to form artificial mucin layers on colon epithelial membranes. Rhamnogalacturonans with a low degree of esterification and linear oligogalacturonids derived from pectin showed significant bioadhesion against colonic mucous membranes. In contrast highly esterified pectins and neutral polysaccharides were ineffective. Within a structure–activity relationship linear, strongly acidic homogalacturonides were shown to be most adhesive agents. Esterification, branching or non-linear backbone structures will reduce the adhesive properties. The bioadhesive effects were concentration-dependent. Polysaccharide layers, located exclusively on the apical membrane surface of colonic tissue, were visualized by fluorescent microscopy. The adhesion of the exogenous galacturonides on the tissue surface was mediated by interaction with the endogenous mucin, for the release of the endogenous mucines with a mucolytic agent resulted in a decreased bioadhesion of exogenous galacturonides. Additionally, mucin–galacturonide synergism was shown by rheological methods. The artificial mucin layers provide protective effects on colonic mucous membranes against toxic agents as shown by incubation of the tissue with TritonX-100.     

Capture of spatially homogeneous chemical reactions in tissue by freezing.

A useful technique in studying the saturation of hemoglobin in erythrocytes or myoglobin in tissue is cryophotometry, in which tissue is frozen for later spectrophotometric analysis. A general question associated with this technique is whether the freezing process alters the chemical state. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the simplest model relevant to that question. We study the effect of rapid cooling on a spatially homogeneous chemical reaction. The analysis shows that changes during freezing are negligible near the boundary to which the heat sink is applied, but can be significant deeper in the sample. The distance from the boundary at which the changes during freezing become appreciable can be expressed simply in terms of the chemical reaction rates and the thermal diffusivity of the tissue. Detailed results are given for the case of oxygen and myoglobin in skeletal muscle.     

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of marginal- and conditional-open chemical systems

Every open chemical system treated in this paper is restricted to the case involving a sequence of monomolecular reactions. Various kinds of probability distribution governing it are introduced according to the situations in which it is placed. The chemical system subject to marginal distribution is given the term marginal-open system MO. The open chemical system ō discussed by Nicolis and Babloyantz can be regarded as the limiting system of MO. For an open chemical system, itself in contact with an external reservoir of finite volume, the probability distribution conditioned on the marginal distribution for the external reservoir in an arbitrarily fixed state is more appropriate. Such an open chemical system is called a conditional-open system CO. However, in the case of the external reservoir of infinite volume, although it is not certainly trivial, another conditional probability distribution has to be proposed; it is derived on the hypothesis that the probability distribution for an arbitrary total number of molecules in the open chemical system is known. The open chemical system so specified is called conditional-open system $\text{C}\text{O}\text{?}$. It is shown that for each system $\text{MO, CO}\text{and}\text{C}\text{O}\text{?}$ the change of entropy starting from the steady state provides a Liapunov function under some conditions and that the steady state is asymptotically stable. The relation of the entropy change to non-equilibrium fluctuations of chemical components in each system is discussed in comparison with that in the corresponding open chemical system ō, for which the steady state surely exists and is always stable. It is shown that the concept of $\text{C}\text{O}\text{?}$ is useful for investigating the phenomenon of steady-state coupling.     

A Control System for Initiating and Maintaining Polarity

Characteristics of polarity are exhibited by a system in whichthe rate of synthesis of each of two diffusible morphogens withina plant body is inversely related to the concentration of theother by a suitable ‘switching’ relationship. Simulations for a simple linear plant body show that, dependingon the value of a single parameter, the system can yield either(a) a stable state, with balanced concentrations of the twomorphogens, which is taken to represent an unpolarized condition,or (b) a state in which small local perturbations in concentrationresult in growing instability, representing initiation of polarity,and leading to a new stabilized distribution of concentrations,representing maintenance of polarity; there may arise eithertwo polarities (as for a plant with shoot and root) or one polarity(as for callus initiating either shoots or roots). Inductionof polarity in unpolarized tissue adjoining polarized tissueis also simulated. Properties of the system are discussed in relation to physiologicalprocesses, embryogenesis and hormone relations in normal plantsand in tissue culture. polarity, control system, morphogen     

Peripheral secretion and inactivation of catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine)]

In spite of the biochemical relationship between catecholamines (E,NE,DA), the unity of the adrenergic system is only apparent; catecholamines are present in numerous pools, which exhibit different anatomical and cellular localizations, secretory patterns, control of release, physiological functions, inactivation schemes and metabolic behaviour. The main sources of catecholamines in the periphery are the orthosympathetic nervous system, which is permanently active in maintaining homoeostasy, and the adrenal medulla, an essential element in the struggle against stress. In addition to these large pools, catecholamines are found also in extra adrenal chromaffin tissue and in sympathetic ganglions; the latter represents a potential store of amines, whilst ganglionic dopamine-rich interneurones are important links in the regulation of orthosympathetic activity. Rather than by a topographic distinction, it seems more satisfactory to classify the catecholamines spread in adrenergic fields into a small number of pools possessing their own physiological functions and inactivation patterns. Two main pools of catecholamines in the periphery may be described: The functional pool, represented by those catecholamines already released, or able to be released; in this pool are found plasma and adrenal medullary catecholamines and NE from sympathetic nerve endings. The tissue pool, consisting of the synthesis and storage compartments, which are poorly penetrated by plasma pool with respect to their high possibilities for synthesis and storage. Catecholamines from cellular bodies and axons of sympathetic neurons and a part of the adrenal medullary amines may be related to it. Two other pools of catecholamines have to be reported: a potential extrachromaffin pool, which is apparently negligible in the physiological state, but able to exhibit its synthetic and secretory capacities in particularly critical situations; an intraganglionic dopamine pool, which plays a modulator role in ganglionic synaptic transmission; its mode of secretion and inactivation are not necessarily the same as those of the above pools. To such a physiological diversity, specific regulatory processes, correspond the aim of which is, to stop physiological activity of released catecholamines, by means of physical and chemical inactivating mechanisms; to limit the amount of released product by local control of the neuromediator outflow; to minimize losses of active compound by neuronal and cellular uptake and perhaps by sulfoconjugation; to destroy the excess of synthesized or reabsorbed amines when tissue or neuronal concentration becomes too high (tissue metabolism).     

Modeling the oscillation dynamics of activated airway smooth muscle strips

When strips of activated airway smooth muscle are stretched cyclically, they exhibit force-length loops that vary substantially in both position and shape with the amplitude and frequency of the stretch. This behavior has recently been ascribed to a dynamic interaction between the imposed stretch and the number of actin-myosin interactions in the muscle. However, it is well known that the passive rheological properties of smooth muscle have a major influence on its mechanical properties. We therefore hypothesized that these rheological properties play a significant role in the force-length dynamics of activated smooth muscle. To test the plausibility of this hypothesis, we developed a model of the smooth muscle strip consisting of a force generator in series with an elastic component. Realistic steady-state force-length loops are predicted by the model when the force generator obeys a hyperbolic force-velocity relationship, the series elastic component is highly nonlinear, and both elastic stiffness and force generation are adjusted so that peak loop force equals isometric force. We conclude that the dynamic behavior of airway smooth muscle can be ascribed in large part to an interaction between connective tissue rheology and the force-velocity behavior of contractile proteins.     

Brain Cellular Injury and Recovery—Horizons for Improving Medical Therapies in Stroke and Trauma

An edited summary of an Interdepartmental Conference arranged by the Department of Medicine of the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. The Director of Conferences is William M. Pardridge, MD, Professor of Medicine.After ischemic and traumatic brain injury, many cells may be rendered dysfunctional but are not irreversibly damaged or disrupted. The brain tissue may become metabolically deranged, and neurons, while still alive, are paralyzed and cannot create an action potential or conduct an electrical impulse. This injured brain tissue is in a precarious state of increased vulnerability. If the milieu of the favorable, they may recover; if it is slightly unfavorable, they may die. There is now evidence that reversibly injured brain tissue will die from an ischemic or hypoxic insult ordinarily tolerated by the normal brain. The major challenge of modern research in stroke and trauma is to define the chemical and metabolic milieu in which the injured brain exists and to define an ideal milieu for healing.     

Cartilage ultrastructure after high pressure freezing, freeze substitution, and low temperature embedding. I. Chondrocyte ultrastructure--implications for the theories of mineralization and vascular invasion

Electron microscopic examination of epiphyseal cartilage tissue processed by high pressure freezing, freeze substitution, and low temperature embedding revealed a substantial improvement in the preservation quality of intracellular organelles by comparison with the results obtained under conventional chemical fixation conditions. Furthermore, all cells throughout the epiphyseal plate, including the terminal chondrocyte adjacent to the region of vascular invasion, were found to be structurally integral. A zone of degenerating cells consistently observed in cartilage tissue processed under conventional chemical fixation conditions was not apparent. Hence, it would appear that cell destruction in this region occurs during chemical processing and is not a feature of cartilage tissue in the native state. Since these cells are situated in a region where tissue calcification is taking place, the implication is that the onset and progression of cartilage calcification are, at least partially, controlled by the chondrocytes themselves. The observation that the terminal cell adjacent to the zone of vascular invasion is viable has important implications in relation to the theory of vascular invasion. This may now require reconceptualization to accommodate the possibility that active cell destruction may be a precondition for vascular invasion.     

Control of tissue homeostasis,tumorigenesis, and degeneration by coupled bidirectional bistable switches

The Hippo-YAP/TAZ signaling pathway plays a critical role in tissue homeostasis, tumorigenesis, and degeneration disorders. The regulation of YAP/TAZ levels is controlled by a complex regulatory network, where several feedback loops have been identified. However, it remains elusive how these feedback loops contain the YAP/TAZ levels and maintain the system in a healthy physiological state or trap the system in pathological conditions. Here, a mathematical model was developed to represent the YAP/TAZ regulatory network. Through theoretical analyses, three distinct states that designate the one physiological and two pathological outcomes were found. The transition from the physiological state to the two pathological states is mechanistically controlled by coupled bidirectional bistable switches, which are robust to parametric variation and stochastic fluctuations at the molecular level. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of the regulation and dysregulation of YAP/TAZ levels in tissue state transitions.     

Autonomic nervous system dysfunction: Implication in sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease is an inherited hemoglobinopathy caused by a single amino acid substitution in the β chain of hemoglobin that causes the hemoglobin to polymerize in the deoxy state. The resulting rigid, sickle-shaped red cells obstruct blood flow causing hemolytic anemia, tissue damage, and premature death. Hemolysis is continual. However, acute exacerbations of sickling called vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) resulting in severe pain occur, often requiring hospitalization. Blood rheology, adhesion of cellular elements of blood to vascular endothelium, inflammation, and activation of coagulation decrease microvascular flow and increase likelihood of VOC. What triggers the transition from steady state to VOC is unknown. This review discusses the interaction of blood rheological factors and the role that autonomic nervous system (ANS) induced vasoconstriction may have in triggering crisis as well as the mechanism of ANS dysfunction in SCD.     

The Importance of Stochastic Transitions for the Origin of Life

We discuss the origin of life in terms of an RNA World scenario in which the creation of autocatalytic sequences is the key step. Our computational models illustrate that life arises by a rare stochastic event that occurs due to spatially localized concentration fluctuations. This allows the chemical system to jump from a non-living state with very low ribozyme concentration to a living state that is controlled by ribozymes. Once the living state is established locally, it can spread deterministically through the rest of the system. These are generic features also possessed by more complex models with a greater degree of chemical realism.     

Mechanochemical melting of collagen fibers. I. Mechanical contractions

The correlation between mechanical and chemical Processes in the contractile system collagen fibers–aqueous KCNS sulutions was investigated. Melting and contraction of the fibers were induced by applying a force sufficiently high as to prevent melting in a KCNS solution and then decreasing it either suddenly, or continuously at a constant rate. The kinetics of both processes are characterized by an initial rapid elastic response of the crystalline collagen, followed by a stationary region. The force–velocity relationship in this region was found to be the same under different types of mechanical deformations. It is probable that under the prevailing conditions, the behavior in the stationary state is determined by the melting process and is not markedly influenced by diffusional changes. Part of the experimental data could be explained by assuming a linear, rigid model or, better, by taking into account the highly elastic properties of the amorphous collagen. The kinetic, unit seems to be composed of several hundred amino acid residues.     

Biorheology and fluid flux in swelling tissues. I. Bicomponent theory for small deformations, including concentration effects

A theory for the rheological behavior and fluid flux in swelling tissues under small deformations is presented. Tissues are considered as bicomponent solid-fluid mixtures. Concentration effects are included. The driving forces (body, surface and interactive), are discussed and their constitutive relationships to the tissue's deformation are specified. Mass and momentum balance equations are developed for each component and for the tissue as a whole. The concept of swelling stress emerges from the theory as an anisotropic generalization of the commonly used swelling pressure. It is shown to be a measure of the total chemical potential combining both mechanical and concentration effects. The theory shows that concentration effects modify the tissue's bulk stiffness in a manner consistent with experimental observations.     

Molecular simulation for predicting the rheological properties of polymer melts

ABSTRACT

Bottom-up prediction that links materials chemistry to their properties is a constant theme in polymer simulation. Rheological properties are particularly challenging to predict because of the extended time scales involved as well as large uncertainty in the stress output from molecular simulation. This review focuses on the application of molecular simulation in the prediction of such properties, including approaches solely based on molecular simulation and its integration with rheological models. Most attention is given to the prediction of quantitative properties, in particular, those most studied such as shear viscosity and linear viscoelasticity. Studies on the fundamental understanding of rheology are referenced only when they are directly relevant to the property prediction. The review starts with an overview of the major methods for extracting rheological properties from molecular simulation, using bead-spring chain models as a sandbox system. It then discusses materials-specific prediction using chemically-realistic models, including systematically coarse-grained models that allow the mapping between scales. Finally, integrating molecular simulation with rheological models extends the prediction to highly entangled polymers. Recent development of several multiscale predictive frameworks allowed the successful prediction of rheological properties from the chemical structure for polymers of experimentally relevant molecular weights.     

Chemical Reaction Systems with Toric Steady States

Mass-action chemical reaction systems are frequently used in computational biology. The corresponding polynomial dynamical systems are often large (consisting of tens or even hundreds of ordinary differential equations) and poorly parameterized (due to noisy measurement data and a small number of data points and repetitions). Therefore, it is often difficult to establish the existence of (positive) steady states or to determine whether more complicated phenomena such as multistationarity exist. If, however, the steady state ideal of the system is a binomial ideal, then we show that these questions can be answered easily. The focus of this work is on systems with this property, and we say that such systems have toric steady states. Our main result gives sufficient conditions for a chemical reaction system to have toric steady states. Furthermore, we analyze the capacity of such a system to exhibit positive steady states and multistationarity. Examples of systems with toric steady states include weakly-reversible zero-deficiency chemical reaction systems. An important application of our work concerns the networks that describe the multisite phosphorylation of a protein by a kinase/phosphatase pair in a sequential and distributive mechanism.     

Space and time in the plant cell wall: relationships between cell type, cell wall rheology and cell function

BACKGROUND: The biomechanical behaviour of plant cells depends upon the material properties of their cell walls and, in many cases, it is necessary that these properties are quite specific. Additionally, physiological regulation may require that target cells responding to hormonal signals or environmental factors are able to modulate these characteristics. ARGUMENT: This paper uses a rheological analysis of creep of elongating sunflower (Helianthus annuus) sunflower hypocotyls to demonstrate that the mechanical behaviour of plant cell walls is complex and involves multiple layered processes that can be distinguished from one another by the time-scale over which they lead to a change in tissue dimensions, their sensitivity to pH and temperature, and their responses to changes in spatial arrangement of the cell wall brought about by treatment with high M(r) PEG. Furthermore, it appears possible to regulate individual rheological processes, with limited effect on others, in order to modulate growth without affecting tissue structural integrity. It is proposed that control of the water content of the cell wall and therefore the space between cell wall polymers may be one mechanism by which differential regulation of cell wall biomechanical properties is achieved. This hypothesis is supported by evidence showing that enzyme extracts from growing tissues can cause swelling in cell wall fragments in suspension. IMPLICATIONS: The physiological implications of this complexity are then considered for growing tissues, stomatal guard cells and abscission cells. It is noted that, in each circumstance, a different combination of mechanical properties is required and that differential regulation of properties affecting behaviour over different time-scales is often necessary.