The cytotoxic,neurotoxic, apoptotic and antiproliferative activities of extracts of some marine algae on the MCF-7 cell line

We investigated the cytotoxic, neurotoxic, apoptotic and antiproliferative effects of extracts from Petalonia fascia, Jania longifurca and Halimeda tuna on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. J. longifurca extracts were more toxic than those of P. fascia and H. tuna. The algal extracts showed significant toxic effects at different dilutions. The toxic effects were due to increased oxidative stress and resulted in apoptosis. Algal toxicity may exert negative effects through the food chain or by direct interaction. Algal toxicity also has potential for cancer therapy. The toxic effects that we observed may be especially important for therapy for breast tumors.     

Allergic inflammation does not impact chemical-induced carcinogenesis in the lungs of mice

Background

Although the relationship between allergic inflammation and lung carcinogenesis is not clearly defined, several reports suggest an increased incidence of lung cancer in patients with asthma. We aimed at determining the functional impact of allergic inflammation on chemical carcinogenesis in the lungs of mice.

Methods

Balb/c mice received single-dose urethane (1 g/kg at day 0) and two-stage ovalbumin during tumor initiation (sensitization: days -14 and 0; challenge: daily at days 6-12), tumor progression (sensitization: days 70 and 84; challenge: daily at days 90-96), or chronically (sensitization: days -14 and 0; challenge: daily at days 6-12 and thrice weekly thereafter). In addition, interleukin (IL)-5 deficient and wild-type C57BL/6 mice received ten weekly urethane injections. All mice were sacrificed after four months. Primary end-points were number, size, and histology of lung tumors. Secondary end-points were inflammatory cells and mediators in the airspace compartment.

Results

Ovalbumin provoked acute allergic inflammation and chronic remodeling of murine airways, evident by airspace eosinophilia, IL-5 up-regulation, and airspace enlargement. Urethane resulted in formation of atypical alveolar hyperplasias, adenomas, and adenocarcinomas in mouse lungs. Ovalbumin-induced allergic inflammation during tumor initiation, progression, or continuously did not impact the number, size, or histologic distribution of urethane-induced pulmonary neoplastic lesions. In addition, genetic deficiency in IL-5 had no effect on urethane-induced lung tumorigenesis.

Conclusions

Allergic inflammation does not impact chemical-induced carcinogenesis of the airways. These findings suggest that not all types of airway inflammation influence lung carcinogenesis and cast doubt on the idea of a mechanistic link between asthma and lung cancer.     

Postsynaptic density antigens: preparation and characterization of an antiserum against postsynaptic densities

Long-term immunization of rabbits with postsynaptic densities (PSD) from bovine brain produced an antiserum specific for PSD as judged by binding to subcellular fractions and immunohistochemical location at the light and electron microscope levels. (a) The major antigens of bovine PSD preparations were three polypeptides of molecular weight 95,000 (PSD-95), 82,000 (PSD-82), and 72,000 (PSD-72), respectively. Antigen PSD-95, also present in mouse and rat PSDs was virtually absent from cytoplasm, myelin, mitochondria, and microsomes from rodent or bovine brain. Antigens PSD-82 and PSD-72 were present in all subcellular fractions from bovine brain, especially in mitochondria, but were almost absent from rodent brain. The antiserum also contained low-affinity antibodies against tubulin. (b)Immunohistochemical studies were performed in mouse and rat brain, where antigen PSD-95 accounted for 90 percent of the antiserum binding after adsorption with purified brain tubulin. At the light microscope level, antibody binding was observed only in those regions of the brain where synapses are known to be present. No reaction was observed in myelinated tracts, in the neuronal cytoplasm, or in nonneuronal cells. Strong reactivity was observed in the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus, stratum oriens and stratum radiatum of the hippocampus, and the molecular layer of the cerebellum. Experimental lesions, such as ablation of the rat entorhinal cortex or intraventricular injection of kainic acid, which led to a major loss of PSD in well- defined areas of the hippocampal formation, caused a correlative decrease in immunoreactivity in these areas. Abnormal patterns of immunohistochemical staining correlated with abnormal synaptic patterns in the cerebella of reeler and staggerer mouse mutants. (c) At the electron microscopic level, immunoreactivity was detectable only in PSD. The antibody did not bind to myelin, mitochondria or plasma membranes. (d) The results indicate that antigen PSD-95 is located predominantly or exclusively in PSD and can be used as a marker during subcellular fractionation. Other potential uses include the study of synaptogenesis, and the detection of changes in synapse number after experimental perturbations of the nervous system.     

Comparison of methods for analysis of selective genotyping survival data

Survival traits and selective genotyping datasets are typically not normally distributed, thus common models used to identify QTL may not be statistically appropriate for their analysis. The objective of the present study was to compare models for identification of QTL associated with survival traits, in particular when combined with selective genotyping. Data were simulated to model the survival distribution of a population of chickens challenged with Marek disease virus. Cox proportional hazards (CPH), linear regression (LR), and Weibull models were compared for their appropriateness to analyze the data, ability to identify associations of marker alleles with survival, and estimation of effects when all individuals were genotyped (full genotyping) and when selective genotyping was used. Little difference in power was found between the CPH and the LR model for low censoring cases for both full and selective genotyping. The simulated data were not transformed to follow a Weibull distribution and, as a result, the Weibull model generally resulted in less power than the other two models and overestimated effects. Effect estimates from LR and CPH were unbiased when all individuals were genotyped, but overestimated when selective genotyping was used. Thus, LR is preferred for analyzing survival data when the amount of censoring is low because of ease of implementation and interpretation. Including phenotypic data of non-genotyped individuals in selective genotyping analysis increased power, but resulted in LR having an inflated false positive rate, and therefore the CPH model is preferred for this scenario, although transformation of the data may also make the Weibull model appropriate for this case. The results from the research presented herein are directly applicable to interval mapping analyses.     

A polycystin‐2 (TRPP2) dimerization domain essential for the function of heteromeric polycystin complexes

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is caused by mutations in two genes, PKD1 and PKD2, which encode polycystin‐1 (PC1) and polycystin‐2 (PC2), respectively. Earlier work has shown that PC1 and PC2 assemble into a polycystin complex implicated in kidney morphogenesis. PC2 also assembles into homomers of uncertain functional significance. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that direct polycystin complex assembly and specify its functions. We have identified a coiled coil in the C‐terminus of PC2 that functions as a homodimerization domain essential for PC1 binding but not for its self‐oligomerization. Dimerization‐defective PC2 mutants were unable to reconstitute PC1/PC2 complexes either at the plasma membrane (PM) or at PM‐endoplasmic reticulum (ER) junctions but could still function as ER Ca²⁺‐release channels. Expression of dimerization‐defective PC2 mutants in zebrafish resulted in a cystic phenotype but had lesser effects on organ laterality. We conclude that C‐terminal dimerization of PC2 specifies the formation of polycystin complexes but not formation of ER‐localized PC2 channels. Mutations that affect PC2 C‐terminal homo‐ and heteromerization are the likely molecular basis of cyst formation in ADPKD.     

Inactivation of the sodium channel. I. Sodium current experiments

Inactivation of sodium conductance has been studied in squid axons with voltage clamp techniques and with the enzyme pronase which selectively destroys inactivation. Comparison of the sodium current before and after pronase treatment shows a lag of several hundred microseconds in the onset of inactivation after depolarization. This lag can of several hundred microseconds in the onset of inactivation after polarization. This lag can also be demonstrated with double-pulse experiments. When the membrane potential is hyperpolarized to -140 mV before depolarization, both activation and inactivation are delayed. These findings suggest that inactivation occurs only after activation are delayed. These findings suggest that inactivation occurs only after activation; i.e. that the channels must open before they can inactivate. The time constant of inactivation measured with two pulses (τ(c)) is the same as the one measured from the decay of the sodium current during a single pulse (τ(h)). For large depolarizations, steady-state inactivation becomes more incomplete as voltage increases; but it is relatively complete and appears independent of voltage when determined with a two- pulse method. This result confirms the existence of a second open state for Na channels, as proposed by Chandler and Meves (1970. J. Physiol. [Lond.]. 211:653-678). The time constant of recovery from inactivation is voltage dependent and decreases as the membrane potential is made more negative. A model for Na channels is presented which has voltage-dependent transitions between the closed and open states, and a voltage-independent transition between the open and the inactivated state. In this model the voltage dependence of inactivation is a consequence of coupling to the activation process.     

Biosynthesis of high density lipoprotein by chicken liver: nature of nascent intracellular high density lipoprotein

Young chickens were administered L-[(3)H]leucine and after 10 or 30 min the livers were removed and fractioned into rough (RER) and smooth (SER) endoplasmic reticulum fractions and into light, intermediate, and heavy golgo cell fractions. The labeled high density lipoprotein (HDL), contained within these intracellular organelles was isolated either by immunoprecipitation using rabbit antiserum to rooster HDL, or by ultracentrifugal glotation between densities 1.063 and 1.21 g/ml. The radioactive apoproteins of nascent HDL were analyzed by SDS PAGE and detected by fluorography. Analyses of radioactive apoproteins obtained by immunoprecipitation from the contents of the RER, the SER, and the three golgi complex fractions revealed only one apoprotein, A1. The C peptide present in serum HDL was not detected intracellularly. The radioactive apoprotein A1 which is present within the cisternae of the RER and the SER fractions failed to float, whereas apoprotein A1, present within the golgi apparatus, readily floated between densities 1.063 and 1.21 g/ml. The HDL particles, isolated by flotation from the golgi apparatus content, were further characterized by lipid and protein analyses and by electron microscopy. Golgi HDL particles have the same density as serum HDL. On a percentage basis, golgi HDL contains less protein and more phospholipids than does serum HDL. Morphologically, golgi HDL is different in appearance from serum HDL. It is more heterogeneous in size, with most of the particles ranging 8.3-25 nm in diameter. The spherical particles contain small membrane tails. Occasionally, a few disk-shaped bilayer structures are also found within the golgi apparatus. These studies show that the newly synthesized apoprotein A1, present within the RER and the SER cell fractions, is not fully complexed with lipid and that apoprotein A1 does not acquire sufficient lipid to float at the proper HDL density until it enters the golgi apparatus. The difference in chemical composition and the heterogeneous size of golgi HDL may be attributed to the different stages of HDL maturation.     

On induction of cell differentiation by cyclic AMP pulses in Dictyostelium discoideum

Repeated pulses of cyclic AMP, applied at intervals of 5 min, efficiently induced differentiation in cells of agip 53, a morphogenetic mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum, strain Ax-2. In contrast, pulses applied at intervals of 2 min did not induce cell differentiation. To analyze this phenomenon the hydrolysis of cyclic AMP between the pulses as well as the effect of the pulses on the intracellular concentration of cyclic GMP were investigated. Experiments performed in the presence of added cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase revealed that incomplete hydrolysis of cyclic AMP was not the reason for the inefficiency of the pulses applied with a 2-min rhythm. Cyclic AMP pulses applied at intervals of 2 min induced discrete increases of the cyclic GMP concentration. Limited time resolution at the level of cyclic GMP cannot account for the inefficiency of the 2-min pulses.Based on material presented at the Symposium Intercellular Communication Stuttgart, September 16–17, 1982     

Gene expression profiling of early intervertebral disc degeneration reveals a down-regulation of canonical Wnt signaling and caveolin-1 expression: implications for development of regenerative strategies

Introduction

Early degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) involves a change in cellular differentiation from notochordal cells (NCs) in the nucleus pulposus (NP) to chondrocyte-like cells (CLCs). The purpose of this study was to investigate the gene expression profiles involved in this process using NP tissue from non-chondrodystrophic and chondrodystrophic dogs, a species with naturally occurring IVD degeneration.

Methods

Dual channel DNA microarrays were used to compare 1) healthy NP tissue containing only NCs (NC-rich), 2) NP tissue with a mixed population of NCs and CLCs (Mixed), and 3) NP tissue containing solely CLCs (CLC-rich) in both non-chondrodystrophic and chondrodystrophic dogs. Based on previous reports and the findings of the microarray analyses, canonical Wnt signaling was further evaluated using qPCR of relevant Wnt target genes. We hypothesized that caveolin-1, a regulator of Wnt signaling that showed significant changes in gene expression in the microarray analyses, played a significant role in early IVD degeneration. Caveolin-1 expression was investigated in IVD tissue sections and in cultured NCs. To investigate the significance of Caveolin-1 in IVD health and degeneration, the NP of 3-month-old Caveolin-1 knock-out mice was histopathologically evaluated and compared with the NP of wild-type mice of the same age.

Results

Early IVD degeneration involved significant changes in numerous pathways, including Wnt/β-catenin signaling. With regard to Wnt/β-catenin signaling, axin2 gene expression was significantly higher in chondrodystrophic dogs compared with non-chondrodystrophic dogs. IVD degeneration involved significant down-regulation of axin2 gene expression. IVD degeneration involved significant down-regulation in Caveolin-1 gene and protein expression. NCs showed abundant caveolin-1 expression in vivo and in vitro, whereas CLCs did not. The NP of wild-type mice was rich in viable NCs, whereas the NP of Caveolin-1 knock-out mice contained chondroid-like matrix with mainly apoptotic, small, rounded cells.

Conclusions

Early IVD degeneration involves down-regulation of canonical Wnt signaling and Caveolin-1 expression, which appears to be essential to the physiology and preservation of NCs. Therefore, Caveolin-1 may be regarded an exciting target for developing strategies for IVD regeneration.