Changes in airway resistance induced by nasal inhalation of cold dry, dry, or moist air in normal individuals

Fontanari, Pierre, Henri Burnet, Marie CarolineZattara-Hartmann, and Yves Jammes. Changes in airway resistanceinduced by nasal inhalation of cold dry, dry, or moist air in normalindividuals. J. Appl. Physiol. 81(4):1739-1743, 1996.Nasopulmonary bronchomotor reflexes elicited bymechanical or irritant stimulation of the nose have been described inanimals and asthmatic patients. However, few studies were devoted tothe consequences of nasal breathing of cold and dry air or of only dryor only moist air on the bronchomotor control in normal individuals.The present study reported changes in interruption resistance (Rint)measured during eupneic breathing of moderately cold (4 or10°C) and dry [0.3% relative humidity (RH)] airor of room air at 23°C that is either dry (0.3% RH) or moist (97%RH). Nasal inhalation of cold (4°C) dry air or of only dryair significantly increased baseline Rint value (17 and 21%,respectively) throughout the 15-min test periods. The response to cold was significantly accentuated when the air temperature was lowered to 10°C (42%). After nasal anesthesia orinhalation of a cholinergic antagonist, cold air did not induce achange in Rint. Nasal inhalation of moist room air had no effect. No Rint changes were measured during oral breathing of the three testagents. It is concluded that the activation of cold receptors orosmoreceptors in the nasal mucosa induces protective bronchoconstrictor responses in normal individuals.

     

The role of infectious agents in sudden infant death syndrome

Abstract Epidemiological factors associated with susceptibility to respiratory infections are similar to those associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Here we review the evidence that respiratory pathogens might be involved in some cases of Sudden Infact Death Syndrome in the context of factors identified in epidemiological studies of cot deaths: the age range affected; mother's smoking; respiratory viral infections; immunisation status. Both laboratory and epidimiological evidence suggests that vulnerability of infants to infectious agents depends on interactions between genetic, developmental and environmental factors that contribute to colonisation by microorganisms, the inflammatory and specific immune responses and the infants' physiological responses to inflammatory mediators. A model is proposed to explain how microorganisms might trigger a series of events resulting in some of these unexpected deaths and discusses how the present recommendations regarding child care practices might help reduce the numbers of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome cases associated with infectious agents.     

LTR-Retrotransposons in R. exoculata and Other Crustaceans: The Outstanding Success of GalEa-Like Copia Elements

Transposable elements are major constituents of eukaryote genomes and have a great impact on genome structure and stability. They can contribute to the genetic diversity and evolution of organisms. Knowledge of their distribution among several genomes is an essential condition to study their dynamics and to better understand their role in species evolution. LTR-retrotransposons have been reported in many diverse eukaryote species, describing a ubiquitous distribution. Given their abundance, diversity and their extended ranges in C-values, environment and life styles, crustaceans are a great taxon to investigate the genomic component of adaptation and its possible relationships with TEs. However, crustaceans have been greatly underrepresented in transposable element studies. Using both degenerate PCR and in silico approaches, we have identified 35 Copia and 46 Gypsy families in 15 and 18 crustacean species, respectively. In particular, we characterized several full-length elements from the shrimp Rimicaris exoculata that is listed as a model organism from hydrothermal vents. Phylogenic analyses show that Copia and Gypsy retrotransposons likely present two opposite dynamics within crustaceans. The Gypsy elements appear relatively frequent and diverse whereas Copia are much more homogeneous, as 29 of them belong to the single GalEa clade, and species- or lineage-dependent. Our results also support the hypothesis of the Copia retrotransposon scarcity in metazoans compared to Gypsy elements. In such a context, the GalEa-like elements present an outstanding wide distribution among eukaryotes, from fishes to red algae, and can be even highly predominant within a large taxon, such as Malacostraca. Their distribution among crustaceans suggests a dynamics that follows a “domino days spreading” branching process in which successive amplifications may interact positively.     

P450 BM3: the very model of a modern flavocytochrome

Flavocytochrome P450 BM3 is a bacterial P450 system in which a fatty acid hydroxylase P450 is fused to a mammalian-like diflavin NADPH-P450 reductase in a single polypeptide. The enzyme is soluble (unlike mammalian P450 redox systems) and its fusion arrangement affords it the highest catalytic activity of any P450 mono-oxygenase. This article discusses the fundamental properties of P450 BM3 and how progress with this model P450 has affected our comprehension of P450 systems in general.     

The PTEN phosphatase controls intestinal epithelial cell polarity and barrier function: role in colorectal cancer progression

Background

The PTEN phosphatase acts on phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphates resulting from phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. PTEN expression has been shown to be decreased in colorectal cancer. Little is known however as to the specific cellular role of PTEN in human intestinal epithelial cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of PTEN in human colorectal cancer cells.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Caco-2/15, HCT116 and CT26 cells were infected with recombinant lentiviruses expressing a shRNA specifically designed to knock-down PTEN. The impact of PTEN downregulation was analyzed on cell polarization and differentiation, intercellular junction integrity (expression of cell-cell adhesion proteins, barrier function), migration (wound assay), invasion (matrigel-coated transwells) and on tumor and metastasis formation in mice. Electron microscopy analysis showed that lentiviral infection of PTEN shRNA significantly inhibited Caco-2/15 cell polarization, functional differentiation and brush border development. A strong reduction in claudin 1, 3, 4 and 8 was also observed as well as a decrease in transepithelial resistance. Loss of PTEN expression increased the spreading, migration and invasion capacities of colorectal cancer cells in vitro. PTEN downregulation also increased tumor size following subcutaneous injection of colorectal cancer cells in nude mice. Finally, loss of PTEN expression in HCT116 and CT26, but not in Caco-2/15, led to an increase in their metastatic potential following tail-vein injections in mice.

Conclusions/Significance

Altogether, these results indicate that PTEN controls cellular polarity, establishment of cell-cell junctions, paracellular permeability, migration and tumorigenic/metastatic potential of human colorectal cancer cells.     

The 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multi-enzyme complex of the archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum - recombinant expression, assembly and characterization

The aerobic archaea possess four closely spaced, adjacent genes that encode proteins showing significant sequence identities with the bacterial and eukaryal components comprising the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multi-enzyme complexes. However, catalytic activities of such complexes have never been detected in the archaea, although 2-oxoacid ferredoxin oxidoreductases that catalyze the equivalent metabolic reactions are present. In the current paper, we clone and express the four genes from the thermophilic archaeon, Thermoplasma acidophilum, and demonstrate that the recombinant enzymes are active and assemble into a large (M(r) = 5 x 10(6)) multi-enzyme complex. The post-translational incorporation of lipoic acid into the transacylase component of the complex is demonstrated, as is the assembly of this enzyme into a 24-mer core to which the other components bind to give the functional multi-enzyme system. This assembled complex is shown to catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of branched-chain 2-oxoacids and pyruvate to their corresponding acyl-CoA derivatives. Our data constitute the first proof that the archaea possess a functional 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complex.     

Cross-presentation of caspase-cleaved apoptotic self antigens in HIV infection

We found that the proteome of apoptotic T cells includes prominent fragments of cellular proteins generated by caspases and that a high proportion of distinct T cell epitopes in these fragments is recognized by CD8+ T cells during HIV infection. The frequencies of effector CD8+ T cells that are specific for apoptosis-dependent epitopes correlate with the frequency of circulating apoptotic CD4+ T cells in HIV-1-infected individuals. We propose that these self-reactive effector CD8+ T cells may contribute to the systemic immune activation during chronic HIV infection. The caspase-dependent cleavage of proteins associated with apoptotic cells has a key role in the induction of self-reactive CD8+ T cell responses, as the caspase-cleaved fragments are efficiently targeted to the processing machinery and are cross-presented by dendritic cells. These findings demonstrate a previously undescribed role for caspases in immunopathology.