An Investigation on Platelet Transport during Thrombus Formation at Micro-Scale Stenosis

This paper reports on an investigation of mass transport of blood cells at micro-scale stenosis where local strain-rate micro-gradients trigger platelet aggregation. Using a microfluidic flow focusing platform we investigate the blood flow streams that principally contribute to platelet aggregation under shear micro-gradient conditions. We demonstrate that relatively thin surface streams located at the channel wall are the primary contributor of platelets to the developing aggregate under shear gradient conditions. Furthermore we delineate a role for red blood cell hydrodynamic lift forces in driving enhanced advection of platelets to the stenosis wall and surface of developing aggregates. We show that this novel microfluidic platform can be effectively used to study the role of mass transport phenomena driving platelet recruitment and aggregate formation and believe that this approach will lead to a greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying shear-gradient dependent discoid platelet aggregation in the context of cardiovascular diseases such as acute coronary syndromes and ischemic stroke.     

Complex regulation of nucleoside transporter expression in epithelial and immune system cells

Nucleoside transporters have a variety of functions in the cell, such as the provision of substrates for nucleic acid synthesis and the modulation of purine receptors by determining agonist availability. They also transport a wide range of nucleoside-derived antiviral and anticancer drugs. Most mammalian cells coexpress several nucleoside transporter isoforms at the plasma membrane, which are differentially regulated. This paper reviews studies on nucleoside transporter regulation, which has been extensively characterized in the laboratory in several model systems: the hepatocyte, an epithelial cell type, and immune system cells, in particular B cells, which are non-polarized and highly specialized. The hepatocyte co-expresses at least two Na+-dependent nucleoside transporters, CNT1 and CNT2, which are up-regulated during cell proliferation but may undergo selective loss in certain experimental models of hepatocarcinomas. This feature is consistent with evidence that CNT expression also depends on the differentiation status of the hepatocyte. Moreover, substrate availability also modulates CNT expression in epithelial cells, as reported for hepatocytes and jejunum epithelia from rats fed nucleotide-deprived diets. In human B cell lines, CNT and ENT transporters are co-expressed but differentially regulated after B cell activation triggered by cytokines or phorbol esters, as described for murine bone marrow macrophages induced either to activate or to proliferate. The complex regulation of the expression and activity of nucleoside transporters hints at their relevance in cell physiology.     

Bud and shoot structure may relate to the distribution area of South American Proteaceae tree species

The capacity of preformation and neoformation and the structure of winter buds are vegetative attributes that may vary between plant species and according to ontogenetic stages of the same species. The present study describes and evaluates these features for the four tree species of Proteaceae occurring in Patagonia. In particular, it analyzes the structure and development of the distal buds of the trunk and the preformed or neoformed nature of the organs involved. Two of the species, Embothrium coccineum and Lomatia hirsuta, have scaly buds, in which primordia of green leaves are covered by cataphylls. The shoots of both species may include neoformed organs, more frequently so in juvenile trees. Lomatia ferruginea and Gevuina avellana have naked buds with a low number of primordia; in juvenile and adult trees of both species trunk shoots are entirely preformed. The structure of buds and shoots suggests two different growth modalities of the axes, which would be related to ecological breadth (narrower in the species with naked buds than in those with scaly buds) and distribution area of these species. The considerable morphological differences between the two Lomatia species studied raise the question whether they ought to be included in the same genus.     

Uncoupling the effects of shade and food resources of vegetation on Mediterranean ants: an experimental approach at the community level

Vegetation is one of the main factors affecting the composition and structure of ant communities. The effect of vegetation is both by offering food resources and by modifying the proportion of ground cover exposed to shade conditions. However, it is difficult in field studies to uncouple the effects of food resources and shade on animal communities. The goal of this study was to analyze experimentally the effects of vegetation through food and shade supply on the structure and composition of a Mediterranean ant community. We have crossed these two factors in a factorial design where we have eliminated vegetation in experimental treatments and we have simulated the effects of vegetation by manipulating separately the supply of food resources and shade. The expected decrease in ant abundance and richness in plots without food resources but with shade was only partially confirmed by the results, because there was a decrease in the number of ant species but not a significant decrease in overall ant abundance in plots without food resources. We did not confirm the second hypothesis that the decrease in shade while maintaining food resources resulted in an increase of heat-tolerant, subordinate species and, consequently, ant richness. Species composition differed in the different experimental treatments. Stress-tolerant species were abundant in areas without shade and without food resources. Heat-tolerant species were mainly present in plots without shade but with food resources. Finally, species with high requirements of shade and/or food resources were associated to control plots with both shade and food resources from vegetation. Overall, this study provides an experiment that uncouples experimentally shade and food resources and dissects their effects on the whole ant community, and shows that the effects of the two factors are independent and affect different components of ant community structure and composition.     

Sterilization by Cooling in Isochoric Conditions: The Case of Escherichia coli

High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) affects the structure, metabolism and survival of micro-organisms including bacteria. For this reason HHP is a promising treatment in the food industry. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of high pressure, under isochoric cooling conditions, on Escherichia coli, where such high pressure develops due to the fact water cannot expand. We combine survival curves obtained by spectrophotometry and images of atomic force microscopy in this study. Our results show that cooling at -20 and -30°C leads to a partial destruction of a Escherichia coli population. However, cooling at -15°C causes a total extermination of bacteria. This intriguing result is explained by the phase diagram of water. In the first case, the simultaneous formation of ice III and ice Ih crystals provides a safe environment for bacteria. In the second case (-15°C) Escherichia coli remains in a metastable and amorphous free-of-crystals liquid subjected to high pressure. Our work is the first experimental study carried out to inactivate Escherichia coli under isochoric cooling conditions. Unlike HHP, which is based on the application of an external load to augment the pressure, this technique only requires cooling. The method could be used for annihilation of other Escherichia coli strains and perhaps other micro-organisms.     

Thermal Diapirism and the Habitability of the Icy Shellof Europa

Europa’s chaos and lenticulae features may have originated by thermal diapirs related to convective plumes. Warm ice plumes could be habitable, since their temperature is close to the ice melting temperature. Moreover, thermal plumes intruding into the lower stagnant lid warm several kilometers of country ice above 230 K for periods of 10⁵ years, and hundreds of meters above 240 K for periods of 10⁴ years. Diapir coalescence generating chaos areas should provide a large zone with temperature above ∼240 K for thousands of years. A temperature above ∼230 K is potentially interesting for astrobiology, since it corresponds to the lowest temperature at which microbial metabolic activity in Antarctic ice has been reported. So, the warming by thermal plumes could cause an aureole of biological activation/reactivation in the country ice. Adaptation of life to either high salinity or low temperature is similar: it requires the synthesis of compatible solutes, like trehalose or glycerol, which are efficient cryoprotectants. We therefore propose that the future astrobiological exploration of Europa should include the search for compatible solutes in chaos and lenticulae features.