PAR‐3 controls endothelial planar polarity and vascular inflammation under laminar flow

Impaired cell polarity is a hallmark of diseased tissue. In the cardiovascular system, laminar blood flow induces endothelial planar cell polarity, represented by elongated cell shape and asymmetric distribution of intracellular organelles along the axis of blood flow. Disrupted endothelial planar polarity is considered to be pro‐inflammatory, suggesting that the establishment of endothelial polarity elicits an anti‐inflammatory response. However, a causative relationship between polarity and inflammatory responses has not been firmly established. Here, we find that a cell polarity protein, PAR‐3, is an essential gatekeeper of GSK3β activity in response to laminar blood flow. We show that flow‐induced spatial distribution of PAR‐3/aPKCλ and aPKCλ/GSK3β complexes controls local GSK3β activity and thereby regulates endothelial planar polarity. The spatial information for GSK3β activation is essential for flow‐dependent polarity to the flow axis, but is not necessary for flow‐induced anti‐inflammatory response. Our results shed light on a novel relationship between endothelial polarity and vascular homeostasis highlighting avenues for novel therapeutic strategies.     

INFLUENCE OF SALINITY AND SULFATE ON THE TOXICITY OF CHROMIUM(VI) TO THE ESTUARINE DIATOM THALASSIOSIRA PSEUDONANA1

The acute toxicity of Cr(VI) to the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana (Hasle and Heimdal) clone 3H was determined in artificial media of 3.2 and 0.32 ppt salinity and with variations of sulfate concentration in the media independent of salinity. Inhibitory concentrations of Cr(VI) ranged from 6.6 μM for growth rate and 4.9 μM for cell yield at 3.2 ppt salinity and 2.8 μM sulfate to 0.04 μM for growth rate and 0.02 μM for cell yield at 0.32 ppt salinity and 0.019 mM sulfate. The inhibition by Cr(VI) was a function of the ratio of Cr(VI) to sulfate. Inhibition occurred when-this ratio exceeded about 500:1. It is suggested that the mechanism for the toxicity of Cr(VI) to diatoms and perhaps other aquatic organisms involves a site at which sulfate and chromate compete.     

Location of Calcium Within Bacillus Spores by Electron Probe X-Ray Microanalysis

Spectroscopic microanalysis of the element-characteristic X rays produced by a scanning electron microprobe was employed to detect calcium and carbon in both intact and thin-sectioned spores of Bacillus cereus T and B. megaterium QM B1551. Linear scan profiles and multilinear scan images of the X-ray emissions for calcium (Ca(Kalpha)) were compared with those for carbon (C(Kalpha)) as an index of mass. Location was accomplished by stereological comparisons with secondary electron images and conventional transmission electron micrographs. Although the elements could be detected at the attogram level theoretically, spatial resolution was limited to approximately 500 to 1,000 nm in an intact spore, e.g., by the primary electron beam diameter, the electron-excited spore microvolume, and the type of specimen support. The resolution was improved to approximately 100 to 200 nm by use of thin-sectioned spores, with precautions to prevent calcium leakage from the specimen during preparations. In both intact and sectioned spores, calcium was distributed throughout the spore, similarly to carbon, and concentrated mainly in a central region corresponding to the spore protoplast.     

Dialysis fermentation. II. Kinetic analysis of salicylic acid production via cell growth and maintenance

A kinetic analysis was made of the relationship between salicylate production from naphthalene and growth of Pseudomonas fluorescens in semicontinuous dialysis culture. The specific rates both of product formation and growth initially were increased by the diffusional withdrawal of salicylate, but subsequently were reduced to low levels despite continued salicylate removal. Productivity and growth were correlated by the Luedeking-Piret equation in an initial nondialysis period and in the early stages of dialysis fermentation, when specific growth rates exceeded. 005 hr^?1. Below this level of growth at later stages of dialysis fermentation, the specific production rate was correlated only with total cell mass by a proportionality constant of .035 hr^?1, which was attributed to maintenance metabolism. Maintenance accounted for about 84% of the total salicylate produced, while growth-associated metabolism accounted for the remainder.     

Biologische studien an griechischen,corsischen und deutschen spinnen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Über Aufgaben,Wege und Ergebnisse vergleichend-sexualbiologischer Forschung

Zusammenfassung Die wissenschaftliche Vergleichung sexualbiologischer Geschehnisse kann von zwei verschiedenen Standpunkten aus geschehen: es können analoge Erscheinungen verglichen werden, es können aber auch phyletische Momente zur Erforschung echter Homologien in den Vordergrund gestellt werden, wie es in dieser Betrachtung geschieht.Für die am besten bekannten Tiergruppen, dieSäugetiere, einige Ordnungen derInsekten und dieSpinnen, werden die bisher bekannt gewordenen Ergebnisse sexualbiologischer Untersuchungen zusammengestellt und die für die einzelnen Gruppen charakteristischen Punkte erörtert.Es sind die Erscheinungen der Werbung, der Begattung und, bei Tieren mit akzessorischen Kopulationsorganen, der Bereitmachung dieser Organe, die untereinander bei Tieren gleicher morphologischer Organisation verglichen werden können. Nicht zu trennen von ihrer Betrachtung ist die der Morphologie und Physiologie der Sexualorgane.Wie deren Bau eine Fülle von Varianten zeigt, die sich nicht aus einem zwingenden physiologischen Bedarf in ihrer Ausgestaltung im einzelnen verstehen lassen, so ist auch das sexualbiologische Benehmen des tierischen Organismus nur teilweise aus der allgemeinen Lebensweise zu erklären. Ein Teil der Erscheinungen wird aus der Morphologie und Physiologie und aus Einflüssen der Außenwelt verständlich werden, aber für andere Erscheinungen versagen diese Möglichkeiten. Gerade diese Handlungskomplexe sind, weil verhältnismäßig unabhängig von dem täglichen Lebensbedarf des Tieres, äußerst variabel und daher für die Art sehr charakteristisch. Ihre Vergleichung bei Arten einer Gattung und mit denselben Erscheinungen in übergeordneten Einheiten des Systems (in mehreren Gattungen einer Familie und Familien einer Ordnung) zeigt deutliche biologische Reihen, die, wie morphologische Reihen, in sich in phyletische Beziehungen gebracht werden können. Bei der Aufstellung solcher Reihen werden biologische Typen in verschiedenen Varianten gezeigt werden können; es wird ferner festzustellen sein, wieweit diese Typen durch Faktoren der Außenwelt verwischt werden können. So wird die oft durch das Bedürfnis der möglichst günstigen Unterbringung der Keime geregelte Eiablage der Weibchen die endogen bedingten ursprünglichen biologischen Typen häufig nur schwer erkennen lassen.Von einer ausgedehnten Vergleichung biologischer Merkmale (die sich über alle Zweige der tierischen Lebensweise erstrecken müßte) ist eine Bereicherung unserer Kenntnisse der wesentlichen Merkmale der tierischen Arten, eine Möglichkeit der Auffindung von Zusammenhängen zwischen den verschiedenen Varianten eines biologischen Typus, der Aussonderung von Konvergenzerscheinungen und endlich einer durch die Morphologie allein nicht gegebenen und ihre Befunde kontrollierenden Betrachtungsweise des tierischen Systems gegeben.     

Glyoxysomal β-oxidation of long-chain fatty acids: completeness of degradation

The ability of glyoxysomes from sunflower (Helianthusannuus L.) cotyledons to completely degrade long-chain fatty acids into their constituent acetyl units and the time courses of the appearance of acyl-CoA intermediates during β-oxidation have been studied using ¹⁴C-labelled substrates at non-saturating concentrations (1.3 to 1.8 μmol · l⁻¹). [¹⁴C]Acetyl-CoA was formed from [18-¹⁴C]oleate metabolized at a yield of up to 80%, and from [U-¹⁴C]palmitate and [U-¹⁴C]linoleate to an extent indicating that a maximum of 80% and 30%, respectively, of the substrate β-oxidized had been degraded beyond the C₄-CoA intermediate level. To obtain the latter values, an acetyl-CoA-removing system was required during β-oxidation. Constant re-oxidation of the NADH formed during the β-oxidation did not replace the effect of acetyl-CoA removal. Neither the completeness of the linoleate β-oxidation nor the rate of reaction were influenced by NADPH. Medium- and short-chain acyl-CoA intermediates were predominantly detected during β-oxidation of the long-chain substrates employed. The degradation of these intermediates appeared to be stimulated mainly in the presence of an acetyl-CoA-removing system. The time courses of the appearance of intermediates corresponded to a precursor-product relationship between intermediates of decreasing chain lengths. Received: 12 December 1997 / Accepted: 26 January 1998     

In vivo electrochemical studies of the effects of cocaine on dopamine nerve terminals in the rat neostriatum

In vivo electrochemical measurements, involving chronoamperometric recordings using monoamine-selective Nafion-coated electrodes, were used to study the effects of locally applied cocaine (50-500 micromolar barrel concentrations) on dopamine (DA) nerve terminals in the neostriatum of the anaesthetized rat. Local application of cocaine did not elicit detectable increases in basal levels of extracellular DA. However, locally applied cocaine significantly augmented the concentration of DA detected following a potassium (K+)-evoked depolarization. Data obtained with a new high-speed chronoamperometric recording technique further support that DA is the predominant species detected electrochemically following potassium-evoked depolarizations both before and after local application of cocaine. Unlike other locally applied uptake inhibitors that we have studied, cocaine failed to augment the time dynamics of released DA. In addition, large doses of the highest concentration of cocaine caused an attenuation of K+-evoked DA release, presumably due to cocaine's local anaesthetic properties. These data suggest that cocaine elevates synaptic levels of DA, but in a manner that is not identical to other potent monoamine uptake inhibitors.     

Hormonal modulation of phonotaxis and advertisement-call preferences in the gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor)

Hormonal levels fluctuate during the breeding season in many anurans, but the identity of the hormones that modulate breeding behavior and their effects remain unclear. We tested the influence of a combined treatment of progesterone and prostaglandin on phonotaxis, the key proceptive reproductive behavior of female anurans. First, we found that female gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) treated with progesterone and prostaglandin exhibited phonotaxis to synthetic male advertisement signals significantly more often than animals treated with ringers vehicle or uninjected controls. Responsive females had greater levels of plasma progesterone and estradiol compared to both control groups, suggesting that these steroids may be promoting phonotaxis. Second, we found that the selectivity of hormonally-induced phonotaxis in H.versicolor was similar to that observed in freshly captured breeding animals. Females made the same choices between acoustic signals after hormone treatments in tests of frequency, call rate and pulse rate, compared to their responses without treatment immediately after collection from the breeding chorus. The preference for a longer call was, however, significantly weaker after hormonal induction of phonotaxis. Hormonally primed females were also less likely to respond in any test and took longer to respond than did freshly collected females. Consequently, our study shows how progesterone-prostaglandin induced phonotaxis in female treefrogs influences both the quality and quantity of phonotaxis, relative to that exhibited by naturally breeding females.