Are Additional Trace Elements Necessary in Total Parenteral Nutrition for Patients with Esophageal Cancer Receiving Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy?

It is known that cisplatin induces the excretion of zinc from the urine and thereby reduces its serum concentration. However, the fluctuation of these trace elements during or after cisplatin-based chemotherapy has not been evaluated. To answer this question, we performed a clinical study in esophageal cancer patients undergoing cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Eighteen patients with esophageal cancer who were not able to swallow food or water orally due to complete stenosis of the esophagus were evaluated. The patients were divided into a control group [total parenteral nutrition (TPN) alone for 28?days, ten cases] and an intervention group (TPN with additional trace elements for 28?days, eight cases). The serum concentrations of zinc, iron, copper, manganese, triiodothyronin (T3), and thyroxin (T4), as alternative indicators of iodine, were measured on days?0, 14, and 28 of treatment, and statistically analyzed on day?28. In the control group, the serum concentration of copper was significantly decreased from 135.4 (day?0) to 122.1???g/ml (day?14), and finally to 110.6???g/ml (day?28, p?=?0.015). The concentration of manganese was also significantly decreased from 1.34 (day?0) to 1.17???g/ml (day?14) and finally to 1.20 (day?28, p?=?0.049). The levels of zinc, iron, T3, and T4 were not significantly changed. In the intervention group, the supplementation with trace elements successfully prevented these decreases in their concentrations. TPN with supplementary trace elements is preferable and recommended for patients who are undergoing chemotherapy in order to maintain the patients?? nutrient homeostasis.     

Cell type-specific expression of the human renin gene.

We have previously produced transgenic mice carrying the human renin gene, whose expression is regulated in a tissue-specific manner. In the present study, we further characterized expression of the transgene. Northern blot analysis showed that the human renin gene is expressed in the kidney but not in the liver of two lines of transgenic mice with 10 and 50 copies of the transgene, suggesting that the integrated copy number of the human renin gene does not influence the dominant-renal expression pattern. Immunohistochemical study using a monoclonal antibody specific for human renin demonstrated that expression of human renin in the transgenic mouse kidney is confined to the epithelioid juxtaglomerular cells. Transfection experiments indicated that the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase fusion gene containing the 3-kb upstream sequences of the renin gene is activated only in human epithelioid embryonic 293 cells derived from kidney but not in human HepG2 cells from liver. These findings suggest that transfer of the cloned renin gene into mice and in vitro cultured cell lines can give rise to cell type-specific expression.     

Assignment of the Gene for Porcine Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1 to Chromosome 18 and Detection of Polymorphisms in Intron 2 by PCR–RFLP

We have obtained a partial cDNA and three BAC clones for the porcine insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 gene (IGFBP-1). Results of fluorescence in situ and radiation hybrid (RH) mapping assigned this gene to porcine chromosome (SSC) 18q24-qter. We found two types of polymerase chain reaction–restriction-fragment-length polymorphisms (PCR–RFLP) in intron 2 by using FokI and AluI.     

Targeted stimulation of meiotic recombination

Meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initiated by programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), a process that requires the Spo11 protein. DSBs usually occur in intergenic regions that display open chromatin accessibility, but other determinants that control their frequencies and non-random chromosomal distribution remain obscure. We report that a Spo11 construct bearing the Gal4 DNA binding domain not only rescues spo11Delta spore inviability and catalyzes DSB formation at natural sites but also strongly stimulates DSB formation near Gal4 binding sites. At GAL2, a naturally DSB-cold locus, Gal4BD-Spo11 creates a recombinational hotspot that depends on all the other DSB gene functions, showing that the targeting of Spo11 to a specific site is sufficient to stimulate meiotic recombination that is under normal physiological control.     

Involvement of AQP6 in the Mercury-Sensitive Osmotic Lysis of Rat Parotid Secretory Granules

In secretory granules and vesicles, membrane transporters have been predicted to permeate water molecules, ions and/or small solutes to swell the granules and promote membrane fusion. We have previously demonstrated that aquaporin-6 (AQP6), a water channel protein, which permeates anions, is localized in rat parotid secretory granules (Matsuki-Fukushima et al., Cell Tissue Res 332:73–80, 2008). Because the localization of AQP6 in other organs is restricted to cytosolic vesicles, the native function or functions of AQP6 in vivo has not been well determined. To characterize the channel property in granule membranes, the solute permeation-induced lysis of purified secretory granules is a useful marker. To analyze the role of AQP6 in secretory granule membranes, we used Hg²⁺, which is known to activate AQP6, and investigated the characteristics of solute permeability in rat parotid secretory granule lysis induced by Hg²⁺ (Hg lysis). The kinetics of osmotic secretory granule lysis in an iso-osmotic KCl solution was monitored by the decay of optical density at 540 nm using a spectrophotometer. Osmotic secretory granule lysis was markedly facilitated in the presence of 0.5–2.0 μM Hg²⁺, concentrations that activate AQP6. The Hg lysis was completely blocked by β-mercaptoethanol which disrupts Hg²⁺-binding, or by removal of chloride ions from the reaction medium. An anion channel blocker, DIDS, which does not affect AQP6, discriminated between DIDS-insensitive and sensitive components in Hg lysis. These results suggest that Hg lysis is required for anion permeability through the protein transporter. Hg lysis depended on anion conductance with a sequence of NO₃ ^? > Br^? > I^? > Cl^? and was facilitated by acidic pH. The anion selectivity for NO₃ ^? and the acidic pH sensitivity were similar to the channel properties of AQP6. Taken together, it is likely that AQP6 permeates halide group anions as a Hg²⁺-sensitive anion channel in rat parotid secretory granules.     

Tome-1, a trigger of mitotic entry,is degraded during G1 via the APC

Entry into mitosis requires the activation of cdk1/cyclin B, while mitotic exit is achieved when the same kinase activity decreases, as cyclin B is degraded. Cyclin B proteolysis is mediated by the anaphase promoting complex, or APC, an E3 ligase that is active at anaphase in mitosis through G1. We have identified a G1 substrate of the APC that we have termed Tome-1, for trigger of mitotic entry. Tome-1 is a cytosolic protein required for proper activation of cdk1/cyclin B and mitotic entry. Tome-1 associates with Skp-1 and is required for degradation of the cdk1 inhibitory tyrosine kinase wee1; Tome-1 therefore appears to be acting as part of an SCF-type E3 for wee1. Degradation of Tome-1 during G1 allows for wee 1 accumulation during interphase, thereby providing a critical link between the APC and SCF pathways in regulation of cdk1/cyclin B activity and thus mitotic entry and exit.     

Degradation of rat cardiac myofibrils and myofibrillar proteins by a myosin-cleaving protease.

The degradation of rat cardiac myofibrils and their constituent proteins with a myosin-cleaving protease was studied. Electrophoretograms of the digestion products of myofibrils showed that myosin,M-protein, C-protein, and troponin were degraded, but actin and tropomyosin were not. Degradation of these constituents resulted in losses of the Mg2+-ATPase activity and its Ca2+-sensitivity of myofibrils. Incubation of myofibrils with the protease induced the release of alpha-actinin without degradation. Susceptibilities of myosin, actin, troponin, and alpha-actinin purified from rat and pig hearts to the protease were essentially identical to those of the assembled forms in myofibrils. Although the purified tropomyosin was readily degraded into five fragments with the protease, the tropomyosin assembled in myofibrils and actin-tropomyosin complex were insusceptible to the protease. Digestion of myosin in the filamentous state with the protease resulted in the disappearance of myosin heavy chain and light chain 2, producing two fragments having molecular weights of 130,000 and 94,000 which originated from the degradation of heavy chain. The Ca2+- and EDTA-ATPase activities of the degradation products remained unchanged during incubation for 22 h. The actin-activated ATPase activity of myosin was reduced by 30% during incubation for 6 h, and recovered to the original level on adding actin to give a ratio of actin to myosin of 2:1. The pH optima for degradation of myosin in the soluble and filamentous states were 8.5 and 7.0, respectively. The results indicate that cardiac myosin in the filamentous state was more readily degraded with the protease than the myosin in the soluble state.     

Removal of Ca2+ channel beta3 subunit enhances Ca2+ oscillation frequency and insulin exocytosis

An oscillatory increase in pancreatic beta cell cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]i, is a key feature in glucose-induced insulin release. The role of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channel beta3 subunit in the molecular regulation of these [Ca2+]i oscillations has now been clarified by using beta3 subunit-deficient beta cells. beta3 knockout mice showed a more efficient glucose homeostasis compared to wild-type mice due to increased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. This resulted from an increased glucose-induced [Ca2+]i oscillation frequency in beta cells lacking the beta3 subunit, an effect accounted for by enhanced formation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) and increased Ca2+ mobilization from intracellular stores. Hence, the beta3 subunit negatively modulated InsP3-induced Ca2+ release, which is not paralleled by any effect on the voltage-gated L type Ca2+ channel. Since the increase in insulin release was manifested only at high glucose concentrations, blocking the beta3 subunit in the beta cell may constitute the basis for a novel diabetes therapy.     

Reduced pain hypersensitivity and inflammation in mice lacking microsomal prostaglandin e synthase-1

We examined the in vivo role of membrane-bound prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES)-1, a terminal enzyme in the PGE2-biosynthetic pathway, using mPGES-1 knockout (KO) mice. Comparison of PGES activity in the membrane fraction of tissues from mPGES-1 KO and wild-type (WT) mice indicated that mPGES-1 accounted for the majority of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-inducible PGES in WT mice. LPS-stimulated production of PGE2, but not other PGs, was impaired markedly in mPGES-1-null macrophages, although a low level of cyclooxygenase-2-dependent PGE2 production still remained. Pain nociception, as assessed by the acetic acid writhing response, was reduced significantly in KO mice relative to WT mice. This phenotype was particularly evident when these mice were primed with LPS, where the stretching behavior and the peritoneal PGE2 level of KO mice were far less than those of WT mice. Formation of inflammatory granulation tissue and attendant angiogenesis in the dorsum induced by subcutaneous implantation of a cotton thread were reduced significantly in KO mice compared with WT mice. Moreover, collagen antibody-induced arthritis, a model for human rheumatoid arthritis, was milder in KO mice than in WT mice. Collectively, our present results provide unequivocal evidence that mPGES-1 contributes to the formation of PGE2 involved in pain hypersensitivity and inflammation.