Extracellular calcium affects the membrane currents of cultured human keratinocytes.

Electrophysiologic properties of cultured human keratinocytes were studied using the patch voltage-clamp technique. Undifferentiated, proliferative keratinocytes grown in low Ca2+ medium had an average resting membrane potential of -24 mV. Voltage-clamp experiments showed that these cells had two membrane ionic currents: a large voltage-independent leak conductance, and a smaller voltage-dependent Cl- current that activated with depolarization. Increasing the extracellular Ca2+ concentration from 0.15 to 2 mM resulted in a doubling of the magnitude of the voltage-gated current and a shift in current activation to more negative potentials. Since levels of extracellular Ca2+ can alter the morphology and differentiation state of keratinocytes, the finding of a Ca2(+)-activated Cl- current in these cells suggests a role for this conductance in the initiation of differentiation.     

Megafauna decline have reduced pathogen dispersal which may have increased emergent infectious diseases

The Late Quaternary extinctions of megafauna (defined as animal species > 44.5 kg) reduced the dispersal of seeds and nutrients, and likely also microbes and parasites. Here we use body-mass based scaling and range maps for extinct and extant mammal species to show that these extinctions led to an almost seven-fold reduction in the movement of gut-transported microbes, such as Escherichia coli (3.3–0.5 km² d⁻¹). Similarly, the extinctions led to a seven-fold reduction in the mean home ranges of vector-borne pathogens (7.8–1.1 km²). To understand the impact of this, we created an individual-based model where an order of magnitude decrease in home range increased maximum aggregated microbial mutations 4-fold after 20 000 yr. We hypothesize that pathogen speciation and hence endemism increased with isolation, as global dispersal distances decreased through a mechanism similar to the theory of island biogeography. To investigate if such an effect could be found, we analysed where 145 zoonotic diseases have emerged in human populations and found quantitative estimates of reduced dispersal of ectoparasites and fecal pathogens significantly improved our ability to predict the locations of outbreaks (increasing variance explained by 8%). There are limitations to this analysis which we discuss in detail, but if further studies support these results, they broadly suggest that reduced pathogen dispersal following megafauna extinctions may have increased the emergence of zoonotic pathogens moving into human populations.     

Identification of a Novel Recycling Sequence in the C-tail of FPR2/ALX Receptor: ASSOCIATION WITH CELL PROTECTION FROM APOPTOSIS*

Formyl-peptide receptor type 2 (FPR2; also called ALX because it is the receptor for lipoxin A₄) sustains a variety of biological responses relevant to the development and control of inflammation, yet the cellular regulation of this G-protein-coupled receptor remains unexplored. Here we report that, in response to peptide agonist activation, FPR2/ALX undergoes β-arrestin-mediated endocytosis followed by rapid recycling to the plasma membrane. We identify a transplantable recycling sequence that is both necessary and sufficient for efficient receptor recycling. Furthermore, removal of this C-terminal recycling sequence alters the endocytic fate of FPR2/ALX and evokes pro-apoptotic effects in response to agonist activation. This study demonstrates the importance of endocytic recycling in the anti-apoptotic properties of FPR2/ALX and identifies the molecular determinant required for modulation of this process fundamental for the control of inflammation.     

Undersampled Critical Branching Processes on Small-World and Random Networks Fail to Reproduce the Statistics of Spike Avalanches

The power-law size distributions obtained experimentally for neuronal avalanches are an important evidence of criticality in the brain. This evidence is supported by the fact that a critical branching process exhibits the same exponent . Models at criticality have been employed to mimic avalanche propagation and explain the statistics observed experimentally. However, a crucial aspect of neuronal recordings has been almost completely neglected in the models: undersampling. While in a typical multielectrode array hundreds of neurons are recorded, in the same area of neuronal tissue tens of thousands of neurons can be found. Here we investigate the consequences of undersampling in models with three different topologies (two-dimensional, small-world and random network) and three different dynamical regimes (subcritical, critical and supercritical). We found that undersampling modifies avalanche size distributions, extinguishing the power laws observed in critical systems. Distributions from subcritical systems are also modified, but the shape of the undersampled distributions is more similar to that of a fully sampled system. Undersampled supercritical systems can recover the general characteristics of the fully sampled version, provided that enough neurons are measured. Undersampling in two-dimensional and small-world networks leads to similar effects, while the random network is insensitive to sampling density due to the lack of a well-defined neighborhood. We conjecture that neuronal avalanches recorded from local field potentials avoid undersampling effects due to the nature of this signal, but the same does not hold for spike avalanches. We conclude that undersampled branching-process-like models in these topologies fail to reproduce the statistics of spike avalanches.     

New cyclic peptide proteasome inhibitors

Here we report the study of a new series of vinyl ester cyclopeptide analogues synthesized on the basis of our previous development of a class of cyclopeptides derived from our linear prototype inhibitors. In these compounds, the exocyclic pharmacophoric unit Leu-VE was linked to the γ-carboxyl group of the glutamic acid residue at the C-terminal. The best analogues of the series have been shown to inhibit the caspase-like activity of the proteasome at nanomolar concentrations and have also demonstrated good resistance to proteolysis and a capacity to permeate the cell membrane.     

New Insights from the Oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae on Bivalve Circulating Hemocytes

Hemocytes are the first line of defense of the immune system in invertebrates, but despite their important role and enormous potential for the study of gene-environment relationships, research has been impeded by a lack of consensus on their classification. Here we used flow cytometry combined with histological procedures, histochemical reactions and transmission electron microscopy to characterize the hemocytes from the oyster Crassostrea rhizophorae. Transmission electron microscopy revealed remarkable morphological characteristics, such as the presence of membranous cisternae in all mature cells, regardless of size and granulation. Some granular cells contained many cytoplasmic granules that communicated with each other through a network of channels, a feature never previously described for hemocytes. The positive reactions for esterase and acid phosphatase also indicated the presence of mature cells of all sizes and granule contents. Flow cytometry revealed a clear separation in complexity between agranular and granular populations, which could not be differentiated by size, with cells ranging from 2.5 to 25 µm. Based on this evidence we suggest that, at least in C. rhizophorae, the different subpopulations of hemocytes may in reality be different stages of one type of cell, which accumulates granules and loses complexity (with no reduction in size) as it degranulates in the event of an environmental challenge.     

1-Naphthol basic dye (1-NBD). An alternative to diaminobenzidine (DAB) in immunoperoxidase techniques

The usefulness of 1-naphthol as substrate for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in immunohistochemistry was studied using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) and avidin-biotin-complex (ABC) methods in the demonstration of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, carbonic anhydrase C (CA.C), and factor VIII-related antigen (FVIII/RAg) in central nervous tissue and cerebral tumors. In the presence of ammonium carbonate, 1-naphthol is oxidized by HRP and hydrogen peroxide, producing a fine gray-violet precipitate. The oxidation product of 1-naphthol proved capable of binding a great number of basic dyes. For each stain the final reaction product had a characteristic color that was different from the spontaneous color of the dye and from the color displayed by nuclei. The final color obtained with this procedure was alcohol resistant and could be mounted in solvent-based mounting media. The results obtained with the 1-naphthol basic dye (1-NBD) method were compared with those obtained using the diaminobenzidine (DAB) reaction in the demonstration of GFAP-positive astrocytes. The DAB reaction produced a more intense staining but also a coarser precipitate than the 1-NBD reaction. The 1-NBD procedure showed more morphological detail of fine structures and did not obscure nuclei and mitosis. The very low toxicity of 1-naphthol compared with DAB (a suspected carcinogen) is an important advantage of the 1-NBD method, as is its high specificity and sensitivity.