Cross-sectional Area-corrected Compression Modulus of Food Gel

The linearity of the stress-strain relationship for food gel is limited to a very narrow range of the strain (usually less than 0.1 as a Cauchy measure). The reason is thought due to the change in cross-sectional area of the gel upon deformation. In this report, the cross-sectional area was approximately corrected of the compressed gel on the assumption that the gel expanded uniformly without changing its volume upon compression. In cases when the initial Young’s modulus was calculated from the thus-corrected area for some food gels, the linearity was increased for a wider range of strain.     

Cancer Cell Analyses at the Single Cell-Level Using Electroactive Microwell Array Device

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), shed from primary tumors and disseminated into peripheral blood, are playing a major role in metastasis. Even after isolation of CTCs from blood, the target cells are mixed with a population of other cell types. Here, we propose a new method for analyses of cell mixture at the single-cell level using a microfluidic device that contains arrayed electroactive microwells. Dielectrophoretic (DEP) force, induced by the electrodes patterned on the bottom surface of the microwells, allows efficient trapping and stable positioning of single cells for high-throughput biochemical analyses. We demonstrated that various on-chip analyses including immunostaining, viability/apoptosis assay and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) at the single-cell level could be conducted just by applying specific reagents for each assay. Our simple method should greatly help discrimination and analysis of rare cancer cells among a population of blood cells.     

NdhO,a Subunit of NADPH Dehydrogenase,Destabilizes Medium Size Complex of the Enzyme in Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803

Two mutants that grew faster than the wild-type (WT) strain under high light conditions were isolated from Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 transformed with a transposon-bearing library. Both mutants had a tag in ssl1690 encoding NdhO. Deletion of ndhO increased the activity of NADPH dehydrogenase (NDH-1)-dependent cyclic electron transport around photosystem I (NDH-CET), while overexpression decreased the activity. Although deletion and overexpression of ndhO did not have significant effects on the amount of other subunits such as NdhH, NdhI, NdhK, and NdhM in the cells, the amount of these subunits in the medium size NDH-1 (NDH-1M) complex was higher in the ndhO-deletion mutant and much lower in the overexpression strain than in the WT. NdhO strongly interacts with NdhI and NdhK but not with other subunits. NdhI interacts with NdhK and the interaction was blocked by NdhO. The blocking may destabilize the NDH-1M complex and repress the NDH-CET activity. When cells were transferred from growth light to high light, the amounts of NdhI and NdhK increased without significant change in the amount of NdhO, thus decreasing the relative amount of NdhO. This might have decreased the blocking, thereby stabilizing the NDH-1M complex and increasing the NDH-CET activity under high light conditions.     

Electrical Characteristics of the Tonoplast of Cham corallincr. A Study Using Permeabilised Cells

Use of permeabilised cells of Chara corallina provides a uniqueopportunity to study the electrical characteristics of the tonoplastwhilst being able to control ionic conditions on the outsideof the membrane. Current-voltage (I/V) analysis over wide voltagespans, and admittance measurements at 5 Hz showed that manypermeabilised cells had a similar conductance and capacitanceto the tonoplast of intact cells. Cells developed two regionsof negative-slope conductance upon addition of external Cl^–,which suggests the existence of potential-dependent Cl^–channels in the Chara tonoplast. With Cl^– concentrationssimilar to those expected in vivo, the resting potential wasmore sensitive to changes in external K⁺ than Cl^–; however,a decrease in external K⁺ did not significantly alter the shapeof the I/V relation. ¹Present address: Biopysics Laboratory, School of BiologicalSciences, A12, University of Sydney, Sydney, N.S.W., 2006, Australia ²Permanent address: Department of botany, Faculty of Science,University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113, Japan (Received May 6, 1987; Accepted September 21, 1987)     

Inhibition of tumor metastasis of lewis lung carcinoma in C57BL/6 mice by intrapleural administration of Lactobacillus casei

Summary The antimetastatic effect of Lactobacillus casei YIT9018 (LC 9018) against Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) in C57BL/6 mice was determined. Intrapleural (i.pl.) administration of LC 9018 was effective in inhibiting pulmonary metastasis after s.c. inoculation of 3LL tumors into C57BL/6 mice. The combination of i.pl. and intralesional or i.v. injections of LC 9018 also markedly inhibited pulmonary metastasis in 3LL-bearing mice. The i.pl. administration of LC 9018 into mice induced an increase in the number of thoracic exudate cells (TEC) and the cell population in the TEC was mainly polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the early stage, while macrophages were dominant in the late stage. In addition, in vitro cytolytic activity against 3LL cells and natural killer cell activity of TEC were augmented by the i.pl. administration of LC 9018. Furthermore, i.pl. administration of LC 9018 into the mice rendered their lung macrophages tumoricidal for 3LL cells in vitro. These results show that TEC induced by i.pl. administration of LC 9018 played a key role in the inhibtion of metastasis in 3LL-bearing mice.     

Effects of vasoactive intestinal contractor (VIC) and endothelin on intracellular calcium level in neuroblastoma NG108-15 cells

Effects on [Ca2+]i levels of endothelin-l (ET) and vasoactive intestinal contractor peptide (VIC), which is a novel member of the endothelin family, were examined in fura 2-loaded neuroblastoma NG108-15 cells. VIC was found to be a very effective stimulus for intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and to be more potent than ET. Intracellular calcium response to sequential addition of two stimulants exhibited the homologous desensitization of either ET or VIC, but no heterologous desensitization between ET and VIC. This indicates evidence suggesting that these two peptides act through distinct receptors.     

Molecular genetics of phenylketonuria in Orientals: linkage disequilibrium between a termination mutation and haplotype 4 of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene.

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a common metabolic disorder among Chinese, with a prevalence of about 1 in 16,500 births. This frequency is very similar to that among Caucasians. Individual exons of the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene with flanking introns were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and cloned into M13 for sequence analysis. An Arg111-to-Ter111 mutation has been identified in exon 3 of the PAH gene in a Chinese PKU patient. The mutation is in linkage disequilibrium with the mutant haplotype 4 alleles which are the most prevalent haplotype among the Orientals. The mutation accounts for about 10% of the Chinese PKU alleles and is absent from the Caucasians, demonstrating that independent mutational events have occurred in the PAH locus after racial divergence.