Effects of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor on dopaminergic function and motor behavior during aging

Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is critical in synaptic plasticity and in the survival and function of midbrain dopamine neurons. In this study, we assessed the effects of a partial genetic deletion of BDNF on motor function and dopamine (DA) neurotransmitter measures by comparing Bdnf^+/? with wildtype mice (WT) at different ages. Bdnf^+/? and WT mice had similar body weights until 12 months of age; however, at 21 months, Bdnf^+/? mice were significantly heavier than WT mice. Horizontal and vertical motor activity was reduced for Bdnf^+/? compared to WT mice, but was not influenced by age. Performance on an accelerating rotarod declined with age for both genotypes and was exacerbated for Bdnf^+/? mice. Body weight did not correlate with any of the three behavioral measures studied. Dopamine neurotransmitter markers indicated no genotypic difference in striatal tyrosine hydroxylase, DA transporter (DAT) or vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) immunoreactivity at any age. However, DA transport via DAT (starting at 12 months) and VMAT2 (starting at 3 months) as well as KCl‐stimulated DA release were reduced in Bdnf^+/? mice and declined with age suggesting an increasingly important role for BDNF in the release and uptake of DA with the aging process. These findings suggest that a BDNF expression deficit becomes more critical to dopaminergic dynamics and related behavioral activities with increasing age.     

Effect of temperature on seed production in the invasive grass Glyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmb. (Poaceae) in South Africa

Temperature is one of the main factors that determine sexual reproduction in terrestrial and emergent aquatic plant species. The effect of temperature on sexual reproduction and seed production of Glyceria maxima (Hartm.) Holmb. in the southern hemisphere is unknown. Glyceria maxima collections in February 2010 at three isolated infestations in KwaZulu-Natal failed to yield a single seed, only empty panicles. Laboratory experiments showed that vernalisation had no consistent effect on seed production. Field- and laboratory-grown plants produced seeds in the 2010/2011 season, because of having sufficient time at optimum temperatures required for seed production (1 491 and 1 585 hours, respectively), compared to a shorter period (1 352 hours) of suitable temperatures during the 2009/2010 growing season. An inadequate period of optimum temperatures (15–25°C) during seed production resulted in the lack of seeds in the field in the 2009/2010 growing season. This study showed that temperature and duration of exposure thereto during the seed-production period play vital roles in G. maxima sexual reproduction.     

Coordination geometry induced control of channel morphology in divalent metal pyridinedicarboxylate coordination polymers containing a kinked tethering organodiimine

Hydrothermal synthesis has afforded two divalent metal coordination polymers incorporating tridentate 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylate (PDC) ligands and the kinked dipodal organodiimine 4,4′-dipyridylamine (dpa), {[Ni(PDC)(dpa)(H₂O)] · 2H₂O} (1) and {[Zn(PDC)(dpa)] · 3H₂O} (2), which were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and spectral and thermogravimetric analyses. Although both 1 and 2 display one-dimensional (1-D) polymeric chain motifs, the different coordination environments (octahedral in 1, distorted square pyramidal in 2) provoke divergence in the structures and aggregations of the chain subunits. Compound 1 manifests both polycatenation and interdigitation of its 1-D polymeric chains, while 2 exhibits only interdigitation, resulting in widely disparate morphologies for water molecule-bearing channels within the extended structures. Compound 1 possesses three distinct channel types occupied by isolated water molecules. Compound 2 presents only one type of channel, larger than those in 1, filled with D(5) discrete-chain water molecule aggregations. In both cases the co-crystallized water molecules are anchored to the coordination polymer matrix by hydrogen bonding involving PDC carboxylate oxygen atoms and the central amine unit of the dpa ligands. These supramolecular interactions are crucial for stability, as 1 and 2 both undergo irreversible loss of crystallinity upon dehydration.     

Lessons from development: A role for asymmetric stem cell division in cancer

Asymmetric stem cell division has emerged as a major regulatory mechanism for physiologic control of stem cell numbers. Reinvigoration of the cancer stem cell theory suggests that tumorigenesis may be regulated by maintaining the balance between asymmetric and symmetric cell division. Therefore, mutations affecting this balance could result in aberrant expansion of stem cells. Although a number of molecules have been implicated in regulation of asymmetric stem cell division, here, we highlight known tumor suppressors with established roles in this process. While a subset of these tumor suppressors were originally defined in developmental contexts, recent investigations reveal they are also lost or mutated in human cancers. Mutations in tumor suppressors involved in asymmetric stem cell division provide mechanisms by which cancer stem cells can hyperproliferate and offer an intriguing new focus for understanding cancer biology. Our discussion of this emerging research area derives insight from a frontier area of basic science and links these discoveries to human tumorigenesis. This highlights an important new focus for understanding the mechanism underlying expansion of cancer stem cells in driving tumorigenesis.