The strategy of Na+ compartmentation and growth of Atriplex centralasiatica in adaptation to saline environments

In this study, we investigated the adaptation strategy employed by Atriplex centralasiatica Iljin in response to high salinity. When grown in high saline environments (100–200 mM NaCl), A. centralasiatica plants were larger and more succulent. This increased growth and water uptake was correlated with a large and specific cellular accumulation of sodium, demonstrating that in A. centralasiatica Na⁺ is beneficial rather than toxic. More than 95% of Na⁺ absorbed by salt-treated A. centralasiatica plants accumulated in shoots, especially in leaves; approximately 98% of Na⁺ that accumulated in leaves was localized in leaf protoplasts, a situation that was responsible for the decreased photosynthetic rate observed with increasing salt concentration. Because of the greater leaf area per plant found under saline conditions, no reduction in biomass of individual plants was observed. Measurements on isolated tonoplast-enriched membrane vesicles derived from the leaves of A. centralasiatica revealed increased V-H⁺-ATPase hydrolytic activity and V-H⁺-ATPase proton pump activity in salt-treated leaves compared with controls. These results suggest that, as an adaptation to saline environments, A. centralasiatica can efficiently sequester Na⁺ into vacuoles, thereby increasing leaf area to maintain its CO₂ assimilation capabilities.     

A Robust Post-Processing Workflow for Datasets with Motion Artifacts in Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging

Purpose

The aim of this study was to develop a robust post-processing workflow for motion-corrupted datasets in diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI).

Materials and methods

The proposed workflow consisted of brain extraction, rigid registration, distortion correction, artifacts rejection, spatial smoothing and tensor estimation. Rigid registration was utilized to correct misalignments. Motion artifacts were rejected by using local Pearson correlation coefficient (LPCC). The performance of LPCC in characterizing relative differences between artifacts and artifact-free images was compared with that of the conventional correlation coefficient in 10 randomly selected DKI datasets. The influence of rejected artifacts with information of gradient directions and b values for the parameter estimation was investigated by using mean square error (MSE). The variance of noise was used as the criterion for MSEs. The clinical practicality of the proposed workflow was evaluated by the image quality and measurements in regions of interest on 36 DKI datasets, including 18 artifact-free (18 pediatric subjects) and 18 motion-corrupted datasets (15 pediatric subjects and 3 essential tremor patients).

Results

The relative difference between artifacts and artifact-free images calculated by LPCC was larger than that of the conventional correlation coefficient (p<0.05). It indicated that LPCC was more sensitive in detecting motion artifacts. MSEs of all derived parameters from the reserved data after the artifacts rejection were smaller than the variance of the noise. It suggested that influence of rejected artifacts was less than influence of noise on the precision of derived parameters. The proposed workflow improved the image quality and reduced the measurement biases significantly on motion-corrupted datasets (p<0.05).

Conclusion

The proposed post-processing workflow was reliable to improve the image quality and the measurement precision of the derived parameters on motion-corrupted DKI datasets. The workflow provided an effective post-processing method for clinical applications of DKI in subjects with involuntary movements.     

Different Effects of Propofol and Isoflurane on Cochlear Blood Flow and Hearing Function in Guinea Pigs

Objectives

To investigate the effects of isoflurane and propofol on mean arterial pressure (MAP), cochlear blood flow (CoBF), distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and the ultrastructure of outer hair cells (OHCs) in guinea pig cochleae.

Methods

Forty-eight male guinea pigs were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups. Groups 1 to 3 were infused (i.v.) with a loading dose of propofol (5 mg/kg) for 5 min and three maintenance doses (10, 20, or 40 mg kg⁻¹·h⁻¹, respectively) for 115 min. Groups 4 to 6 were inhaled with isoflurane at concentrations of 1.15 vol%, 2.30 vol% or 3.45 vol% respectively for 120 min. CoBF and MAP were recorded prior to and at 5 min intervals during drug administration. DPOAE was measured before, immediately after, and 1 h after administration. Following the final DPOAE test, cochleae were examined using scanning electron microscopy.

Results

Propofol treatment reduced MAP in a dose-dependent manner. CoBF and DPOAE showed increases at propofol maintenance doses of 10 and 20 mg kg⁻¹·h⁻¹. Inhalation of isoflurane at concentrations of 2.30 vol% and 3.45 vol% reduced MAP and CoBF. DPOAE amplitude increased following inhalation of 1.15 vol% isoflurane, but decreased following inhalations of 2.30 vol% and 3.45 vol%. Cochlear structure was changed following inhalation of either 2.30 vol% or 3.45 vol% isoflurane.

Conclusions

Propofol could decrease MAP and increase both CoBF and DPOAE without affecting OHC structure. Inhalation of isoflurane at concentrations >2.30 vol% decreased CoBF and DPOAE, and produced injury to OHCs.     

Multinuclear nuclear magnetic resonance studies of Na cation-stabilized complex formed by d(G-G-T-T-T-T-C-G-G) in solution. Implications for G-tetrad structures.

There has been much recent interest in the self-association of short deoxyguanosine-rich motifs within single-stranded DNAs to generate monovalent cation modulated four-stranded helical segments called G-quadruplexes stabilized by hydrogen-bonded G-tetrad alignments. We have addressed structural aspects of this novel alignment and report on multinuclear 1H, 31P and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance studies on the d(G2T4CG2) deoxynonanucleotide with Na cation as counterion in aqueous solution at low temperature. This sequence forms stable structures even though it cannot align by Watson-Crick hydrogen bond formation (see the paper on d(G2T5G2) describing optical and calorimetric measurements by Jin, R., Breslauer, K. J., Jones, R. A. & Gaffney, B. L. (1990), Science, 250, 543-546). The four narrow exchangeable protons detected between 11.5 and 12.0 parts per million (p.p.m.), which are common to the d(G2T4CG2) deoxynonanucleotide and the d(G2TCG2) deoxyhexanucleotide sequences, are assigned to deoxyguanosine imino protons hydrogen-bonded to carbonyl acceptor groups. These narrow imino protons are not detected for d(IGN5IG) and d(I2N5G2), where two deoxyguanosine residues are replaced by two deoxyinosine residues in the deoxynonanucleotide sequences. This implies that the 2-amino protons of deoxyguanosine must also participate in hydrogen bond formation and stabilize the structured conformation of d(G2T4CG2) in Na cation-containing solution. We have completely assigned the base and sugar H1', H2',2', H3', and H4' protons of the d(G2T4CG2) oligomer following analysis of two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy and two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy data sets in 0.1 M-NaCl, 10 mM-sodium phosphate, 2H2O solution at 0 degree C. The relative magnitude of the nuclear Overhauser enhancements (NOEs) between the base H8 and its own sugar H1' protons of individual deoxyguanosine residues establishes that G1 and G8 adopt syn orientations while G2 and G9 adopt anti orientations about the glycosidic bond in the d(G1-G2-T3-T4-T5-T6-C7-G8-G9) sequence in both Na and K cation-containing aqueous solution. Consequently, any structure proposed for the tetramolecular complex of d(G2T4CG2) must exhibit alternating G(syn) and G(anti) glycosidic torsion angles within each strand. The directionality and magnitude of the observed NOEs are consistent with the G(syn)-G(anti) steps adopting right-handed helical conformations in solution. We also note that the H8 protons of G1 and G8 (7.35 to 7.45 p.p.m.) in a syn alignment are shifted significantly upfield from the H8 protons of G2 and G9 (8.0 to 8.3 p.p.m.) in an anti alignment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Detection and characterization of additional DNA polymorphisms in the dopamine D2 receptor gene.

The gene encoding the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) has been suggested as a candidate gene for several mental disorders. We previously described the cloning and chromosomal mapping (to 11q22-q23) of a human DRD2 gene as well as its use for the detection of a two-allele TaqI RFLP with a minor allele frequency of 0.24, corresponding to a PIC of 0.30. Family linkage utilizing DRD2 would be facilitated if the PIC of the DRD2 locus were increased. To this end, we have used additional phage and cosmid clones in the vicinity of DRD2 to identify a new two-allele TaqI RFLP as well as a TG microsatellite polymorphism with a PIC of 0.62. We report localizations of the three polymorphisms on the restriction map of the DRD2 locus. The TaqI RFLPs are in apparent linkage equilibrium with the microsatellite, yielding a highly informative compound marker locus with a PIC of 0.76.     

黄芫花提取物对V79细胞和WB肝细胞的生物...：1....

A Chinese herb, wikstroemia Chamaedaphen (WC) extract, recently has been shown to be a potential tumor promoting agent on uterine cervical carcinoma induced by HSV-2 or MCA in mice. To determine whether the tumor promoting effects of WC extract were mediated through inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) with relation to cellular growth, experiments were conducted on Chinese hamster V79 cells and rat WB liver cells by utilization of SLDT method for GJIC detection and cell growth curve examination, 3H-TdR incorporation, mitotic index (MI) and Flow Cytometry (FCM) methods. TPA was used for comparative purpose. WC extract inhibited GJIC and stimulated cell growth in a dose (2-200 micrograms/ml) and time (0-72 hr)-dependent manner in both cell lines. Both WC extract and TPA treatments increased V79 cell growth rate. The average cell doubling-time was decreased from 36.5 hr in control V79 cells to 28.2 hr in WC extract (10 micrograms/ml) and 20.9 hr in TPA (50 ng/ml) treatment by the 3rd day. Stimulating effect of both drugs on DNA synthesis of V79 cells was demonstrated. The results of FCM and MI indicated that the cell number of M-phase cells was increased after drug treatment. It is suggested that (1) tumor promoting effect of WC extract might be mediated through inhibition of GJIC: (2) inhibition of GJIC is closely correlated with increased cell growth rate and entry of cell division cycle.     

Delineation of type-specific regions on the envelope glycoproteins of human T cell leukemia viruses.

Two different approaches were used to map the type-specific regions on human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV) envelope glycoproteins. 1) Antibody reactivities of polymerase chain reaction-confirmed HTLV-I or HTLV-II carriers' sera were analyzed by Western blot assay with seven recombinant proteins containing different regions of HTLV-I or HTLV-II envelope proteins. 2) Rabbit antibodies elicited by nine HTLV-I Env synthetic peptides were used to react with the native HTLV envelope glycoproteins in an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) assay. The results of the Western blot analysis showed that RP-B2, which contains amino acid residues 166 to 213 from HTLV-II exterior glycoprotein, was specifically reactive with 90.6% (48 of 53) of the HTLV-II carriers' sera but not with any of the HTLV-I carriers' serum (0 of 71). In contrast, RP-B, which contains amino acid residues 166 to 229 from HTLV-I exterior glycoprotein, was reactive with 85.1% (114 of 134) of the HTLV-I carriers' sera but not with any HTLV-II carrier serum (0 of 62). Furthermore, anti-HTLV-I Env synthetic peptide antibody-mediated ADCC identified several distinguishing HTLV-I ADCC epitopes in the middle region (amino acid residues 177 to 257) of the HTLV-I exterior glycoprotein. Therefore, HTLV type-specific epitopes reside mainly in a 69-amino acid sequence bounded by two cysteine residues (amino acids 157 and 225 for HTLV-I and 153 and 221 for HTLV-II), in the middle region of the exterior envelope glycoproteins.