Expanding the Dialogue: A Response to Bird and Godwin's "Film in the Undergraduate Anthropology Classroom"

This article is a response to S. Elizabeth Bird and Jonathan P. Godwin's article "Film in the Undergraduate Anthropology Classroom: Applying Audience Response Research in Pedagogical Practice." The intention of my response is to expand the dialogue on film use to promote cultural understanding in university classes and campus-wide. Through participant-observation and the use of surveys over a two-year period, I examine the transformation of participant viewers in various contexts, noting that by limiting our understanding of film to merely the transfer of information, we not only have a limited understanding of our viewers but also have ignored possible avenues for learning. My findings indicate that the "context" for film screening is dependent on the film, the instructor, the post-screening discussant, and the viewers, can yield dramatic results in learning, depending on the ways in which each is engaged.     

Major components in the hairpencil secretion of a butterfly, Euploea mulciber (Lepidoptera, Danaidae): their origins and male behavioral responses to pyrrolizidine alkaloids

Two compounds, 9,10-epoxytetrahydroedulan (ET) and viridiflorine beta-lactone (VL), were identified as major components from the hairpencils of field-caught males of a danaid butterfly, Euploea mulciber. By contrast, laboratory-reared males entirely lacked VL, but possessed a significant quantity of ET. Various feeding experiments with larvae and indoor adult males strongly suggested that ET is biosynthesized de novo only after eclosion from nutrients ingested during the larval development. Since VL was suspected to be derived from pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) acquired as an adult, tests for feeding response to and oral administration of four PAs (a 4:1 mixture of intermedine/lycopsamine, heliotrine, monocrotaline, and retronecine) were conducted. When the tarsi or proboscis were stimulated with PA solutions, males showed positive feeding responses (proboscis extension and sucking movements) to intermedine/lycopsamine, heliotrine, and retronecine in decreasing order of responsiveness, thereby providing evidence that male adults are endowed with taste receptor(s) specific to PAs on the legs as well as on the proboscis. Differently from gustatory responsiveness, only males fed with intermedine/lycopsamine produced a significant quantity of VL (ca. 35 microg/male), whereas those that ingested heliotrine or monocrotaline hydrochloride produced traces of VL (<0.18 microg/male). Uptake of retronecine did not lead to VL formation at all. In behavioral bioassays to test the attractivity of PAs to males, all individuals tested were attracted exclusively to intermedine/lycopsamine. This shows that certain PA(s) per se serve as attractant(s) for males in locating PA sources, and further suggests that in the field, males will seek particular PA(s) that are indispensable as precursors for the efficient biosynthesis of VL.     

Titin-induced force enhancement and force depression: A ‘sticky-spring’ mechanism in muscle contractions?

The sliding filament and crossbridge theories do not suffice to explain a number of muscle experiments. For example, from the entire muscle to myofibrils, predictions of these theories were shown to underestimate the force output during and after active tissue stretch. The converse applies to active tissue shortening.In addition to the crossbridge cycle, we propose that another molecular mechanism is effective in sarcomere force generation. We suggest that, when due to activation, myosin binding sites are available on actin, the giant protein titin's PEVK region attaches itself to the actin filament at those sites. As a result, the molecular spring length is dramatically reduced. This leads to increased passive force when the sarcomere is stretched and to decreased or even negative passive force when the sarcomere shortens. Moreover, during shortening, the proposed mechanism interferes with active-force production by inhibiting crossbridges.Incorporation of a simple ‘sticky-spring’ mechanism model into a Hill-type model of sarcomere dynamics offers explanations for several force-enhancement and force-depression effects. For example, the increase of the sarcomere force compared to the force predicted solely by the sliding filament and crossbridge theories depends on the stretch amplitude and on the working range. The same applies to the decrease of sarcomere force during and after shortening. Using only literature data for its parameterization, the model predicts forces similar to experimental results.     

Role of stretch-activated channels on the stretch-induced changes of rat atrial myocytes

The role of stretch-activated channels (SACs) on the stretch-induced changes of rat atrial myocytes was studied using a computer model that incorporated various ion channels and transporters including SACs. A relationship between the extent of the stretch and the activation of SACs was formulated in the model based on experimental findings to reproduce changes in electrical activity and Ca²⁺ transients by stretch. Action potentials (APs) were significantly changed by the activation of SACs in the model simulation. The duration of the APs decreased at the initial fast phase and increased at the late slow phase of repolarisation. The resting membrane potential was depolarised from −82 to −70 mV. The Ca²⁺ transients were also affected. A prolonged activation of SACs in the model gradually increased the amplitude of the Ca²⁺ transients. The removal of Ca²⁺ permeability through SACs, however, had little effect on the stretch-induced changes in electrical activity and Ca²⁺ transients in the control condition. In contrast, the removal of the Na⁺ permeability nearly abolished these stretch-induced changes. Plotting the peaks of the Ca²⁺ transients during the activation of the SACs along a time axis revealed that they follow the time course of the Na_i⁺ concentration. The Ca²⁺ transients were not changed when the Na_i⁺ concentration was fixed to a control value (5.4 mM). These results predicted by the model suggest that the influx of Na⁺ rather than Ca²⁺ through SACs is more crucial to the generation of stretch-induced changes in the electrical activity and associated Ca²⁺ transients of rat atrial myocytes.     

Stretch and CO2 modulate the inflammatory response of alveolar macrophages through independent changes in metabolic activity

Ventilatory-induced strain can exacerbate acute lung injury (ALI). Current ventilation strategies favour low tidal volumes and high end-expiratory volumes to 'rest' the lung, but can lead to an increase in CO2. Alveolar macrophages (AM) play a pivotal role in ALI through the release of inflammatory mediators. The effect of physical strain and CO2 on the release of pro-inflammatory mediators was examined in isolated rat AM. AM were cultured on IgG-coated silastic membranes with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 5% or 20% CO2 and subjected to a repetitive sinusoidal mechanical strain (30%, 60 cycles/min) for 4 h. Cell viability and metabolic activity were assessed. In both the presence and absence of LPS, physical strain increased metabolic activity by approximately 5%, while 20% CO2 decreased metabolic activity by approximately 40%. Twenty per cent CO2 decreased TNF-alpha secretion by approximately 45%, without affecting cell viability. Physical strain enhanced LPS-induced secretion of TNF-alpha by 1.5%, but not IL-6 or CINC-1. Hence, the effects of both CO2 and physical strain are mediated independently through changes in AM metabolic activity. Physical strain is not a major determinant of TNF-alpha, IL-6 or CINC-1 in AM. Our results confirm that high CO2 can lessen the TNF-alpha inflammatory response of AM.     

A role for LORELEI,a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored protein,in Arabidopsis thaliana double fertilization and early seed development

In plants, double fertilization requires successful sperm cell delivery into the female gametophyte followed by migration, recognition and fusion of the two sperm cells with two female gametes. We isolated a null allele (lre‐5) of LORELEI, which encodes a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)‐anchored protein implicated in reception of the pollen tube by the female gametophyte. Although most lre‐5 female gametophytes do not allow pollen tube reception, in those that do, early seed development is delayed. A fraction of lre‐5/lre‐5 seeds underwent abortion due to defect(s) in the female gametophyte. The aborted seeds contained endosperm but no zygote/embryo, reminiscent of autonomous endosperm development in the pollen tube reception mutants scylla and sirene. However, unpollinated lre‐5/lre‐5 ovules did not initiate autonomous endosperm development and endosperm development in aborted seeds began after central cell fertilization. Thus, the egg cell probably remained unfertilized in aborted lre‐5/lre‐5 seeds. The lre‐5/lre‐5 ovules that remain undeveloped due to defective pollen tube reception did not induce synergid degeneration and repulsion of supernumerary pollen tubes. In ovules, LORELEI is expressed during pollen tube reception, double fertilization and early seed development. Null mutants of LORELEI‐like‐GPI‐anchored protein 1 (LLG1), the closest relative of LORELEI among three Arabidopsis LLG genes, are fully fertile and did not enhance reproductive defects in lre‐5/lre‐5 pistils, suggesting that LLG1 function is not redundant with that of LORELEI in the female gametophyte. Our results show that, besides pollen tube reception, LORELEI also functions during double fertilization and early seed development.     

Cell Surface Area Regulation and Membrane Tension

The beautifully orchestrated regulation of cell shape and volume are central themes in cell biology and physiology. Though it is less well recognized, cell surface area regulation also constitutes a distinct task for cells. Maintaining an appropriate surface area is no automatic side effect of volume regulation or shape change. The issue of surface area regulation (SAR) would be moot if all cells resembled mammalian erythrocytes in being constrained to change shape and volume using existing surface membrane. But these enucleate cells are anomalies, possessing no endomembrane. Most cells use endomembrane to continually rework their plasma membrane, even while maintaining a given size or shape. This membrane traffic is intensively studied, generally with the emphasis on targeting and turnover of proteins and delivery of vesicle contents. But surface area (SA) homeostasis, including the controlled increase or decrease of SA, is another of the outcomes of trafficking. Our principal aims, then, are to highlight SAR as a discrete cellular task and to survey evidence for the idea that membrane tension is central to the task. Cells cannot directly ``measure' their volume or SA, yet must regulate both. We posit that a homeostatic relationship exists between plasma membrane tension and plasma membrane area, which implies that cells detect and respond to deviations around a membrane tension set point. Maintenance of membrane strength during membrane turnover, a seldom-addressed aspect of SA dynamics, we examine in the context of SAR. SAR occurs in both animal and plant cells. The review shows the latter to be a continuing source of groundbreaking work on tension-sensitive SAR, but is principally slanted to animal cells. Received: 1 May 2000/Revised: 14 August 2000     

L-type Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript> channel and Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript>-permeable nonselective cation channel as a Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript> conducting pathway in myocytes isolated from the cricket lateral oviduct

The Ca²⁺-conducting pathway of myocytes isolated from the cricket lateral oviduct was investigated by means of the whole-cell patch clamp technique. In voltage-clamp configuration, two types of whole cell inward currents were identified. One was voltage-dependent, initially activated at –40 mV and reaching a maximum at 10 mV with the use of 140 mM Cs²⁺-aspartate in the patch pipette and normal saline in the bath solution. Replacement of the external Ca²⁺ with Ba²⁺ slowed the current decay. Increasing the external Ca²⁺ or Ba²⁺ concentration increased the amplitude of the inward current and the current–voltage (I–V) relationship was shifted as expected from a screening effect on negative surface charges. The inward current could be carried by Na⁺ in the absence of extracellular Ca²⁺. Current carried by Na⁺ (I _Na) was almost completely blocked by the dihydropyridine Ca²⁺ channel antagonist, nifedipine, suggesting that the I _Na is through voltage-dependent L-type Ca²⁺ channels. The other inward current is voltage-independent and its I–V relationship was linear between –100 mV to 0 mV with a slight inward rectification at more hyperpolarizing membrane potentials when 140 mM Cs⁺-aspartate and 140 mM Na⁺-gluconate were used in the patch pipette and in the bath solution, respectively. A similar current was observed even when the external Na⁺ was replaced with an equimolar amount of K⁺ or Cs⁺, or 50 mM Ca²⁺ or Ba²⁺. When the osmolarity of the bath solution was reduced by removing mannitol from the bath solution, the inward current became larger at negative potentials. The I–V relationship for the current evoked by the hypotonic solution also showed a linear relationship between –100 mV to 0 mV. Bath application of Gd³⁺ (10 M) decreased the inward current activated by membrane hyperpolarization. These results clearly indicate that the majority of current activated by a membrane hyperpolarization is through a stretch-activated Ca²⁺-permeable nonselective cation channel (NSCC). Here, for the first time, we have identified voltage-dependent L-type Ca²⁺ channel and stretch-activated Ca²⁺-permeable NSCCs from enzymatically isolated muscle cells of the cricket using the whole-cell patch clamp recording technique.Abbreviations I _Ca Ca²⁺ current - I _Na Na⁺ current - I–V current–voltage - NSCC nonselective cation channel Communicated by G. Heldmaier     

The control of body size in insects

Control mechanisms that regulate body size and tissue size have been sought at both the cellular and organismal level. Cell-level studies have revealed much about the control of cell growth and cell division, and how these processes are regulated by nutrition. Insulin signaling is the key mediator between nutrition and the growth of internal organs, such as imaginal disks, and is required for the normal proportional growth of the body and its various parts. The insulin-related peptides of insects do not appear to control growth by themselves, but act in conjunction with other hormones and signaling molecules, such as ecdysone and IDGFs. Size regulation cannot be understood solely on the basis of the mechanisms that control cell size and cell number. Size regulation requires mechanisms that gather information on a scale appropriate to the tissue or organ being regulated. A new model mechanism, using autocrine signaling, is outlined by which tissue and organ size regulation can be achieved. Body size regulation likewise requires a mechanism that integrates information at an appropriate scale. In insects, this mechanism operates by controlling the secretion of ecdysone, which is the signal that terminates the growth phase of development. The mechanisms for size assessment and the pathways by which they trigger ecdysone secretion are diverse and can be complex. The ways in which these higher-level regulatory mechanisms interact with cell- and molecular- level mechanisms are beginning to be elucidated.