Bone remodelling analysis of a bovine femur for a veterinary implant design

The response of bovine bone to the presence of an implant is analysed with the aim of simulating bone remodelling in a developing model of a polymeric intramedullary interlocking nail for veterinary use. A 3-D finite element model of the femur diaphysis is built based on computed tomography images and using a CAD-based modelling pipeline. The bone remodelling process after the surgery is analysed and compared with the healthy bone. The remodelling law assumes that bone adapts to the mechanical environment. For the analyses a consistent set of loads is determined for the bovine walk cycle. The remodelling results reproduce the morphologic features of bone and provide evidence of the difference on the bone behaviour when comparing metallic and polymeric nails. Our findings indicate that an intramedullary polymeric nail has the advantage over the metallic one of improving long-term bone healing and possibly avoiding the need of the implant removal.     

Control of development of amylolytic and proteolytic activities in cotyledons of germinating black gram seeds

The effect of polyamines and related metabolites on several parameters of leaf senescence was followed in detached radish ( Raphanus sativus L. var. radicular cv. "Giant Butter") leaves floated on test solutions in darkness. Leaf senescence was accompanied by a marked loss of chlorophyll, which started at 24–48 h of incubation. The polyamines, spermine and spermidine, and the diamines, putrescine and cadaverine, were highly effective in arresting chlorophyll loss over a period of at least 96 h. l -arginine, and especially l -ornithine, were less active. Polyaminens prevented the marked chlorophyll loss in dark-incubated leaves, but did not compensate for the moderate chlorophyll loss when the leaves were aged in light. Polyamines were also highly effective in retarding earlier events of leaf senescence, prior to chlorophyll loss: both protein degradation and ribonuclease activity were inhibited by spermidine. Chlorophyll and protein loss in dark-or light-incubated suspensions of either "intact" or disrupted chloroplasts was not affected by polyamines. – It is concluded that polyamines are highly effective in preventing chlorophyll loss from detached leaves, possibly by controlling early senescence-linked events which occur in darkness rather than by direct inhibition of chlorophyll degradation.     

Temperature dependence of mitochondrial oligomycin-sensitive proton transport ATPase

The temperature dependence of the oligomycin-sensitive ATPase (complex V) kinetic parameters has been investigated in enzyme preparations of different phospholipid composition. In submitochondrial particles, isolated complex V, and complex V reconstituted in dimirystoyl lecithin vesicles, the Arrhenius plots show discontinuities in the range 18–28°C, while no discontinuity is detected with dioleoyl lecithin recombinant. Van't Hoff plots ofK _m also show breaks in the same temperature interval, with the exception of the dioleoylenzyme vesicles, whereK _m is unchanged. Thermodynamic analysis of the ATPase reaction shows that DMPC-complex V has rather larger values of activation enthalpy and activation entropy below the transition temperature (24°C) than those of the other preparations, while all enzyme preparations show similar free energies of activation (14.3–18.5 kcal/mol). The results indicate that temperature and lipid composition influence to a different extent both kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by the mitochondrial ATPase.     

Synthesis,development, characterization and effectiveness of bovine pure platelet gel‐collagen‐polydioxanone bioactive graft on tendon healing

Bovine platelet gel (BPG) is an accessible and cost‐effective source of growth factors which may have a value in tendon regenerative medicine. We produced a collagen implant (CI) as a tendon proper, covered it with polydioxanone (PDS) sheath to simulate paratenon and finally embedded the BPG as an active source of growth factor within the bioimplant to test whether BPG would be able to accelerate and enhance tendon regeneration and repair. After in vitro characterization of the bioactive grafts, the grafts were implanted in rabbit large tendon defect model. Untreated tendons and tendons treated with either CI or CI‐PDS were served as controls for the CI‐PDS‐BPG. The animals were investigated clinically, ultrasonographically and haematologically for 120 days. After euthanasia, dry matter content, water uptake and delivery characteristics and also gross morphological, histopathological and scanning electron microscopic features of the healing tendons were assessed. In vitro, the activated platelets in the scaffold, released their growth factors significantly more than the controls. BPG also increased cell viability, and enhanced cellular differentiation, maturation and proliferation inside the CI‐PDS compared with the controls. In vivo, the BPG modulated inflammation, increased quality and rate of fibroplasia and produced a remodelled tendon that had significantly higher collagen content and superior collagen fibril and fibre differentiation than controls. Treatment also significantly improved tendon water uptake and delivery characteristics, animals’ serum PDGF level, CI‐PDS biocompatibility and biodegradability and reduced peritendinous adhesions, muscle fibrosis and atrophy. BPG was effective on tendon healing and CI‐PDS‐BPG may be a valuable bioscaffold in tendon reconstructive surgery.     

BSA–boronic acid conjugate as lectin mimetics

We report bovine serum albumin (BSA)–boronic acid (BA) conjugates as lectin mimetics and their glyco-capturing capacity. The BSA–BA conjugates were synthesized by amidation of carboxylic acid groups in BSA with aminophenyl boronic acid in the presence of EDC, and were characterized by Alizarin Red S (ARS) assay and SDS–PAGE gel. The BSA–BA conjugates were immobilized onto maleimide-functionalized silica beads and their sugar capturing capacity and specificity were confirmed by ARS displacement assay. Further, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis of the glyco-capturing activity of the BSA–BA conjugates was conducted by immobilizing BSA–BA onto SPR gold chip. Overall, we demonstrated a BSA–BA-based lectin mimetics for glyco-capturing applications. These lectin mimetics are expected to provide an important tool for glycomics and biosensor research and applications.     

Reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins by Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin (STa)-mediated signaling cascade

Background

IP₃-mediated calcium mobilization from intracellular stores activates and translocates PKC-α from cytosol to membrane fraction in response to STa in COLO-205 cell line. The present study was undertaken to determine the involvement of cytoskeleton proteins in translocation of PKC-α to membrane from cytosol in the Escherichiacoli STa-mediated signaling cascade in a human colonic carcinoma cell line COLO-205.

Methods

Western blots and consequent densitometric analysis were used to assess time-dependent redistribution of cytoskeletal proteins. This redistribution was further confirmed by using confocal microscopy. Pharmacological reagents were applied to colonic carcinoma cells to disrupt the microfilaments (cytochalasin D) and microtubules (nocodazole).

Results

STa treatment in COLO-205 cells showed dynamic redistribution and an increase in actin content in the Triton-insoluble fraction, which corresponds to an increase in polymerization within 1 min. Moreover, pharmacological disruption of actin-based cytoskeleton greatly disturbed PKC-α translocation to the membrane.

Conclusions

These results suggested that the organization of actin cytoskeleton is rapidly rearranged following E. coli STa treatment and the integrity of the actin cytoskeleton played a crucial role in PKC-α movement in colonic cells. Depolymerization of tubulin had no effect on the ability of the kinase to be translocated to the membrane.

General significance

In the present study, we have shown for the first time that in colonic carcinoma cells, STa-mediated rapid changes of actin cytoskeleton arrangement might be involved in the translocation of PKC-α to membrane.     

Ischemia-induced angiogenesis is impaired in aminopeptidase A deficient mice via down-regulation of HIF-1α

Aminopeptidase A (APA; EC 3.4.11.7) is a transmembrane metalloprotease with several functions in tumor angiogenesis. To investigate the role of APA in the process of ischemia-induced angiogenesis, we evaluated the cellular angiogenic responses under hypoxic conditions and the process of perfusion recovery in the hindlimb ischemia model of APA-deficient (APA-KO; C57Bl6/J strain) mice.Western blotting of endothelial cells (ECs) isolated from the aorta of APA-KO mice revealed that the accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) protein in response to hypoxic challenge was blunted. Regarding the proteasomal ubiquitination, a proteasome inhibitor MG-132 restored the reduced accumulation of HIF-1α in ECs from APA-KO mice similar to control mice under hypoxic conditions. These were associated with decreased growth factor secretion and capillary formation in APA-KO mice. In the hindlimb ischemia model, perfusion recovery in APA-KO mice was decreased in accordance with a significantly lower capillary density at 2 weeks. Regarding vasculogenesis, no differences were observed in cell populations and distribution patterns between wild type and APA-KO mice in relation to endothelial progenitor cells.Our results suggested that Ischemia-induced angiogenesis is impaired in APA-KO mice partly through decreased HIF-1α stability by proteasomal degradation and subsequent suppression of HIF-1α-driven target protein expression such as growth factors. APA is a functional target for ischemia-induced angiogenesis.     

Cotranslational Folding Increases GFP Folding Yield

Protein sequences evolved to fold in cells, including cotranslational folding of nascent polypeptide chains during their synthesis by the ribosome. The vectorial (N- to C-terminal) nature of cotranslational folding constrains the conformations of the nascent polypeptide chain in a manner not experienced by full-length chains diluted out of denaturant. We are still discovering to what extent these constraints affect later, posttranslational folding events. Here we directly address whether conformational constraints imposed by cotranslational folding affect the partitioning between productive folding to the native structure versus aggregation. We isolated polyribosomes from Escherichia coli cells expressing GFP, analyzed the nascent chain length distribution to determine the number of nascent chains that were long enough to fold to the native fluorescent structure, and calculated the folding yield for these nascent chains upon ribosome release versus the folding yield of an equivalent concentration of full-length, chemically denatured GFP polypeptide chains. We find that the yield of native fluorescent GFP is dramatically higher upon ribosome release of nascent chains versus dilution of full-length chains from denaturant. For kinetically trapped native structures such as GFP, folding correctly the first time, immediately after release from the ribosome, can lead to lifelong population of the native structure, as opposed to aggregation.     

Study on the synthesis of sulfonamide derivatives and their interaction with bovine serum albumin

Three sulfonamide derivatives (SAD) were first synthesized from p‐hydroxybenzoic acid and sulfonamides (sulfadimidine, sulfamethoxazole and sulfachloropyridazine sodium) and were characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H NMR and MS. The interaction between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and SAD was studied using UV/vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, time‐resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectra under imitated physiological conditions. The experimental results indicated that SAD effectively quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA via a static quenching process. The thermodynamic parameters showed that hydrogen bonding and van der Waal's forces were the predominant intermolecular forces between BSA and two SADs [4‐((4‐(N‐(4,6‐dimethylpyrimidin‐2‐yl)sulfamoyl)phenyl)carbamoyl)phenyl acetate and 4‐((4‐(N‐(5‐methylisoxazol‐3‐yl)sulfamoyl)phenyl)carbamoyl)phenyl acetate], but hydrophobic forces played a major role in the binding process of BSA and 4‐((4‐(N‐(6‐chloropyridazin‐3‐yl)sulfamoyl)phenyl) carbamoyl)phenyl acetate. In addition, the effect of SAD on the conformation of BSA was investigated using synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism spectra. Molecular modeling results showed that SAD was situated in subdomain IIA of BSA. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.