Biochemical and structural correlates in unloaded and reloaded cat myocardium

Cardiocytes of unloaded myocardium rapidly lose structural and functional integrity through a combined loss of myofibrils and contractile activity; both changes are reversible with load restoration. The present study correlates the biochemical composition of unloaded and reloaded myocardium with these alterations in structure and function. Cardiac muscle was unloaded by transecting the chordae tendineae of a cat right ventricular papillary muscle and was reloaded by suturing these same chordae tendineae to the ventricular wall at the base of the valve; an adjacent intact muscle served as the control. Muscles unloaded for 1 to 14 days were assayed for DNA, protein, total creatine and hydroxyproline content. The ratios of wet weight/DNA and creatine/DNA decreased by 30 and 22% respectively, in parallel with a 38% reduction in cardiocyte cross-sectional area. Protein/unit wet weight was decreased by 50% after 14 days of unloading, so that both protein/DNA and protein/creatine were markedly reduced. Reloading of the muscle restored cardiocyte size, protein per unit wet weight and protein/DNA to normal. Parallel reductions in both contractile filaments and contractile proteins after unloading and parallel increases in each following load restoration were demonstrated by morphometric analysis of electron micrographs and analysis of actin and myosin by gel electrophoresis. In summary, the myocardium undergoes marked, parallel changes in structure, function and biochemical composition in response to the removal and restoration of load.     

紫外线减毒日本血吸虫尾蚴免疫小鼠的皮肤组织细胞反应

目的 :探讨紫外线减毒血吸虫尾蚴免疫宿主的皮肤组织在抗攻击感染中的作用。方法 :88只小鼠分为 4组 ,1、2组分别以 50± 3条紫外线减毒日本血吸虫尾蚴免疫或日本血吸虫尾蚴感染 ,5wk后以 10 0 0± 10 0条尾蚴进行攻击感染 ;3、4组分别以减毒尾蚴或尾蚴 10 0 0± 10 0条免疫或初次感染。各组均于感染或接种后 6- 12 0 h定时取局部皮肤组织作病理观察。结果 :( 1)免疫攻击组皮肤组织内炎症细胞杀伤童虫现象最明显、炎症反应最强且持续时间最长 ,嗜酸性粒细胞( EOS)浸润百分数最高 ;( 2 )感染攻击组呈现相似炎症反应但程度略轻 ;( 3)免疫对照组减毒童虫在皮肤内滞留时间延长 ,至 12 0 h皮下仍可见较多童虫 ;( 4 )感染对照组皮肤内的童虫数于 72 h后明显减少 ,童虫周围轻微炎症反应。电镜观察可见免疫攻击组童虫内部结构破坏 ,虫体周围 EOS、淋巴细胞增多 ,肥大细胞颗粒溶解。结论 :提示皮肤组织的细胞免疫反应在血吸虫减毒尾蚴免疫的宿主抗攻击感染保护性免疫中起重要作用。     

Interactions between lymphocytes and hematopoietic progenitor cells in normal and leukemic human bone marrow (phase contrast observations)

Summary Single cell observations of normal and of leukemic human bone marrow cells demonstrated cell-cell interactions of lymphocytes with hematopoietic progenitor cells. In all cases lymphocytes and target cells were from the same individual. Lymphocyte-target cell interactions occurred more frequently with normal committed progenitor cells and leukemic blast cells from acute myeloid leukemia than with precursor cells of the proliferative cell pool, including granuloblasts, promonocytes, erythroblasts and megakaryocytes. Both induction of mitosis and degeneration of the progenitor cells occurred after cell-cell interaction with almost the same frequency. Acute myeloid leukemic blast cells degenerated after contact with lymphocytes with the same frequency as normal progenitor cells (i.e. in 16% of cell contacts), but especially during mitosis. In contrast, normal and regenerating bone marrow progenitor cells from myeloproliferative diseases demonstrated no degeneration after cell-cell interaction with lymphocytes during mitosis. Otherwise the induction of mitoses by lymphocyte-target cell interactions was more frequently observed in normal progenitor cells than in leukemic blasts.With technical assistance of Miss C. DomeyerSupported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

肺表面活性物质相关蛋白-D与肺部天然免疫及临床意义

肺表面活性物质相关蛋白-D（surfactantprotein-D，SP-D）系C型凝集素超家族成员，是肺部重要的天然防御分子。参与病原体的清除和免疫、炎症、过敏反应的调节，与多种人类肺部疾病有关。血清SP-D的水平可作为某些疾病的标志。人工重组的SP-D对新生儿慢性肺病、囊性纤维化和肺气肿有潜在的治疗作用。     

Genetic variation in the humoral immune responses of mice to the nematode Trichuris muris

Genetically based differences in the antibody responses to the large intestinal nematode Trichuris muris were studied in two groups of H-2 congenic strains of mice that differed in their relative resistance to infection with this parasite. The primary antibody response to parasite excretory/secretory (E/S) antigen was predominantly an IgG response with the strains forming two distinct groups, defined by their genetic background. The more susceptible B10 genetic background mice had strikingly higher antibody levels than mice of the BALB genetic background. Superimposed upon these background effects were clearly defined influences attributable to H-2-linked genes, strains which differed genetically only at H-2 loci exhibiting differences in the kinetics of the antibody response. Only B10.G and B10.BR mice showed any great increase in IgM levels post-infection. No IgA specific to E/S antigen was detected in the peripheral circulation of any strain at any time post-infection. Antibody responses to a 40-43 kD antigen revealed clear H-2-linked gene effects, with mice sharing the H-2k haplotype (B10.BR, BALB/K) exhibiting considerably higher total antibody levels than strains expressing other haplotypes; mice of the H-2d haplotype (BALB/c, B10.D2/n) responded very weakly to this antigen. A Western blot analysis of antigen recognition by antibody revealed similarities between the mouse strains in their total antibody responses to T. muris E/S antigen. However, immunoprecipitation studies showed that in general the more susceptible B10 congenic strains had wider spectra of antigen recognition than the BALB congenics. Strains sharing the same H-2 haplotype had dissimilar antigen recognition profiles, but strains sharing the H-2b haplotype (B10, BALB/B) recognized a low mol. wt antigen (20-23 kD) not recognized by any other strain, suggesting an exclusively H-2b restriction in the recognition of this antigen. These results support the conclusion that both H-2-linked and background genes play important roles in controlling the humoral immune response to T. muris infection.     

IMMUNOLOGICAL RECONSTITUTION IN A PATIENT WITH SEVERE COMBINED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY USING NON-SIBLING BONE MARROW DEPLETED OF T CELLS WITH HuLy-m1

Abstract An infant with severe immune deficiency received bone marrow from an HLA-A, -B, -DR matched, mixed leucocyte reaction non-reactive first cousin. The donor marrow was fractionated on a discontinuous Percoll gradient and before infusion was treated with the anti-human T lymphocyte antibody, HuLy-m1, and rabbit serum as a source of complement. Methotrexate was given during the following two weeks. A rise in the peripheral blood lymphocyte count, indicating engraftment, occurred six weeks after transplantation. There was no clinical evidence of graft versus host disease (GVHD). Engraftment has been sustained for one year and the patient is in normal health and has normal in vitro immunological function. In vitro treatment of human marrow with HuL-m1 allows stable engraftment and may be useful in attempting to diminish or prevent GVHD.     

Aberrant calcium signaling by transglutaminase-mediated posttranslational modification of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors

The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP₃R) in the endoplasmic reticulum mediates calcium signaling that impinges on intracellular processes. IP₃Rs are allosteric proteins comprising four subunits that form an ion channel activated by binding of IP₃ at a distance. Defective allostery in IP₃R is considered crucial to cellular dysfunction, but the specific mechanism remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that a pleiotropic enzyme transglutaminase type 2 targets the allosteric coupling domain of IP₃R type 1 (IP₃R1) and negatively regulates IP₃R1-mediated calcium signaling and autophagy by locking the subunit configurations. The control point of this regulation is the covalent posttranslational modification of the Gln2746 residue that transglutaminase type 2 tethers to the adjacent subunit. Modification of Gln2746 and IP₃R1 function was observed in Huntington disease models, suggesting a pathological role of this modification in the neurodegenerative disease. Our study reveals that cellular signaling is regulated by a new mode of posttranslational modification that chronically and enzymatically blocks allosteric changes in the ligand-gated channels that relate to disease states.Ligand-gated ion channels function by allostery that is the regulation at a distance; the allosteric coupling of ligand binding with channel gating requires reversible changes in subunit configurations and conformations (1). Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP₃Rs) are ligand-gated ion channels that release calcium ions (Ca²⁺) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (2, 3). IP₃Rs are allosteric proteins comprising four subunits that assemble a calcium channel with fourfold symmetry about an axis perpendicular to the ER membrane. The subunits of three IP₃R isoforms (IP₃R1, IP₃R2, and IP₃R3) are structurally divided into three domains: the IP₃-binding domain (IBD), the regulatory domain, and the channel domain (3–6). Fitting of the IBD X-ray structures (7, 8) to a cryo-EM map (9) indicates that the IBD activates a remote Ca²⁺ channel by allostery (8); however, the current X-ray structure only spans 5% of each tetramer, such that the mechanism underlying allosteric coupling of the IBD to channel gating remains unknown.The IP₃R in the ER mediates intracellular calcium signaling that impinges on homeostatic control in various subsequent intracellular processes. Deletion of the genes encoding the type 1 IP₃R (IP₃R1) leads to perturbations in long-term potentiation/depression (3, 10, 11) and spinogenesis (12), and the human genetic disease spinocerebellar ataxia 15 is caused by haploinsufficiency of the IP₃R1 gene (13–15). Dysregulation of IP₃R1 is also implicated in neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington disease (HD) (16–18) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (19–22). IP₃Rs also control fundamental cellular processes—for example, mitochondrial energy production (23, 24), autophagy regulation (24–27), ER stress (28), hepatic gluconeogenesis (29), pancreatic exocytosis (30), and macrophage inflammasomes (31). On the other hand, excessive IP₃R function promotes cell death processes including apoptosis by activating mitochondrial or calpain pathways (2, 17). Considering these versatile roles of IP₃Rs, appropriate IP₃R structure and function are essential for living systems, and aberrant regulation of IP₃R closely relates to various diseases.Several factors such as cytosolic molecules, interacting proteins, and posttranslational modifications control the IP₃-induced Ca²⁺ release (IICR) through allosteric sites in IP₃Rs. Cytosolic Ca²⁺ concentrations strictly control IICR in a biphasic manner with activation at low concentrations and inhibition at higher concentrations. The critical Ca²⁺ sensor for activation is conserved among the three isoforms of IP₃ and ryanodine receptors, and this sensor is located in the regulatory domain outside the IBD and the channel domain (32). A putative ATP regulatory region is deleted in opisthotonos mice, and IICR is also regulated by this mutation in the regulatory domain (33). Various interacting proteins, such as cytochrome c, Bcl-2-family proteins, ataxin-3, huntingtin (Htt) protein, Htt-associated protein 1A (HAP1A), and G-protein–coupled receptor kinase-interacting protein 1 (GIT1), target allosteric sites in the carboxyl-terminal tail (3–5). The regulatory domain and the carboxyl-terminal tail also undergo phosphorylation by the protein kinases A/G and B/Akt and contain the apoptotic cleavage sites for the protease caspase-3 (4, 5). These factors allosterically regulate IP₃R structure and function to control cellular fates; therefore, understanding the allosteric coupling of the IBD to channel gating will elucidate the regulatory mechanism of these factors.Transglutaminase (TG) catalyses protein cross-linking between a glutamine (Gln) residue and a lysine (Lys) residue via an N^ε-(γ-glutamyl)lysine isopeptide bond (34, 35). TG type 2 (TG2) is a Ca²⁺-dependent enzyme with widespread distribution and is highly inducible by various stimulations such as oxidative stress, cytokines, growth factors, and retinoic acid (RA) (34, 35). TG2 is considered a significant disease-modifying factor in neurodegenerative diseases including HD, AD, and Parkinson’s diseases (PD) (34, 36–45) because TG2 might enzymatically stabilize aberrant aggregates of proteins implicated in these diseases—that is, mutant Htt, β-amyloid, and α-synuclein; however, the causal role of TG2 in Ca²⁺ signaling in brain pathogenesis has been unclear. Ablation of TG2 in HD mouse models is associated with increased lifespan and improved motor function (46, 47). However, TG2 knockout mice do not show impaired Htt aggregation, suggesting that TG2 may play a causal role in these disorders rather than TG2-dependent cross-links in aberrant protein aggregates (47, 48).In this study, we discovered a new mode of chronic and irreversible allosteric regulation in IP₃R1 in which covalent modification of the receptor at Gln2746 is catalyzed by TG2. We demonstrate that up-regulation of TG2 modifies IP₃R1 structure and function in HD models and propose an etiologic role of this modification in the reduction of neuronal signaling and subsequent processes during the prodromal state of the neurodegenerative disease.     

Metabolic characteristics of African descendants: a comparative study of African-Americans and Ghanaian immigrants using minimal model analysis

Summary We have previously demonstrated that glucose-tolerant American blacks manifest significantly higher insulin concentrations and a lower insulin sensitivity than native African blacks who reside in their respective countries. It is, however, unknown whether the serum glucose, beta-cell function and insulin sensitivity are different in native Africans and African-Americans who reside in the same environments. We have studied 68 healthy American blacks and age- and weight-matched 30 African blacks recently immigrated from Ghana residing in Franklin County, Ohio, USA. Each subject underwent a standard oral glucose tolerance test to determine glucose tolerance status. Insulin sensitivity index (Si) and glucose effectiveness (Sg) were measured by the insulin-modified, frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test. The body composition variables were measured by the bioelectrical impedance analyser and body fat distribution pattern by the waist-hip ratio. The clinical characteristics were identical in the African-American and the African blacks; the mean fasting serum glucose, insulin and C-peptide levels were not different. Following the oral and intravenous glucose administration, the mean peak and incremental areas of serum glucose, insulin and C-peptide were not different in the two groups. The mean Si (3.1±0.7 vs 2.4±0.3×10^–4·(min/U·l^–1)^–1 and Sg (2.5±0.3 vs 2.7±0.2×10^–2·min^–1) were not significantly different in the American and African blacks, respectively. In summary, the metabolic parameters measured in the American blacks and recent African immigrants were identical. We speculate that, in contrast to the indigenous Africans who reside in their native countries, migration to the western world results in rapid adaptation in glucoregulation, beta-cell function and insulin sensitivity, similar to those of American blacks.Abbreviations Si Insulin sensitivity index - Sg glucose effectiveness - NIDDM non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus     

DNA methylation patterns of the gamma delta beta-globin genes in human fetal and adult erythroid tissues.

An investigation of the correlation between the gamma----beta-globin switch and DNA methylation was carried out. The restriction patterns obtained with methylation-sensitive and -insensitive enzymes indicated hypomethylation in the promoter region of the gamma-globin genes in fetal liver DNA but high methylation of the same region in all other samples (except in the presence of an elevated erythroblast count or leukemia). All samples appeared to be partially hypomethylated at the 5' end of the delta-globin gene and hypomethylated at the 3' region of the beta-globin gene. Although consistent with a role for DNA methylation in globin gene regulation, the results also suggest that other factors besides methylation may be required for regulation of the level of expression, and switching of the globin genes.