Rapid fragmentation and reorganization of Golgi membranes during frustrated phagocytosis of immobile immune complexes by macrophages.

The authors have observed the rapid reorganization of the cellular membranes of macrophages during Fc receptor-mediated frustrated phagocytosis of immune complex-coated surfaces. As the macrophages spread, large, clear basal vacuoles and anastamosing tubules were formed, occasionally contiguous with the adherent surface. Coated vesicles also were observed. This process was accompanied by a rapid reorganization of the Golgi complex region of the macrophages, which was observed using trimetaphosphatase histochemistry and an antibody to a Golgi membrane antigen as markers. On contact of the macrophages with the immune complexes, the Golgi complexes, which were tightly clustered around the centrioles, dispersed into vesicles and reorganized near the basal surface. The Golgi cisternae swelled, fragmented, and decreased in number. Golgi membrane antigen was found in the large basal vacuoles and also associated with the adherent basal surface of the macrophages. This indicates that the Golgi complexes were reorganized, in part, by a direct recruitment of their membranes to the increasing basal surface area of the spreading macrophages. The changes in the structure of the Golgi complexes were reversible; by 2 hours, the complexes had recovered their normal organization, with an accompanying decrease in the number of large basal vacuoles. These data suggest that the dynamic interrelationship among the Golgi membranes, intracellular vacuoles, and the plasma membrane can be perturbed by membrane spreading on a nonphagocytosable surface.     

Ocular tracking of moving targets: effects of perturbing the background

Primates are able to track a moving target with their eyes, even when the target is seen against a stationary textured background. In this situation, the tracking eye movement induces motion of the background images on the retina (reafference) that competes with the motion of the target's retinal image, potentially disrupting the tracking of the target. Previous work on humans reported that brief perturbations of the background in the opposite direction to pursuit were much less disruptive than perturbations in the same direction as pursuit. Furthermore, if the background moved together with the pursuit target--so as to effectively eliminate the reafference--then the effects of a subsequent background perturbation showed less dependence on direction. This suggested that the direction selectivity to background perturbations during pursuit against a stationary background was due, at least in part, to the prior motion of the background secondary to the pursuit. We now report similar findings in monkeys, and in addition, have investigated the effect of moving the background while the animal was fixating a stationary target. In this situation, the ocular tracking responses to subsequent brief perturbations of the moving background were weaker when the perturbations were in the same direction as the prior background motion than when in the opposite direction. This suggests that the selective insensitivity to the reafferent visual input associated with pursuit across a stationary background is, at least in part, independent of pursuit per se and attributable to a progressive reduction in the sensitivity to sustained background motion.     

In situ localization of tau mRNA in developing rat brain

A microtubule-associated protein, tau, promotes microtubule assembly, forms characteristic short cross-bridges (less than 20 nm) between microtubules, and switches isoforms from juvenile to adult at the end of the first postnatal week in the rat brain. The developmental expression of tau was studied in rat central nervous system, mainly the cerebrum and cerebellum, by in situ hybridization. Tau mRNAs were localized in a wide variety of neural cells. The expression of tau mRNAs in the spinal cord appeared to precede that in the brain, and the expression in the brainstem appeared to precede that in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. On neural cells throughout the cortical plate of the cerebral cortex, tau mRNAs were expressed in large amounts during the first postnatal week, but by the third postnatal week the expression had become reduced. In the cerebellum, tau mRNAs were enriched in granule cells. The expression in the internal granular layer peaked during the second and third postnatal weeks, and the relatively high level of expression persisted to young adulthood. Thin section transmission electron microscopic study revealed that the proportion of neighboring microtubules in parallel fiber axons of cerebellar granule cells with the distance less than 20 nm was as low as 10% at the end of the first postnatal week, but this proportion increased to as high as 35% at the end of the second postnatal week. Northern blot analysis showed that tau mRNAs were congruent to 6 kb as was reported previously, and those detected in the first postnatal week were three- to five-fold more abundant and approximately 0.2 kb smaller than those detected in the second or third postnatal weeks. The data suggest that (a) tau mRNAs are abundantly expressed in a wide variety of neurons in the central nervous system at the stage of neurite formation, and (b) tau mRNAs are expressed in more basal levels at later stages, but may be important in the formation and maintenance of characteristic microtubule bundles typically found in parallel fiber axons and in other axons.     

Fermented grain products, production, properties and benefits to health

Fermented foods such as Japanese traditional food “miso (fermented soy bean paste)” have been shown to be rich source of micronutrients with the potential to prevent various human diseases. We have introduced effects of a new dietary supplement of fermented grain foods mixture containing extracts from wheat germ, soybeans, rice bran, tear grass, sesame, wheat, citrus lemon, green tea, green leaf extract and malted rice under the trade name of antioxidant biofactor (AOB). Chemical analysis of AOB shows the presence of various phenolic compounds (catechins, rutin, genistin, daidzin, etc.). AOB has strong antioxidant properties and additional biological effects, which might be of importance in context with the prevention of degenerative diseases. This paper focuses on the effect of supplementing AOB in various animal models and humans.     

An algorithm for mapping the catheter tip position on a fluorograph to the three-dimensional position in magnetic resonance angiography volume data

This paper proposes an algorithm which maps the position of a catheter tip on a fluorograph to the 3D position in magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) data. This algorithm was assessed for its accuracy. We designed an algorithm consisting of a registration step and a recognition step. The registration step registers MRA and fluorography data using a digital subtraction angiography (DSA) image. The recognition step recognizes the position in the MRA data corresponding to the catheter tip position on a fluorograph. We checked the accuracy of the recognition step by employing an artificial data set consisting of 3D image data (64 x 64 x 64 matrix) and its projection image (92 x 92 matrix) and the accuracy of the registration step with the aid of three of the 3D time-of-flight MRA data sets (256 x 256 matrix and 60 slices) and their projection images in the form of DSA images. The accuracy of the recognition step depended upon that of the registration. When there was no misregistration, all of the mean errors were less than 0.2 mm. The mean errors of the registration step were 0.273 mm and 0.226 mm, respectively, for the longitudinal shift along the X and Y axes, 0.478 degrees, 1.203 degrees and 0.208 degrees, respectively, for the rotation angles around the X, Y and Z axes and 0.020 times for the magnification. The mean image error between the projection image of the registered MRA data and that of the MRA data which were employed as the DSA image was 0.034 mm.     

Infection of macaques with chimeric simian and human immunodeficiency viruses containing Env from subtype F

Chimeric simian and human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) are useful for investigating the pathogenicity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and to develop an anti-HIV-1 vaccine. We attempted to construct SHIVs containing Env from various subtypes, because almost all SHIVs which have been reported so far have Env from HIV-1 that belongs to subtype B. Two infectious SHIVs containing Env from two strains of HIV-1, CMR304 and CMR306, which belong to subtype F and A, respectively, were newly obtained. These SHIVs essentially showed a coreceptor usage and a neutralization pattern that were similar to those of the parental HIV-1s. In macaque PBMC, SHIVcmr304 replicated with kinetics similar to that of prototypic SHIV-NM-3rN with HIV-1 NL432 Env, but SHIVcmr306 replicated poorly. Inoculation of four rhesus macaques with SHIVcmr304 resulted in an increase of plasma viral load in all the macaques, though viral RNA copies were 100-fold lower than that in the infection with NM-3rN. This SHIV containing Env from HIV-1 subtype F will be a valuable source for the analysis of HIV-1 subtype F and the evaluation of vaccine candidates as a genetically divergent challenge virus.     

A case of the right subclavian artery as the last branch of the aortic arch in the human fetus and a new classification on these variations

An anomalous case of the right subclavian artery arising from the aortic arch as the last branch, in which the first branch was the right common carotid, the second the left common carotid and the third the left subclavian artery, was found in a 10 months human fetus among 173 fetuses. The right subclavian artery arose from the posterior wall of the aortic arch at the level of the Th4 and passed obliquely between the esophagus and the thoracic vertebrae. The right and the left vertebral arteries arising from the subclavian arteries on the same side entered the transverse foramen of the C6 of each side. This case belonged to type G of Adachi's classification and as well type 5 of Holzapfel's. The present authors wish to offer a new trial classification on these variations, including the origins and numbers of the vertebral arteries, by investigating many original reports in Japanese, as follows: 1) A new classification is fixed on the basis of the type G and H of Adachi-Williams et al.-Nakagawa in the classification of the branching types of the aortic arch. The type G represents that the right common carotid, the left common carotid, the left subclavian and the right subclavian arteries arise from the aortic arch in this order. The type H represents that the bicarotid trunk, the left subclavian and the right subclavian arteries arise from the aortic arch. 2) When the left vertebral artery arising from the aortic arch is found in the type G and H, "C" is prefixed G or H, as type CG, type CH. 3) When the right vertebral artery arising from the right common carotid artery is found, a prime mark, "', is put on G or H, as type G', type H'. 4) In order to represent a compound type of the above 2) and 3), both "C" and "' are put, as type CG', type CH'. 5) When the bilateral vertebral arteries arising from the respective subclavian artery are found in the above 2), 3) and 4) "2" postfixed "C" and the prime mark "', as type G'2, type C2G, type CG'2, type C2G', type C2G'2, type H'2, type C2H, type CH'2, type C2H', type C2H'2. According to the above new classification, Adachi's type G can be arranged into 18 branching types. This classification may be helpful and sufficient to provide more than 100 cases of the type G and H reported on Japanese.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Altered synthesis of interferon-γ and expression of interferon-γ receptor by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with IgA nephropathy and non-IgA proliferative glomerulonephritis

Previously we reported disease-specific interaction between interferon- (IFN-) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN), suggesting the existence of unusual T cell behavior in this disease. In the present study, we investigated characteristic synthesis of interferon- (IFN-) and expression of IFN- receptor (IFN-R) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with IgAN and other chronic proliferative glomerulonephritis (PGN). Heparinized peripheral blood samples were obtained from 38 patients with chronic mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (CGN; including 24 with IgA nephropathy) and 20 healthy controls. PBMC were isolated by gradient centrifugation and fragments were cultured in Iscove's modified Dulbecco's medium (IMDM) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) for 72 hr. IFN- concentrations in supernatants were evaluated by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Other parts of PBMC pellets were reacted with anti-human IFN-R monoclonal antibody and FITC-labeled anti-mouse second antibody for analysis of IFN-R expression on these cells by FACScan. The remaining PBMC were fractionated into CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, B cells, NK, cells and macrophages using the MACS cell sorting system. The isolated cells were evaluated for IFN- or IFN-R mRNA expression by the semiquantitative RT-PCR method.In vitro IFN- synthesis was enhanced in patients with CGN, and NK cells were revealed to be responsible for such enhancement. On the other hand, the expression of IFN-R on macrophages was suppressed in CGN patients. These results suggest that impairment of regulation of the IFN- system might be involved in the development of CGN.     

Inhibition of methamphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion in mice by clorgyline, a monoamine oxidase-a inhibitor, through alteration of the 5-hydroxytriptamine turnover in the striatum

The psychomotor stimulant methamphetamine (METH) has been shown to cause specific behaviors such as hyperlocomotion in rodents. Pretreatment of repeated s.c. administration of clorgyline (1 mg/kg, once per day for 5 consecutive days), a monoamine oxidase (MAO)-A inhibitor, blocked hyperlocomotion induced by a single i.p. administration of METH (1 mg/kg) in male ICR mice, without any effect on spontaneous locomotion. The blockade was also observed when mice were pretreated with a single administration of clorgyline (1 mg/kg, s.c.), without potentiating hyperlocomotion and rearing induced by a single challenge of METH at the range of 0.5-2 mg/kg (i.p.). In contrast, single or repeated pretreatment of selegiline (0.3 mg/kg, s.c.), a MAO-B inhibitor, had no effect on METH-induced hyperlocomotion. Clorgyline pretreatment, both single and repeated, altered the effects of single METH challenges on apparent 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) turnover in the region of the striatum and accumbens. These results suggest that clorgyline tends to oppose METH-induced hyperlocomotion through alteration of the serotonergic system in the region of the striatum and accumbens.