Effect of IL-1β Receptor Antagonist on Lipid Peroxidation in the Liver in Stress

The content of molecular LPO products increased in the liver of rats exposed to daily 1-h immobilization. IL-1β receptor antagonist limited the stress-induced intensifi cation of LPO.     

Evolution of exon-intron structure and alternative splicing in fruit flies and malarial mosquito genomes

Comparative analysis of alternative splicing of orthologous genes from fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura) and mosquito (Anopheles gambiae) demonstrated that both in the fruit fly genes and in fruit fly-mosquito comparisons, constitutive exons and splicing sites are more conserved than alternative ones. While >97% of constitutive D. melanogaster exons are conserved in D. pseudoobscura, only approximately 80% of alternative exons are conserved. Similarly, 77% of constitutive fruit fly exons are conserved in the mosquito genes, compared with <50% of alternative exons. Internal alternatives are more conserved than terminal ones. Retained introns are the least conserved, alternative acceptor sites are slightly more conserved than donor sites, and mutually exclusive exons are almost as conserved as constitutive exons. Cassette and mutually exclusive exons experience almost no intron insertions. We also observed cases of interconversion of various elementary alternatives, e.g., transformation of cassette exons into alternative sites. These results agree with the observations made earlier in human-mouse comparisons and demonstrate that the phenomenon of relatively low conservation of alternatively spliced regions may be universal, as it has been observed in different taxonomic groups (mammals and insects) and at various evolutionary distances.     

In vitro self-assembly of proepicardial cell aggregates: an embryonic vasculogenic model for vascular tissue engineering

Proepicardial/epicardial-derived cells are the main origin of the early embryonic coronary vascular bed. In vivo coronary vasculogenesis, which is a fast-occurring event, can be mimicked in vitro by culturing proepicardial tissue in different ways. The in vitro vasculogenic model presented in this study (a proepicardial suspension culture assay) partially reproduces coronary vascular development from its cellular precursors, a process known to be highly dependent on cell migration, cell differentiation, cell adhesion/sorting, and tissue fusion phenomena. The main aim of this study is to study the triggering signals and the cellular dynamics that regulate the differentiation of proepicardial cells into the angioblastic/endothelial lineage and their in vitro vasculogenic potential. Our results indicate that hanging drop-cultured proepicardia, which have an intrinsic vascular potential, behave like self-assembling cell aggregates or spheroids that can fuse to give rise to complex vascularized 3D structures. We believe that these self-assembling cell aggregates are an optimal choice to study the differentiation of coronary angioblasts, as well as a good method to reproduce vascular development in vitro. Finally, we propose the proepicardium as a suitable cellular source for vascular tissue engineering.     

A metabolic network in the evolutionary context: multiscale structure and modularity

The enormous complexity of biological networks has led to the suggestion that networks are built of modules that perform particular functions and are "reused" in evolution in a manner similar to reusable domains in protein structures or modules of electronic circuits. Analysis of known biological networks has revealed several modules, many of which have transparent biological functions. However, it remains to be shown that identified structural modules constitute evolutionary building blocks, independent and easily interchangeable units. An alternative possibility is that evolutionary modules do not match structural modules. To investigate the structure of evolutionary modules and their relationship to functional ones, we integrated a metabolic network with evolutionary associations between genes inferred from comparative genomics. The resulting metabolic-genomic network places metabolic pathways into evolutionary and genomic context, thereby revealing previously unknown components and modules. We analyzed the integrated metabolic-genomic network on three levels: macro-, meso-, and microscale. The macroscale level demonstrates strong associations between neighboring enzymes and between enzymes that are distant on the network but belong to the same linear pathway. At the mesoscale level, we identified evolutionary metabolic modules and compared them with traditional metabolic pathways. Although, in some cases, there is almost exact correspondence, some pathways are split into independent modules. On the microscale level, we observed high association of enzyme subunits and weak association of isoenzymes independently catalyzing the same reaction. This study shows that evolutionary modules, rather than pathways, may be thought of as regulatory and functional units in bacterial genomes.