Advanced glycation of fibronectin impairs vascular repair by endothelial progenitor cells: Implications for vasodegeneration in diabetic retinopathy

PURPOSE. Vascular repair by marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) is impaired during diabetes, although the precise mechanism of this dysfunction remains unknown. The hypothesis for the study was that progressive basement membrane (BM) modification by advanced glycation end products (AGEs) contributes to impairment of EPC reparative function after diabetes-related endothelial injury.

METHODS. EPCs isolated from peripheral blood were characterized by immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. EPC interactions on native or AGE-modified fibronectin (AGE-FN) were studied for attachment and spreading, whereas chemotaxis to SDF-1 was assessed with the Dunn chamber assay. In addition, photoreactive agent-treated monolayers of retinal microvascular endothelial cells (RMECs) produced circumscribed areas of apoptosis and the ability of EPCs to “endothelialize” these wounds was evaluated.

RESULTS. EPC attachment and spreading on AGE-FN was reduced compared with control cells (P < 0.05–0.01) but was significantly restored by pretreatment with Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD). Chemotaxis of EPCs was abolished on AGE-FN but was reversed by treatment with exogenous RGD. On wounded RMEC monolayers, EPCs showed clustering at the wound site, compared with untreated regions (P < 0.001); AGE-FN significantly reduced this targeting response (P < 0.05). RGD supplementation enhanced EPC incorporation in the monolayer, as determined by EPC participation in tight junction formation and restoration of transendothelial electric resistance (TEER).

CONCLUSIONS. AGE-modification of vascular substrates impairs EPC adhesion, spreading, and migration; and alteration of the RGD integrin recognition motif plays a key role in these responses. The presence of AGE adducts on BM compromises repair by EPC with implications for vasodegeneration during diabetic microvasculopathy.

Deficiencies of double-strand break repair factors and effects on mutagenesis in directly gamma-irradiated and medium-mediated bystander human lymphoblastoid cells

Using RNA interference techniques to knock down key proteins in two major double-strand break (DSB) repair pathways (DNA-PKcs for nonhomologous end joining, NHEJ, and Rad54 for homologous recombination, HR), we investigated the influence of DSB repair factors on radiation mutagenesis at the autosomal thymidine kinase (TK) locus both in directly irradiated cells and in unirradiated bystander cells. We also examined the role of p53 (TP53) in these processes by using cells of three human lymphoblastoid cell lines from the same donor but with differing p53 status (TK6 is p53 wild-type, NH32 is p53 null, and WTK1 is p53 mutant). Our results indicated that p53 status did not affect either the production of radiation bystander mutagenic signals or the response to these signals. In directly irradiated cells, knockdown of DNA-PKcs led to an increased mutant fraction in WTK1 cells and decreased mutant fractions in TK6 and NH32 cells. In contrast, knockdown of DNA-PKcs led to increased mutagenesis in bystander cells regardless of p53 status. In directly irradiated cells, knockdown of Rad54 led to increased induced mutant fractions in WTK1 and NH32 cells, but the knockdown did not affect mutagenesis in p53 wild-type TK6 cells. In all cell lines, Rad54 knockdown had no effect on the magnitude of bystander mutagenesis. Studies with extracellular catalase confirmed the involvement of H2O2 in bystander signaling. Our results demonstrate that DSB repair factors have different roles in mediating mutagenesis in irradiated and bystander cells. (C) 2008 by Radiation Research Society.

What role for DNA damage and repair in the bystander response?

The radiation-induced bystander effect challenges the accepted paradigm of direct DNA damage in response to energy deposition driving the biological consequences of radiation exposure. With the bystander response, cells which have not been directly exposed to radiation respond to their neighbours being targeted. In our own studies we have used novel targeted microbeam approaches to specifically irradiate parts of individual cells within a population to quantify the bystander response and obtain mechanistic information. Using this approach it has become clear that energy deposited by radiation in nuclear DNA is not required to trigger the effect, with cytoplasmic irradiation required. Irradiated cells also trigger a bystander response regardless of whether they themselves live or die, suggesting that the phenotype of the targeted cell is not a determining factor. Despite this however, a range of evidence has shown that repair status is important for dealing with the consequences of a bystander signal. Importantly, repair processes involved in the processing of dsb appear to be involved suggesting that the bystander response involves the delayed or indirect production of dsb-type lesions in bystander cells. Whether these are infact true dsb or complexes of oxidised bases in combination with strand breaks and the mechanisms for their formation, remains to be elucidated.

Radiation induced bystander signals are independent of DNA damage and DNA repair capacity of the irradiated cells.

Evidence is accumulating that irradiated cells produce signals, which interact with non-exposed cells in the same population. Here, we analysed the mechanism for bystander signal arising in wild-type CHO cells and repair deficient varients, focussing on the relationship between DNA repair capacity and bystander signal arising in irradiated cells. In order to investigate the bystander effect, we carried out medium transfer experiments after X-irradiation where micronuclei were scored in non-targeted DSB repair deficient xrs5 cells. When conditioned medium from irradiated cells was transferred to unirradiated xrs5 cells, the level of induction was independent of whether the medium came from irradiated wild-type, ssb or dsb repair deficient cells. This result suggests that the activation of a bystander signal is independent of the DNA repair capacity of the irradiated cells. Also, pre-treatment of the irradiated cells with 0.5% DMSO, which suppresses micronuclei induction in CHO but not in xrs5 cells, suppressed bystander effects completely in both conditioned media, suggesting that DMSO is effective for suppression of bystander signal arising independently of DNA damage in irradiated cells. Overall the work presented here adds to the understanding that it is the repair phenotype of the cells receiving bystander signals, which determines overall response rather than that of the cell producing the bystander signal.

Artificial Intelligence Model for Flowable Concrete Mixtures Used in Underwater Construction and Repair

This study explores using artificial neural networks to predict the rheological and mechanical properties of underwater concrete (UWC) mixtures and to evaluate the sensitivity of such properties to variations in mixture ingredients. Artificial neural networks (ANN) mimic the structure and operation of biological neurons and have the unique ability of self-learning, mapping, and functional approximation. Details of the development of the proposed neural network model, its architecture, training, and validation are presented in this study. A database incorporating 175 UWC mixtures from nine different studies was developed to train and test the ANN model. The data are arranged in a patterned format. Each pattern contains an input vector that includes quantity values of the mixture variables influencing the behavior of UWC mixtures (that is, cement, silica fume, fly ash, slag, water, coarse and fine aggregates, and chemical admixtures) and a corresponding output vector that includes the rheological or mechanical property to be modeled. Results show that the ANN model thus developed is not only capable of accurately predicting the slump, slump-flow, washout resistance, and compressive strength of underwater concrete mixtures used in the training process, but it can also effectively predict the aforementioned properties for new mixtures designed within the practical range of the input parameters used in the training process with an absolute error of 4.6, 10.6, 10.6, and 4.4%, respectively.

Delayed post-surgical development of dural arteriovenous fistula after cervical meningocele repair

A 34-year-old female patient presented with an intracranial subarachnoid hemorrhage and was found to have a dural arteriovenous fistula at the site of previous cervical meningocele repair. Subsequent occlusion was achieved with endovascular embolization. To our knowledge, the phenomenon of the development of a spinal dural fistula at the site of a meningocele repair has not been recorded before.

Comet sensitivity in assessing DNA damage and repair in different cell cycle stages

The comet assay is a sensitive tool for estimation of DNA damage and repair at the cellular level, requiring only a very small number of cells. In comparing the levels of damage or repair in different cell samples, it is possible that small experimental effects could be confounded by different cell cycle states in the samples examined, if sensitivity to DNA damage, and repair capacity, varies with the cell cycle. We assessed this by arresting HeLa cells in various cell cycle stages and then exposing them to ionizing radiation. Unirradiated cells demonstrated significant differences in strand break levels measured by the comet assay (predominantly single-strand breaks) at different cell cycle stages, increasing from G1 into S and falling again in G2. Over and above this variation in endogenous strand break levels, a significant difference in susceptibility to breaks induced by 3.5 Gy ionizing radiation was also evident in different cell cycle phases. Levels of induced DNA damage fluctuate throughout the cycle, with cells in G1 showing slightly lower levels of damage than an asynchronous population. Damage increases as cells progress through S phase before falling again towards the end of S phase and reaching lowest levels in M phase. The results from repair experiments (where cells were allowed to repair for 10 min after exposure to ionizing radiation) also showed differences throughout the cell cycle with G1-phase cells apparently being the most efficient at repair and M-phase cells the least efficient. We suggest, therefore, that in experiments where small differences in DNA damage and repair are to be investigated with the comet assay, it may be desirable to arrest cells in a specific stage of the cell cycle or to allow for differential cycle distribution.

Hypercapnic acidosis attenuates pulmonary epithelial wound repair by an NF-kappa B dependent mechanism

Background: Hypercapnic acidosis exerts protective effects in acute lung injury but may also slow cellular repair. These effects may be mediated via inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B), a pivotal transcriptional regulator in inflammation and repair.

Preliminary Results of a Prospective Randomized Trial of Restrictive Versus Standard Fluid Regime in Elective Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Background: Open abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is associated with a significant morbidity (primarily respiratory and cardiac complications) and an overall mortality rate of 4% to 10%. We tested the hypothesis that perioperative fluid restriction would reduce complications and improve outcome after elective open AAA repair.

Soluble endostatin is a novel inhibitor of epithelial repair in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Background and aim: Aberrant angiogenesis and defective epithelial repair are key features of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Endostatin is an antiangiogenic peptide with known effects on endothelial cells. This study aimed to establish the levels of endostatin in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in IPF and to investigate its actions on distal lung epithelial cells (DLEC) and primary type II cells.

New molecular targets in radiotherapy: DNA damage signalling and repair in targeted and non-targeted cells

Ionising radiation plays a key role in therapy due to its ability to directly induce DNA damage, in particular DNA double-strand breaks leading to cell death. Cells have multiple repair pathways which attempt to maintain genomic stability. DNA repair proteins have become key targets for therapy, using small molecule inhibitors, in combination with radiation and or chemotherapeutic agents as a means of enhancing cell killing. Significant advances in our understanding of the response of cells to radiation exposures has come from the observation of non-targeted effects where cells respond via mechanisms other than those which are a direct consequence of energy-dependent DNA damage. Typical of these is bystander signalling where cells respond to the fact that their neighbours have been irradiated. Bystander cells show a DNA damage response which is distinct from directly irradiated cells. In bystander cells, ATM- and Rad3-related (ATR) protein kinase-dependent signalling in response to stalled replication forks is an early event in the DNA damage response. The ATM protein kinase is activated downstream of ATR in bystander cells. This offers the potential for differential approaches for the modulation of bystander and direct effects with repair inhibitors which may impact on the response of tumours and on the protection of normal tissues during radiotherapy. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.