Intercellular calcium wave propagation in linear and circuit-like bone cell networks

In the present study, the mechanism of intercellular calcium wave propagation in bone cell networks was identified. By using micro-contact printing and self-assembled monolayer technologies, two types of in vitro bone cell networks were constructed: open-ended linear chains and looped hexagonal networks with precisely controlled intercellular distances. Intracellular calcium responses of the cells were recorded and analysed when a single cell in the network was mechanically stimulated by nano-indentation. The looped cell network was shown to be more efficient than the linear pattern in transferring calcium signals from cell to cell. This phenomenon was further examined by pathway-inhibition studies. Intercellular calcium wave propagation was significantly impeded when extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the medium was hydrolysed. Chemical uncoupling of gap junctions, however, did not significantly decrease the transferred distance of the calcium wave in the cell networks. Thus, it is extracellular ATP diffusion, rather than molecular transport through gap junctions, that dominantly mediates the transmission of mechanically elicited intercellular calcium waves in bone cells. The inhibition studies also demonstrated that the mechanical stimulation-induced calcium responses required extracellular calcium influx, whereas the ATP-elicited calcium wave relied on calcium release from the calcium store of the endoplasmic reticulum.

The mean value concept in mono-linear regression of multi-variables and its application to trace studies in geosciences

IEECAS SKLLQG

Prematurely condensed chromosome fragments in human lymphocytes induced by high doses of high-linear-energy-transfer irradiation

This study provides a useful biodosimetry protocol for radiation accidents that involve high doses of heavy particle radiation. Human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) were irradiated in vitro with high doses (5–50 Gy) of charged heavy-ion particles (carbon ions, at an effective linear-energy-transfer (LET) of 34.6 keV/ m), and were then stimulated to obtain dividing cells. PBLs were treated with 100nMcalyculin A to force chromosomes to condense prematurely, and chromosome spreads were obtained and stained with Giemsa. The G2 prematurely condensed chromosome (G2-PCC) index and the number of G2-PCC including fragments (G2-PCC-Fs) per cell for each radiation dose point were scored. Dose-effect relationships were obtained by plotting the G2-PCC indices or G2-PCC-Fs numbers against radiation doses. The G2-PCC index was greater than 5% up to doses of 15 Gy; even after a 30Gy radiation dose, the index was 1 to 2%. At doses higher than 30 Gy, however, the G2-PCC indices were close to zero. The number of G2-PCC-Fs increased steeply for radiation doses up to 30 Gy at a rate of 1.07 Gy−1. At doses higher than 30 Gy, the numbers of G2-PCC-Fs could not be accurately indexed because of the limited numbers of cells for analysis. Therefore, the number of G2-PCC-Fs could be used to estimate radiation doses up to 30 Gy. In addition, a G2-PCC index close to zero could be used as an indicator for radiation doses greater than 40 Gy.

Linear energy transfer dependence of the effects of carbon ion beams on adventitious shoot regeneration from in vitro leaf explants of Saintpaulia ionahta

Purpose: To determine the effects of carbon ion beams with five different linear energy transfer (LET) values on adventitious shoots from in vitro leaf explants of Saintpaulia ionahta Mauve cultivar with regard to tissue increase, shoots differentiation and morphology changes in the shoots. Materials and methods: In vitro leaf explant samples were irradiated with carbon ion beams with LET values in the range of 31 similar to 151 keV/mu m or 8 MeV of X-rays (LET 0.2 keV/mu m) at different doses. Fresh weight increase, surviving fraction and percentage of the explants with regenerated malformed shoots in all the irradiated leaf explants were statistically analysed. Results: The fresh weight increase (FWI) and surviving fraction (SF) decreased dramatically with increasing LET at the same doses. In addition, malformed shoots, including curliness, carnification, nicks and chlorophyll deficiency, occurred in both carbon ion beam and X-ray irradiations. The induction frequency with the former, however, was far more than that with the X-rays. Conclusions: This work demonstrated the LET dependence of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of tissue culture of Saintpaulia ionahta according to 50% FWI and 50% SF. After irradiating leaf explants with 5 Gy of a 221 MeV carbon ion beam having a LET value of 96 keV/mu m throughout the sample, a chlorophyll-deficient (CD) mutant, which could transmit the character of chlorophyll deficiency to its progeny through three continuous tissue culture cycles, and plantlets with other malformations were obtained.

Test experiments of gamma-ray linear polarization using a Clover detector

We have investigated the performance of a EXOGAM-Segmented-Clover with 16 segments as a Compton polarimeter to measure the linear polarization of gamma rays. The polarization sensitivity of the Clover detector has been measured at the energy of 1332keV through the coincidence measurements of cascade gamma-rays from Co-60. Experimental values were in good accord with our expectation.We have investigated the performance of a EXOGAM-Segmented-Clover with 16 segments as a Compton polarimeter to measure the linear polarization of gamma rays. The polarization sensitivity of the Clover detector has been measured at the energy of 1332keV through the coincidence measurements of cascade gamma-rays from Co-60. Experimental values were in good accord with our expectation.

Holographic dual of linear dilaton black hole in Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton-axion gravity

Motivated by the recently proposed Kerr/CFT correspondence, we investigate the holographic dual of the extremal and non-extremal rotating linear dilaton black hole in Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion Gravity. For the case of extremal black hole, by imposing the appropriate boundary condition at spatial infinity of the near horizon extremal geometry, the Virasoro algebra of conserved charges associated with the asymptotic symmetry group is obtained. It is shown that the microscopic entropy of the dual conformal field given by Cardy formula exactly agrees with Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of extremal black hole. Then, by rewriting the wave equation of massless scalar field with sufficient low energy as the SLL(2, R) x SLR(2, R) Casimir operator, we find the hidden conformal symmetry of the non-extremal linear dilaton black hole, which implies that the non-extremal rotating linear dilaton black hole is holographically dual to a two dimensional conformal field theory with the non-zero left and right temperatures. Furthermore, it is shown that the entropy of non-extremal black hole can be reproduced by using Cardy formula.

Phosphoproteome analysis of mouse liver using immobilized metal affinity purification and linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Since protein phosphorylation is a dominant mechanism of information transfer in cells, there is a great need for methods capable of accurately elucidating sites of phosphorylation. In recent years mass spectrometry has become an increasingly viable alternative to more traditional methods of phosphorylation analysis. The present study used immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC coupled with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer to analyze phosphorylated proteins in mouse liver. A total of 26 peptide sequences defining 26 sites of phosphorylation were determined. Although this number of identified phosphoproteins is not large, the approach is still of interest because a series of conservative criteria were adopted in data analysis. We note that, although the binding of non-phosphorylated peptides to the IMAC column was apparent, the improvements in high-speed scanning and quality of MS/MS spectra provided by the linear ion trap contributed to the phosphoprotein identification. Further analysis demonstrated that MS/MS/MS analysis was necessary to exclude the false-positive matches resulting from the MS/MS experiments, especially for multiphosphorylated peptides. The use of the linear ion trap considerably enabled exploitation of nanoflow-HPLC/MS/MS, and in addition MS/MS/MS has great potential in phosphoproteome research of relatively complex samples. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.