À la recherche de la vie extraterrestre

Séance solennelle du 9 décembre 201

Un sourcier de l’espace

André Brack est « tombé dans la marmite » des protéines synthétiques pour modéliser la soie puis, pour soigner les grands brûlés tout en se penchant sur les origines de la vie. Non content d’avoir fait des découvertes à vertu thérapeutique, il a aussi, dans un élan d’altruisme très personnel, partagé ses expériences avec le public via des opérations de vulgarisation

Electrophysiological effects of nicotinic and electrical stimulation of intrinsic cardiac ganglia in the absence of extrinsic autonomic nerves in the rabbit heart

BackgroundThe intrinsic cardiac nervous system is a rich network of cardiac nerves that converge to form distinct ganglia and extend across the heart and is capable of influencing cardiac function.ObjectiveThe goals of this study were to provide a complete picture of the neurotransmitter/neuromodulator profile of the rabbit intrinsic cardiac nervous system and to determine the influence of spatially divergent ganglia on cardiac electrophysiology.MethodsNicotinic or electrical stimulation was applied at discrete sites of the intrinsic cardiac nerve plexus in the Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart. Functional effects on sinus rate and atrioventricular conduction were measured. Immunohistochemistry for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), tyrosine hydroxylase, and/or neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) was performed using whole mount preparations.ResultsStimulation within all ganglia produced either bradycardia, tachycardia, or a biphasic brady-tachycardia. Electrical stimulation of the right atrial and right neuronal cluster regions produced the largest chronotropic responses. Significant prolongation of atrioventricular conduction was predominant at the pulmonary vein-caudal vein region. Neurons immunoreactive (IR) only for ChAT, tyrosine hydroxylase, or nNOS were consistently located within the limits of the hilum and at the roots of the right cranial and right pulmonary veins. ChAT-IR neurons were most abundant (1946 ± 668 neurons). Neurons IR only for nNOS were distributed within ganglia.ConclusionStimulation of intrinsic ganglia, shown to be of phenotypic complexity but predominantly of cholinergic nature, indicates that clusters of neurons are capable of independent selective effects on cardiac electrophysiology, therefore providing a potential therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of cardiac disease

what is life the emergence of life in a mineral world

The premise of this talk is that, apart from liquid water and carbon molecules, specific environmental components and conditions were essential for the origin of life, i.e. phosphate, reactive rock..

Testing the survival of microfossils in artificial martian sedimentary meteorites during entry into Earth's atmosphere: the STONE 6 experiment

If life ever appeared on Mars, could we find traces of primitive life embedded in sedimentary meteorites? To answer this question, a 3.5 billion-year-old volcanic sediment containing microfossils was embedded in the heat shield of a space capsule in order to test survival of the rock and the microfossils during entry into the Earth's atmosphere (the STONE 6 experiment). The silicified volcanic sediment from the Kitty's Gap Chert (Pilbara, Australia) is considered to be an excellent analogue for Noachian-age volcanic sediments. The microfossils in the chert are also analogues for potential martian life. An additional goal was to investigate the survival of living microorganisms (Chroococcidiopsis) protected by a 2 cm thick layer of rock in order to test whether living endolithic organisms could survive atmospheric entry when protected by a rocky coating. Mineralogical alteration of the sediment due to shock heating was manifested by the formation of a fusion crust, cracks in the chert due to prograde and retrograde changes of ? quartz to ? quartz, increase in the size of the fluid inclusions, and dewatering of the hydromuscovite-replaced volcanic protoliths. The carbonaceous microfossils embedded in the chert matrix survived in the rock away from the fusion crust but there was an increase in the maturity index of the kerogen towards the crust. We conclude that this kind of sediment can survive atmospheric entry and, if it contains microfossils, they could also survive. The living microorganisms were, however, completely carbonised by flame leakage to the back of the sample and therefore non-viable. However, using an analytical model to estimate the temperature reached within the sample thickness, we conclude that, even without flame leakage, the living organisms probably need to be protected by at least 5 cm of rock in order to be shielded from the intense heat of entry

Different paths, same destination: divergent action potential responses produce conserved cardiac fight-or-flight response in mouse and rabbit hearts

Sympathetic activation of the heart results in positive chronotropy and inotropy, which together rapidly increase cardiac output. The precise mechanisms that produce the electrophysiological and Ca2+ handling changes underlying chronotropic and inotropic responses have been studied in detail in isolated cardiac myocytes. However, few studies have examined the dynamic effects of physiological sympathetic nerve activation on cardiac action potentials (APs) and intracellular Ca2+ transients (CaTs) in the intact heart. Here, we performed bilateral sympathetic nerve stimulation (SNS) in fully innervated, Langendorff‐perfused rabbit and mouse hearts. Dual optical mapping with voltage‐ and Ca2+‐sensitive dyes allowed for analysis of spatio‐temporal AP and CaT dynamics. The rabbit heart responded to SNS with a monotonic increase in heart rate (HR), monotonic decreases in AP and CaT duration (APD, CaTD), and a monotonic increase in CaT amplitude. The mouse heart had similar HR and CaT responses; however, a pronounced biphasic APD response occurred, with initial prolongation (50.9 ± 5.1 ms at t = 0 s vs. 60.6 ± 4.1 ms at t = 15 s, P < 0.05) followed by shortening (46.5 ± 9.1 ms at t = 60 s, P = NS vs. t = 0). We determined the biphasic APD response in mouse was partly due to dynamic changes in HR during SNS and was exacerbated by β‐adrenergic activation. Simulations with species‐specific cardiac models revealed that transient APD prolongation in mouse allowed for greater and more rapid CaT responses, suggesting more rapid increases in contractility; conversely, the rabbit heart requires APD shortening to produce optimal inotropic responses. Thus, while the cardiac fight‐or‐flight response is highly conserved between species, the underlying mechanisms orchestrating these effects differ significantly

Neuro-cardiac interaction in malignant ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death

Sudden cardiac death as a result of lethal ventricular arrhythmias is a major cause of death in cardiac diseases such as heart failure and prior myocardial infarct. Activity of the autonomic nervous system is often abnormal where sympathetic activity is upregulated and vagal activity reduced in these conditions. The abnormal autonomic state has been shown to be a strong prognostic marker of increased mortality and propensity to lethal arrhythmias, for which there is no effective prevention. Research effort over the years has established good evidence for a causal link between autonomic disturbance and ventricular arrhythmias. However, the detailed electrophysiological mechanisms by which ventricular fibrillation occurs are still not clear and molecular processes which are modulated by autonomic nerve influences that either predispose the heart to or protect it from these arrhythmias are not fully understood. This review presents data from studies investigating the link between activity of the autonomic nervous system and ventricular arrhythmias, from seminal findings in classical studies to ongoing investigations, in the quest for a better understanding of the arrhythmogenic mechanisms underlying neurocardiac interactions with a view to the development of effective preventative and therapeutic strategies which are very much needed

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array: Joint Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

We have conducted three searches for correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory, and high-energy neutrino candidate events from IceCube. Two cross-correlation analyses with UHECRs are done: one with 39 cascades from the IceCube `high-energy starting events' sample and the other with 16 high-energy `track events'. The angular separation between the arrival directions of neutrinos and UHECRs is scanned over. The same events are also used in a separate search using a maximum likelihood approach, after the neutrino arrival directions are stacked. To estimate the significance we assume UHECR magnetic deflections to be inversely proportional to their energy, with values $3^\circ$, $6^\circ$ and $9^\circ$ at 100 EeV to allow for the uncertainties on the magnetic field strength and UHECR charge. A similar analysis is performed on stacked UHECR arrival directions and the IceCube sample of through-going muon track events which were optimized for neutrino point-source searches.Comment: one proceeding, the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands; will appear in PoS(ICRC2015