Functional and immunological relationships between metyrapone reductase from mouse liver microsomes and 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas testosteroni

Abstract3α-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3α-HSD) from Pseudomonas testosteroni was shown to reduce the xenobiotic carbonyl compound metyrapone (MPON). Reversely, MPON reductase purified from mouse liver microsomes and previously characterized as aldehyde reductase, was competitively inhibited by 3α-HSD steroid substrates. For MPON reduction both enzymes can use either NADH or NADPH as co-substrate. Immunoblot analysis after native and SDS gel electrophoresis of 3α-HSD gave a specific crossreaction with the antibodies against the microsomal mouse liver MPON reductase pointing to structural homologies between these enzymes. In conclusion, there seem to exist structural as well as functional relationships between a mammalian liver aldehyde reductase and prokaryotic 3α-HSD. Moreover, based on the molecular weights and the co-substrate specificities microsomal mouse liver MPON reductase and Pseudomonas 3α-HSD seem to be members of the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase family

Extended skyrmion lattice scattering and long-time memory in the chiral magnet Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_xSi

Small angle neutron scattering measurements on a bulk single crystal of the doped chiral magnet Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si with $x$=0.3 reveal a pronounced effect of the magnetic history and cooling rates on the magnetic phase diagram. The extracted phase diagrams are qualitatively different for zero and field cooling and reveal a metastable skyrmion lattice phase outside the A-phase for the latter case. These thermodynamically metastable skyrmion lattice correlations coexist with the conical phase and can be enhanced by increasing the cooling rate. They appear in a wide region of the phase diagram at temperatures below the $A$-phase but also at fields considerably smaller or higher than the fields required to stabilize the A-phase

Universality of the helimagnetic transition in cubic chiral magnets: Small angle neutron scattering and neutron spin echo spectroscopy studies of Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_xSi

We present a comprehensive Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) and Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy (NSE) study of the structural and dynamical aspects of the helimagnetic transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si with $x$ = 0.30. In contrast to the sharp transition observed in the archetype chiral magnet MnSi, the transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si is gradual and long-range helimagnetic ordering coexists with short-range correlations over a wide temperature range. The dynamics are more complex than in MnSi and involve long relaxation times with a stretched exponential relaxation which persists even under magnetic field. These results in conjunction with an analysis of the hierarchy of the relevant length scales show that the helimagnetic transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si differs substantially from the transition in MnSi and question the validity of a universal approach to the helimagnetic transition in chiral magnets

Maternal imprinting on cognition markers of wild type and transgenic Alzheimer's disease model mice.

The risk of suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) is higher in individuals from AD-affected mothers. The purpose of this investigation was to study whether maternal transmission might produce AD-related alterations in progenies of mice that do not have any genotypic alteration. We used cognitively-intact mothers harbouring in heterozygosity the transgene for overexpressing the Swedish double mutant version of the human amyloid precursor protein (hAβPPswe). The phenotype of the offspring with or without the transgene resulting from crossing young Tg2576 females with wild-type males were compared with those of the offspring resulting from crossing wild-type females with Tg2576 males. The hAβPPswe-bearing offspring from Tg2576 mothers showed an aggravated AD-like phenotype. Remarkably, cognitive, immunohistochemical and some biochemical features displayed by Tg2576 heterozygous mice were also found in wild-type animals generated from Tg2576 females. This suggests the existence of a maternal imprinting in the wild-type offspring that confers a greater facility to launch an AD-like neurodegenerative cascade. Such progeny, lacking any mutant amyloid precursor protein, constitutes a novel model to study maternal transmission of AD and, even more important, to discover early risk markers that predispose to the development of AD

Multiple low-temperature skyrmionic states in a bulk chiral magnet

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected nanoscale spin textures with particle-like properties. In bulk cubic helimagnets, they appear under applied magnetic fields and condense spontaneously into a lattice in a narrow region of the phase diagram just below the magnetic ordering temperature, the so-called A-phase. Theory, however, predicts skyrmions to be locally stable in a wide range of magnetic fields and temperatures. Our neutron diffraction measurements reveal the formation of skyrmion states in large areas of the magnetic phase diagram, from the lowest temperatures up to the A-phase. We show that nascent and disappearing spiral states near critical lines catalyze topological charge changing processes, leading to the formation and destruction of skyrmionic states at low temperatures, which are thermodynamically stable or metastable depending on the orientation and strength of the magnetic field. Skyrmions are surprisingly resilient to high magnetic fields: the memory of skyrmion lattice states persists in the field polarized state, even when the skyrmion lattice signal has disappeared. These findings highlight the paramount role of magnetic anisotropies in stabilizing skyrmionic states and open up new routes for manipulating these quasi-particles towards energy-efficient spintronics applications

Maternal imprinting on cognition markers of wild type and transgenic Alzheimer's disease model mice

The risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is higher in individuals from AD-affected mothers. The purpose of this investigation was to study whether maternal transmission might produce AD-related alterations in progenies of mice that do not have any genotypic alteration. We used cognitively-intact mothers harbouring in heterozygosity the transgene for overexpressing the Swedish double mutant version of the human amyloid precursor protein (hAβPPswe). The phenotype of the offspring with or without the transgene resulting from crossing young Tg2576 females with wild-type males were compared with those of the offspring resulting from crossing wild-type females with Tg2576 males. The hAβPPswe-bearing offspring from Tg2576 mothers showed an aggravated AD-like phenotype. Remarkably, cognitive, immunohistochemical and some biochemical features displayed by Tg2576 heterozygous mice were also found in wild-type animals generated from Tg2576 females. This suggests the existence of a maternal imprinting in the wild-type offspring that confers a greater facility to launch an AD-like neurodegenerative cascade. Such progeny, lacking any mutant amyloid precursor protein, constitutes a novel model to study maternal transmission of AD and, even more important, to discover early risk markers that predispose to the development of AD