The Journal of Undergraduate Nursing Writing, Volume 5, Issue 1, August 2011

The articles presented in this volume originated as assignments completed by students as part of their senior level coursework. The original call for papers did not limit their entries to any particular topic. All of the manuscripts received came from papers submitted in the Legal/Ethical Nursing course.UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF NURSING BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING PROGRAM AND DELTA CHAPTER OF SIGMA THETA INTERNATIONALEditorial Mandatory Gardasil Vaccination in Adolescents Biethman, E Adolescent Bariatric Surgery: A life saving procedure or another failing technique Blurton, B R To Treat or Not To Treat? Cancer During Pregnancy Dudley, K It’s a Thin Line Between Confidentiality and Disclosing Patient Information. Horn, K G Ethical Considerations of Pharmaceutical Colonialism Lee, A Questioning the Persistent Vegetative State Medis, K J Pediatric Advance Directives: A Voice for the Voiceless Nelson, H Patient Autonomy and End-of-Life Care: Cross-Cultural Considerations Silvey, L Family Presence During Resuscitation in Adult Patients Tafreshi, D R Women’s Self-Help Groups in India: Gender Equity, a Human Right Wurtz,

Estrogen Receptor β-Selective Agonists Stimulate Calcium Oscillations in Human and Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neurons

Estrogens are used extensively to treat hot flashes in menopausal women. Some of the beneficial effects of estrogens in hormone therapy on the brain might be due to nongenomic effects in neurons such as the rapid stimulation of calcium oscillations. Most studies have examined the nongenomic effects of estrogen receptors (ER) in primary neurons or brain slices from the rodent brain. However, these cells can not be maintained continuously in culture because neurons are post-mitotic. Neurons derived from embryonic stem cells could be a potential continuous, cell-based model to study nongenomic actions of estrogens in neurons if they are responsive to estrogens after differentiation. In this study ER-subtype specific estrogens were used to examine the role of ERα and ERβ on calcium oscillations in neurons derived from human (hES) and mouse embryonic stem cells. Unlike the undifferentiated hES cells the differentiated cells expressed neuronal markers, ERβ, but not ERα. The non-selective ER agonist 17β-estradiol (E2) rapidly increased [Ca2+]i oscillations and synchronizations within a few minutes. No change in calcium oscillations was observed with the selective ERα agonist 4,4′,4″-(4-Propyl-[1H]-pyrazole-1,3,5-triyl)trisphenol (PPT). In contrast, the selective ERβ agonists, 2,3-bis(4-Hydroxyphenyl)-propionitrile (DPN), MF101, and 2-(3-fluoro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-7-vinyl-1,3 benzoxazol-5-ol (ERB-041; WAY-202041) stimulated calcium oscillations similar to E2. The ERβ agonists also increased calcium oscillations and phosphorylated PKC, AKT and ERK1/2 in neurons derived from mouse ES cells, which was inhibited by nifedipine demonstrating that ERβ activates L-type voltage gated calcium channels to regulate neuronal activity. Our results demonstrate that ERβ signaling regulates nongenomic pathways in neurons derived from ES cells, and suggest that these cells might be useful to study the nongenomic mechanisms of estrogenic compounds