Adult-Age Inflammatory Pain Experience Enhances Long-Term Pain Vigilance in Rats

Background: Previous animal studies have illustrated a modulatory effect of neonatal pain experience on subsequent painrelated behaviors. However, the relationship between chronic pain status in adulthood and future pain perception remains unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the current study, we investigated the effects of inflammatory pain experience on subsequent formalin-evoked pain behaviors and fear conditioning induced by noxious stimulation in adult rats. Our results demonstrated an increase of the second but not the first phase of formalin-induced pain behaviors in animals with a history of inflammatory pain that have recovered. Similarly, rats with persistent pain experience displayed facilitated acquisition and prolonged retention of pain-related conditioning. These effects of prior pain experience on subsequent behavior were prevented by repeated morphine administration at an early stage of inflammatory pain. Conclusions/Significance: These results suggest that chronic pain diseases, if not properly and promptly treated, may have a long-lasting impact on processing and perception of environmental threats. This may increase the susceptibility of patients to subsequent pain-related disorders, even when chronic pain develops in adulthood. These data highlight th

Skeletal carbonate mineralogy of Scottish bryozoans

This paper describes the skeletal carbonate mineralogy of 156 bryozoan species collected from Scotland (sourced both from museum collections and from waters around Scotland) and collated from literature. This collection represents 79% of the species which inhabit Scottish waters and is a greater number and proportion of extant species than any previous regional study. The study is also of significance globally where the data augment the growing database of mineralogical analyses and offers first analyses for 26 genera and four families. Specimens were collated through a combination of field sampling and existing collections and were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro-XRD to determine wt% MgCO3 in calcite and wt% aragonite. Species distribution data and phylogenetic organisation were applied to understand distributional, taxonomic and phylo-mineralogical patterns. Analysis of the skeletal composition of Scottish bryozoans shows that the group is statistically different from neighbouring Arctic fauna but features a range of mineralogy comparable to other temperate regions. As has been previously reported, cyclostomes feature low Mg in calcite and very little aragonite, whereas cheilostomes show much more variability, including bimineralic species. Scotland is a highly variable region, open to biological and environmental influx from all directions, and bryozoans exhibit this in the wide range of within-species mineralogical variability they present. This plasticity in skeletal composition may be driven by a combination of environmentally-induced phenotypic variation, or physiological factors. A flexible response to environment, as manifested in a wide range of skeletal mineralogy within a species, may be one characteristic of successful invasive bryozoans

Aggression, anxiety and vocalizations in animals: GABA A and 5-HT anxiolytics

A continuing challenge for preclinical research on anxiolytic drugs is to capture the affective dimension that characterizes anxiety and aggression, either in their adaptive forms or when they become of clinical concern. Experimental protocols for the preclinical study of anxiolytic drugs typically involve the suppression of conditioned or unconditioned social and exploratory behavior (e.g., punished drinking or social interactions) and demonstrate the reversal of this behavioral suppression by drugs acting on the benzodiazepine-GABA A complex. Less frequently, aversive events engender increases in conditioned or unconditioned behavior that are reversed by anxiolytic drugs (e.g., fear-potentiated startle). More recently, putative anxiolytics which target 5-HT receptor subtypes produced effects in these traditional protocols that often are not systematic and robust. We propose ethological studies of vocal expressions in rodents and primates during social confrontations, separation from social companions, or exposure to aversive environmental events as promising sources of information on the affective features of behavior. This approach focusses on vocal and other display behavior with clear functional validity and homology. Drugs with anxiolytic effects that act on the benzodiazepine-GABA A receptor complex and on 5-HT 1A receptors systematically and potently alter specific vocalizations in rodents and primates in a pharmacologically reversible manner; the specificity of these effects on vocalizations is evident due to the effectiveness of low doses that do not compromise other physiological and behavioral processes. Antagonists at the benzodiazepine receptor reverse the effects of full agonists on vocalizations, particularly when these occur in threatening, startling and distressing contexts. With the development of antagonists at 5-HT receptor subtypes, it can be anticipated that similar receptor-specificity can be established for the effects of 5-HT anxiolytics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46351/1/213_2005_Article_BF02245590.pd

Echinoids as substrates for encrustation : review and quantitative analysis

The existing literature, including records of both fossil and extant echinoid encrustation, is quantitatively analysed and reviewed. This shows that echinoid encrustation (number of encrusted echinoid taphocoenoses) has increased nearly continuously and dramatically to the present day, as confirmed by linear regression values of more than 85 per cent. It also demonstrates that current levels of echinoid fouling stabilised by the Miocene, while there has been a more or less continuous record of echinoid encrustation since the Late Cretaceous. Several increases have been identified since echinoid encrustation first noted occurrence from the Late Carboniferous. This trend is explained as the probable result of corresponding increases in productivity (richness, biomass, energetics, ecospace utilisation) and resources in the marine environment, including epibionts and their hosts. This conclusion matches other indicators, including the number and thickness of shell beds, bioerosion and predation intensity or biodiversity. The trajectory might have been altered to some degree by biases (e.g. selective recording, sampling effort, outcrop area, rock volume) in the same way as palaeobiodiversity estimates. Two recognised long-term gaps in echinoid encrustation (Upper Ordovician–Lower Carboniferous and Permian–Lower Cretaceous) are explained in part as bias and as biological and taphonomic signals. These gaps are caused mostly by the rapid disarticulation of Palaeozoic-type echinoids, the methodology applied here, and a lack of interest in the encrustation of Jurassic echinoids. Conversely, three short-term gaps in the Cenozoic are interpreted exclusively as bias. If correct, the present study demonstrates quantitatively the step-wise increase of productivity through time. It also suggests potential focus on further study, including the collection of new data from the field and pre-existing collections, as best for other encrustation proxies (e.g., percent of coverage by epibionts, ratio of encrusted to nonencrusted shells, taxa richness or numerical abundance of sclerobionts) in cases of large-scale analyses

Apreliminary report on echinoid accumulations of the genus Conulus in the Lower Turonian at Glanów of the Miechów Trough - southern Poland.

An interesting phenomenon of echinoid accumulation occurring in the Lower Turonian (Mytiloides labiatus Zone) at Glanów village (Miechów Upland) is the main topic of the paper. The bed investigated consists of poorly cemented sandy-marly limestones with thickness of about 30 cm. The accumulation of echinoids is older than that of documented in Wielkanoc which is of middleto-late Turonian age and situated in the same region under study. Apart from a dominant echinoid species Conulus subrotundus Mantell represented by adult and juvenile forms that are dispersed in the bed, the second echinoid species -a regular form Salenocidaris granulosa (Woodward)-has also been noted. Additionally, the skeletal elements of crinoids, ophiuroids, asteroids, as well as bryozoans, annelids, poriferans and shark teeth have also been found in the bed under study. Preliminary observations indicate that the origin of the echinoid accumulation corresponds well with the Conulus bed from the Wielkanoc quarry as a result of luxuriant development of echinoids and complex sedimentological, paleoecological and tectonic factors

Membranous structures transfer cell surface proteins across NK cell immune synapses.

Intercellular transfer of cell surface proteins is widespread and facilitates several recently discovered means for immune cell communication. Here, we examined the molecular mechanism for intercellular exchange of the natural killer (NK) cell receptor KIR2DL1 and HLA-C, prototypical proteins that swap between NK cells and target cells. Transfer was contact dependent and enhanced for cells expressing cognate receptor/ligand pairs but did not depend on KIR2DL1 signaling. To a lesser extent, proteins transferred independent from specific recognition. Intracellular domains of transferred proteins were not exposed to the extracellular environment and transferred proteins were removed by brief exposure to low pH. By fluorescence microscopy, transferred proteins localized to discrete regions on the recipient cell surface. Higher resolution scanning electron micrographs revealed that transferred proteins were located within specific membranous structures. Transmission electron microscopy of the immune synapse revealed that membrane protrusions from one cell interacted with the apposing cell surface within the synaptic cleft. These data, coupled with previous observations, lead us to propose that intercellular protein transfer is mediated by membrane protrusions within and surrounding the immunological synapse

Human and murine inhibitory natural killer cell receptors transfer from natural killer cells to target cells

Intercellular transfer of proteins across the immunological synapse is emerging as a common outcome of immune surveillance. We previously reported that target-cell MHC class I protein transfers onto natural killer (NK) cells expressing cognate killer Ig-like receptors (KIRs). We now show that, for both murine and human cells, target cells expressing inhibitory MHC class I ligands acquire cognate inhibitory NK receptors. Other cell-surface proteins, but not a cytoplasmic dye, also transferred from human NK cells to target cells across an inhibitory immunological synapse. The number of KIRs acquired from NK cells correlated with the level of expression of cognate MHC class I protein on target cells. Treatment with cytoskeletal inhibitors demonstrated that the target-cell cytoskeleton influences intercellular transfer of proteins in both directions. In contrast to constitutively expressed KIRs, a fraction of acquired KIRs could be removed by mild acid wash, demonstrating a difference between some of the acquired KIRs and constitutively expressed KIRs. An accumulation of phosphotyrosine at the location of the transferred KIRs implies a signaling capacity for NK cell proteins transferred to target cells. Thus, intercellular protein transfer between immune cells is bidirectional and could facilitate new aspects of immune cell communication