Intravital FRAP imaging using an E-cadherin-GFP mouse reveals disease- and drug-dependent dynamic regulation of cell-cell junctions in live tissue

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions play a prominent role in maintaining the epithelial architecture. The disruption or deregulation of these adhesions in cancer can lead to the collapse of tumor epithelia that precedes invasion and subsequent metastasis. Here we generated an E-cadherin-GFP mouse that enables intravital photobleaching and quantification of E-cadherin mobility in live tissue without affecting normal biology. We demonstrate the broad applications of this mouse by examining E-cadherin regulation in multiple tissues, including mammary, brain, liver, and kidney tissue, while specifically monitoring E-cadherin mobility during disease progression in the pancreas. We assess E-cadherin stability in native pancreatic tissue upon genetic manipulation involving Kras and p53 or in response to anti-invasive drug treatment and gain insights into the dynamic remodeling of E-cadherin during in situ cancer progression. FRAP in the E-cadherin-GFP mouse, therefore, promises to be a valuable tool to fundamentally expand our understanding of E-cadherin-mediated events in native microenvironments

Intravital FRAP Imaging using an E-cadherin-GFP Mouse Reveals Disease- and Drug-Dependent Dynamic Regulation of Cell-Cell Junctions in Live Tissue.

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions play a prominent role in maintaining the epithelial architecture. The disruption or deregulation of these adhesions in cancer can lead to the collapse of tumor epithelia that precedes invasion and subsequent metastasis. Here we generated an E-cadherin-GFP mouse that enables intravital photobleaching and quantification of E-cadherin mobility in live tissue without affecting normal biology. We demonstrate the broad applications of this mouse by examining E-cadherin regulation in multiple tissues, including mammary, brain, liver, and kidney tissue, while specifically monitoring E-cadherin mobility during disease progression in the pancreas. We assess E-cadherin stability in native pancreatic tissue upon genetic manipulation involving Kras and p53 or in response to anti-invasive drug treatment and gain insights into the dynamic remodeling of E-cadherin during in situ cancer progression. FRAP in the E-cadherin-GFP mouse, therefore, promises to be a valuable tool to fundamentally expand our understanding of E-cadherin-mediated events in native microenvironments

narrating traditional iranian carpet merchants

Iranian carpet merchants developed a collective identitary narrative to enhance their capital creation in the social field of the German market, the field of Iranian foreign trade, and transnational bazari networks. This chapter goes beyond the practicalities of juggling resources across social fields: it explains the motivation behind this agency. Building on David Graeber's anthropology of value, as well as on studies about identity marketing and ethnic entrepreneurship, I show how the merchants' resources were evaluated between the 1950s and today to explain by which systems of value these social fields were shaped. From the confrontation between changing systems of value emerges Iranian carpet merchants' potential to increase the efficiency of their capital creation by—collectively—trying to redefine the meaning of their resources

Longitudinal Imaging of the Ageing Mouse

Several non-invasive imaging techniques are used to investigate the effect of pathologies and treatments over time in mouse models. Each preclinical in vivo technique provides longitudinal and quantitative measurements of changes in tissues and organs, which are fundamental for the evaluation of alterations in phenotype due to pathologies, interventions and treatments. However, it is still unclear how these imaging modalities can be used to study ageing with mice models. Almost all age related pathologies in mice such as osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, thrombi, dementia, to name a few, can be imaged in vivo by at least one longitudinal imaging modality. These measurements are the basis for quantification of treatment effects in the development phase of a novel treatment prior to its clinical testing. Furthermore, the non-invasive nature of such investigations allows the assessment of different tissue and organ phenotypes in the same animal and over time, providing the opportunity to study the dysfunction of multiple tissues associated with the ageing process. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the applications of the most commonly used in vivo imaging modalities used in mouse studies: micro-computed-tomography, preclinical magnetic-resonance-imaging, preclinical positron-emission-tomography, preclinical single photon emission computed tomography, ultrasound, intravital microscopy, and whole body optical imaging

Detection of mycobiota, aflatoxigenic and ochratoxigenic genes, and cytotoxic ability in spices

Spices are portions of plants because their properties are used as colorants, preservatives, or medicine. The employments of spices have been known since long time, and the interest in the capability of spices is astounding because of the chemical compounds contained in spices. The molds grow on a variety of different crops and foodstuffs including spices often under warm and humid conditions. The mycobiota of five spice species were surveyed. Forty‐six fungal species were obtained. Aspergillus flavus and A. niger were the prevalent species recorded. The aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxins (OTs) were detected in some samples and isolates. Cumin had the highest concentration of AFs 8.2 ppb, while ginger had a considerable occurrence of OTs 6.7 ppb. A. flavus obtained from ginger recorded the maximum concentration of AFs 7.5 ppb, and A. niger from turmeric was the highest producer for OTs 3.6 ppb. omt‐A and Aopks genes were detected in all tested A. flavus isolates and two out of four A. niger isolates. One of the important properties of spices is cancer etiology and prevention. Ginger and sage were the highest cytotoxic against four human tumor cell lines