Melanophore migration and survival during zebrafish adult pigment stripe development require the immunoglobulin superfamily adhesion molecule Igsf11.

The zebrafish adult pigment pattern has emerged as a useful model for understanding the development and evolution of adult form as well as pattern-forming mechanisms more generally. In this species, a series of horizontal melanophore stripes arises during the larval-to-adult transformation, but the genetic and cellular bases for stripe formation remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the seurat mutant phenotype, consisting of an irregular spotted pattern, arises from lesions in the gene encoding Immunoglobulin superfamily member 11 (Igsf11). We find that Igsf11 is expressed by melanophores and their precursors, and we demonstrate by cell transplantation and genetic rescue that igsf11 functions autonomously to this lineage in promoting adult stripe development. Further analyses of cell behaviors in vitro, in vivo, and in explant cultures ex vivo demonstrate that Igsf11 mediates adhesive interactions and that mutants for igsf11 exhibit defects in both the migration and survival of melanophores and their precursors. These findings identify the first in vivo requirements for igsf11 as well as the first instance of an immunoglobulin superfamily member functioning in pigment cell development and patterning. Our results provide new insights into adult pigment pattern morphogenesis and how cellular interactions mediate pattern formation

α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition effects of Korean edible brown, green, and red seaweed extracts

The control of intestinal α-amylase and α-glucosidase is an effective therapeutic strategy for prevention of post-prandial hyperglycemia associated with diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-diabetes activities of Korean edible seaweed against α-amylase and α-glucosidase, two carbolytic enzymes involved in serum glucose regulation. Of the 41 species initially screened, Cladophora wrightiana var. minor, Eisenia bicyclis, Ecklonia cava, Ishige foliacea, and Ishige okamurae exhibited the strongest inhibitory activities from brown seaweeds. Asparagopsis taxiformis showed the strongest inhibitory effects from red seaweeds. The results of this study suggest that the crude brown seaweed extracts (C. wrightiana var. minor, E. bicyclis, E. cava, I. foliacea, and I. okamurae) and crude red seaweed extracts (A. taxiformis) may have beneficial effects suppressing the rise in postprandial hyperglycemia through the inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase

Comparison of Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Flavonoid-Rich Common and Tartary Buckwheat Sprout Extracts in Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated RAW 264.7 and Peritoneal Macrophages

Buckwheat sprouts have been widely consumed all around world due to their great abundance of bioactive compounds. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effects of flavonoid-rich common buckwheat sprout (CBS) and tartary buckwheat sprout (TBS) extracts were evaluated in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophages and primary peritoneal macrophages from male BALB/c mice. Based on the reversed-phase HPLC analysis, the major flavonoids in CBS were determined to be C-glycosylflavones (orientin, isoorientin, vitexin, and isovitexin), quercetin-3-O-robinobioside, and rutin, whereas TBS contained only high amounts of rutin. The TBS extract exhibited higher inhibitory activity as assessed by the production of proinflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide and cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin- (IL-) 6, and IL-12 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages than CBS extract. In addition, TBS extract suppressed nuclear factor-kappa B activation by preventing inhibitor kappa B-alpha degradation and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Moreover, the TBS extract markedly reduced LPS-induced cytokine production in peritoneal macrophages. Taken together, these findings suggest that TBS extract can be a potential source of anti-inflammatory agents that may influence macrophage-mediated inflammatory disorders

Clinical outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with breast diffuse large B cell lymphoma; Consortium for Improving Survival of Lymphoma (CISL) study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The breast is a rare extranodal site of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and primary breast lymphoma (PBL) has been arbitrarily defined as disease localized to one or both breasts with or without regional lymph nodes involvement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes in patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and breast involvement, and to find the criteria of PBL reflecting the outcome and prognosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively analyzed data from 68 patients, newly diagnosed with DLBCL and breast involvement at 16 Korean institutions between January 1994 and June 2009.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Median age at diagnosis was 48 years (range, 20-83 years). Forty-three (63.2%) patients were PBL according to previous arbitrary criteria, sixteen (23.5%) patients were high-intermediate to high risk of international prognostic index. The patients with one extranodal disease in the breast (OED) with or without nodal disease were 49 (72.1%), and those with multiple extranodal disease (MED) were 19 (27.9%). During median follow-up of 41.5 months (range, 2.4-186.0 months), estimated 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) was 53.7 ± 7.6%, and overall survival (OS) was 60.3 ± 7.2%. The 5-year PFS and OS was significantly higher for patients with the OED group than those with the MED group (5-year PFS, 64.9 ± 8.9% vs. 27.5 ± 11.4%, p = 0.001; 5-year OS, 74.3 ± 7.6% vs. 24.5 ± 13.0%, p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, MED (hazard ratio [HR], 3.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-12.2) and fewer than four cycles of systemic chemotherapy with or without local treatments (HR, 4.47; 95% CI, 1.54-12.96) were independent prognostic factors for worse OS. Twenty-five (36.8%) patients experienced progression, and the cumulative incidence of progression in multiple extranodal sites or other than breasts and central nervous system was significantly different between the OED group and the MED group (5-year cumulative incidence, 9.7 ± 5.4% vs. 49.0 ± 15.1%, p = 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results show that the patients included in OED group, reflecting different treatment outcome, prognosis and pattern of progression, should be considered as PBL in the future trial. Further studies are warranted to validate our suggested criteria.</p

The role of bone morphogenetic proteins in the development of the vertebrate midbrain

textThe purpose of the thesis is to explore the role of BMP signaling in developing vertebrate midbrain. BMP signaling plays important roles in various tissues and stages of neural development to regulate cell fate, proliferation, differentiation, morphogenesis and more. We observed that several major BMPs are expressed not only at the roof plate but also the floor plate of the midbrain. This has led us to ask the role of BMP signaling in dorsal and ventral midbrain patterning. Despite ventral experiments, we found that BMP signaling does not regulate ventral cell fate specification in the midbrain. Instead BMPs profoundly influence the shape and early morphogenesis of the midbrain neural plate as it closes into a neural tube. During neural tube closure, one of the early events occurring at the ventral midline is median hinge point (MHP) formation. Failure to form MHP leads to neural tube closure defects, the 2nd most common birth defects in humans. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying MHP formation are not well known. We found that the lowest BMP signaling occurs at the MHP during early neurulation and BMP blockade is necessary and sufficient for MHP formation. Interestingly, we also demonstrated that BMP blockade directs MHP formation by regulating the apicobasal polarity pathway and this regulation may be mediated by biochemical interactions between pSMAD5 and the apical protein, PAR3. Additionally, our time-lapse data suggest that BMP blockade slows cell cycle progression by increasing duration of G1 to S transition and S phase which leads cell nuclei stay at the basal location longer. This mimics basal nuclear migration seen at the MHP where low BMP signaling occurs. Thus, we conclude that BMP signaling regulates neural tube closure via the apicobasal polarity pathway and in a cell cycle dependent manner at the ventral midline. We observed that BMP signaling is necessary and sufficient for the dorsal cell fate specification in a context-dependent manner and ventral BMP signaling affects dorsal cell fates. Taken together, we propose the idea that BMP signaling has distinct roles in different contexts. BMPs regulate tissue morphogenesis in the ventral midbrain and dorsally cell fate specification.Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biolog

Q&amp;A with Dae Seok Eom

Dae Seok Eom spoke with Cell Reports about his scientific journey, inspirations to become a scientist, and his work on cellular protrusions called "airinemes" that are involved in long-range intercellular signal transmission in zebrafish; in particular, he discussed recent work regarding characterization of a macrophage population that plays a critical role in this process