163 research outputs found
Differential basolateral–apical distribution of scavenger receptor, class B, type I in cultured cells and the liver
The high-density lipoprotein (HDL) receptor, scavenger receptor class B, type I (SR-BI), mediates selective cholesteryl ester uptake into the liver, which finally results in cholesterol secretion into the bile. Despite several reports, the distribution of hepatic SR-BI between the sinusoidal and canalicular membranes is still under debate. We present immunohistological data using specific markers showing that the bulk of SR-BI is present in sinusoidal membranes and, to a lesser extent, in canalicular membranes in murine and human liver sections. In addition, SR-BI was detected in preparations of rat liver canalicular membranes. We also compared the in vivo findings to HepG2 cells, a widely used in vitro hepatocyte model. Interestingly, SR-BI was enriched in bile canalicular-like (BC-like) structures in polarized HepG2 cells, which were cultivated either conventionally to form a monolayer or in Matrigel to form three-dimensional structures. Fluorescently labeled HDL was transported into close proximity of BC-like structures, whereas HDL labeled with the fluorescent cholesterol analog BODIPY-cholesterol was clearly detected within these structures. Importantly, similarly to human and mouse liver, SR-BI was localized in basolateral membranes in three-dimensional liver microtissues from primary human liver cells. Our results demonstrate that SR-BI is highly enriched in sinusoidal membranes and is also found in canalicular membranes. There was no significant basolateral–apical redistribution of hepatic SR-BI in fasting and refeeding experiments in mice. Furthermore, in vitro studies in polarized HepG2 cells showed explicit differences as SR-BI was highly enriched in BC-like structures. These structures are, however, functional and accumulated HDL-derived cholesterol. Thus, biological relevant model systems should be employed when investigating SR-BI distribution in vitro. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00418-014-1251-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Spatial fragmentation of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential
We present a theoretical study of the ground state of a Bose-Einstein
condensate with repulsive inter-particle interactions in a double-well
potential, using a restricted variational principle. Within such an approach,
there is a transition from a single condensate to a fragmented condensate as
the strength of the central barrier of the potential is increased. We determine
the nature of this transition through approximate analytic as well as numerical
solutions of our model in the regime where the inter-particle interactions can
be treated perturbatively. The degree of fragmentation of the condensate is
characterized by the degrees of first-order and second-order spatial coherence
across the barrier.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Variety of idempotents in nonassociative algebras
In this paper, we study the variety of all nonassociative (NA) algebras from
the idempotent point of view. We are interested, in particular, in the spectral
properties of idempotents when algebra is generic, i.e. idempotents are in
general position. Our main result states that in this case, there exist at
least nontrivial obstructions (syzygies) on the Peirce spectrum of a
generic NA algebra of dimension . We also discuss the exceptionality of the
eigenvalue which appears in the spectrum of idempotents in
many classical examples of NA algebras and characterize its extremal properties
in metrised algebras.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figure, submitte
Phospho-regulation of the Shugoshin - Condensin interaction at the centromere in budding yeast.
Correct bioriented attachment of sister chromatids to the mitotic spindle is essential for chromosome segregation. In budding yeast, the conserved protein shugoshin (Sgo1) contributes to biorientation by recruiting the protein phosphatase PP2A-Rts1 and the condensin complex to centromeres. Using peptide prints, we identified a Serine-Rich Motif (SRM) of Sgo1 that mediates the interaction with condensin and is essential for centromeric condensin recruitment and the establishment of biorientation. We show that the interaction is regulated via phosphorylation within the SRM and we determined the phospho-sites using mass spectrometry. Analysis of the phosphomimic and phosphoresistant mutants revealed that SRM phosphorylation disrupts the shugoshin-condensin interaction. We present evidence that Mps1, a central kinase in the spindle assembly checkpoint, directly phosphorylates Sgo1 within the SRM to regulate the interaction with condensin and thereby condensin localization to centromeres. Our findings identify novel mechanisms that control shugoshin activity at the centromere in budding yeast
Output of a pulsed atom laser
We study the output properties of a pulsed atom laser consisting of an
interacting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a magnetic trap and an additional
rf field transferring atoms to an untrapped Zeeman sublevel. For weak output
coupling we calculate the dynamics of the decaying condensate population, of
its chemical potential and the velocity of the output atoms analytically.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX. Full ps file available on
http://mpqibmr1.mpq.mpg.de:5000/~man
Dynamics of Macroscopic Wave Packet Passing through Double Slits: Role of Gravity and Nonlinearity
Using the nonlinear Schroedinger equation (Gross-Pitaevskii equation), the
dynamics of a macroscopic wave packet for Bose-Einstein condensates falling
through double slits is analyzed. This problem is identified with a search for
the fate of a soliton showing a head-on collision with a hard-walled obstacle
of finite size. We explore the splitting of the wave packet and its
reorganization to form an interference pattern. Particular attention is paid to
the role of gravity (g) and repulsive nonlinearity (u_0) in the fringe pattern.
The peak-to-peak distance in the fringe pattern and the number of interference
peaks are found to be proportional to g^(-1/2) and u_0^(1/2)g^(1/4),
respectively. We suggest a way of designing an experiment under controlled
gravity and nonlinearity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures and 1 tabl
Interference of Bose-Einstein condensates in momentum space
We suggest an experiment to investigate the linear superposition of two
spatially separated Bose-Einstein condensates. Due to the coherent combination
of the two wave functions, the dynamic structure factor, measurable through
inelastic photon scattering at high momentum transfer , is predicted to
exhibit interference fringes with frequency period where
is the distance between the condensates. We show that the coherent
configuration corresponds to an eigenstate of the physical observable measured
in the experiment and that the relative phase of the condensates is hence
created through the measurement process.Comment: 4 pages and 2 eps figure
Raman Topography and Strain Uniformity of Large-Area Epitaxial Graphene
We report results from two-dimensional Raman spectroscopy studies of
large-area epitaxial graphene grown on SiC. Our work reveals unexpectedly large
variation in Raman peak position across the sample resulting from inhomogeneity
in the strain of the graphene film, which we show to be correlated with
physical topography by coupling Raman spectroscopy with atomic force
microscopy. We report that essentially strain free graphene is possible even
for epitaxial graphene.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Spatial coherence and density correlations of trapped Bose gases
We study first and second order coherence of trapped dilute Bose gases using
appropriate correlation functions. Special attention is given to the discussion
of second order or density correlations. Except for a small region around the
surface of a Bose-Einstein condensate the correlations can be accurately
described as those of a locally homogeneous gas with a spatially varying
chemical potential. The degrees of first and second order coherence are
therefore functions of temperature, chemical potential, and position. The
second order correlation function is governed both by the tendency of bosonic
atoms to cluster and by a strong repulsion at small distances due to atomic
interactions. In present experiments both effects are of comparable magnitude.
Below the critical temperature the range of the bosonic correlation is affected
by the presence of collective quasi-particle excitations. The results of some
recent experiments on second and third order coherence are discussed. It is
shown that the relation between the measured quantities and the correlation
functions is much weaker than previously assumed.Comment: RevTeX, 25 pages with 7 Postscript figure
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