Bmper is required for morphogenesis of the anterior and posterior semicircular canal ducts in the developing zebrafish inner ear

BMP signalling is known to have a conserved function in development of the semicircular canal system of the vertebrate inner ear, but its regulation, target genes and effects on cell behaviour during otic morphogenesis are not fully understood. We have characterised the effects of mutations in the zebrafish gene bmper, which codes for a regulator of BMP signalling with both pro- and anti-BMP roles in different developmental contexts. The inner ears of bmper mutant embryos develop with truncations of the anterior and posterior semicircular canal ducts. To image the developing ear in live embryos, we have exploited a new transgenic line, Tg(smad6b:EGFP), which exhibits strong GFP expression in the otic epithelium. Morphometric analysis indicates defects in the bmper mutant ear from early stages of semicircular canal formation, correlating with a specific reduction in BMP signalling activity and specific loss of dlx5a expression in dorsal otic epithelium. Subsequent changes to cell shape occur at the truncation site and the dorsolateral septum. The bmper mutations that we describe are adult viable; truncation of the anterior and posterior semicircular canal ducts persists into adulthood. Our results argue against a major role for Bmper in specification of the pre-placodal region, induction of the otic placode, or development of the neural crest, processes in which Bmper function has previously been implicated. Instead, we conclude that a key requirement for Bmper function in the zebrafish is to promote BMP signalling during patterning and morphogenesis of the semicircular canal system

Orientation effect on mechanical properties of commercially pure titanium at room temperature

The effect of sample orientation on the mechanical properties of commercially pure (CP) titanium plate with a transverse split basal texture was investigated at room temperature (RT) using plane strain compression (PSC). A large variation in flow stress of up to (EBSD) and calculating Schmid factors for all important slip and twinning modes. Importantly, the Schmid factors were calculated for all orientations in Euler space because there are significant variations over all orientations for the PSC stress state, unlike uniaxial compression or tension. The Schmid factor analysis and twin data for the wide variety of orientations tested enabled the conclusion to be drawn reliably that higher flow stresses were primarily due to an unfavourable orientation for prism- slip. A greater proportion of to twinning was also a major factor in the higher flow stresses. Increased strain hardening was observed in the sample orientation that showed a dramatic texture change to a more difficult orientation for further deformation as a result of dominant twinning. This indicated that reorientation hardening was the responsible mechanism