Effects of gravity changes on gene expression of BDNF and serotonin receptors in the mouse brain

Spaceflight entails various stressful environmental factors including microgravity. The effects of gravity changes have been studied extensively on skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, immune and vestibular systems, but those on the nervous system are not well studied. The alteration of gravity in ground-based animal experiments is one of the approaches taken to address this issue. Here we investigated the effects of centrifugation-induced gravity changes on gene expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and serotonin receptors (5-HTRs) in the mouse brain. Exposure to 2g hypergravity for 14 days showed differential modulation of gene expression depending on regions of the brain. BDNF expression was decreased in the ventral hippocampus and hypothalamus, whereas increased in the cerebellum. 5-HT1BR expression was decreased in the cerebellum, whereas increased in the ventral hippocampus and caudate putamen. In contrast, hypergravity did not affect gene expression of 5-HT1AR, 5-HT2AR, 5-HT2CR, 5-HT4R and 5-HT7R. In addition to hypergravity, decelerating gravity change from 2g hypergravity to 1g normal gravity affected gene expression of BDNF, 5-HT1AR, 5-HT1BR, and 5-HT2AR in various regions of the brain. We also examined involvement of the vestibular organ in the effects of hypergravity. Surgical lesions of the inner ear’s vestibular organ removed the effects induced by hypergravity on gene expression, which suggests that the effects of hypergravity are mediated through the vestibular organ. In summary, we showed that gravity changes induced differential modulation of gene expression of BDNF and 5-HTRs (5-HT1AR, 5-HT1BR and 5-HT2AR) in some brain regions. The modulation of gene expression may constitute molecular bases that underlie behavioral alteration induced by gravity changes

Isotope production in proton-, deuteron-, and carbon-induced reactions on Nb 93 at 113 MeV/nucleon

Isotope-production cross sections for p-, d-, and C-induced spallation reactions on Nb93 at 113 MeV/nucleon were measured using the inverse-kinematics method employing secondary targets of CH2, CD2, and C. The measured cross sections for Mo90, Nb90, Y86,88 produced by p-induced reactions were found to be consistent with those measured by the conventional activation method. We performed benchmark tests of the reaction models INCL-4.6, JQMD, and JQMD-2.0 implemented in the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) and of the nuclear data libraries JENDL-4.0/HE, TENDL-2017, and ENDF/B-VIII.0. The model calculations also showed generally good agreement with the measured isotope-production cross sections for p-, d-, and C-induced reactions. It also turns out that, among the three nuclear data libraries, JENDL-4.0/HE provides the best agreement with the measured data for the p-induced reactions. We compared the present Nb93 data with the Zr93 data, that were measured previously by the same inverse kinematics method (Kawase et al., Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2017, 093D03 (2017)2050-391110.1093/ptep/ptx110), with particular attention to the effect of neutron-shell closure on isotope production in p- and d-induced spallation reactions. The isotopic distributions of the measured production cross sections in the Zr93 data showed noticeable jumps at neutron number N=50 in the isotopic chains of ΔZ=0 and -1, whereas no such jump appeared in isotopic chain of ΔZ=0 in the Nb93 data. From INCL-4.6 + GEM calculations, we found that the jump formed in the evaporation process is smeared out by the intranuclear cascade component in Nb91 produced by the Nb93(p,p2n) and (d,d2n) reactions on Nb93. Moreover, for Nb93, the distribution of the element-production cross sections as a function of the change in proton number ΔZ is shifted to smaller ΔZ than for Zr93, because the excited Nb prefragments generated by the cascade process are more likely to emit protons than the excited Zr prefragments, due to the smaller proton-separation energies of the Nb isotopes

Coulomb breakup reactions of 93,94 Zr in inverse kinematics

Coulomb breakup reactions of 93,94 Zr have been studied in inverse kinematics at incident beam energies of about 200 MeV/nucleon in order to evaluate neutron capture reaction methods. The 93 Zr(n,γ) 94 Zr reaction is particularly important as a candidate nuclear transmutation reaction for the long-lived fission product 93 Zr in nuclear power plants. One- and two-neutron removal cross sections on Pb and C targets were measured to deduce the inclusive Coulomb breakup cross sections, 375 ± 29 (stat.) ± 30 (syst.) and 403 ± 26 (stat.) ± 31 (syst.) mb for 93 Zr and 94 Zr, respectively. The results are compared with estimates using the standard Lorentzian model and microscopic calculations. The results reveal a possible contribution of the pygmy dipole resonance or giant quadrupole resonance in the Coulomb breakup reactions of 94 Zr

Cross sections for nuclide production in proton- and deuteron-induced reactions on 93

Isotopic production cross sections were measured for proton- and deuteron-induced reactions on 93Nb by means of the inverse kinematics method at RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. The measured production cross sections of residual nuclei in the reaction 93Nb + p at 113 MeV/u were compared with previous data measured by the conventional activation method in the proton energy range between 46 and 249 MeV. The present inverse kinematics data of four reaction products (90Mo, 90Nb, 88Y, and 86Y) were in good agreement with the data of activation measurement. Also, the model calculations with PHITS describing the intra-nuclear cascade and evaporation processes generally well reproduced the measured isotopic production cross sections

Spallation reaction study for fission products in nuclear waste: Cross section measurements for 137

Spallation reactions for the long-lived fission products 137Cs, 90Sr and 107Pd have been studied for the purpose of nuclear waste transmutation. The cross sections on the proton- and deuteron-induced spallation were obtained in inverse kinematics at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Both the target and energy dependences of cross sections have been investigated systematically. and the cross-section differences between the proton and deuteron are found to be larger for lighter fragments. The experimental data are compared with the SPACS semi-empirical parameterization and the PHITS calculations including both the intra-nuclear cascade and evaporation processes

腎門部リンパ節にも併発病理所見をみた巨大腎血管筋脂肪腫の1例

28歳, 男, 主訴は頻尿で軽度精神発達遅延をもち, 左腎腫瘤を指摘され当科初診.CTでは左腎に10cm大の充実性腫瘍とリンパ節腫大を認めた.血管造影では濃染像や動脈瘤を多数認めるhypervascular tumorであった.悪性腫瘍の疑いにて2001年11月, 根治的左腎摘除術及びリンパ節郭清術を施行した.病理はangiomyolipoma with lymph node involvementであった.左腎腫瘍ならびにリンパ節のミオーゲンマーカー免疫染色が陽性で診断を支持していた.術後4ヵ月経過し, 再発をしていないA 28-year-old man without tuberous sclerosis, who complained of pollakisuria, consulted to our hospital for a left renal mass. Abdominal computed tomography revealed a solid mass without a lipid component, 10 cm in diameter, in the left kidney and with regional lymphadenopathy. Renal arteriography showed a hypervascular mass, demonstrating multiple tumor stains and aneurysms. Left radical nephrectomy and perihilar lymph node dissection were performed for an anticipated diagnosis of malignant tumor in November 2001. The histopathological diagnosis was an angiomyolipoma with lymph node involvement. Immunostaining for myogen markers was positive in the renal mass and lymph node tumors. He was free from disease ten months after surgery

Malignant lymphomaに対するCyclophosphamide投与後に発症した腎盂腫瘍の1例

59歳, 男.Malignant lymphomaに対してCyclophosphamideが投与され, 肉眼的血尿を主訴に受診した.CT, IVP, RPにて左腎盂腫瘍を認め, 尿細胞診はクラスVで根治的左腎尿管全摘除術が施行された.病理組織学的診断は移行上皮癌, G2, pT2, pR0, pL0, pV0, pNxであったため, 追加治療は行わなかったCyclophosphamide is considered to be a bladder carcinogen and there are many reports of secondary bladder cancer, while only a few cases of upper urothelial cancer have been described. A 59-year-old man, who had received cyclophosphamide therapy for malignant lymphoma, was suffering from gross hematuria and consulted our institute. Computerized tomography (CT), intravenous pyelography (IVP) and retrograde pyelography (RP) revealed a left renal pelvic tumor. Urinary cytology showed class V and radical left nephroureterectomy was performed. Histopathological diagnosis of the left renal pelvic tumor was transitional cell carcinoma, invading the renal parenchyma. He is free from recurrence eight months after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the third case of cyclophosphamide-induced upper urothelial carcinoma reported in Japan, and the twelfth reported in the English literature

The effectiveness of colchicine combined with mitomycin C to prolong bleb function in trabeculectomy in rabbits.

PurposeTo investigate the potential of colchicine to improve bleb function after trabeculectomy.MethodsTo find the maximum usable colchicine concentration, an ocular irritation study was performed with the Draize test at concentrations of 0.001%, 0.01% and 0.1%. Additionally, the synergistic effect of topical colchicine instillation and MMC application to surgical site was evaluated in a rabbit model by measuring changes after trabeculectomy in intraocular pressure (IOP) and bleb morphology score at 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, and 49 days.ResultsExperiments with a rabbit model of trabeculectomy showed that 0.04% MMC plus 0.01% colchicine was more effective than saline and 0.04% MMC alone in maintaining IOP reduction at days 7-49 (P ConclusionColchicine may be a promising adjuvant for strengthening the effect of MMC and improving the survival of the filtering bleb in trabeculectomy