Myosin heavy chain and physiological adaptation of the rat diaphragm in elastase-induced emphysema

BACKGROUND: Several physiological adaptations occur in the respiratory muscles in rodent models of elastase-induced emphysema. Although the contractile properties of the diaphragm are altered in a way that suggests expression of slower isoforms of myosin heavy chain (MHC), it has been difficult to demonstrate a shift in MHCs in an animal model that corresponds to the shift toward slower MHCs seen in human emphysema. METHODS: We sought to identify MHC and corresponding physiological changes in the diaphragms of rats with elastase-induced emphysema. Nine rats with emphysema and 11 control rats were studied 10 months after instillation with elastase. MHC isoform composition was determined by both reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemistry by using specific probes able to identify all known adult isoforms. Physiological adaptation was studied on diaphragm strips stimulated in vitro. RESULTS: In addition to confirming that emphysematous diaphragm has a decreased fatigability, we identified a significantly longer time-to-peak-tension (63.9 ± 2.7 ms versus 53.9 ± 2.4 ms). At both the RNA (RT-PCR) and protein (immunocytochemistry) levels, we found a significant decrease in the fastest, MHC isoform (IIb) in emphysema. CONCLUSION: This is the first demonstration of MHC shifts and corresponding physiological changes in the diaphragm in an animal model of emphysema. It is established that rodent emphysema, like human emphysema, does result in a physiologically significant shift toward slower diaphragmatic MHC isoforms. In the rat, this occurs at the faster end of the MHC spectrum than in humans

Differences in Clinical Features According to Boryoung and Karp Genotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi

Scrub typhus is an infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. The differences in virulence of O. tsutsugamushi prototypes in humans are still unknown. We investigated whether there are any differences in the clinical features of the Boryoung and Karp genotypes.Patients infected with O. tsutsugamushi, as Boryoung and Karp clusters, who had visited 6 different hospitals in southwestern Korea were prospectively compared for clinical features, complications, laboratory parameters, and treatment responses. Infected patients in the Boryoung cluster had significantly more generalized weakness, eschars, skin rashes, conjunctival injection, high albumin levels, and greater ESR and fibrinogen levels compared to the Karp cluster. The treatment response to current antibiotics was significantly slower in the Karp cluster as compared to the Boryoung cluster.The frequency of occurrence of eschars and rashes may depend on the genotype of O. tsutsugamushi

Using Synthetic Models to Simulate Aging of Cu Contamination in Soils

The Bureau Commun de Référence (BCR) sequential extraction scheme and micro-synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence (μ-SXRF) analysis were used to determine the Cu fractionation in a calcareous vineyard soil and a synthetic soil (mixture of seven constituents: calcite, birnessite, ferrihydrite, goethite, lignocellulosic residue, kaolinite, and quartz) at different Cu contamination rates (190, 1270, and 6350 mg kg−1 of Cu) and aging times (1, 30, 92, and 181 days). The Cu distribution in the spiked vineyard and synthetic soils was different from the original vineyard one and was influenced by the loading level. The newly added Cu was preferentially present in the acid soluble fraction. Aging of the contaminated vineyard and synthetic soils during 6 months led to the redistribution of Cu from the weakly bound acid soluble fraction to the strongly bound reducible one. The evolution with time could satisfactorily be simulated by the Elovich diffusion model for the synthetic soils. It was less significant as less marked in the contaminated vineyard soil than in the synthetic one, even though the trends observed in both were similar. This study supported the hypothesis that “simple” synthetic models could be used to approach the Cu fractionation and its evolution with time in vineyard soils

New copper (II) niflumate complexes with N-donnor ligands : Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of anticancer potential against human cell lines.

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Mutations of Histidine 13 to Arginine and Arginine 5 to Glycine Are Responsible for Different Coordination Sites of Zinc(II) to Human and Murine Peptides

Because mice and rats do not naturally develop Alzheimer's disease, genetically modified animals are required to study this pathology. This striking difference in terms of disease onset could be due to three alterations in the murine sequence (R5G, Y10F and H13R) of the amyloid-β peptide with respect to the human counterpart. Whether the metal-ion binding properties of the murine peptide are at the origin of such different amyloidogenicity of the two peptides is still an open question. Herein, the main zinc binding site to the murine amyloid-β at physiological pH has been determined through the combination of several spectroscopic and analytical methods applied to a series of six peptides with one or two of the key mutations. These results have been compared with the zinc binding site encountered in the human peptide. A coordination mechanism that demonstrates the importance of the H13R and R5G mutations in the different zinc environments present in the murine and human peptides is proposed. The nature of the minor zinc species present at physiological pH is also suggested for both peptides. Finally, the biological relevance and fallouts of the differences determined in zinc binding to human versus murine amyloid-β are also discussed

Expression of inducible stress protein 70 in rat heart myogenic cells confers protection against simulated ischemia-induced injury.

Myocardial ischemia markedly increases the expression of several members of the stress/heat shock protein (HSP) family, especially the inducible HSP70 isoforms. Increased expression of HSP70 has been shown to exert a protective effect against a lethal heat shock. We have examined the possibility of using this resistance to a lethal heat shock as a protective effect against an ischemic-like stress in vitro using a rat embryonic heart-derived cell line H9c2 (2-1). Myogenic cells in which the heat shock proteins have been induced by a previous heat shock are found to become resistant to a subsequent simulated ischemic stress. In addition, to address the question of how much does the presence of the HSP70 contribute to this protective effect, we have generated stably transfected cell lines overexpressing the human-inducible HSP70. Embryonal rat heart-derived H9c2(2-1) cells were used for this purpose. This stably transfected cell line was found to be significantly more resistant to an ischemic-like stress than control myogenic cells only expressing the selectable marker (neomycin) or the parental cell line H9c2(2-1). This finding implicates the inducible HSP70 protein as playing a major role in protecting cardiac cells against ischemic injury

Relationship between soil composition and retention capacity of terbumeton onto chalky soils.

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