Mobilization of arachidonic acid between diacyl and ether phospholipids in rabbit alveolar macrophages

AbstractThe metabolism of 20:4 (arachidonic acid) in alkenylacyl, alkylacyl and diacyl lipid classes in choline glycerophospholipids (CGP) and ethanolamine glycerophospholipids (EGP) in rabbit alveolar macrophages was examined. [3H]20:4 was very rapidly incorporated into diacyl glycerophosphocholine (GPC). After the removal of free 20:4, the radioactivity was gradually lost from diacyl GPC. Concomitantly, the radioactivities in alkylacyl GPC and alkenylacyl glycerophosphoethanolamine (GPE) were increased, indicating that 20:4 was mobilized from diacyl GPC to alkylacyl GPC and alkenylacyl GPE. The mobilization was considered to be a 20:4-specific event. The gradual accumulation of 20:4 in ether phospholipids leads to a high abundance of 20:4 in these lipids. These results suggest metabolic relationships between 20:4 and ether phospholipids, including platelet-activating factor (PAF)

Increased Level of Pericardial Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 in Patients With Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Advanced Heart Failure

ObjectivesTo test the hypothesis that the cardiac insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) system is up-regulated in the failing heart, we measured the pericardial (cardiac) and plasma (circulating) IGF-1 levels in coronary artery disease patients.BackgroundLocal IGF-1 systems are regulated differently from the systemic IGF-1 system. The cardiac IGF-1 system is up-regulated by the increased left ventricular (LV) wall stress. However, it remains unknown how this system is affected in LV dysfunction and heart failure.MethodsWe measured the plasma and pericardial fluid levels of IGF-1 and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in 87 coronary artery disease patients undergoing cardiac surgery, and examined their relationships with LV function and heart failure severity. The expressions of IGF-1 and IGF-1 receptor proteins were examined in endomyocardial biopsies obtained from other patients with normal or impaired LV function.ResultsThe pericardial IGF-1 and BNP levels were positively correlated with the plasma BNP level (both p < 0.001). The pericardial IGF-1 level was increased in heart failure patients, whereas the plasma IGF-1 level was rather decreased. The pericardial IGF-1 level was inversely correlated with the LV ejection fraction (p < 0.001), whereas the plasma IGF-1 level was not. Positive immunostaining for IGF-1 and IGF-1 receptor proteins was enhanced in myocardial biopsies from failing hearts compared with those from nonfailing hearts.ConclusionsThe pericardial IGF-1 level was increased in patients with LV dysfunction and heart failure, whereas the plasma IGF-1 level was decreased. These results may indicate that up-regulation of the cardiac IGF-1 system serves as a compensatory mechanism for LV dysfunction

Establishment and characterization of a novel treatment‐related neuroendocrine prostate cancer cell line KUCaP13

The prevalence of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) arising from adenocarcinoma (AC) upon potent androgen receptor (AR) pathway inhibition is increasing. Deeper understanding of NEPC biology and development of novel therapeutic agents are needed. However, research is hindered by the paucity of research models, especially cell lines developed from NEPC patients. We established a novel NEPC cell line, KUCaP13, from tissue of a patient initially diagnosed with AC which later recurred as NEPC. The cell line has been maintained permanently in vitro under regular cell culture conditions and is amenable to gene engineering with lentivirus. KUCaP13 cells lack the expression of AR and overexpress NEPC-associated genes, including SOX2, EZH2, AURKA, PEG10, POU3F2, ENO2, and FOXA2. Importantly, the cell line maintains the homozygous deletion of CHD1, which was confirmed in the primary AC of the index patient. Loss of heterozygosity of TP53 and PTEN, and an allelic loss of RB1 with a transcriptomic signature compatible with Rb pathway aberration were revealed. Knockdown of PEG10 using shRNA significantly suppressed growth in vivo. Introduction of luciferase allowed serial monitoring of cells implanted orthotopically or in the renal subcapsule. Although H3K27me was reduced by EZH2 inhibition, reversion to AC was not observed. KUCaP13 is the first patient-derived, treatment-related NEPC cell line with triple loss of tumor suppressors critical for NEPC development through lineage plasticity. It could be valuable in research to deepen the understanding of NEPC

Evidence for Spin–Orbit Alignment in the TRAPPIST-1 System

In an effort to measure the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect for the TRAPPIST-1 system, we performed high-resolution spectroscopy during transits of planets e, f, and b. The spectra were obtained with the InfraRed Doppler spectrograph on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope, and were supplemented with simultaneous photometry obtained with a 1 m telescope of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope. By analyzing the anomalous radial velocities, we found the projected stellar obliquity to be λ = 1 ± 28° under the assumption that the three planets have coplanar orbits, although we caution that the radial-velocity data show correlated noise of unknown origin. We also sought evidence for the expected deformations of the stellar absorption lines, and thereby detected the "Doppler shadow" of planet b with a false-alarm probability of 1.7%. The joint analysis of the observed residual cross-correlation map including the three transits gave λ = 19_(-15)^(+13)°. These results indicate that the the TRAPPIST-1 star is not strongly misaligned with the common orbital plane of the planets, although further observations are encouraged to verify this conclusion

Supranormal orientation selectivity of visual neurons in orientation-restricted animals

Altered sensory experience in early life often leads to remarkable adaptations so that humans and animals can make the best use of the available information in a particular environment. By restricting visual input to a limited range of orientations in young animals, this investigation shows that stimulus selectivity, e.g., the sharpness of tuning of single neurons in the primary visual cortex, is modified to match a particular environment. Specifically, neurons tuned to an experienced orientation in orientation-restricted animals show sharper orientation tuning than neurons in normal animals, whereas the opposite was true for neurons tuned to non-experienced orientations. This sharpened tuning appears to be due to elongated receptive fields. Our results demonstrate that restricted sensory experiences can sculpt the supranormal functions of single neurons tailored for a particular environment. The above findings, in addition to the minimal population response to orientations close to the experienced one, agree with the predictions of a sparse coding hypothesis in which information is represented efficiently by a small number of activated neurons. This suggests that early brain areas adopt an efficient strategy for coding information even when animals are raised in a severely limited visual environment where sensory inputs have an unnatural statistical structure

Genetic Tracing of Jatropha

Jatropha curcas L. (Jatropha), a shrub species of the family Euphorbiaceae, has been recognized as a promising biofuel plant for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, recent attempts at commercial cultivation in Africa and Asia have failed because of low productivity. It is important to elucidate genetic diversity and relationship in worldwide Jatropha genetic resources for breeding of better commercial cultivars. Here, genetic diversity was analyzed by using 246 accessions from Mesoamerica, Africa and Asia, based on 59 simple sequence repeat markers and eight retrotransposon-based insertion polymorphism markers. We found that central Chiapas of Mexico possesses the most diverse genetic resources, and the Chiapas Central Depression could be the center of origin. We identified three genetic groups in Mesoamerica, whose distribution revealed a distinct geographic cline. One of them consists mainly of accessions from central Chiapas. This suggests that it represents the original genetic group. We found two Veracruz accessions in another group, whose ancestors might be shipped from Port of Veracruz to the Old World, to be the source of all African and Asian Jatropha. Our results suggest the human selection that caused low productivity in Africa and Asia, and also breeding strategies to improve African and Asian Jatropha. Cultivars improved in the productivity will contribute to expand mass commercial cultivation of Jatropha in Africa and Asia to increase biofuel production, and finally will support in the battle against the climate change

Genetic tracing of Jatropha curcas L. From its mesoamerican origin to the world

Jatropha curcas L. (Jatropha), a shrub species of the family Euphorbiaceae, has been recognized as a promising biofuel plant for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, recent attempts at commercial cultivation in Africa and Asia have failed because of low productivity. It is important to elucidate genetic diversity and relationship in worldwide Jatropha genetic resources for breeding of better commercial cultivars. Here, genetic diversity was analyzed by using 246 accessions from Mesoamerica, Africa and Asia, based on 59 simple sequence repeat markers and eight retrotransposonbased insertion polymorphism markers. We found that central Chiapas of Mexico possesses the most diverse genetic resources, and the Chiapas Central Depression could be the center of origin. We identified three genetic groups in Mesoamerica, whose distribution revealed a distinct geographic cline. One of them consists mainly of accessions from central Chiapas. This suggests that it represents the original genetic group. We found two Veracruz accessions in another group, whose ancestors might be shipped from Port of Veracruz to the Old World, to be the source of all African and Asian Jatropha. Our results suggest the human selection that caused low productivity in Africa and Asia, and also breeding strategies to improve African and Asian Jatropha. Cultivars improved in the productivity will contribute to expand mass commercial cultivation of Jatropha in Africa and Asia to increase biofuel production, and finally will support in the battle against the climate change.Li H, Tsuchimoto S, Harada K, Yamasaki M, Sakai H, Wada N, Alipour A, Sasai T, Tsunekawa A,Tsujimoto H, Ando T, Tomemori H, Sato S, Hirakawa H, Quintero VP, Zamarripa A, Santos P, Hegazy A, Ali AM and Fukui K (2017) GeneticTracing of Jatropha curcas L. from Its Mesoamerican Origin to the World. Front. Plant Sci. 8:1539.doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.01539