窒化炭素膜における超低摩擦ナノ界面の自己形成

要約のみTohoku University足立幸志課

Implementation of remote monitoring and diffraction evaluation systems at the Photon Factory macromolecular crystallography beamlines

At the Photon Factory macromolecular crystallography beamlines, two new functions, remote monitoring and diffraction image evaluation, have been developed and installed on the beamline controlling system STARS (simple transmission and retrieval system)

Suppressive activity of tiotropium bromide on matrix metalloproteinase production from lung fibroblasts in vitro

Kazuhito Asano1, Yusuke Shikama2, Yasuhiro Shibuya2, Hiroaki Nakajima2, Ken-ichi Kanai3, Naohiro Yamada3, Harumi Suzaki31Division of Physiology, School of Nursing and Rehabilitation Sciences; 2Respiratory Disease Center, Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital, Yokohama, Japan; 3Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Showa University, Tokyo, JapanBackground: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airway remodeling with an accumulation of inflammatory cells. There is also increasing evidence that metalloproteinases (MMPs) may contribute to the pathogenesis of COPD, but the influence of agents that used for the treatment of COPD is not well understood.Objective: We evaluated whether tiotropium bromide hydrate (TBH), a M3 muscarinic receptor antagonist, could inhibit MMP production from lung fibroblasts (LFs) in response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α stimulation.Methods: LFs were established from normal lung tissues taken from patients with lung tumors. LFs (5 × 105 cells/ml) were stimulated with TNF-α in the presence of various concentrations of TBH. After 24 h, culture supernatants were obtained and assayed for the levels of MMPs and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) by ELISA. The influence of TBH on mRNA expression of MMPs and TIMPs in 4 h-cultured cells was also examined by real-time RT-PCR. Furthermore, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) in LFs treated with TBH for 4 h was examined by ELISA.Results: TBH at more than 15 pg/ml inhibited the production of MMP-2 from LFs after TNF-α stimulation, whereas TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 production was scarcely affected by TBH through the suppression of both mRNA expression and transcription factor, NF-κB, activation in LFs induced by TNF-α stimulation.Conclusion: These results suggest that the attenuating effect of TBH on MMP-2 production from LFs induced by inflammatory stimulation may be additional beneficial therapeutic effects not directly relating to its bronchodilatory effects.Keywords: tiotropium, lung fibroblasts, matrix metalloproteinases, suppression, in vitr

Influence of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on pathfinding of dentate granule cell axons, the hippocampal mossy fibers

Mossy fibers, the dentate granule cell axons, are generated throughout an animal's lifetime. Mossy fiber paths and synapses are primarily restricted to the stratum lucidum within the CA3 region. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophin family protein that activates Trk neurotrophin receptors, is highly expressed in the stratum lucidum in an activity-dependent manner. The addition of a Trk neurotrophin receptor inhibitor, K252a, to cultured hippocampal slices induced aberrant extension of mossy fibers into ectopic regions. BDNF overexpression in granule cells ameliorated the mossy fiber pathway abnormalities caused by a submaximal dose of K252a. A similar rescue was observed when BDNF was expressed in CA3 pyramidal cells, most notably in mossy fibers distal to the expression site. These findings are the first to clarify the role of BDNF in mossy fiber pathfinding, not as an attractant cue but as a regulator, possibly acting in a paracrine manner. This effect of BDNF may be as a signal for new fibers to fasciculate and extend further to form synapses with neurons that are far from active BDNF-expressing synapses. This mechanism would ensure the emergence of new independent dentate gyrus-CA3 circuits by the axons of new-born granule cells

UV LED lighting for automated crystal centring

A low-cost light-emitting diode (LED) UV source has been developed for facilitating macromolecular sample centring in the X-ray beam

High-throughput operation of sample-exchange robots with double tongs at the Photon Factory beamlines

Sample-exchange robots with a double-tongs system that could exchange samples within 10 s have been developed