The Grizzly, December 8, 2016

Music and Mocha Meet at Steel City • Collegeville Staple Speck\u27s Chicken Offers Unique, Throwback Experience • Local Pizza Place Looking for Love • International Perspective: Japanese TA Reflects on Dining Etiquette • Study Abroad Student Shares Experiences with Foreign Cuisine • Two UC Students Find an Appetizing Off-Campus Job • Opinions: Navigating Dietary Restrictions On and Off Campus; Car Access Impacts Students\u27 Dining Experiences • Senior Athletes Share Helpful Tips on Nutritionhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1657/thumbnail.jp

A pristine record of outer Solar System materials from asteroid Ryugu’s returned sample

Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of Earth’s water. Our best insight into their chemistry is currently provided by carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, but the meteorite record is biased: only the strongest types survive atmospheric entry and are then modified by interaction with the terrestrial environment. Here we present the results of a detailed bulk and microanalytical study of pristine Ryugu particles, brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Ryugu particles display a close compositional match with the chemically unfractionated, but aqueously altered, CI (Ivuna-type) chondrites, which are widely used as a proxy for the bulk Solar System composition. The sample shows an intricate spatial relationship between aliphatic-rich organics and phyllosilicates and indicates maximum temperatures of ~30 °C during aqueous alteration. We find that heavy hydrogen and nitrogen abundances are consistent with an outer Solar System origin. Ryugu particles are the most uncontaminated and unfractionated extraterrestrial materials studied so far, and provide the best available match to the bulk Solar System composition

Nrf2 Activation by 5-lipoxygenase Metabolites in Human Umbilical Vascular Endothelial Cells

5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) and 5-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (5-HEPE) are major metabolites produced by 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) from arachidonic acid (AA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Effects of hydroxides on endothelial cells are unclear, although 5-LOX is known to increase at arteriosclerotic lesions. To investigate the effects of hydroxides on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), the cells were treated with 50 μM each of AA, EPA, 5-HETE, and 5-HEPE. Treatment of HUVECs with 5-HETE and 5-HEPE, rather than with AA and EPA, increased the nuclear translocation of NF-E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) and upregulated the expression of heme oxygenase-1 and cystine/glutamate transporter regulated by Nrf2. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was markedly elevated in HUVECs after treatment with 5-HETE and 5-HEPE, and the pretreatment with α-tocopherol abrogated ROS levels similar to those in the vehicle control. However, ROS generation was independent of Nrf2 activation induced by 5-HETE and 5-HEPE. 5-HETE was converted to 5-oxo-eicosatetraenoic acid (5-oxo-ETE) in HUVECs, and 5-oxo-ETE increased Nrf2 activation. These results suggest that 5-HETE works as an Nrf2 activator through the metabolite 5-oxo-ETE in HUVECs. Similarly, 5-HEPE works in the same way, because 5-HEPE is metabolized to 5-oxo-eicosapentaenoic acid through the same pathway as that for 5-HETE

8-Hydroxyeicosapentaenoic Acid Decreases Plasma and Hepatic Triglycerides via Activation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Alpha in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice

PPARs regulate the expression of genes involved in lipid homeostasis. PPARs serve as molecular sensors of fatty acids, and their activation can act against obesity and metabolic syndromes. 8-Hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (8-HEPE) acts as a PPAR ligand and has higher activity than EPA. However, to date, the PPAR ligand activity of 8-HEPE has only been demonstrated in vitro. Here, we investigated its ligand activity in vivo by examining the effect of 8-HEPE treatment on high fat diet-induced obesity in mice. After the 4-week treatment period, the levels of plasma and hepatic triglycerides in the 8-HEPE-fed mice were significantly lower than those in the HFD-fed mice. The expression of genes regulated by PPARα was significantly increased in 8-HEPE-fed mice compared to those that received only HFD. Additionally, the level of hepatic palmitic acid in 8-HEPE-fed mice was significantly lower than in HFD-fed mice. These results suggested that intake of 8-HEPE induced PPARα activation and increased catabolism of lipids in the liver. We found no significant differences between EPA-fed mice and HFD-fed mice. We demonstrated that 8-HEPE has a larger positive effect on metabolic syndrome than EPA and that 8-HEPE acts by inducing PPARα activation in the liver

Bioisostere-conjugated fluorescent probes for live-cell protein imaging without non-specific organelle accumulation.

Specific labeling of proteins using membrane-permeable fluorescent probes is a powerful technique for bioimaging. Cationic fluorescent dyes with high fluorescence quantum yield, photostability, and water solubility provide highly useful scaffolds for protein-labeling probes. However, cationic probes generally show undesired accumulation in organelles, which causes a false-positive signal in localization analysis. Herein, we report a design strategy for probes that suppress undesired organelle accumulation using a bioisostere for intracellular protein imaging in living cells. Our design allows the protein labeling probes to possess both membrane permeability and suppress non-specific accumulation and has been shown to use several protein labeling systems, such as PYP-tag and Halo tag systems. We further developed a fluorogenic PYP-tag labeling probe for intracellular proteins and used it to visualize multiple localizations of target proteins in the intracellular system. Our strategy offers a versatile design for undesired accumulation-suppressed probes with cationic dye scaffolds and provides a valuable tool for intracellular protein imaging

Transition of Self-assembled Structures in Poly(N- octadecyl acrylamide-co-hydroxylethyl acrylamide) Random Copolymer Films

This paper shows that a simple random copolymer can form self-assembled lamellae, the structure of which depends upon the comonomer composition and annealing temperature. A random copolymer of octadecyl acrylamide and hydroxyethyl acrylamide [p(ODA/HEAm)] was prepared via free racial copolymerization. Thin films of p(ODA/HEAm) were prepared via a spin-coating method and their structures were studied using X-ray diffraction. It was found that copolymers with a HEAm content between 28% and 50% formed self-assembled lamellae upon annealing at 10 ˚C above the glass-transition temperature. The self-assembled form has a “side-chain-mixed” lamellar structure in which the ODA and HEAm side chains are oriented perpendicularly to the lamellar plane composed of the polymer main chain. Interestingly, a copolymer with HEAm content between 36% and 50% transforms from the side-chain-mixed lamellar structure to form a “side-chain-segregated” lamellar structure upon annealing at a much higher temperature (160 ˚C). In this structure, the ODA and HEAm side chains are oriented perpendicularly to the lamellar plane and in opposite directions to each other. We concluded that the lamellar structure that is formed is determined by the strain force generated during self-assembly and by the segregation force between the comonomers