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PubMed1997

Induction of interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE) in murine microglia by lipopolysaccharide.

Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) synthesized in the brain is thought to be involved in the behavioral response to LPS. In this study, we examined in microglia the ability of LPS to induce interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE), the protease responsible for processing proIL-1beta to its mature biologically active form. The murine microglial cell line, N13, and primary microglia which had been previously isolated from brains of 2-d-old endotoxin-responsive C3H/HeOuJ mice and endotoxin-resistant C3H/HeJ mice, were cultured in the presence of various concentrations of LPS. Oligonucleotide primers for ICE and GAPDH were used in RT-PCR to determine the levels of ICE mRNA in microglia. ICE mRNA was constitutively expressed in N13 cells and primary microglia from both C3H/HeOuJ and C3H/HeJ mice. Upon exposure to LPS, ICE mRNA levels were markedly elevated in N13 cells and in microglia from C3H/HeOuJ mice, but not in microglia from endotoxin-resistant C3H/HeJ mice. Western immunoblotting was used to determine if the increase in ICE mRNA induced by LPS was accompanied by an increase in ICE protein. A modest increase in immunoreactivity for the p45 ICE precursor protein was evident in N13 cells and primary microglia from C3H/HeOuJ mice following exposure to LPS. Because corticosteroids inhibit the synthesis and secretion of IL-1beta, in a second experiment microglia were treated with LPS in the presence of dexamethasone (0, 10 and 100 microM). Dexamethasone inhibited the LPS-induced increase in ICE mRNA and protein in microglia from C3H/HeOuJ mice. These results indicate that LPS stimulates microglia to express ICE. That dexamethasone inhibited the expression of ICE, suggests that corticosteroids regulate the secretion of IL-1beta by microglial cells, in part, by regulating the expression of ICE.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Sequential activation of ICE-like and CPP32-like proteases during Fas-mediated apoptosis.

Binding of Fas ligand or an agonistic anti-Fas antibody induces apoptosis in Fas-bearing cells. The interleukin-1Beta-converting enzyme (ICE) is a cysteine protease that is involved in apoptosis induced by various stimuli, including Fas-mediated apoptosis. Several ICE homologues have been identified, and these are subdivided into three groups (ICE-, CPP32-, and Ich-1-like proteases). We show here that specific inhibitors of ICE- or CPP32-like proteases can inhibit Fas-mediated apoptosis. Transient ICE-like activity was found in the cytosolic fraction of Fas-activated cells, whereas ICE-dependent, CPP32-like activity gradually accumulated in the cytosol. Cell lysates from mouse lymphoma supplemented with either recombinant ICE or CPP32 induced apoptosis of nuclei. The CPP32 inhibitor inhibited ICE- or CPP32-induced apoptosis in the cell-free system, whereas the ICE-inhibitor only inhibited ICE-induced apoptosis. Cell extracts from thymocytes from ICE-null mice induced apoptosis in the cell-free system when it was supplemented with CPP32. These results indicate that Fas sequentially activates ICE- and CPP32-like proteases, and that downstream CPP32, together with a component(s) in the cytoplasm, causes apoptosis of nuclei.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Size of bacterial ice-nucleation sites measured in situ by radiation inactivation analysis.

Four bacterial species are known to catalyze ice formation at temperatures just below 0 degrees C. To better understand the relationship between the molecular structure of bacterial ice-nucleation site(s) and the quantitative and qualitative features of the ice-nucleation-active phenotype, we determined by gamma-radiation analysis the in situ size of ice-nucleation sites in strains of Pseudomonas syringae and Erwinia herbicola and in Escherichia coli HB101 carrying the plasmid pICE1.1 (containing a 4-kilobase DNA insert from P. syringae that confers ice-nucleation activity). Lyophilized cells of each bacterial strain were irradiated with a flux of gamma radiation from 0 to 10.2 Mrad (1 Mrad = 10(6) J/kg). Differential concentrations of active ice nuclei decreased as a first-order function of radiation dose in all strains as temperature was decreased from -2 degrees C to -14 degrees C in 1 degrees C intervals. Sizes of ice nuclei were calculated from the gamma-radiation flux at which 37% of initial ice nuclei active within each 1 degrees C temperature interval remained. The minimum mass of a functional ice nucleus, active only between -12 degrees C and -13 degrees C, was about 150 kDa for all strains. The size of ice nuclei increased logarithmically with increasing temperature from -12 degrees C to -2 degrees C, where the estimated nucleant mass was 19,000 kDa. The ice nucleant in these three bacterial species may represent an oligomeric structure, composed at least in part of an ice gene product that can self-associate to assume many possible sizes.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

The interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE) is localized on the external cell surface membranes and in the cytoplasmic ground substance of human monocytes by immuno-electron microscopy.

Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta)-converting enzyme (ICE) is a novel cysteine protease that cleaves the 31-kD inactive cytoplasmic IL-1 beta precursor into active extracellular 17-kD IL-1 beta. The ICE gene product is a 45-kD proenzyme that requires proteolytic processing to activate ICE. Active ICE is a heterodimer consisting of equal amounts of p20 and p10 subunits. Generation of active ICE is affected by the removal of an 11-kD NH2-terminal precursor domain (p11) and an internal 19-amino acid sequence that separates the 20- and 10-kD subunits. Immuno-electron microscopy was performed on human monocytes with immunoglobulins recognizing the active (p20) or precursor (p11) domains of ICE. Elutriated monocytes were stimulated with 50 pM lipopolysaccharide followed by heat-killed Staphylococcus aureus under conditions that induce maximal rates of IL-1 beta secretion. Ultrathin cryosections were cut from fixed frozen pellets of these monocytes and were immunogold labeled with either antibody. Active and precursor domain ICE epitopes were localized in the cytoplasmic ground substance, but they were not detected within the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi apparatus, and secretory granules of activated or inactive monocytes. Importantly, numerous ICE p20 epitopes were also observed on the extracellular surfaces of the cell membrane, and were concentrated on the microvilli. Very similar patterns of ICE localization were obtained with unstimulated blood monocytes. In contrast, ICE p11 epitopes were not detected on the surfaces of these monocytes. Likewise, labeling of fixed ultrathin cryosections of monocytes with a biotinylated irreversible ICE inhibitor [Ac-Tyr-Val-Lys(biotin)-Asp-(acyloxy)-methyl-ketone] showed that the compound localized on the outer cell surface as well, and to a lesser extent, within the cytoplasmic ground substance. Furthermore, antipeptide antibodies specific for either the mature or precursor domains of IL-1 beta were both localized upon the cell membrane after stimulation of IL-1 beta secretion. Lipopolysaccaride-primed monocytes that synthesized, but did not secrete IL-1 beta, exhibited only cytoplasmic staining. The data suggests that mature IL-1 beta is generated via cleavage of the 31-kD inactive cytoplasmic IL-1 beta precursor by ICE after association with the plasma membrane during secretion.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

The role of membrane-like stresses in determining the stability and sensitivity of the Antarctic ice sheets: back pressure and grounding line motion.

Membrane stresses act along thin bodies which are relatively well lubricated on both surfaces. They operate in ice sheets because the bottom is either sliding, or is much less viscous than the top owing to stress and heat softening of the basal ice. Ice streams flow over very well lubricated beds, and are restrained at their sides. The ideal of the perfectly slippery bed is considered in this paper, and the propagation of mechanical effects along an ice stream considered by applying spatially varying horizontal body forces. Propagation distances depend sensitively on the rheological index, and can be very large for ice-type rheologies.A new analytical solution for ice-shelf profiles and grounded tractionless stream profiles is presented, which show blow up of the profile in a finite distance upstream at locations where the flux is non-zero. This is a feature of an earlier analytical solution for a floating shelf.The length scale of decay of membrane stresses from the grounding line is investigated through scale analysis. In ice sheets, such effects decay over distances of several tens of kilometres, creating a vertical boundary layer between sheet flow and shelf flow, where membrane stresses adjust. Bounded, physically reasonable steady surface profiles only exist conditionally in this boundary layer. Where bounded steady profiles exist, adjacent profile equilibria for the whole ice sheet corresponding to different grounded areas occur (neutral equilibrium). If no solution in the boundary layer can exist, the ice-sheet profile must change.The conditions for existence can be written in terms of whether the basal rate factor (sliding or internal deformation) is too large to permit a steady solution. The critical value depends extremely sensitively on ice velocity and the back stress applied at the grounding line. High ice velocity and high stress both favour the existence of solutions and stability. Changes in these parameters can cause the steady solution existence criterion to be traversed, and the ice-sheet dynamics to change.A finite difference model which represents both neutral equilibrium and the dynamical transition is presented, and preliminary investigations into its numerical sensitivity are carried out. Evidence for the existence of a long wavelength instability is presented through the solution of a numerical eigenproblem, which will hamper predictability.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Characterization and Quantification of Intrinsic Ice Nucleators in Winter Rye (Secale cereale) Leaves.

Extracellular ice formation in frost-tolerant organisms is often initiated at specific sites by ice nucleators. In this study, we examined ice nucleation activity (INA) in the frost-tolerant plant winter rye (Secale cereale). Plants were grown at 20[deg]C, at 5[deg]C with a long day, and at 5[deg]C with a short day (5[deg]C-SD). The threshold temperature for INA was -5 to -12[deg]C in winter rye leaves from all three growth treatments. Epiphytic ice nucleation-active bacteria could not account for INA observed in the leaves. Therefore, the INA must have been produced endogenously. Intrinsic rye ice nucleators were quantified and characterized using single mesophyll cell suspensions obtained by pectolytic degradation of the leaves. The most active ice nucleators in mesophyll cell suspensions exhibited a threshold ice nucleation temperature of -7[deg]C and occurred infrequently at the rate of one nucleator per 105 cells. Rye cells were treated with chemicals and enzymes to characterize the ice nucleators, which proved to be complexes of proteins, carbohydrates, and phospholipids, in which both disulfide bonds and free sulfhydryl groups were important for activity. Carbohydrates and phospholipids were important components of ice nucleators derived from 20[deg]C leaves, whereas the protein component was more important in 5[deg]C-SD leaves. This difference in composition or structure of the ice nucleators, combined with a tendency for more frequent INA, suggests that more ice nucleators are produced in 5[deg]C-SD leaves. These additional ice nucleators may be a component of the mechanism for freezing tolerance observed in winter rye.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1978

Metabolic and Ultrastructural Changes in Winter Wheat during Ice Encasement Under Field Conditions.

The effect of ice encasement on the physiological, metabolic, and ultrastructural properties of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown under field conditions was examined by artificially encasing winter wheat in ice during early winter. Cold hardiness and survival of ice-encased seedlings declined less rapidly in Kharkov, a cold-hardy cultivar than in Fredrick, a less hardy cultivar. Ethanol did not accumulate in non-iced seedlings, but increased rapidly upon application of an ice sheet. Lactic acid accumulated in both cultivars during late autumn, prior to ice encasement, and elevated levels of lactic acid were maintained throughout the winter in seedlings from both iced and non-iced plots. The rate of O(2) consumption of shoot tissue of seedlings from non-iced plots remained relatively constant throughout the winter, but declined rapidly in seedlings from ice encased plots. Major ultrastructural changes did not occur in shoot apex cells of non-iced winter wheat seedlings during cold hardening under field conditions. However, the imposition of an ice cover in early January resulted in a proliferation of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane system of the cells, frequently resulting in the formation of concentric whorls of membranes, often enclosing cytoplasmic organelles. Electrondense areas within the cytoplasm which appeared to be associated with the expanded endoplasmic reticulum were also frequently observed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1988

Development, distribution, and characteristics of intrinsic, nonbacterial ice nuclei in prunus wood.

Ice nuclei active at approximately -2 degrees C and intrinsic to woody tissues of Prunus spp. were shown to have properties distinct from bacterial ice nuclei. Soaking 5-centimeter peach stem sections in water for 4 hours lowered the mean ice nucleation temperature to below -4 degrees C, nearly 2 degrees C lower than stems inoculated with ice nucleation-active Pseudomonas syringae strain B301D. Ice nucleation activity in peach was fully restored by air-drying woody stem sections for a few hours. The ice nuclei in woody tissue were inactivated between 40 and 50 degrees C, but unaffected by treatment with bacterial ice nucleation inhibitors (i.e. NaOCl, tartaric acid, Triton XQS-20), sulfhydryl reagents (i.e. p-hydroxymercuribenzoate and iodine) and Pronase. Ice nuclei could not be dislodged from stems by sonication and were shown to be equally distributed in peach bud and internodal stem tissue on a per unit mass basis; outer and inner stem tissues were also indistinguishable in ice nucleation activity. Development of ice nuclei in immature peach and sweet cherry stems did not occur until midsummer and their formation was essentially complete by late August. Once formed the ice nuclei intrinsic to woody stems were stable and unaffected by seasonal changes in growth. The apparent physiological function of the ice nuclei is discussed in relation to supercooling and mechanisms of cold hardiness in Prunus spp.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Bacterial Standing Stock, Activity, and Carbon Production during Formation and Growth of Sea Ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Bacterial response to formation and growth of sea ice was investigated during autumn in the northeastern Weddell Sea. Changes in standing stock, activity, and carbon production of bacteria were determined in successive stages of ice development. During initial ice formation, concentrations of bacterial cells, in the order of 1 x 10 to 3 x 10 liter, were not enhanced within the ice matrix. This suggests that physical enrichment of bacteria by ice crystals is not effective. Due to low concentrations of phytoplankton in the water column during freezing, incorporation of bacteria into newly formed ice via attachment to algal cells or aggregates was not recorded in this study. As soon as the ice had formed, the general metabolic activity of bacterial populations was strongly suppressed. Furthermore, the ratio of [H]leucine incorporation into proteins to [H]thymidine incorporation into DNA changed during ice growth. In thick pack ice, bacterial activity recovered and growth rates up to 0.6 day indicated actively dividing populations. However, biomass-specific utilization of organic compounds remained lower than in open water. Bacterial concentrations of up to 2.8 x 10 cells liter along with considerably enlarged cell volumes accumulated within thick pack ice, suggesting reduced mortality rates of bacteria within the small brine pores. In the course of ice development, bacterial carbon production increased from about 0.01 to 0.4 mug of C liter h. In thick ice, bacterial secondary production exceeded primary production of microalgae.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Stability of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula during the Holocene epoch.

The stability of the Antarctic ice shelves in a warming climate has long been discussed, and the recent collapse of a significant part, over 12,500 km2 in area, of the Larsen ice shelf off the Antarctic Peninsula has led to a refocus toward the implications of ice shelf decay for the stability of Antarctica's grounded ice. Some smaller Antarctic ice shelves have undergone periodic growth and decay over the past 11,000 yr (refs 7-11), but these ice shelves are at the climatic limit of ice shelf viability and are therefore expected to respond rapidly to natural climate variability at century to millennial scales. Here we use records of diatoms, detrital material and geochemical parameters from six marine sediment cores in the vicinity of the Larsen ice shelf to demonstrate that the recent collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf is unprecedented during the Holocene. We infer from our oxygen isotope measurements in planktonic foraminifera that the Larsen B ice shelf has been thinning throughout the Holocene, and we suggest that the recent prolonged period of warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region, in combination with the long-term thinning, has led to collapse of the ice shelf.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Effect of type III antifreeze protein dilution and mutation on the growth inhibition of ice.

Mutation of residues at the ice-binding site of type III antifreeze protein (AFP) not only reduced antifreeze activity as indicated by the failure to halt ice crystal growth, but also altered ice crystal morphology to produce elongated hexagonal bipyramids. In general, the c axis to a axis ratio of the ice crystal increased from approximately 2 to over 10 with the severity of the mutation. It also increased during ice crystal growth upon serial dilution of the wild-type AFP. This is in marked contrast to the behavior of the alpha-helical type I AFPs, where neither dilution nor mutation of ice-binding residues increases the c:a axial ratio of the ice crystal above the standard 3.3. We suggest that the ice crystal morphology produced by type III AFP and its mutants can be accounted for by the protein binding to the prism faces of ice and operating by step growth inhibition. In this model a decrease in the affinity of the AFP for ice leads to filling in of individual steps at the prism surfaces, causing the ice crystals to grow with a longer c:a axial ratio.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Inhibition of bacterial ice nucleation by polyglycerol polymers.

The simple linear polymer polyglycerol (PGL) was found to apparently bind and inhibit the ice nucleating activity of proteins from the ice nucleating bacterium Pseudomonas syringae. PGL of molecular mass 750 Da was added to a solution consisting of 1 ppm freeze-dried P. syringae 31A in water. Differential ice nucleator spectra were determined by measuring the distribution of freezing temperatures in a population of 98 drops of 1 microL volume. The mean freezing temperature was lowered from -6.8 degrees C (control) to -8.0,-9.4,-12.5, and -13.4 degrees C for 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 1% w/w PGL concentrations, respectively (SE < 0.2 degrees C). PGL was found to be an ineffective inhibitor of seven defined organic ice nucleating agents, whereas the general ice nucleation inhibitor polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was found to be effective against five of the seven. The activity of PGL therefore seems to be specific against bacterial ice nucleating protein. PGL alone was an ineffective inhibitor of ice nucleation in small volumes of environmental or laboratory water samples, suggesting that the numerical majority of ice nucleating contaminants in nature may be of nonbacterial origin. However, PGL was more effective than PVA at suppressing initial ice nucleation events in large volumes, suggesting a ubiquitous sparse background of bacterial ice nucleating proteins with high nucleation efficiency. The combination of PGL and PVA was particularly effective for reducing ice formation in solutions used for cryopreservation by vitrification.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗
PubMed2005

Glycine-ice nanolayers: morphology and surface energetics.

Ultrathin glycine-ice films (nanolayers) have been prepared in ultrahigh vacuum by condensation of H(2)O and glycine at 110 K and 150 K on single crystalline Al(2)O(3) surfaces and have been investigated by temperature programed thermal desorption, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and work function measurements. Various layer architectures have been considered, including glycine-on-ice, ice-on-glycine, and mixed glycine-ice nanolayers. Low coverages of adsorbed glycine molecules on amorphous ice surfaces suppress the amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition in the temperature range 140-160 K in near-surface regions and consequently lead to a lower desorption temperature of H(2)O molecules than from pure ice layers. Thicker glycine overlayers on ice provide a kinetic restriction to H(2)O desorption from the underlying ice layers until the glycine molecules become mobile and develop pathways for water desorption at higher temperature (>170 K). Ice overlayers do not wet glycine film surfaces, but the glycine molecules on ice are sufficiently immobile at 110 K, so that continuous glycine overlayers form. In mixed glycine-ice nanolayers the glycine phase displays hydrophobic behavior and a phase separation takes place, with the accumulation of glycine near the surfaces of the films.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2000

A habitat for psychrophiles in deep Antarctic ice.

Microbes, some of which may be viable, have been found in ice cores drilled at Vostok Station at depths down to approximately 3,600 m, close to the surface of the huge subglacial Lake Vostok. Two types of ice have been found. The upper 3,500 m comprises glacial ice containing traces of nutrients of aeolian origin including sulfuric acid, nitric acid, methanosulfonic acid (MSA), formic acid, sea salts, and mineral grains. Ice below approximately 3,500 m comprises refrozen water from Lake Vostok, accreted to the bottom of the glacial ice. Nutrients in the accretion ice include salts and dissolved organic carbon. There is great interest in searching for living microbes and especially for new species in deepest Antarctic ice. I propose a habitat consisting of interconnected liquid veins along three-grain boundaries in ice in which psychrophilic bacteria can move and obtain energy and carbon from ions in solution. In the accretion ice, with an age of a few 10(4) years and a temperature a few degrees below freezing, the carbon and energy sources in the veins can maintain significant numbers of cells per cubic centimeter that are metabolizing but not multiplying. In the 4 x 10(5)-year-old colder glacial ice, at least 1 cell per cm(3) in acid veins can be maintained. With fluorescence microscopy tuned to detect NADH in live organisms, motile bacteria could be detected by direct scanning of the veins in ice samples.

Antarctic Regions↗
PubMed2004

Antifreeze protein-induced morphological modification mechanisms linked to ice binding surface.

The mechanisms by which the antifreeze protein (AFP) modifies the ice morphology are identified precisely as surface poisoning by the ice binding surface (IBS) of insect AFPs and as bridge-induced surface reconstruction by the IBS of fish AFPs and antifreeze glycoproteins. The primary surfaces of hexagonal ice have predetermined face indices. The "two-dimensional" insect type IBS has regularly spaced binding intervals in two directions. It causes surface poisoning by matching and reinforcing simultaneously intersecting strong bonding directions on the primary ice surfaces. The secondary ice surfaces have variable face indices. The "one-dimensional" and "irregular" IBS variants of fish AFPs and antifreeze glycoproteins are either linearly extended with regular ice binding intervals or have ice binding sites lacking spacing regularity. These variants can bridge transversely lattice periods or shorter oxygen-oxygen distances between parallel adjacent strong bonding directions that do not intersect. Thus, one-dimensional and irregular IBS variants induce supplementary bridges cross-wise on selected secondary surfaces by mimicking strong bonding directions that are not present in the ice structure. These proteins cause surfaces with variable face indices, which in the absence of the AFPs would not grow flat, to appear in the morphology. Whereas for the primary ice surfaces it is only the morphological importance that is determined by the experimental conditions, for the secondary ice surfaces it is the face indices themselves that become adjusted in the process of maximizing the AFP-substrate interaction through attainment of the best structural match. The growth morphology of the AFP-ice system is derived from various factors, including the face indices, surface molecular compositions, relative growth rates, and the mechanisms responsible for that morphology. The theoretical formulation agrees with experiments over a wide range and resolves these, to date, unexplained phenomena.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

The physical and infrared spectral properties of CO2 in astrophysical ice analogs.

Both laboratory measurements and theory indicate that CO2 should be a common component in interstellar ices. We show that the exact band position, width, and profile of the solid-state 12CO2 infrared bands near 3705, 3600, 2340, and 660 cm-1 (2.70, 2.78, 4.27, and 15.2 micrometers) and the 13CO2 band near 2280 cm-1 (4.39 micrometers) are dependent on the matrix in which the CO2 is frozen. Measurements of these bands in astronomical spectra can be used to determine column densities of solid-state CO2 and provide important information on the physical conditions present in the ice grains of which the CO2 is a part. Depending on the composition of the ice, the CO2 asymmetric stretching band was observed to vary from 2328.7 to 2346.0 cm-1 and have full widths at half-maxima (FWHMs) ranging from 4.7 to 29.9 cm-1. The other CO2 bands showed similar variations. Both position and width are also concentration dependent. Absorption coefficients were determined for the five CO2 bands. These were found to be temperature independent for CO2 in CO and CO2 matrices but varied slightly with temperature for CO2 in H2O-rich ices. For all five bands this variation was found to be less than 15% from 10 to 150 K, the temperature at which H2O ice sublimes. A number of parameters associated with the physical behavior of CO2 in CO2- and H2O-rich ices were also determined. The CO2-CO2 surface binding energy in pure CO2 ices is found to be (delta Hs/k) = 2690 +/- 50 K. CO2-H2O and CO-H2O surface binding energies were determined to be (delta Hs/k) = 2860 +/- 200 K and 1740 +/- 100 K, respectively. Under our experimental conditions, CO2 condenses in measurable quantities into H2O-rich ices at temperatures up to 100 K, only slightly higher than the temperature at which pure CO2 condenses. Once frozen into an H2O-rich ice, the subsequent loss of CO2 upon warming is highly dependent on concentration. For ices with H2O/CO2 > 20, the CO is physically trapped within the H2O lattice, and little CO2 is lost until the sublimation temperature of the H2O matrix is reached. In contrast, in ices having H2O/CO2 < 5, the CO2 remains only to temperatures of about 90 K. Above this point the CO2 readily diffuses out of the H2O matrix. These results suggest that two different forms of H2O lattice are produced. The implications of these data for cometary models and our understanding of cometary formation are considered.

Astronomical Phenomena↗
PubMed2002

Physiological and ecological significance of biological ice nucleators.

When a pure water sample is cooled it can remain in the liquid state at temperatures well below its melting point (0 degrees C). The initiation of the transition from the liquid state to ice is called nucleation. Substances that facilitate this transition so that it takes place at a relatively high sub-zero temperature are called ice nucleators. Many living organisms produce ice nucleators. In some cases, plausible reasons for their production have been suggested. In bacteria, they could induce frost damage to their hosts, giving the bacteria access to nutrients. In freeze-tolerant animals, it has been suggested that ice nucleators help to control the ice formation so that it is tolerable to the animal. Such ice nucleators can be called adaptive ice nucleators. There are, however, also examples of ice nucleators in living organisms where the adaptive value is difficult to understand. These ice nucleators might be structures with functions other than facilitating ice formation. These structures might be called incidental ice nucleators.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1997

Asthma induced by ice water ingestion in ethnic Chinese asthmatic children: a challenge.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between ice water ingestion and the induction of asthmatic symptoms and signs in ethnic Chinese asthmatic children. Sixty asthmatic children with a positive history of exacerbation of symptoms after drinking ice water were divided randomly into two groups: 34 children were instructed to drink 250 ml of 0-4 degrees C ice water within one minute, and 26 to drink 250 ml of 25 degrees C warm water. All of the asthmatic children were stable when studied. Twenty-three healthy children as controls were asked to drink 250 ml of 0-4 degrees C ice water. The three groups had forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) performed at baseline and at 5, 15, 30, 60, and 90 minutes after challenge. After the spirometric test at 90 minutes the patients of the two asthmatic groups received three puffs (0.6 mg) of hexoprenaline MDI and a further spirometric test was performed 5 min after the inhalation. Cough and wheeze were monitored throughout the course of the test. The mean FEV1 after challenge decreased significantly only in the ice-water asthmatic group (p = 0.004). Compared with the baseline data, the mean FEV1 at various periods after challenge was only significantly decreased at 60 min (p = 0.035). After hexoprenaline inhalation the FEV1 significantly increased in the two asthmatic groups (p < 0.001). A significant difference in FEV1 change was noted among the three groups (p = 0.015). Nine cases (26%) from the ice water asthmatic group, three (12%) from the warm-water asthmatic group, and none of the ice-water normal control group showed a decrease of FEV1 greater than 15% (p = 0.018). The greatest difference occurred between the two ice water groups. All six cases who developed symptoms after challenge, accompanied by a simultaneous decrease of FEV1 greater than 15%, belonged to the ice-water asthmatic group. Forty-seven percent of the ice-water asthmatic group and 4% each of the two other groups had cough and/or wheeze after challenge (p = 0.0002). IN CONCLUSION: Ice water ingestion may induce or exacerbate asthma in ethnic Chinese asthmatic children.

Adolescent↗