Flagellar membrane specializations and their relationship to mastigonemes and microtubules in Euglena gracilis.
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Cell lines derived from the sphingomyelinosis (gene symbol, spm) mouse were established from homozygous (spm/spm) and heterozygous (spm/+) embryos according to a rigid 3T3 transfer schedule. The SPM-3T3 cells derived from a homozygous embryo showed extensive accumulation of intracellular cholesterol, attenuated esterification of exogenously added cholesterol and increased de novo cholesterol synthesis, when compared to SPMH-3T3 cells derived from a heterozygous embryo. The phenotypic abnormalities were very similar to those observed in fibroblasts from patients with Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C), in which a defect in the intracellular transport of unesterified cholesterol is suggested. The genetic defect in SPM-3T3 cells should be closely related to that in NP-C. The SPM-3T3 cell line is useful for biochemical and genetic studies on the regulation of intracellular cholesterol metabolism.
Porphyromonas gingivalis is one of the causative agents of adult periodontitis, and has been reported to be internalized by nonphagocytic epithelial cells. However, the mechanism for the internalization remains unclear. In the present study, we addressed this issue using fluorescent beads coated with bacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) that retain surface components of P. gingivalis. We established an assay system in which we could easily quantify the bead internalization to cells. MVs-coated beads were internalized by HeLa cells in kinetics similar to that of living bacteria. The internalization depended on dynamin but not clathrin. The beads were internalized through the actin-mediated pathway that is controlled by phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase. The dynamics of microtubule assembly and disassembly was also required. Further, the treatment of cells with cholesterol-binding reagents significantly inhibited bead internalization, and the internalized beads were apparently colocalized with ganglioside GM1 and caveolin-1, which suggest the involvement of the lipid raft in the process. These results suggest that P. gingivalis accomplishes its internalization utilizing membrane lipid raft and cytoskeletal functions of the target cells.
UV absorption spectrum of polyene antibiotics was dramatically altered in the presence of steroids. The introduction of a steroid to an aqueous solution of polyene antibiotics resulted in a change in the ratio of absorbance of peak 3 (with shorter wavelength) to peak 1 (with longer wavelength), E3/E1. Interactions between 28 steroids and 4 polyene antibiotics were studied and the results revealed that the structures of steroids essential for the optimal interaction with polyene antibiotics were C-17 side chain, substitution C-3 hydroxyl group, intact steroid nucleus and aromatic A-ring. The ratio of E3/E1 was used for the determination of steroids in mycelium of Mucor hiemalis and the result was in good agreement with that obtained from gas chromatograph. The (-) strain had a greater change in the ratio of absorbance, E3/E1, than that of the (+) strain. The ratio of absorbance, E3/E1, decreased in the following order: the (-) strain, the (-) strain with the addition of the filtrate of (+) strains, the mated strains, the (+) with the addition of the filtrate of (-) strain and the (+) strain.
Previous results from this laboratory revealed the presence of high-affinity saturable binding sites for monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) along human brain microvessels (Andjelkovic et al., 1999; Andjelkovic and Pachter, 2000), which suggested that CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2), the recognized receptor for this chemokine, was expressed by the brain microvascular endothelium. To test the role of CCR2 directly in mediating MCP-1 interactions with the brain microvasculature, we assessed MCP-1 binding activity in murine brain microvessels isolated from wild-type mice and from CCR2 (-/-) mice engineered to lack this receptor. Results demonstrate that MCP-1 binding is greatly attenuated in microvessels prepared from CCR2 (-/-) mice compared with wild-type controls. Moreover, microvessels from wild-type mice exhibited MCP-1-induced downmodulation in MCP-1 binding and a recovery of binding activity that was not dependent on de novo protein synthesis. Furthermore, MCP-1 was shown to be internalized within wild-type microvessels, but not within microvessels obtained from CCR2 (-/-) mice, additionally demonstrating that CCR2 is obligatory for MCP-1 endocytosis. Last, internalization of MCP-1, but not transferrin, was observed to be inhibited by disruption of caveolae. Internalized MCP-1 also colocalized at some sites with caveolin-1, a major protein of caveolae, implying that this chemokine is endocytosed, in part, via nonclathrin-coated vesicles. These results prompt consideration that MCP-1 signals may be relayed across the blood-brain barrier by highly specialized interactions of this chemokine with its cognate receptor, CCR2, along brain microvascular endothelial cells.
Cholesterol/sphingolipid microdomains (lipid rafts) in the membrane are involved in protein trafficking, formation of signaling complexes, and regulation of actin cytoskeleton. Here, we show that lipid rafts exist abundantly in dendrites of cultured hippocampal neurons, in which they are associated with several postsynaptic proteins including surface AMPA receptors. Depletion of cholesterol/sphingolipid leads to instability of surface AMPA receptors and gradual loss of synapses (both inhibitory and excitatory) and dendritic spines. The remaining synapses and spines in raft-depleted neurons become greatly enlarged. The importance of lipid rafts for normal synapse density and morphology could explain why cholesterol promotes synapse maturation in retinal ganglion cells (Mauch et al., 2001) and offers a potential link between disordered cholesterol metabolism and the synapse loss seen in neurodegenerative disease.
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Clathrin-mediated endocytosis has been described as the primary internalization pathway for many viruses, including the influenza virus. However, caveolae, an alternative clathrin-independent endocytotic pathway, has also been described as mediating the entry of some molecules, including viruses. To address the question of pathway selection by the influenza virus, we have investigated whether the virus is internalized via clathrin-coated pits and/or caveolae in Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. By applying pharmacological manipulations to selectively disrupt the cell internalization pathways, we found that, in MDCK cells, the influenza virus may be internalized via caveolae in addition to entry by clathrin-mediated endocytosis. However, a small contribution by another mode of entry, as recently proposed, cannot be excluded.
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The cytotoxic activity of the polyene antibiotics mainly depends on the appearance of the drug species which arises from drug-sterol complexation. The unsaturation and intact macrolide ring of the polyenes are the requirements for the biological activity. All the polyene antibiotics can form the complex with the sterol having 3 beta-OH group, and planar ring and a hydrophobic side chain. Aromatic polyene antibiotics with positively charged head group have been considered as most potential antifungal agents.
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The effects of various metall-containing proteins (plastocyanin, plantacyanin, azurine and cytochromes of the f type) on the activity of photosystem I of chloroplasts, treated with polyene antibiotics, were studied. The inhibiting effect of the polyenes, surgumycin and philipin, was completely removed by an addition of copper-containing protein plastocyanin. No similar effect was exerted by other Cu-containing proteins--azurine and plantacyanin. The cytochromes of the f type isolated from the green algae chlorella, blue-green algae spiruline and aphanezomenone, having different electrophoretic properties, restored the activity of photosystem I of chloroplasts incubated with antibiotics in a different degree. Acid cytochrome f of chlorella restored the activity by 80--100%; less acid cytochrome f from spiruline-only by 50%. The least restoring effect was exerted by aphanezomenone cytochrome, which possesses some basic properties. The chloroplasts treatment with surgumycin did not affect the isolation of the terminal enzyme of the chloroplast electron-transporting chain of ferredoxin--NADP--reductase. Possible environment of plastocyanin in the chloroplast membrane and the mechanism of photosystem I restoration are discussed.
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