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Diffusion of spheres in crowded suspensions of rods.

Translational tracer diffusion of spherical macromolecules in crowded suspensions of rodlike colloids is investigated. Experiments are done using several kinds of spherical tracers in fd-virus suspensions. A wide range of size ratios L/2a of the length L of the rods and the diameter 2a of the tracer sphere is covered by combining several experimental methods: fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for small tracer spheres, dynamic light scattering for intermediate sized spheres, and video microscopy for large spheres. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is shown to measure long-time diffusion only for relatively small tracer spheres. Scaling of diffusion coefficients with a/xi, predicted for static networks, is not found for our dynamical network of rods (with xi the mesh size of the network). Self-diffusion of tracer spheres in the dynamical network of freely suspended rods is thus fundamentally different as compared to cross-linked networks. A theory is developed for the rod-concentration dependence of the translational diffusion coefficient at low rod concentrations for freely suspended rods. The proposed theory is based on a variational solution of the appropriate Smoluchowski equation without hydrodynamic interactions. The theory can, in principle, be further developed to describe diffusion through dynamical networks at higher rod concentrations with the inclusion of hydrodynamic interactions. Quantitative agreement with the experiments is found for large tracer spheres, and qualitative agreement for smaller spheres. This is probably due to the increasing importance of hydrodynamic interactions as compared to direct interactions as the size of the tracer sphere decreases.

Journal Article↗

Configurational temperatures and interactions in charge-stabilized colloid.

A system's temperature can be expressed in terms of its constituents' instantaneous positions rather than their momenta. Such configurational temperature definitions offer substantial benefits for experimental studies of soft condensed matter systems, most notably their applicability to overdamped systems whose instantaneous momenta may not be accessible. We demonstrate that the configurational temperature formalism can be derived from the classical hypervirial theorem, and introduce a hierarchy of hyperconfigurational temperature definitions, which are particularly well suited for experimental studies. We then use these analytical tools to probe the electrostatic interactions in monolayers of charge-stabilized colloidal spheres confined by parallel glass surfaces. The configurational and hyperconfigurational temperatures, together with a thermodynamic sum rule, provide previously lacking self-consistency tests for interaction measurements based on digital video microscopy, and thereby cast light on controversial reports of confinement-induced like-charge attractions. We further introduce a method to determine unknown parameters in a model potential by using consistency of the configurational and hyperconfigurational temperatures as a set of constraints. This approach, in principle, also should provide the basis for a model-free estimation of the pair potential.

Journal Article↗

Oscillatory instabilities in phase separation of binary mixtures: fixing the thermodynamic driving.

Binary liquid mixtures can show pronounced oscillations in the differential scanning calorimeter signal for the specific heat and in the turbidity when phase separation is induced by continuously ramping the temperature. For a fixed ramp rate, i.e., a linear temporal drift of temperature, only a small number of oscillations have been observed. In the present manuscript we describe an experimental setup where simultaneous video-microscopy and shadow-graph measurements can be performed on mixtures subjected to an arbitrary temporal temperature evolution. In particular, it can be adjusted to fix the thermodynamic driving force, which characterizes the rate of change of the composition of the coexisting phases. With this novel technique both the number of oscillations and the temperature interval where oscillations are observed increase significantly. This technique can easily be applied to a great variety of binary mixtures, permitting detailed investigations of their phase-separation kinetics under slowly ramping temperature.

Journal Article↗

Microscopic investigations of homogeneous nucleation in charged sphere suspensions.

We studied the homogeneous nucleation kinetics of an aqueous suspension of charged colloidal spheres under de-ionized conditions. Samples of equilibrium crystalline structure were shear molten and the metastable melt left to solidify after cessation of shear. At low particle number densities n, corresponding to low metastability of the melt, nucleation was monitored directly via video microscopy. We determined the nucleation rates gamma(t) by counting the number of newly appearing crystals in the observation volume per unit time. Using a suitable discrete adaptation of Avrami's [J. Chem. Phys. 7, 1003 (1939); ibid.8, 212 (1940); ibid.9, 177 (1941)] model for solidification via homogeneous nucleation and subsequent growth, we calculate the remaining free volume VF(t) to obtain the rate densities J(t) = gamma(t)/VF(t). We observe J(t) to rise steeply, display a plateau at a maximum rate density Jmax, and to decrease again. With increased n the plateau duration shrinks while Jmax increases. At low to moderate number densities fully solidified samples were analyzed by microscopy to obtain the grain-size distribution and the average crystallite size angle brackets(L). Under the assumption of stationarity, we obtained the nucleation rate density J(Avr), which increased strongly with increasing n. Interestingly, J(Avr) agrees quantitatively to Jmax and to J(Avr) as obtained previously from scattering data taken on the same sample at large n. Thus, by combination of different methods, reliable nucleation rate densities are now available over roughly one order of magnitude in n and eight orders of magnitude in J.

Journal Article↗

One-dimensional diffusion of colloids in polymer solutions.

For colloid-polymer systems confined in one-dimensional channels, the diffusion of the colloidal particles is obtained by tracking individual particles using enhanced video microscopy and digital image analysis. For short times, the diffusion is normal, of the Fickian type, with mean-squared displacement varying linearly with time. For long times, however, the mean-squared displacement is found to increase more slowly with time, being proportional to the square root of time, in agreement with the theoretical prediction for diffusion of hard rods in one dimension in which mutual crossing of the particles cannot take place. The crossover from short-time to long-time diffusion is observed and is found to depend on the colloid and polymer concentrations. Unexpectedly, for small polymer-to-colloid size ratios, it is the polymer rather than the colloid concentration which has a leading effect on the colloid diffusion.

Journal Article↗

Density of middle turbinate subepithelial mucous glands in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

OBJECTIVE: Histologic changes have not been systematically assessed in chronic rhinosinusitis. Quantitative histochemical studies evaluated the extent of sinus disease and gland density in the middle turbinates. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Sinus computed tomography scans of 34 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis were retrospectively graded 0 to IV according to the May classification. Middle turbinates from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (n = 46) and normal patients (n = 7) were harvested during endoscopic sinus surgery. The areas of Alcian blue-stained glands were assessed in paraffin sections using a computer-assisted microscopy video system. RESULTS: Alcian blue-stained glands occupied 7.94% of normal mucosa. The staining in all grade III rhinosinusitis subjects was increased to 12.94% (P < 0.01). In contrast, grade IV pansinusitis was associated with nasal polyposis (6 of 6) with decreased gland area (3.04%, P < 0.01). When polyp patients were excluded from grade III rhinosinusitis, the Alcian blue-staining area was 17.68% (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Distinct polypoid and glandular histopathologic patterns are present in chronic rhinosinusitis.

Alcian Blue↗

Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors is increased, but microvascular relaxation is impaired in patients after acute myocardial ischemia.

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor, a specific endothelial mitogen, plays an important role in myocardial angiogenesis. Previous work has demonstrated increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors in a rat myocardial infarction model, as well as in a pig model of chronic ischemia. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and other growth factors after acute myocardial ischemia in patients has not been examined. In this study we examined the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors and the responsiveness of human atrial microvessels to vascular endothelial growth factor before and after acute ischemia. METHODS: Paired specimens of human atrial tissue were harvested before and after atrial devascularization (ligation) in 16 patients undergoing coronary bypass operations. RESULTS: The messenger RNA (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) level of vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 were increased by 22.2% +/- 4.2% and 30.7% +/- 7.6%, respectively (P <.05), in the ischemic specimens as compared with the control specimens. Protein expression (Western blotting) of vascular endothelial growth factor and that of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 also were increased significantly by 71.7% +/- 27.8% and 68.2% +/- 27.6%, respectively (P <.05). However, both RNA and protein expressions of another vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, and fibroblast growth factor and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 were unchanged. Reactivity of precontracted atrial vessels was examined with video microscopy. Vascular endothelial growth factor-induced (33.9% +/- 2.4% vs 18.3% +/- 2.8% in control and ischemic vessels, respectively; P <.05), fibroblast growth factor-induced (31.6% +/- 3.2% vs 15.8% +/- 4.1%, P <.05), and substance P-induced (84.5% +/- 3.7% vs 54.3% +/- 9.0%, P <.05) microvascular relaxations were decreased in ischemic samples and in the presence of N (G)nitro-L -arginine, whereas responses to sodium nitroprusside were unchanged (90.9% +/- 2.2% vs 91.2% +/- 2.0%). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that acute myocardial ischemia in patients results in increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor but not fibroblast growth factor and that the functional activity of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors and that of other growth factors may be impaired.

Acute Disease↗

Adventitial elastolysis is a primary event in aneurysm formation.

PURPOSE: Adventitial elastin degradation is a hallmark of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation in human beings, although the quantitative relationship between elastin loss and AAA formation and growth is unknown. This study was undertaken to quantitate the reduction of adventitial elastin for small AAA, to determine whether the loss of this structural component parallels aneurysm growth, and to examine the ultrastructure of the remaining elastin elements. METHODS: Longitudinal strips of anterior aneurysm wall were taken from 12 patients having elective repair of small (diameter < 5 cm, n = 4), moderate (diameter < 5 to 7 cm, n = 4), or large (diameter > 7 cm, n = 4) AAA and from six normal control subjects at autopsy. Specimens were prepared with elastin and collagen stains for histologic examination or formic acid for scanning electron microscopic evaluation of elastin architecture. Adventitial elastin content of aneurysmal and control aortas was quantitated with video microscopy and compared by aneurysm diameter. RESULTS: The inner portion of adventitia of normal aortic wall was composed of densely compacted alternating lamellae of elastin and collagen, which were grossly disrupted in all aneurysms. The remaining elastin fibers were disorganized and tortuous. There was an 81.6% +/- 2.1% reduction in elastin lamellae and an 85.7% +/- 4.2% reduction in fibers per lamellae compared with the number in control aortas (p < 0.001). Size of the aneurysm made no difference in adventitial elastin content. CONCLUSION: These data strongly suggest that elastolysis is a primary event in AAA formation that occurs before over loss of adventitial structural integrity and the development of small aneurysms.

Aged↗

Spatiotemporal control of spindle midzone formation by PRC1 in human cells.

We have examined the role of PRC1, a midzone-associated, microtubule bundling, Cdk substrate protein, in regulating the spatiotemporal formation of the midzone in HeLa cells. Cdk-mediated phosphorylation of PRC1 in early mitosis holds PRC1 in an inactive monomeric state. During the metaphase-to-anaphase transition, PRC1 is dephosphorylated, promoting PRC1 oligomerization. Using time-lapse video microscopy, RNA interference, 3D immunofluorescence reconstruction imaging, and rescue experiments, we demonstrate that the dephosphorylated form of PRC1 is essential for bundling antiparallel, nonkinetochore, interdigitating microtubules to establish the midzone that is necessary for cytokinesis. Our results thus indicate that PRC1 is an essential factor in controlling the spatiotemporal formation of the midzone in human cells.

CDC2 Protein Kinase↗

Replication of Cryptococcus neoformans in macrophages is accompanied by phagosomal permeabilization and accumulation of vesicles containing polysaccharide in the cytoplasm.

Cryptococcus neoformans (CN), an encapsulated, ubiquitous environmental yeast, is pathogenic for humans, primarily those with compromised immune function. CN is believed to be a facultative intracellular pathogen. Time-lapsed video microscopy revealed that yeast began to replicate and divide 2 hours after ingestion by J774.16 macrophage cells, with the average cell hosting 10-40 organisms of varying morphologies before ultimately lysing and releasing organisms, either singly or in clumps. Intracellular growth was accompanied by the accumulation of polysaccharide-filled vesicles in the macrophage. Studies with fluorescently labeled dextran revealed that the phagolysosomal compartment became leaky during the course of intracellular infection. Consistent with this observation, phagosomes containing CN had an increased pH relative to similar phagosomes containing inert magnetic beads, as indicated by a colorimetric change in the pH-sensitive Lysosensor dye. Immunocytochemistry revealed differences in the reactivity of polysaccharide elaborated by CN inside macrophages relative to that expressed in vitro. Taken together these results are suggestive of a novel mechanism of intracellular survival by an encapsulated organism, whereby ingestion is followed by damage to the phagosomal membrane resulting in continuity with the cytoplasm, accumulation of polysaccharide-containing vesicles, and possibly, production of a structurally different polysaccharide.

Animals↗

Allurin, a 21-kDa sperm chemoattractant from Xenopus egg jelly, is related to mammalian sperm-binding proteins.

Previously, we demonstrated that a protein from Xenopus egg jelly exhibits sperm chemoattractant activity when assayed by either video microscopy or by sperm passage across a porous filter. Here we describe the isolation and purification of allurin, the protein responsible for this activity. Freshly oviposited jellied eggs were soaked in buffer, and the conditioned medium was loaded onto an anion exchange column and eluted with an NaCl gradient. The active fraction was purified further by RP-HPLC, the chemoattractant protein appearing as a single sharp peak. The amino acid sequence of the protein, determined by direct sequencing and cloning of cDNAs coding for the protein, consisted of 184 amino acids having a molecular mass of 21,073 Da. The protein shares homology with the mammalian cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) family that includes testes-specific spermatocyte protein 1, a cell adhesion protein which links spermatocytes to Seritoli cells, and acidic epididymal glycoproteins that bind to sperm and have been implicated in sperm-egg fusion. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that allurin evolved from the ancestral protein that gave rise to the mammalian CRISP family. Addition of allurin to this family portends that the CRISP family represents a group of "sperm escort" proteins, which bind to sperm at various steps in their life history, facilitating passage from one functional stage to the next. Allurin stands out in this regard, representing both the first vertebrate sperm chemoattractant to be purified and sequenced and the first member of the CRISP family to be found in the female reproductive tract.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Short-latency local actions of nerve growth factor at the growth cone.

Cultures of neurite-bearing pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells and of sympathetic neurons have been examined by time-lapse video microscopy. In the presence of nerve growth factor (NGF), the neurites of such cultures elongated and their growth cones changed geometry, via microspike and lamellipodial motion, on a time scale of minutes. Withdrawal of NGF caused process extension to cease and a progressive reduction in growth-cone area as a result of retraction of lamellipodia and microspikes. By approximately equal to 4 hr after NGF withdrawal, most neurite tips were smooth sided, devoid of conical expansions at their termini, and virtually immobile. Addition of NGF to cultures from which it had been withdrawn induced motion of microspikes and projections from the upper surface of growth cones within 2 min, while lamellipodial spreading and neurite reextension were induced after approximately equal to 20 min. For PC12 cells, these responses to replacement of NGF could not be mimicked by addition of dibutyryl cAMP (less than or equal to 2 mM) or the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 (less than or equal to 5 microM) to NGF-deprived cultures nor inhibited by the presence of EGTA (less than or equal to 2 mM) or calcium antagonists in the culture medium. Since neurite fragments formed by transection of processes of PC12 cells deprived of NGF responded to its replacement in a manner similar to intact neurites, it is concluded that the effects are focal to the neurite and growth cone and independent of the cell body. This influence of NGF on growth-cone shape and motility represents short-term local activation of this structure and has significance for control of neurite extension.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗

Simultaneous electrical and optical measurements show that membrane fusion precedes secretory granule swelling during exocytosis of beige mouse mast cells.

Mast cells show dramatic morphological changes when undergoing exocytosis. We have investigated whether the first of those morphological changes, swelling of the secretory granule, precedes--and therefore possibly initiates--secretion or whether it occurs after fusion of the granule and plasma membranes. We used cell membrane capacitance to detect the moment when granule and plasma membrane become continuous. We measured large capacitance increases, often preceded by transients in capacitance. The rise-times of the capacitance increases were half-maximal at 2-59 msec. We observed cells with high-resolution video microscopy while these measurements were done. The capacitance increase always preceded the granular swelling that leads to exocytosis. To rule out the possibility that fusion was induced by a mechanical stress imparted by the internal pressure of a taut granule, we performed control experiments using cells in which vesicles were shrunken with hyperosmotic solutions. With these flaccid granules, again, the capacitance rise always preceded the swelling of the granules. We conclude that swelling cannot be the driving force for membrane fusion in this system.

Animals↗

Control of pollen hydration in Brassica requires continued protein synthesis, and glycosylation in necessary for intraspecific incompatibility.

Pollen hydration and self-incompatibility (SI) in Brassica have been studied by using a combination of in vivo video-microscopy and experiments with metabolic inhibitors. Experiments with cycloheximide confirm earlier observations that pollen hydration is regulated through protein synthesis. No protein or glycoprotein has positively been identified with this event; however, it is unlikely that the total pool of any particular glycoprotein is involved, but rather a newly synthesized or otherwise activated fraction. Micromanipulation of pollen on the stigmatic papillae suggests that access to this hydration regulation system is limited to members of the Brassicaceae: pollen grains of other species-even those possessing dry stigmas-fail to hydrate. It is proposed that an interaction between enzymes of the stigma surface and the superficial layer of the pollen grain coating creates continuity between the content of the papillar wall and the grain protoplast. Inhibition of protein synthesis also overcomes SI, and since the advent of regulated hydration and synthesis of the so-called S-gene glycoproteins coincide with the acquisition of the SI system, there is strong circumstantial evidence that the same molecular species is involved in both processes. Experiments with tunicamycin, which prevents glycosylation of glycoproteins, indicate that the glycosyl groups of the S-gene glycoprotein are required for the operation of the SI system but not for the regulation of hydration. Further experiments suggest that pollen is positively inhibited on incompatible papillae but that this inhibition is biostatic. Recovery from the effects of the SI system appears to involve the metabolism of an inhibitor by the pollen. SI in Brassica thus emerges as a sophisticated process under dynamic control in both the female and male partners. The evolutionary advantages of such a system are discussed.

Journal Article↗

Expression of an intrinsic growth strategy by mammalian retinal neurons.

Postnatal cat retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were retrogradely labeled with fluorescent microspheres, dissociated from the retina using a peeling procedure, and monitored in cell culture with a time-lapse video microscopy system. The spatial patterns formed by the growing neurites were analyzed using conventional and fractal measures (Hausdorff dimension, H) of their extent and complexity. The results presented were obtained from the arborizations formed by the neurites of 48 labeled and isolated ganglion cells growing separate from each other and separate from a feeder layer of astrocytes. Cells were obtained from animals when the RGCs were postmitotic and after dendritic differentiation in vivo at age 0-1 week (4/48), 2-5 weeks (35/48), or 6-8 weeks (9/48). By 48 hr after plating, the number of surviving labeled RGCs was reduced to 22-28% of its initial value. After removal of all processes and isolation in vitro, these RGCs expressed neurite patterns strikingly similar to those seen in the intact retina, although the RGCs had been deprived of potential cues from the intact retina and target tissue. Self crossings of the growing neurites were rare (less than 0.5%, 20 cells, n = 2500 neurites). Calculation of the Hausdorff dimension, a metric for the space-filling capacity of the neurite patterns, revealed that after 3-day culture 77% (n = 56) of the RGCs achieved relatively uniform coverage of territory (1.6 less than H less than 1.9). This coverage was independent of the number of interbranchpoint segments and/or the total neurite length of a particular neurite pattern. A sample of dendritic arbors from RGCs in intact retina yielded similar values for the Hausdorff dimension (H = 1.73, SD = 0.12, n = 18, range 1.54-1.94). These results reveal that a mammalian central nervous system neuron, for at least 8 postnatal weeks, has the intrinsic capacity for reexpression of in vivo structure characteristic of that cell type in the absence of interaction with neighboring neurons, afferent input, and target tissue. These neurons exhibit stereotyped growth resulting in uniform coverage of a restricted territory by the strategic selection of the length, location, and orientation of interbranchpoint segments.

Aging↗

Voltage dependence of adaptation and active bundle movement in bullfrog saccular hair cells.

Hair cells of the bullfrog sacculus adapt to maintained displacement stimuli in a manner that suggests an active regulation of the tension stimulus reaching transduction channels. We have examined adaptation in dissociated hair cells by whole-cell patch-clamp recording and video microscopy. Adaptation was present in these cells, and it depended on extracellular calcium. The adaptation rate--as well as the position of the resting current-displacement curve--also depended on membrane potential, suggesting that calcium passes into the cytoplasm to reach its site of action. After abrupt hyperpolarization, the adaptation rate increased within milliseconds, suggesting that the calcium site is within a few micrometers of the ion channels through which calcium enters. The voltage dependence of the resting current-displacement curve, together with the "gating springs" hypothesis for transduction, predicts movement of the bundle away from the kinocilium when the cell is depolarized. This was observed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Autoantibodies from a patient with scleroderma CREST recognized kinetochores of the higher plant Haemanthus.

Human autoantibodies from a patient with scleroderma CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud phenomenon, esophageal dismotility, sclerodactyly, telangiectasia) were used to immunostain kinetochores on chromosomes in endosperm of the seed of the monocot Haemanthus katherinae Bak. Kinetochores of mitotic chromosomes and prekinetochores of interphase cells were specifically stained using conventional indirect immunofluorescence procedures as well as a nonfading immunogold-silver-enhanced technique and analyzed by fluorescence and video microscopy. In interphase, prekinetochores were either single or double structures depending on the stage of the cell cycle but became quadruple (two distinct stained dots on each chromatid) in mid-to-late prophase. In favorable preparations of prometaphase chromosomes, multiple subunits could be resolved within each sister kinetochore suggesting a compound organization. Western blot analysis demonstrated common epitopes in centromeric peptides of HeLa and Haemanthus cell extracts. Although the molecular mass of individual polypeptides differed in the two species, the presence of shared epitopes indicates striking conservation of centromere/kinetochore components throughout evolution.

Autoantibodies↗

Nitric oxide: an endogenous modulator of leukocyte adhesion.

The objective of this study was to determine whether endogenous nitric oxide (NO) inhibits leukocyte adhesion to vascular endothelium. This was accomplished by superfusing a cat mesenteric preparation with inhibitors of NO production, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) or NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), and observing single (30-microns diameter) venules by intravital video microscopy. Thirty minutes into the superfusion period the number of adherent and emigrated leukocytes, the erythrocyte velocity, and the venular diameter were measured; venular blood flow and shear rate were calculated from the measured parameters. The contribution of the leukocyte adhesion glycoprotein CD11/CD18 was determined using the CD18-specific monoclonal antibody IB4. Both inhibitors of NO production increased leukocyte adherence more than 15-fold. Leukocyte emigration was also enhanced, whereas venular shear rate was reduced by nearly half. Antibody IB4 abolished the leukocyte adhesion induced by L-NMMA and L-NAME. Incubation of isolated cat neutrophils with L-NMMA, but not L-NAME, resulted in direct upregulation of CD11/CD18 as assessed by flow cytometry. Decrements in venular shear rate induced by partial occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery in untreated animals revealed that only a minor component of L-NAME-induced leukocyte adhesion was shear rate-dependent. The L-NAME-induced adhesion was inhibited by L-arginine but not D-arginine. These data suggest that endothelium-derived NO may be an important endogenous modulator of leukocyte adherence and that impairment of NO production results in a pattern of leukocyte adhesion and emigration that is characteristic of acute inflammation.

Animals↗