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Pathological study of corticospinal-tract degeneration in Friedreich's ataxia.

The pattern of fibre degeneration in the lateral corticospinal tract (LCST) was studied in a case of Friedreich's ataxia (FA). There was preferential involvement of the lateral area of the LCST in the cervical spinal cord. More caudally, the degeneration involved the entire area of the LCST and did not reveal a medial to lateral gradient of involvement. We suggest that this distinctive pattern of tract degeneration is a consequence of the somatotopic organization of the LCST, with the dying-back degeneration preferentially affecting those LCST fibers that extend to the lumbo-sacral spinal cord. This pattern of tract degeneration may be a useful morphological marker of dying-back degeneration in corticospinal tracts.

Adult

Cell culture on a thermo-responsive polymer surface.

We have used a thermo-responsive polymer, poly-N-isopropyl acrylamide (PNI-PAAm), as a substratum for the culture of human dermal fibroblasts by conjugating it with collagen. The cells attached well, spread, and grew on the substratum, indicating that the polymer has no toxicity towards the cells. PNIPAAm is insoluble in water over the lower critical solution temperature (LCST; about 32 degrees C) and reversibly solubilized below the LCST. Taking advantage of this conversion, monolayered fibroblasts cultured on the substratum containing the PNIPAAm over the LCST, were completely detachable from the substratum by simply lowering the temperature below the LCST, without the use of conventional detaching agents such as trypsin and EDTA. The detached cell sheet gradually aggregated and finally formed a multicellular spheroid. This polymer may provide a convenient and potentially useful technology for cell culture.

Acrylic Resins

Immobilization and characterization of beta-galactosidase in thermally reversible hydrogel beads.

Beta-Galactosidase has been immobilized within thermally reversible hydrogel beads and has been studied in batch and packed bed reactor systems. The enzyme was entrapped in a copolymer hydrogel of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylamide (AAm) as beads were formed in an inverse suspension polymerization. A reversible deswelling and reswelling of the hydrogel matrix was induced by first warming and then cooling through 37-40 degrees C, which is the lower critical solution temperature, LCST, of the backbone copolymer. The optimum temperature for maximum activity of the immobilized enzyme-gel bead system was found to be 30-35 degrees C in a batch mode and 40 degrees C in a packed bed reactor, which were both below the 50 degrees C optimum for the free enzyme. These differences are understandable, since the mass transfer rates of substrate and product within the pores of the gel matrix are controlled mainly by the temperature, so therefore it is the temperature which governs the overall activity of the immobilized enzyme system. It was also found that when the operational temperature in the packed bed reactor was cycled between temperatures below (35 degrees C) and above (45 degrees C) the copolymer gel LCST, the activity of the immobilized enzyme almost fully recovered after each cycle. In fact, the enzyme-gel system exhibited a complete "shut-off" in activity at 50 degrees C which was the temperature where the free enzyme showed its maximum activity. The thermal cycling operation of LCST enzyme-gel beads can be used to enhance overall activity and productivity of a packed bed reactor, when compared to isothermal operation of this reactor. This is due to the thermally induced "pumping" which enhances mass transfer rates of substrate in and product out of the gel beads.

Enzymes, Immobilized

Effect of temperature cycling on the activity and productivity of immobilized beta-galactosidase in a thermally reversible hydrogel bead reactor.

The enzyme beta-galactosidase has been immobilized within thermally reversible hydrogel beads that exhibit LCST (lower critical solution temperature) behavior. The hydrogel beads containing the immobilized enzymes swell and expand below the LCST and deswell and shrink above the LCST. This behavior is reversible. The enzyme was physically entrapped in a crosslinked hydrogel of a copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylamide (AAm), and formed as beads in an inverse suspension polymerization. The beads were placed in a packed bed column reactor which was operated in a continuous, single pass mode, either isothermally at 30 or 35 degrees C, or with temperature cycling between 30 and 35 degrees C. The thermal cycling significantly enhanced overall reactor enzyme activity relative to isothermal operation at either the higher or lower temperature. It is postulated that mass transfer rates within the hydrogel beads are greatly enhanced by the movement of water in and out of the beads during the expansion or collapse of the polymer chain network as temperature is cycled.

Enzymes, Immobilized

Morphological and immuno-cytochemical characterization of a hetero-spheroid composed of fibroblasts and hepatocytes.

A novel method for the preparation of spheroids containing two types of cells (hetero-spheroid) has been successfully developed by utilizing a collagen-conjugated thermo-responsive polymer, poly-N-isopropyl acrylamide (PNIPAAm), as a cell substratum. PNIPAAm solidifies above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST, about 30 degrees C), and instantly dissolves into the culture medium below its LCST. We firstly seeded and cultured human dermal fibroblasts on the substratum up to a confluent state and then seeded rat primary hepatocytes onto the fibroblast monolayer. The heterospheroid was prepared by detaching the hepatocyte-attached fibroblast monolayer at a temperature below LCST and culturing it on the non-adhesive substratum. The surface area of the substratum and the seeding population ratio of each cell precisely and reproducibly regulated the size and the cell composition of the resulting hetero-spheroid, respectively. Histological and immuno-cytochemical observations of spheroids revealed characteristic organizations of fibroblasts and hepatocytes within a spheroid because the latter cells expressed albumin for up to at least 3 weeks. TEM study of the hetero-spheroid showed the presence of structures morphologically similar to the Disse's space and the bile canaliculus, which are features characteristic of liver. These findings suggest that the method described above is useful for making a hetero-spheroid that morphologically and functionally resembles tissues or organs in vivo, i.e. an organoid.

Animals

Immobilization of Arthrobacter simplex in thermally reversible hydrogels: effect of gel hydrophobicity on steroid conversion.

Arthrobacter simplex cells have been immobilized in a series of thermally reversible hydrogels having different gel hydrophobicities. Steroid conversion from hydrocortisone to prednisolone via the delta 1-dehydrogenase system was greatly affected by the relative hydrophobicities of the gel matrices, which were prepared by copolymerizing varying ratios of N-isopropylacrylamide to acrylamide. The characteristics of the immobilized cells, such as optimal temperatures, Km values, and the effects of an added artificial electron acceptor, were largely influenced by the gel matrices and their different lower critical solution temperatures (LCST). The data indicate that the microenvironment of the dehydrogenation system is quite different within the different hydrophilic/hydrophobic gel matrices. The high partitioning of water-insoluble steroids into the hydrophobic regions and the reduced possibility of product inhibition within the more hydrophobic gel matrices may cause the observed higher steroid conversion in these gels. A possible model for immobilized A. simplex cells in such different gel matrices is proposed.

Acrylamides

Rabies Virus Phosphoprotein Exhibits Thermoresponsive Phase Separation with a Lower Critical Solution Temperature.

Rabies virus (RABV) generates membrane-less liquid organelles (Negri bodies) in the cytoplasm of its host cell, where genome transcription and replication and nucleocapsid assembly take place, but the mechanisms of their assembly and maturation remain to be explained. An essential component of the viral RNA synthesizing machine, the phosphoprotein (P), acts as a scaffold protein for the assembly of these condensates. This intrinsically disordered protein forms star-shaped dimers with N-terminal negatively charged flexible arms and C-terminal globular domains exhibiting a large dipole moment. Our study shows that in vitro self-association of RABV P drives a complex thermoresponsive phase separation with a lower critical solution temperature. Protein dimers assemble already below the saturation concentration, and condensation is driven by attractive conformation-specific interactions leading to reentrant liquid phase separation over a narrow range of salt concentration. We propose a minimal molecular model in which P can adopt three limit conformational states and the disordered N-terminal arms control the interactions between giant dipoles that is consistent with our observations.

Rabies virus