Ranbp2 haploinsufficiency mediates distinct cellular and biochemical phenotypes in brain and retinal dopaminergic and glia cells elicited by the Parkinsonian neurotoxin, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)

Many components and pathways transducing multifaceted and deleterious effects of stress stimuli remain ill-defined. The Ran-binding protein 2 (RanBP2) interactome modulates the expression of a range of clinical and cell-context-dependent manifestations upon a variety of stressors. We examined the role of Ranbp2 haploinsufficiency on cellular and metabolic manifestations linked to tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH(+)) dopaminergic neurons and glial cells of the brain and retina upon acute challenge to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), a parkinsonian neurotoxin, which models facets of Parkinson disease. MPTP led to stronger akinetic parkinsonism and slower recovery in Ranbp2 (+/-) than wild-type mice without viability changes of brain TH(+)-neurons of either genotype, with the exception of transient nuclear atypia via changes in chromatin condensation of Ranbp2 (+/-) TH(+)-neurons. Conversely, the number of wild-type retinal TH(+)-amacrine neurons compared to Ranbp2 (+/-) underwent milder declines without apoptosis followed by stronger recoveries without neurogenesis. These phenotypes were accompanied by a stronger rise of EdU(+)-proliferative cells and non-proliferative gliosis of GFAP(+)-Müller cells in wild-type than Ranbp2 (+/-) that outlasted the MPTP-insult. Finally, MPTP-treated wild-type and Ranbp2 (+/-) mice present distinct metabolic footprints in the brain or selective regions thereof, such as striatum, that are supportive of RanBP2-mediated regulation of interdependent metabolic pathways of lysine, cholesterol, free-fatty acids, or their β-oxidation. These studies demonstrate contrasting gene-environment phenodeviances and roles of Ranbp2 between dopaminergic and glial cells of the brain and retina upon oxidative stress-elicited signaling and factors triggering a continuum of metabolic and cellular manifestations and proxies linked to oxidative stress, and chorioretinal and neurological disorders such as Parkinson.     

Magma storage beneath Axial volcano on the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge.

Axial volcano, which is located near the intersection of the Juan de Fuca ridge and the Cobb-Eickelberg seamount chain beneath the northeast Pacific Ocean, is a locus of volcanic activity thought to be associated with the Cobb hotspot. The volcano rises 700 metres above the ridge, has substantial rift zones extending about 50 kilometres to the north and south, and has erupted as recently as 1998 (ref. 2). Here we present seismological data that constrain the three-dimensional velocity structure beneath the volcano. We image a large low-velocity zone in the crust, consisting of a shallow magma chamber and a more diffuse reservoir in the lower crust, and estimate the total magma volume in the system to be between 5 and 21 km3. This volume is two orders of magnitude larger than the amount of melt emplaced during the most recent eruption (0.1-0.2 km3). We therefore infer that such volcanic events remove only a small portion of the reservoir that they tap, which must accordingly be long-lived compared to the eruption cycle. On the basis of magma flux estimates, we estimate the crustal residence time of melt in the volcanic system to be a few hundred to a few thousand years.     

Action Research for Sustainable Water Futures in Western Sydney: Reaching Beyond Traditional Stakeholder Engagement to Understand Community Stakeholder Language and Its Implications for Action

Action on issues of ecological significance often requires changes in personal behaviour and political consensus on technologies to support these changes. Unfortunately, many consultation processes only engage a narrow range of stakeholders, usually those professionally engaged or already active on a range of community issues. This paper illustrates how people who are ‘hard to reach’ or seen as ‘apathetic’ might be engaged using ‘action-conversations’ that explore the social climate for action and how scientific/technical messages can be framed in the language of the community.     

Glutamine synthetase activity in subdivisions of brain of the shark, Squalus acanthias

Specific activity of glutamine synthetase in Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish) central nervous system regions was highest in the cerebellum and lowest in the spinal cord. The levels of activity may relate to the excitability of each region by regulating the glutamate pool.     

Secondary antibody responses of mice to bacterial somatic antigens

Zusammenfassung IgG- und IgM-Antikörper wurden mit 2 Injektionen vonSalmonella-antigenen (S.-newport-Zellen undS.-typhi-Lipopolysacchariden) in Mäusen erzeugt. Es ergab sich, dass die IgG-Antikörper bei ihrer zweiten Reaktion nur dann ein Maximum erreichten, wenn zwischen der ersten und zweiten Injektion ein Zeitraum von mindestens 4 Wochen verstrichen war. Weiter wurde gefunden, dass die Lipopolysaccharide, im Gegensatz zu den Bakterienzellen, die Bildung der IgM-Antikörper favorisierten.     

Variation of the fine structure in granulocytes of great apes

Zusammenfassung Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen der Granulocyten anthropoider Affen ergaben Unterschiede in der Struktur der eosinophilen Granula und eine bisher unbekannte fibrilläre Granulationsform in Orangutan Neutrophilen.

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These studies were supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. FR 00165 from the National Institutes of Health and Atomic Energy Commission grant No. AT (30-1) 3808.