Effect of Hypertonic Sucrose Upon the Immune Bactericidal Reaction

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-55
Author(s):  
Louis H. Muschel ◽  
Linda J. Larsen

This study was performed to determine the mechanism whereby hypertonic sucrose inhibits the immune bactericidal reaction. Other investigators had postulated that the initial attack of complement (C) on the cell wall was followed with lysozyme-containing whole serum by an enzymatic reaction upon the peptidoglycan substrate resulting in cell death. In the absence of serum lysozyme, secondary lethal changes might occur from damage to the cell's inner membrane as a result of osmotic forces in the presence of a defective cell wall. Hypertonic sucrose giving rise to plasmolysis and protection of the inner membrane was presumed to differentially inhibit the immune response mediated by lysozyme-free serum. The experimental results observed in this investigation have indicated, however, that the inhibitory effect of sucrose upon the bactericidal reaction may be explained simply by its anticomplementary effect and not by any effect on the bacterial cell. This view was supported by the following observations: (i) the comparability of the inhibitory effect of sucrose upon the immune hemolytic and bactericidal reactions, (ii) the comparable percentage loss in bactericidal activity of whole serum and lysozyme-free serum resulting from hypertonic sucrose, (iii) bactericidal antibody titrations were relatively unaffected and C titrations markedly inhibited by sucrose, (iv) the inhibitory effect of sucrose on the bactericidal reaction was unaffected by prior growth of the organism in the presence of sucrose, (v) the kinetics of the bactericidal reactivity of lysozyme-free serum in hypertonic sucrose, compared with whole serum, did not reveal a prolonged lag phase with lysozyme-free serum, but simply diminished reactivity at all times. These observations are compatible with the view that the C attack upon the outer surface of gram-negative bacteria, which plays a part in the cell's permeability control, may account for cell death. In this regard, the immune bactericidal reaction is quite comparable to the lysis of red cells or nucleated cells by C despite the lack of overt lysis in bacteria, probably because of their underlying supporting structures.

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Courchesne ◽  
Meral Tunc ◽  
Sha Liao

We used a proteomic approach to study effects of amiodarone on cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Amiodarone has been shown to have antifungal activity in vitro and causes a massive increase in cytoplasmic calcium levels ([Ca2+]cyt). Proteomic analysis of cells exposed to amiodarone show that this drug elicits stress responses and points to involvement of proteins associated with the cell wall. We tested several of those proteins for involvement in the Ca2+ flux. In particular, the amiodarone-induced Ca2+ flux was decreased in bgl2Δ cells, which have altered levels of β-glucan and chitin. The involvement of the cell wall in the Ca2+ flux induced by amiodarone treatment was tested by addition of yeast cell-wall components. While mannan inhibited the rise in [Ca2+]cyt, β-glucan potentiated the Ca2+ flux by 4.5-fold, providing evidence that the cell wall is directly involved in controlling this Ca2+ flux. This conclusion is corroborated by the inhibition of the Ca2+ flux by calcofluor, which is known to bind to cell-wall chitin and inhibit cell growth. Zymolyase treatment altered the kinetics of amiodarone-induced calcium flux and uncoupled the inhibitory effect of calcofluor. These effects demonstrate that the cell-wall β-glucan regulates calcium flux elicited by amiodarone.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia L. Rivera ◽  
Akbar Espaillat ◽  
Arjun K. Aditham ◽  
Peyton Shieh ◽  
Chris Muriel-Mundo ◽  
...  

Transpeptidation reinforces the structure of cell wall peptidoglycan, an extracellular heteropolymer that protects bacteria from osmotic lysis. The clinical success of transpeptidase-inhibiting β-lactam antibiotics illustrates the essentiality of these cross-linkages for cell wall integrity, but the presence of multiple, seemingly redundant transpeptidases in many bacterial species makes it challenging to determine cross-link function precisely. Here we present a technique to covalently link peptide strands by chemical rather than enzymatic reaction. We employ bio-compatible click chemistry to induce triazole formation between azido- and alkynyl-D-alanine residues that are metabolically installed in the cell walls of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Synthetic triazole cross-links can be visualized by substituting azido-D-alanine with azidocoumarin-D-alanine, an amino acid derivative that undergoes fluorescent enhancement upon reaction with terminal alkynes. Cell wall stapling protects the model bacterium Escherichia coli from β-lactam treatment. Chemical control of cell wall structure in live bacteria can provide functional insights that are orthogonal to those obtained by genetics.<br>


1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 2098-2108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Pospíšil ◽  
Jan Topinka

We investigated the effect of origin and some physico-chemical parameters on the kinetics of reduction with hydrogen of two series of mixed NiO-Fe2O3 oxides differing by their composition, the character of their precursors (mixed crystalline nitrates and coprecipitated hydroxides) and their decomposition temperature.This effect manifested itself by different magnitudes of specific surfaces of the mixed oxides and coherent regions of present phases as well as by different oxidizing abilities of the surface and differences in morphology and phase composition of corresponding samples in both series investigated. Nonlinear or nonmonotonous composition dependences of physico-chemical parameters investigated point to a mutual influence of individual components, which is also a function of the system origin and which modifies its reactivity during its reduction with hydrogen. The kinetics of the reduction was studied thermogravimetrically at 320-410 °C. The reduction of oxides of the hydroxide origin is catalytically accelerated by primarily reduced nickel, whereas in corresponding samples of the nitrate series, the total NiO is bound to the spinel phase and the reduction is delayed. Experimental IR spectra, the effect of preliminary annealing and DTA of the mixed oxides point to an inhibitory effect of water, which is constitutionally bound in trace admixtures of the goethite phase, on the kinetics of reduction of samples in the hydroxide series.


Author(s):  
Tarun V Kamath ◽  
Naomi Klickstein ◽  
Caitlin Commins ◽  
Analiese R Fernandes ◽  
Derek H Oakley ◽  
...  

Abstract The accumulation of tau aggregates throughout the human brain is the hallmark of a number of neurodegenerative conditions classified as tauopathies. Increasing evidence shows that tau aggregation occurs in a “prion-like” manner, in which a small amount of misfolded tau protein can induce other, naïve tau proteins to aggregate. Tau aggregates have been found to differ structurally among different tauopathies. Recently, however, we have suggested that tau oligomeric species may differ biochemically among individual patients with sporadic Alzheimer disease, and have also showed that the bioactivity of the tau species, measured using a cell-based bioassay, also varied among individuals. Here, we adopted a live-cell imaging approach to the standard cell-based bioassay to explore further whether the kinetics of aggregation also differentiated these patients. We found that aggregation can be observed to follow a consistent pattern in all cases, with a lag phase, a growth phase, and a plateau phase, which each provide quantitative parameters by which we characterize aggregation kinetics. The length of the lag phase and magnitude of the plateau phase are both dependent upon the concentration of seeding-competent tau, the relative enrichment of which differs among patients. The slope of the growth phase correlates with morphological differences in the tau aggregates, which may be reflective of underlying structural differences. This kinetic assay confirms and refines the concept of heterogeneity in the characteristics of tau proteopathic seeds among individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and is a method by which future studies may characterize longitudinal changes in tau aggregation and the cellular processes which may influence these changes.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-529
Author(s):  
Kentaro Ohkuni ◽  
Asuko Okuda ◽  
Akihiko Kikuchi

AbstractNbp2p is a Nap1-binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae identified by its interaction with Nap1 by a two-hybrid system. NBP2 encodes a novel protein consisting of 236 amino acids with a Src homology 3 (SH3) domain. We showed that NBP2 functions to promote mitotic cell growth at high temperatures and cell wall integrity. Loss of Nbp2 results in cell death at high temperatures and in sensitivity to calcofluor white. Cell death at high temperature is thought not to be due to a weakened cell wall. Additionally, we have isolated several type-2C serine threonine protein phosphatases (PTCs) as multicopy suppressors and MAP kinase-kinase (MAPKK), related to the yeast PKC MAPK pathway, as deletion suppressors of the nbp2Δ mutant. Screening for deletion suppressors is a new genetic approach to identify and characterize additional proteins in the Nbp2-dependent pathway. Genetic analyses suggested that Ptc1, which interacts with Nbp2 by the two-hybrid system, acts downstream of Nbp2 and that cells lacking the function of Nbp2 prefer to lose Mkk1, but the PKC MAPK pathway itself is indispensable when Nbp2 is deleted at high temperature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 5116
Author(s):  
Marco Mendozza ◽  
Arianna Balestri ◽  
Costanza Montis ◽  
Debora Berti

Lipid liquid crystalline mesophases, resulting from the self-assembly of polymorphic lipids in water, have been widely explored as biocompatible drug delivery systems. In this respect, non-lamellar structures are particularly attractive: they are characterized by complex 3D architectures, with the coexistence of hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions that can conveniently host drugs of different polarities. The fine tunability of the structural parameters is nontrivial, but of paramount relevance, in order to control the diffusive properties of encapsulated active principles and, ultimately, their pharmacokinetics and release. In this work, we investigate the reaction kinetics of p-nitrophenyl phosphate conversion into p-nitrophenol, catalysed by the enzyme Alkaline Phosphatase, upon alternative confinement of the substrate and of the enzyme into liquid crystalline mesophases of phytantriol/H2O containing variable amounts of an additive, sucrose stearate, able to swell the mesophase. A structural investigation through Small-Angle X-ray Scattering, revealed the possibility to finely control the structure/size of the mesophases with the amount of the included additive. A UV–vis spectroscopy study highlighted that the enzymatic reaction kinetics could be controlled by tuning the structural parameters of the mesophase, opening new perspectives for the exploitation of non-lamellar mesophases for confinement and controlled release of therapeutics.


Endocrinology ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
AnneMarie Gagnon ◽  
Patti Dods ◽  
Nicolas Roustan-Delatour ◽  
Ching-Shih Chen ◽  
Alexander Sorisky

Abstract Adipocyte number, a determinant of adipose tissue mass, reflects the balance between the rates of proliferation/differentiation vs. apoptosis of preadipocytes. The percentage of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes undergoing cell death following serum deprivation was reduced by 10 nm insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 (from 50.0 ± 0.7% for control starved cells to 27.5 ± 3.1%). TUNEL staining confirmed the apoptotic nature of the cell death. The protective effect of IGF-1 was blocked by phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors, wortmannin, and LY294002, but was unaffected by rapamycin, PD98059, or SB203580, which inhibit mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), ERK kinase (MEK1), and p38 MAPK respectively. Exogenous PI(3,4,5)P3 (10 μm), the principal product of IGF-1-stimulated PI3K in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, had a modest survival effect on its own, reducing cell death from 47.9± 3.4% to 35.6 ± 3.5%. When added to the combination of IGF-1 and LY294002, PI(3,4,5)P3 reversed most of the inhibitory effect of LY294002 on IGF-1-dependent cell survival, protein kinase B/Akt phosphorylation, and caspase-3 activity. Taken together, these results implicate PI(3,4,5)P3 as a necessary signal for the anti-apoptotic action of IGF-1 on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 196-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naser Maheri-Sis ◽  
Mohammad Chamani ◽  
Ali Asghar Sadeghi ◽  
Ali Mirzaaghaz ◽  
Kambiz Nazeradl ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 1267-1283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sellamuthu Kathiresan ◽  
Subramanian Mugesh ◽  
Jamespandi Annaraj ◽  
Maruthamuthu Murugan

Four new mixed-ligand copper(ii) complexes display an antibacterial mechanism of cell death via cell-wall rupture and cytotoxicity via apoptotic cell death.


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