University of Wisconsin

7 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Environment

Xylem Water Distribution in Woody Plants Visualized with a Cryo-scanning Electron Microscope

Kenichi Yazaki¹, Mayumi Y. Ogasa², Katsushi Kuroda³, Yasuhiro Utsumi⁴, Peter Kitin⁵, Yuzou Sano⁶

¹Department of Plant Ecology, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ²Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ³Department of Wood Properties and Processing, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ⁴Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, ⁵Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, ⁶Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University

Observing the water distribution within the xylem provides significant information regarding water flow dynamics in woody plants. In this study, we demonstrate the practical approach to observe xylem water distribution in situ by using a cryostat and cryo-SEM, which eliminates artifactual changes in the water status during sample preparation.

Neuroscience

Translaminar Autonomous System Model for the Modulation of Intraocular and Intracranial Pressure in Human Donor Posterior Segments

Tasneem P. Sharma¹, Stacy M. Curry¹, Husain Lohawala², Colleen McDowell³

¹North Texas Eye Research Institute, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center, ²Mechanical Engineer Consultant, ³Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin

We describe and detail the use of the translaminar autonomous system. This system utilizes the human posterior segment to independently regulate the pressure inside the segment (intraocular) and surrounding the optic nerve (intracranial) to generate a translaminar pressure gradient that mimics features of glaucomatous optic neuropathy.

Neuroscience

Optogenetic Activation of Afferent Pathways in Brain Slices and Modulation of Responses by Volatile Anesthetics

Caitlin A. Murphy¹, Aeyal Raz^1,2, Sean M Grady¹, Matthew I Banks¹

¹Department of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin, ²Department of Anesthesiology, Rambam Health Care Campus, the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Ex vivo brain slices can be used to study the effects of volatile anesthetics on evoked responses to afferent inputs. Optogenetics are employed to independently activate thalamocortical and corticocortical afferents to non-primary neocortex, and synaptic and network responses are modulated with isoflurane.

Engineering

Building Langmuir Probes and Emissive Probes for Plasma Potential Measurements in Low Pressure, Low Temperature Plasmas

Peixuan Li^*1, Noah Hershkowitz^*1, Gregory Severn^*2

¹Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin, ²Department of Physics & Biophysics, University of San Diego

The main goal of this work is to make it easier for research groups unfamiliar with Langmuir probes and emissive probes to use them as plasma diagnostics, especially near plasma boundaries. We do this by demonstrating how to build the probes from readily available materials and supplies.

JoVE Journal

Wide-Field, Real-Time Imaging of Local and Systemic Wound Signals in Arabidopsis

Takuya Uemura¹, Jiaqi Wang¹, Yuri Aratani¹, Simon Gilroy², Masatsugu Toyota^1,2

¹Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saitama University, ²Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin

Extracellular glutamate-triggered systemic calcium signaling is critical for the induction of plant defense responses to mechanical wounding and herbivore attack in plants. This article describes a method to visualize the spatial and temporal dynamics of both these factors using Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing calcium- and glutamate-sensitive fluorescent biosensors.

Bioengineering

Multimodal Cross-Device and Marker-Free Co-Registration of Preclinical Imaging Modalities

Mirko Thamm^1,2, Justin J. Jeffery³, Yapei Zhang⁴, Bryan R. Smith⁴, Stephen Marchant⁵, Fabian Kiessling^1,6, Felix Gremse^1,2

¹Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, ²Gremse-IT GmbH, ³Carbone Cancer Center, University of Wisconsin, ⁴Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, ⁵MediLumine Inc., ⁶Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS

The combination of multiple imaging modalities is often necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of pathophysiology. This approach utilizes phantoms to generate a differential transformation between the coordinate systems of two modalities, which is then applied for co-registration. This method eliminates the need for fiducials in production scans.

Medicine

Heterotopic Auxiliary Whole Liver Rat Transplant Model Utilizing a Hepaticoureterostomy for Allograft Rejection Studies

Bret Verhoven¹, Weifeng Zeng², Peter Chlebeck¹, Kristina Matkowskyj^3,4,5, Heather Jennings¹, Samuel Poore², David Al-Adra¹

¹Department of Surgery, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, ²Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Wisconsin, ³Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, ⁴UW Carbone Cancer Center, ⁵William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans' Hospital

The rat heterotopic auxiliary liver transplant protocol described here offers a practical investigational tool for exploring mechanisms of hepatic allograft rejection. This model helps to alleviate the surgical hurdles and animal stress of orthotopic liver transplantation in rats.