Analysis of &#946;-Amyloid-induced Abnormalities on Fibrin Clot Structure by Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy

This article presents methods for generating in vitro fibrin clots and analyzing the effect of beta-amyloid (A&#946;) protein on clot formation and ...

Rockefeller University

Numerous epidemiological studies link vascular disorders, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and stroke, with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hypertension, specifically, is an important modifiable risk factor for late-onset AD. To examine the link between midlife hypertension and the onset of AD later in life, we chemically induced chronic hypertension in the TgSwDI mouse model of AD in early adulthood. Hypertension accelerated cognitive deficits in the Barnes maze test (P<0.05 after 3 months of treatment; P<0.001 after 6 months), microvascular deposition of β-amyloid (P<0.001 after 3 months of treatment; P<0.05 after 6 months), vascular inflammation (P<0.05 in the dentate gyrus and P<0.001 in the dorsal subiculum after 6 months of treatment), blood-brain barrier leakage (P<0.05 after 3 and 6 months of treatment), and pericyte loss (P<0.05 in the dentate gyrus and P<0.01 in the dorsal subiculum after 6 months of treatment) in these mice. In addition, hypertension induced hippocampal neurodegeneration at an early age in this mouse line (43% reduction in the dorsal subiculum; P<0.05), establishing this as a useful research model of AD with mixed vascular and amyloid pathologies. 

Chronic Hypertension Leads to Neurodegeneration in the TgSwDI Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Ever since Stephen Paget's 1889 hypothesis, metastatic organotropism has remained one of cancer's greatest mysteries. Here we demonstrate that exosomes from mouse and human lung-, liver- and brain-tropic tumour cells fuse preferentially with resident cells at their predicted destination, namely lung fibroblasts and epithelial cells, liver Kupffer cells and brain endothelial cells. We show that tumour-derived exosomes uptaken by organ-specific cells prepare the pre-metastatic niche. Treatment with exosomes from lung-tropic models redirected the metastasis of bone-tropic tumour cells. Exosome proteomics revealed distinct integrin expression patterns, in which the exosomal integrins α6β4 and α6β1 were associated with lung metastasis, while exosomal integrin αvβ5 was linked to liver metastasis. Targeting the integrins α6β4 and αvβ5 decreased exosome uptake, as well as lung and liver metastasis, respectively. We demonstrate that exosome integrin uptake by resident cells activates Src phosphorylation and pro-inflammatory S100 gene expression. Finally, our clinical data indicate that exosomal integrins could be used to predict organ-specific metastasis.

Tumour exosome integrins determine organotropic metastasis.

Microbes living in stagnant water typically rely on chemical diffusion to draw nutrients from their environment. The sulfur-oxidizing bacterium Thiovulum majus and the ciliate Uronemella have independently evolved the ability to form a 'veil', a centimetre-scale mucous sheet on which cells organize to produce a macroscopic flow. This flow pulls nutrients through the community an order of magnitude faster than diffusion. To understand how natural selection led these microbes to evolve this collective behaviour, we connect the physical limitations acting on individual cells to the cell traits. We show how diffusion limitation and viscous dissipation have led individual T. majus and Uronemella cells to display two similar characteristics. Both of these cells exert a force of approximately 40 pN on the water and attach to boundaries by means of a mucous stalk. We show how the diffusion coefficient of oxygen in water and the viscosity of water define the force the cells must exert. We then show how the hydrodynamics of filter-feeding orient a microbe normal to the surface to which it attaches. Finally, we combine these results with new observations of veil formation and a review of veil dynamics to compare the collective dynamics of these microbes. We conclude that this convergent evolution is a reflection of similar physical limitations imposed by diffusion and viscosity acting on individual cells. 

Biophysical basis for convergent evolution of two veil-forming microbes.

Vertebrate cells can initiate ciliogenesis from centrioles at the cell center, near the Golgi, forming primary cilia confined or submerged in a deep narrow pit created by membrane invagination. How or why cells maintain submerged cilia is unclear. Here, by characterizing centriole subdistal appendages (sDAP) in cells exclusively growing submerged cilia, we found that a group of sDAP components localize to the centriole proximal end through the cohesion factor C-Nap1 and that sDAP function redundantly with C-Nap1 for submerged cilia maintenance. Loss of sDAP and C-Nap1 has no effect on cilia assembly, but it disrupts stable Golgi-cilia association and allows normally submerged cilia to fully surface, losing the deep membrane invagination. Intriguingly, unlike submerged cilia (stationary), surfaced cilia actively respond to mechanical stimuli with motions and can ectopically recruit Hedgehog signaling components in the absence of agonist. We propose that spatial control of ciliogenesis uncouples or specifies sensory properties of cilia.

Nadine Soplop

Electron Microscopy Resource Center

Rockefeller University

Analysis of β-Amyloid-induced Abnormalities on Fibrin Clot Structure by Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy

Nadine Soplop

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Electron Microscopy Resource Center

Rockefeller University

Analysis of β-Amyloid-induced Abnormalities on Fibrin Clot Structure by Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy

Electron Microscopy Resource Center