Effects of intra-articular anesthesia of the tarsometatarsal joint on skin sensation of the distal limb in horses.

Objective: To determine with mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) testing whether distal limb skin sensation is affected by intra-articular anesthesia of the tarsometatarsal joint (TMTJ).

Animals And Procedure: This was a prospective cohort study. Ten client-owned horses that had intra-articular TMTJ anesthesia were included in the study.

Beneath the surface: Evolution of methane activity in the bacterial multicomponent monooxygenases.

The bacterial multicomponent monooxygenase (BMM) family has evolved to oxidise a wide array of hydrocarbon substrates of importance to environmental emissions and biotechnology: foremost amongst these is methane, which requires among the most powerful oxidant in biology to activate. To understand how the BMM evolved methane oxidation activity, we investigated the changes in the enzyme family at different levels: operonic, phylogenetic analysis of the catalytic hydroxylase, subunit or folding factor presence, and sequence-function analysis across the entirety of the BMM phylogeny. Our results show that the BMM evolution of new activities was enabled by incremental increases in oxidative power of the active site, and these occur in multiple branches of the hydroxylase phylogenetic tree.

Horizontal gene transfer of three co-inherited methane monooxygenase systems gave rise to methanotrophy in the Proteobacteria.

The critical role that bacterial methanotrophs have in regulating the environmental concentrations of the potent greenhouse gas, methane, under aerobic conditions is dependent on monooxygenase enzymes which oxidise the substrate as both a carbon and energy source. Despite the importance of these organisms, the evolutionary origins of aerobic methane oxidation capability and its relationship to proteobacterial evolution is not well understood. Here we investigated the phylogenetic relationship of proteobacterial methanotrophs with related, non-methanotrophic bacteria using 16S rRNA and the evolution of two forms of methane monooxygenase: membrane bound (pMMO and pXMO) and cytoplasmic (sMMO).

The phospholipase A pathway controls a synaptic cholesterol ester cycle and synapse damage.

The cellular prion protein (PrP) acts as a scaffold protein that organises signalling complexes. In synaptosomes, the aggregation of PrP by amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers attracts and activates cytoplasmic phospholipase A (cPLA), leading to synapse degeneration. The signalling platform is dependent on cholesterol released from cholesterol esters by cholesterol ester hydrolases (CEHs).

The cholesterol ester cycle regulates signalling complexes and synapse damage caused by amyloid-β.

Cholesterol is required for the formation and function of some signalling platforms. In synaptosomes, amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers, the causative agent in Alzheimer's disease, bind to cellular prion proteins (PrP) resulting in increased cholesterol concentrations, translocation of cytoplasmic phospholipase A (cPLA, also known as PLA2G4A) to lipid rafts, and activation of cPLA The formation of Aβ-PrP complexes is controlled by the cholesterol ester cycle. In this study, Aβ activated cholesterol ester hydrolases, which released cholesterol from stores of cholesterol esters and stabilised Aβ-PrP complexes, resulting in activated cPLA Conversely, cholesterol esterification reduced cholesterol concentrations causing the dispersal of Aβ-PrP complexes.

Glimepiride protects neurons against amyloid-β-induced synapse damage.

Alzheimer's disease is associated with the accumulation within the brain of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides that damage synapses and affect memory acquisition. This process can be modelled by observing the effects of Aβ on synapses in cultured neurons. The addition of picomolar concentrations of soluble Aβ derived from brain extracts triggered the loss of synaptic proteins including synaptophysin, synapsin-1 and cysteine string protein from cultured neurons.

Monoacylated Cellular Prion Proteins Reduce Amyloid-β-Induced Activation of Cytoplasmic Phospholipase A2 and Synapse Damage.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and the loss of synapses. Aggregation of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) by Aβ oligomers induced synapse damage in cultured neurons. PrPC is attached to membranes via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor, the composition of which affects protein targeting and cell signaling.

EphB2 isolates a human marrow stromal cell subpopulation with enhanced ability to contribute to the resident intestinal cellular pool.

To identify human bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) subsets with enhanced ability to engraft/contribute to the resident intestinal cellular pool, we transplanted clonally derived BMSCs into fetal sheep. Analysis at 75 d post-transplantation showed 2 of the 6 clones engrafting the intestine at 4- to 5-fold higher levels (5.03±0.

Transcriptomic and metabolite analyses of Cabernet Sauvignon grape berry development.

Background: Grape berry development is a dynamic process that involves a complex series of molecular genetic and biochemical changes divided into three major phases. During initial berry growth (Phase I), berry size increases along a sigmoidal growth curve due to cell division and subsequent cell expansion, and organic acids (mainly malate and tartrate), tannins, and hydroxycinnamates accumulate to peak levels. The second major phase (Phase II) is defined as a lag phase in which cell expansion ceases and sugars begin to accumulate.

Transcript abundance profiles reveal larger and more complex responses of grapevine to chilling compared to osmotic and salinity stress.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines were exposed to sudden chilling (5 degrees C), water deficit (PEG), and an iso-osmotic salinity (120 mM NaCl and 12 mM CaCl(2)) for 1, 4, 8, and 24 h. Stomatal conductance and stem water potentials were significantly reduced after stress application. Microarray analysis of transcript abundance in shoot tips detected no significant differences in transcript abundance between salinity and PEG before 24 h.

Water and salinity stress in grapevines: early and late changes in transcript and metabolite profiles.

Grapes are grown in semiarid environments, where drought and salinity are common problems. Microarray transcript profiling, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, and metabolite profiling were used to define genes and metabolic pathways in Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon with shared and divergent responses to a gradually applied and long-term (16 days) water-deficit stress and equivalent salinity stress.

Characterizing the grape transcriptome. Analysis of expressed sequence tags from multiple Vitis species and development of a compendium of gene expression during berry development.

We report the analysis and annotation of 146,075 expressed sequence tags from Vitis species. The majority of these sequences were derived from different cultivars of Vitis vinifera, comprising an estimated 25,746 unique contig and singleton sequences that survey transcription in various tissues and developmental stages and during biotic and abiotic stress. Putatively homologous proteins were identified for over 17,752 of the transcripts, with 1,962 transcripts further subdivided into one or more Gene Ontology categories.