Persistent median artery: paedogenesis of the antebrachial arterial system in the human body.

The persistence of the median artery in adult life, a remnant of the early brachial artery in the embryonic stage, has been reported in many anatomical and clinical studies. Herein, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and origin of the median artery in cadavers. We examined 53 adult Japanese cadavers and carefully dissected 106 upper limbs, and the arterial systems in the forearms and hands were observed macroscopically.

Developmental impairments of craniofacial bone and cartilage in transgenic mice expressing FGF10.

Mutations in a common extracellular domain of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)-2 isoforms (type IIIb and IIIc) cause craniosynostosis syndrome and chondrodysplasia syndrome. FGF10, a major ligand for FGFR2-IIIb and FGFR1-IIIb, is a key participant in the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions required for morphogenetic events. FGF10 also regulates preadipocyte differentiation and early chondrogenesis in vitro, suggesting that FGF10-FGFR signaling may be involved in craniofacial skeletogenesis in vivo.

Neonatal corticosterone administration increases p27-positive Sertoli cell number and decreases Sertoli cell number in the testes of mice at prepuberty.

Cortisol and corticosterone (CORT) are steroid, antistress hormones and one of the glucocorticoids in humans and animals, respectively. This study evaluated the effects of CORT administration on the male reproductive system in early life stages. CORT was subcutaneously injected at 0.

A bilateral third head of the gastrocnemius which is morphologically similar to the plantaris.

Purpose: An extra muscle was observed on both sides of the popliteal fossa in the cadaver of a 78-year-old Japanese male during dissection. The aim of this case report was to identify whether this variant is a double plantaris or a third head of the gastrocnemius according to its morphological characteristics and innervation.

Methods: The muscles were displayed by careful dissection and delineation of surrounding structures.

Active sites of human MEPE-ASARM regulating bone matrix mineralization.

The proteolytic fragment ASARM (acidic serine- and aspartate-rich motif) of MEPE (matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein) (MEPE-ASARM) may act as an endogenous anti-mineralization factor involved in X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia (XLH). We synthesized MEPE-ASARM peptides and relevant peptide fragments with or without phosphorylated Ser residues (pSer) to determine the active site(s) of MEPE-ASARM in a rat calvaria cell culture model. None of the synthetic peptides elicited changes in cell death, proliferation or differentiation, but the peptide (pASARM) with three pSer residues inhibited mineralization without causing changes in gene expression of osteoblast markers tested.

The matrix vesicle cargo miR-125b accumulates in the bone matrix, inhibiting bone resorption in mice.

Communication between osteoblasts and osteoclasts plays a key role in bone metabolism. We describe here an unexpected role for matrix vesicles (MVs), which bud from bone-forming osteoblasts and have a well-established role in initiation of bone mineralization, in osteoclastogenesis. We show that the MV cargo miR-125b accumulates in the bone matrix, with increased accumulation in transgenic (Tg) mice overexpressing miR-125b in osteoblasts.

Soluble Klotho causes hypomineralization in Klotho-deficient mice.

The type I transmembrane protein αKlotho (Klotho) serves as a coreceptor for the phosphaturic hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) in kidney, while a truncated form of Klotho (soluble Klotho, sKL) is thought to exhibit multiple activities, including acting as a hormone, but whose mode(s) of action in different organ systems remains to be fully elucidated. FGF23 is expressed primarily in osteoblasts/osteocytes and aberrantly high levels in the circulation acting via signaling through an FGF receptor (FGFR)-Klotho coreceptor complex cause renal phosphate wasting and osteomalacia. We assessed the effects of exogenously added sKL on osteoblasts and bone using Klotho-deficient () mice and cell and organ cultures.

Preparation of molecularly imprinted polymer nanobeads for selective sensing of carboxylic acid vapors.

The detection and discrimination of volatile carboxylic acid components, which are the main contributors to human body odor, have a wide range of potential applications. Here, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor array based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanobeads is developed for highly sensitive and selective sensing of typical carboxylic acid vapors, namely: propionic acid (PA), hexanoic acid (HA) and octanoic acid (OA). The MIP nanobeads were prepared by precipitation polymerization with methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer, trimethylolproane trimethacrylate (TRIM) as a crosslinker, and carboxylic acids (PA, HA and OA) as the template molecules.

The Roles of Long Non-Protein-Coding RNAs in Osteo-Adipogenic Lineage Commitment.

Osteoblasts and adipocytes share a common mesenchymal progenitor in the bone marrow. This implies that a reciprocal relationship exists between osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation. Further, cells of osteoblast lineage transdifferentiate into adipocytes under some circumstances.

Imaging and mapping of mouse bone using MALDI-imaging mass spectrometry.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) is an advanced method used globally to analyze the distribution of biomolecules on tissue cryosections without any probes. In bones, however, hydroxyapatite crystals make it difficult to determine the distribution of biomolecules using MALDI-IMS. Additionally, there is limited information regarding the use of this method to analyze bone tissues.

Comparative proteome analysis of wild-type and klotho-knockout mouse kidneys using a combination of MALDI-IMS and LC-MS/MS.

Purpose: Mutation of the klotho gene in mice elicits a syndrome resembling accelerated human aging. However, there is limited evidence for the role of Klotho in the kidney. We conducted a comparative proteome analysis of wild-type (WT) and klotho-knockout (kl ) mouse kidneys to identify proteins involved in Klotho deficiency.

The dynamics of DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation during amelogenesis.

Amelogenesis is a multistep process that relies on specific temporal and spatial signaling networks between the dental epithelium and mesenchymal tissues. Epigenetic modifications of key developmental genes in this process may be closely linked to a network of molecular events. However, the role of epigenetic regulation in amelogenesis remains unclear.

The DNA repair enzyme apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (Apex nuclease) 2 has the potential to protect against down-regulation of chondrocyte activity in osteoarthritis.

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 2 (Apex 2) plays a critical role in DNA repair caused by oxidative damage in a variety of human somatic cells. We speculated that chondrocyte Apex 2 may protect against the catabolic process of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis (OA). Higher levels of Apex 2 expression were histologically observed in severely compared with mildly degenerated OA cartilage from STR/OrtCrlj mice, an experimental model which spontaneously develops OA.

Sequence-specific promoter elements regulate temporal-specific changes in chromatin required for testis-specific activation of the Pgk2 gene.

The phosphoglycerate kinase-2 (Pgk2) gene is regulated in a tissue-, cell type-, and developmental stage-specific manner during spermatogenesis and is required for normal sperm motility and fertility in mammals. Activation of Pgk2 transcription is regulated by testis-specific demethylation of DNA and binding of testis-specific transcription factors to enhancer and core promoter elements. Here, we show that chromatin remodeling including reconfiguration of nucleosomes and changes in histone modifications is also associated with transcriptional activation of the Pgk2 gene during spermatogenesis.

The EP4-ERK-dependent pathway stimulates osteo-adipogenic progenitor proliferation resulting in increased adipogenesis in fetal rat calvaria cell cultures.

We previously reported that fetal rat calvaria (RC) cells are osteo-adipogenic bipotential and that PGE(2) receptors EP2 and EP4 are involved in bone nodule formation via both common and distinct MAPK pathways in RC cell cultures. Because PGE(2) participates in multiple biological processes including adipogenesis, it is of interest to determine the additional role(s) of PGE(2) in RC cells. PGE(2) increased the number of adipocyte colonies when RC cells were treated during proliferation but not other development stages.

Incisor enamel formation is impaired in transgenic rats overexpressing the type III NaPi transporter Slc20a1.

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is required in many biological processes, including signaling cascades, skeletal development, tooth mineralization, and nucleic acid synthesis. Recently, we showed that Pi transport in osteoblasts, mediated by Slc20a1, a member of the type III sodium-dependent phosphate transporter family, is indispensable for osteoid mineralization in rapidly growing rat bone. In addition, we found that bone mineral density decreased slightly with dysfunction of Pi homeostasis in aged transgenic rats overexpressing mouse Slc20a1 (Slc20a1-Tg).

1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 acts predominately in mature osteoblasts under conditions of high extracellular phosphate to increase fibroblast growth factor 23 production in vitro.

Osteoblasts/osteocytes are the principle sources of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), a phosphaturic hormone, but the regulation of FGF23 expression during osteoblast development remains uncertain. Because 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) may act as potent activators of FGF23 expression, we estimated how these molecules regulate FGF23 expression during rat osteoblast development in vitro. 1,25(OH)(2)D(3)-dependent FGF23 production was restricted largely to mature cells in correlation with increased vitamin D receptor (VDR) mRNA levels, in particular, when Pi was present.

Dynamic nuclear organization of constitutive heterochromatin during fetal male germ cell development in mice.

In mice, male germ cells enter mitotic arrest beginning at 13.5 days postcoitum (dpc), and remain suspended in the G(0)/G(1) cell cycle stage until after birth. During this period, male germ cells undergo extensive epigenetic reprogramming, which is essential for their subsequent function as male gametes.

In vivo analysis of developmentally and evolutionarily dynamic protein-DNA interactions regulating transcription of the Pgk2 gene during mammalian spermatogenesis.

Transcription of the testis-specific Pgk2 gene is selectively activated in primary spermatocytes to provide a source of phosphoglycerate kinase that is critical to normal motility and fertility of mammalian spermatozoa. We examined dynamic changes in protein-DNA interactions at the Pgk2 gene promoter during murine spermatogenesis in vivo by performing genomic footprinting and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays with enriched populations of murine spermatogenic cells at stages prior to, during, and following transcription of this gene. We found that genes encoding the testis-specific homeodomain factor PBX4 and its coactivator, PREP1, are expressed in patterns that mirror expression of the Pgk2 gene and that these factors become bound to the Pgk2 enhancer in cells in which this gene is actively expressed.

Autonomous regulation of sex-specific developmental programming in mouse fetal germ cells.

In mice, unique events regulating epigenetic programming (e.g., genomic imprinting) and replication state (mitosis versus meiosis) occur during fetal germ cell development.

Epigenetic regulation of testis-specific gene expression.

Cellular differentiation is mediated by differential gene expression. The cells of the testis are no exception. Indeed, recent studies based on microarray and expressed sequence tag analyses have revealed dynamic changes in gene expression during spermatogenesis.