Exploring the Role of Ccn3 in Type III Cell of Mice Taste Buds.

Different taste cells express unique cell-type markers, enabling researchers to distinguish them and study their functional differentiation. Using single-cell RNA-Seq of taste cells in mouse fungiform papillae, we found that Cellular Communication Network Factor 3 (Ccn3) was highly expressed in Type III taste cells but not in Type II taste cells. Ccn3 is a protein-coding gene involved in various biological processes, such as cell proliferation, angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, and wound healing.

The role of GABA in modulation of taste signaling within the taste bud.

Taste buds contain 2 types of GABA-producing cells: sour-responsive Type III cells and glial-like Type I cells. The physiological role of GABA, released by Type III cells is not fully understood. Here, we investigated the role of GABA released from Type III cells using transgenic mice lacking the expression of GAD67 in taste bud cells (Gad67-cKO mice).

Salivary buffering capacity is correlated with umami but not sour taste sensitivity in healthy adult Japanese subjects.

Objective: Saliva serves multiple important functions crucial for maintaining a healthy oral and systemic environment. Among them, the pH buffering effect, which is primarily mediated by bicarbonate ions, helps maintain oral homeostasis by neutralizing acidity from ingested foods. Therefore, higher buffering capacity, reflecting the ability to neutralize oral acidity, may influence taste sensitivity, especially for sour taste since it involves sensing H ions.

Melanocortin agonism in a social context selectively activates nucleus accumbens in an oxytocin-dependent manner.

Social deficits are debilitating features of many psychiatric disorders, including autism. While time-intensive behavioral therapy is moderately effective, there are no pharmacological interventions for social deficits in autism. Many studies have attempted to treat social deficits using the neuropeptide oxytocin for its powerful neuromodulatory abilities and influence on social behaviors and cognition.

Natural variation in oxytocin receptor signaling causes widespread changes in brain transcription: a link to the natural killer gene complex.

Oxytocin (OXT) is a highly conserved neuropeptide that modulates social cognition, and variation in its receptor gene () is associated with divergent social phenotypes. The cellular mechanisms connecting genotype to social phenotype remain obscure. We exploit an association between polymorphisms and striatal-specific OXTR density in prairie voles to investigate how OXTR signaling influences the brain transcriptome.

Sugar signals from oral glucose transporters elicit cephalic-phase insulin release in mice.

Cephalic-phase insulin release (CPIR) occurs before blood glucose increases after a meal. Although glucose is the most plausible cue to induce CPIR, peripheral sensory systems involved are not fully elucidated. We therefore examined roles of sweet sensing by a T1R3-dependent taste receptor and sugar sensing by oral glucose transporters in the oropharyngeal region in inducing CPIR.

Oxytocin receptors are widely distributed in the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) brain: Relation to social behavior, genetic polymorphisms, and the dopamine system.

Oxytocin regulates social behavior via direct modulation of neurons, regulation of neural network activity, and interaction with other neurotransmitter systems. The behavioral effects of oxytocin signaling are determined by the species-specific distribution of brain oxytocin receptors. The socially monogamous prairie vole has been a useful model organism for elucidating the role of oxytocin in social behaviors, including pair bonding, response to social loss, and consoling.

Helping behavior in prairie voles: A model of empathy and the importance of oxytocin.

Several studies suggest that rodents show empathic responses and helping behavior toward others. We examined whether prairie voles would help conspecifics who were soaked in water by opening a door to a safe area. Door-opening latency decreased as task sessions progressed.

CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genetic Engineering to Generate a Disease Model Prairie Vole, Based on Species-Optimized Assisted Reproductive Technology.

Social and prosocial behaviors, including communication, social bonding, and affiliation, parental behaviors, and empathy are key features of a highly social mammalian species. However, the neuronal mechanism in the brain underlying these behaviors remains unclear because of limited information on the social and prosocial behavioral levels in rodent models generally used in behavioral neuroscience studies.The rodent species, prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), is one of the nontraditional animal models with several advantages in experimental science over other rodent models, such as mice or rats.

The accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis in biopsy-naive patients using combined magnetic resonance imaging and transrectal ultrasound fusion-targeted prostate biopsy.

Background: This study aimed to estimate whether multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)-transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) fusion biopsy (FUS-TB) increases the detection rates of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) compared with TRUS-guided systematic biopsy (TRUS-GB).

Methods: This retrospective study focused on patients who underwent mpMRI before prostate biopsy (PB) with Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADS v2) scores ≥3 and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level between 2.5 and 20 ng/mL.

Defining candidate mRNA and protein EV biomarkers to discriminate ccRCC and pRCC from non-malignant renal cells in vitro.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for over 400,000 new cases and 175,000 deaths annually. Diagnostic RCC biomarkers may prevent overtreatment in patients with early disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a promising source of RCC biomarkers because EVs carry proteins and messenger RNA (mRNA) among other biomolecules.

Diagnostic potential of serum extracellular vesicles expressing prostate-specific membrane antigen in urologic malignancies.

We aimed to develop a sandwich ELISA to detect prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on small extracellular vesicles (EVs) using T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain-containing protein 4 (Tim4) as a capture molecule for EVs and to evaluate its diagnostic potential in urologic malignancies. First, we optimized the conditions for sandwich ELISA measuring the PSMA level on EVs captured from serum by Tim4 and found that the use of highly-purified EVs released from Tim4 that had captured EVs in serum reduced the background. Second, we confirmed its validity by studying mouse xenograft model for prostate cancer (PC).

Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis in Urothelial Carcinoma of the Urinary Bladder: A Report of a Patient with a Fulminant Course Who Died of Cancer after Definitive Therapies.

A 45-year-old Japanese man visited a community hospital with the chief complaint of asymptomatic macrohematuria. He was diagnosed with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), and he received intra-arterial chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy at another institution. Twenty-eight months after chemoradiotherapy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed MIBC recurrence.

High-Throughput Simultaneous mRNA Profiling Using nCounter Technology Demonstrates That Extracellular Vesicles Contain Different mRNA Transcripts Than Their Parental Prostate Cancer Cells.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized lipid bilayer encapsulated particles with a molecular cargo that appears to play important roles within the human body, such as in cell-to-cell communication. Unraveling the composition of EV cargos remains one of the most fundamental steps toward understanding the role of EVs in intercellular communication and the discovery of new biomarkers. One of the unmet needs in this field is the lack of a robust, sensitive, and multiplexed method for EV mRNA profiling.

Comprehensive evaluation of methods for small extracellular vesicles separation from human plasma, urine and cell culture medium.

One of the challenges that restricts the evolving extracellular vesicle (EV) research field is the lack of a consensus method for EV separation. This may also explain the diversity of the experimental results, as co-separated soluble proteins and lipoproteins may impede the interpretation of experimental findings. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the EV yields and sample purities of three most popular EV separation methods, ultracentrifugation, precipitation and size exclusion chromatography combined with ultrafiltration, along with a microfluidic tangential flow filtration device, Exodisc, in three commonly used biological samples, cell culture medium, human urine and plasma.

Investigation of Oxtr-expressing Neurons Projecting to Nucleus Accumbens using Oxtr-ires-Cre Knock-in prairie Voles (Microtus ochrogaster).

Social bonds such as parent-infant attachment or pair bonds can be critical for mental and physical well-being. The monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) has proven useful for examining the neural substrates regulating social behaviors, including social bonding. Oxytocin (OXT) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) play critical roles in alloparental care, pair bonding and consoling behavior in prairie voles.

Serum Exosomal Gamma-Glutamyltransferase Activity Increased in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma with Advanced Clinicopathological Features.

Background: There has been no clinically useful diagnostic or prognostic biomarker for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity has been reported to be a prognostic marker for several types of cancer including RCC. Exosomes or small extracellular vesicles present in body fluids have potential as a biomarker.

Single administration of resveratrol improves social behavior in adult mouse models of autism spectrum disorder.

Resveratrol (RSV) is a natural polyphenol present in grapes, the skin of peanuts, and several other plants with many health benefits. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that may be linked to neural and synaptic development impairments. The present study aimed to analyze the preventive effects of RSV on the development of ASD-like behavior, using knockout (-KO) and valproic acid-induced ASD (VPA-ASD) model mice.

The Utility and Efficacy of Laparoscopic Radical Cystectomy in Patients with Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer at a Single Institution.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the surgical and oncological outcomes and complications of laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) to those of open radical cystectomy (ORC) in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

Methods: Our study focused on patients with histologically confirmed stage T2-T4a urothelial carcinoma of the bladder without distant metastases, who underwent LRC (LRC group) or ORC (ORC group). The primary endpoints in this study were the overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates.

Effect of Posttransplant Diabetes Mellitus on Graft Loss After Living-Donor Kidney Transplant at a Single Institution.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate predictive factors for graft loss in patients who received kidney transplantation (KT) from living kidney donors (LKDs) at a single institute in Japan.

Methods: Our study focused on patients with end-stage renal disease who underwent KT from LKDs and were followed up for at least 1 year after surgery. The primary end point was graft survival (GS).

Oxytocin induced labor causes region and sex-specific transient oligodendrocyte cell death in neonatal mouse brain.

Aim: Previous reports showed associations between oxytocin induced labor and mental disorders in offspring. However, those reports are restricted in epidemiological analyses and its mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that induced labor directly causes brain damage in newborns and results in the development of mental disorders.

[Cardiac Metastasis in a Patient with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma who Underwent Multimodality Therapy for Multiple Metastases after Radical Nephrectomy].

The patient underwent laparoscopic left radical nephrectomy for clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). After surgery, the patient had multiple lung metastases and underwent the combination therapy of radiofrequency ablation, interferon-alpha, and inteleukin-2. Thereafter, computed tomography showed multiple lymph node and brain metastases.

Risk factors and incidence of malignant neoplasms after kidney transplantation at a single institution in Japan.

Background: The risk of malignant neoplasms increases in kidney transplantation (KT) recipients (KTRs). However, Japanese registry studies have not been reported since 2000.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 346 patients who underwent KT at Gifu University Hospital, Japan since 2000.

Urinary exosome as a potential biomarker for urinary tract infection.

Unlike urinary tract infection (UTI), asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) should not be treated, with some exceptions such as pregnant women and patients who will undergo traumatic urologic interventions. However, there has been no clinically available marker for their differential diagnosis. Exosomes or small extracellular vesicles carry proteins contained in cells from which they are derived, thus having the potential as a biomarker of several diseases.