Spearhead Nanometric Field-Effect Transistor Sensors for Single-Cell Analysis.

Nanometric field-effect-transistor (FET) sensors are made on the tip of spear-shaped dual carbon nanoelectrodes derived from carbon deposition inside double-barrel nanopipettes. The easy fabrication route allows deposition of semiconductors or conducting polymers to comprise the transistor channel. A channel from electrodeposited poly pyrrole (PPy) exhibits high sensitivity toward pH changes.

Microtubule-Dependent Mitochondria Alignment Regulates Calcium Release in Response to Nanomechanical Stimulus in Heart Myocytes.

Arrhythmogenesis during heart failure is a major clinical problem. Regional electrical gradients produce arrhythmias, and cellular ionic transmembrane gradients are its originators. We investigated whether the nanoscale mechanosensitive properties of cardiomyocytes from failing hearts have a bearing upon the initiation of abnormal electrical activity.

Tuberculosis knowledge and awareness in tribal-dominant districts of Jharkhand, India: implications for ACSM.

Setting: Forty hard-to-reach villages in the East and West Singhbhum Districts of Jharkhand State, India.

Objectives: To document knowledge and awareness of tuberculosis (TB) among the general population, understand gender differences and inform intervention activities for the improvement of TB control programmes in tribal-dominant hard-to-reach areas in India.

Design: A cross-sectional community-based survey was carried out among 825 respondents using population proportionate sampling.

Imaging single nanoparticle interactions with human lung cells using fast ion conductance microscopy.

Experimental data on dynamic interactions between individual nanoparticles and membrane processes at nanoscale, essential for biomedical applications of nanoparticles, remain scarce due to limitations of imaging techniques. We were able to follow single 200 nm carboxyl-modified particles interacting with identified membrane structures at the rate of 15 s/frame using a scanning ion conductance microscope modified for simultaneous high-speed topographical and fluorescence imaging. The imaging approach demonstrated here opens a new window into the complexity of nanoparticle-cell interactions.

Functional interaction between charged nanoparticles and cardiac tissue: a new paradigm for cardiac arrhythmia?

Aim: To investigate the effect of surface charge of therapeutic nanoparticles on sarcolemmal ionic homeostasis and the initiation of arrhythmias.

Materials & Methods: Cultured neonatal rat myocytes were exposed to 50 nm-charged polystyrene latex nanoparticles and examined using a combination of hopping probe scanning ion conductance microscopy, optical recording of action potential characteristics and patch clamp.

Results: Positively charged, amine-modified polystyrene latex nanoparticles showed cytotoxic effects and induced large-scale damage to cardiomyocyte membranes leading to calcium alternans and cell death.

The scanning ion conductance microscope for cellular physiology.

The quest for nonoptical imaging methods that can surmount light diffraction limits resulted in the development of scanning probe microscopes. However, most of the existing methods are not quite suitable for studying biological samples. The scanning ion conductance microscope (SICM) bridges the gap between the resolution capabilities of atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope and functional capabilities of conventional light microscope.

Socio-demographic determinants and prevalence of Tuberculosis knowledge in three slum populations of Uganda.

Background: Knowledge of tuberculosis has been shown to influence health seeking behaviour; and urban slum dwellers are at a higher risk of acquiring tuberculosis than the general population. The study aim was to assess knowledge of tuberculosis and identify the associated socio-demographic determinants, in order to inform tailored interventions for advocacy, communication and social mobilisation in three urban-slum communities of Uganda.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 1361 adults between April and October 2011.

An alternative mechanism of clathrin-coated pit closure revealed by ion conductance microscopy.

Current knowledge of the structural changes taking place during clathrin-mediated endocytosis is largely based on electron microscopy images of fixed preparations and x-ray crystallography data of purified proteins. In this paper, we describe a study of clathrin-coated pit dynamics in living cells using ion conductance microscopy to directly image the changes in pit shape, combined with simultaneous confocal microscopy to follow molecule-specific fluorescence. We find that 70% of pits closed with the formation of a protrusion that grew on one side of the pit, covered the entire pit, and then disappeared together with pit-associated clathrin-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and actin-binding protein-EGFP (Abp1-EGFP) fluorescence.

The sarcomeric Z-disc and Z-discopathies.

The sarcomeric Z-disc defines the lateral borders of the sarcomere and has primarily been seen as a structure important for mechanical stability. This view has changed dramatically within the last one or two decades. A multitude of novel Z-disc proteins and their interacting partners have been identified, which has led to the identification of additional functions and which have now been assigned to this structure.

A protective antiarrhythmic role of ursodeoxycholic acid in an in vitro rat model of the cholestatic fetal heart.

Unlabelled: Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy may be complicated by fetal arrhythmia, fetal hypoxia, preterm labor, and, in severe cases, intrauterine death. The precise etiology of fetal death is not known. However, taurocholate has been demonstrated to cause arrhythmia and abnormal calcium dynamics in cardiomyocytes.

Scanning ion conductance microscopy: a convergent high-resolution technology for multi-parametric analysis of living cardiovascular cells.

Cardiovascular diseases are complex pathologies that include alterations of various cell functions at the levels of intact tissue, single cells and subcellular signalling compartments. Conventional techniques to study these processes are extremely divergent and rely on a combination of individual methods, which usually provide spatially and temporally limited information on single parameters of interest. This review describes scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) as a novel versatile technique capable of simultaneously reporting various structural and functional parameters at nanometre resolution in living cardiovascular cells at the level of the whole tissue, single cells and at the subcellular level, to investigate the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.

The Renin-Angiotensin system mediates the effects of stretch on conduction velocity, connexin43 expression, and redistribution in intact ventricle.

Unlabelled: Effect of Stretch on Conduction and Cx43.

Introduction: In disease states such as heart failure, myocardial infarction, and hypertrophy, changes in the expression and location of Connexin43 (Cx43) occur (Cx43 remodeling), and may predispose to arrhythmias. Stretch may be an important stimulus to Cx43 remodeling; however, it has only been investigated in neonatal cell cultures, which have different physiological properties than adult myocytes.

Loss of T-tubules and other changes to surface topography in ventricular myocytes from failing human and rat heart.

T-tubular invaginations of the sarcolemma of ventricular cardiomyocytes contain junctional structures functionally coupling L-type calcium channels to the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium-release channels (the ryanodine receptors), and therefore their configuration controls the gain of calcium-induced calcium release (CICR). Studies primarily in rodent myocardium have shown the importance of T-tubular structures for calcium transient kinetics and have linked T-tubule disruption to delayed CICR. However, there is disagreement as to the nature of T-tubule changes in human heart failure.

Nanoscale live-cell imaging using hopping probe ion conductance microscopy.

We describe hopping mode scanning ion conductance microscopy that allows noncontact imaging of the complex three-dimensional surfaces of live cells with resolution better than 20 nm. We tested the effectiveness of this technique by imaging networks of cultured rat hippocampal neurons and mechanosensory stereocilia of mouse cochlear hair cells. The technique allowed examination of nanoscale phenomena on the surface of live cells under physiological conditions.

Non-invasive imaging of stem cells by scanning ion conductance microscopy: future perspective.

The most valuable property of stem cells (SCs) is their potential to differentiate into many or all cell types of the body. So far, monitoring SC differentiation has only been possible after cells were fixed or destroyed during sample preparation. It is, however, important to develop nondestructive methods of monitoring SCs.

Noncontact measurement of the local mechanical properties of living cells using pressure applied via a pipette.

Mechanosensitivity in living biological tissue is a study area of increasing importance, but investigative tools are often inadequate. We have developed a noncontact nanoscale method to apply quantified positive and negative force at defined positions to the soft responsive surface of living cells. The method uses applied hydrostatic pressure (0.

Cardiac mechano-electric feedback and electrical restitution in humans.

Electrical restitution in the heart is the property whereby the action potential duration and conduction velocity of a beat of altered cycle length vary according to its immediacy to the preceding basic beat--the coupling interval, usually the diastolic interval. In general, action potential duration (APD) increases with increasing coupling interval, and the relation between action potential duration and the preceding diastolic interval describes the APD restitution curve. The latter has recently been the focus of considerable interest since the steepness of the initial part of the restitution curve plays an important role in electrical stability and arrhythmogenesis.

Imaging single virus particles on the surface of cell membranes by high-resolution scanning surface confocal microscopy.

We have developed a high-resolution scanning surface confocal microscopy technique capable of imaging single virus-like particles (VLPs) on the surfaces of cells topographically and by fluorescence. The technique combines recently published single-molecule-resolution ion-conductance microscopy that acquires topographical data with confocal microscopy providing simultaneous fluorescent imaging. In our experiments we have demonstrated that the cell membrane exhibits numerous submicrometer-sized surface structures that could be topographically confused with virus particles.

Endocytic pathways: combined scanning ion conductance and surface confocal microscopy study.

We introduce a novel high resolution scanning surface confocal microscopy technique that enables imaging of endocytic pits in apical membranes of live cells for the first time. The improved topographical resolution of the microscope together with simultaneous fluorescence confocal detection produces pairs of images of cell surfaces sufficient to identify single endocytic pits. Whilst the precise position and size of the pit is detected by the ion conductance microscope, the molecular nature of the pit, e.

Basolateral P2X4-like receptors regulate the extracellular ATP-stimulated epithelial Na+ channel activity in renal epithelia.

Extracellular ATP initiates potent effects on sodium transport across renal epithelia through membrane-associated purinergic receptors. Dependent on the location of these receptors, ATP either inhibits or stimulates sodium reabsorption. Using A6 cells, transepithelial electrical resistance measurements, and scanning ion conductance microscopy, we have identified the purinergic receptors involved in the stimulatory action on the epithelial cell basolateral plasma membrane.

Mechanosensitive-mediated interaction, integration, and cardiac control.

This review covers aspects of the cardiac mechanotransduction field at different levels, and advocates the possibility that mechanoelectro-chemical transduction forms part of a network of mechanically linked integration in heart-mechanically mediated integration (MMI). It assembles evidence and observations in the literature to promote this hypothesis. Mechanical components can provide the bond between interactions at molecular, cellular, and macro levels to enable the integration.

A novel Z-groove index characterizing myocardial surface structure.

Objective: The role of t-tubule structures in excitation-contraction coupling of ventricular myocytes has been investigated by disruption using prolonged culture, or osmotic shock with formamide. We have used a new method, the Scanning Ion Conductance Microscope (SICM), to investigate in more detail the changes in surface structure of live myocytes during these interventions and to relate them to contractile effects.

Methods: Freshly isolated ventricular myocytes from adult rat hearts were either incubated with formamide, then washed to produce osmotic shock, or put into culture for 2, 4 and 7 days.

Localized and non-contact mechanical stimulation of dorsal root ganglion sensory neurons using scanning ion conductance microscopy.

Mechanosensitive ion channels convert external mechanical force into electrical and chemical signals in cells, but their physiological function in different tissues is not clearly understood. One reason for this is that there is as yet no satisfactory physiological method to stimulate these channels in living cells. Using the nanopipette-probe of the Scanning Ion Conductance Microscope (SICM), we have developed a new technique to apply local mechanical stimulus to living cells to an area of about 0.

Functional characterization of embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes using scanning ion conductance microscopy.

We report here the novel use of scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) to produce surface images of embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (ESCM) to identify individual contracting cardiomyocytes among different cell types. By measuring amplitude and rhythm we can quantitate contraction of ESCM. This method gives, within the same experiment, an assessment of the number and position of ESCM within the layer of mixed cell types, as well as an accurate measure of the response of individual ESCM.

Genes encoding bile acid, phospholipid and anion transporters are expressed in a human fetal cardiomyocyte culture.

Objectives: To establish a human fetal cardiomyocyte culture and to investigate whether the genes that encode transporters that may influence influx or efflux of bile acids are expressed in human fetal cardiomyocytes.

Design: Laboratory study.

Setting: Imperial College London.