Telemetry and Accelerometer Tracking of Green Toads in an Urban Habitat: Methodological Notes and Preliminary Findings.

Advancements in tracking technologies provide an increasingly important tool in animal monitoring and conservation that can describe animal spatial behavior in native habitats and uncover migratory routes that otherwise may be difficult or impossible to map. In addition, high-resolution accelerometer sensors provide powerful insights into animal activity patterns and can help to identify specific behaviors from accelerometer profiles alone. Previously, such accelerometers were restricted to larger animals due to size and mass constraints.

[EUGIC (Extension of the Use of Gametes in Intra-Conjugal): New uses of gametes within the couple].

Objective: New possibilities for using gametes within a couple were created by the French law of August 2, 2021 related to bioethics by opening Assisted Reproductive Technics (ART) to all women. It concerns previously self-preserved gametes, thus avoiding the need for gamete donation. The objective of our study is to evaluate the perception of these new uses by ART practitioners.

Is the Exposome Involved in Brain Disorders through the Serotoninergic System?

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is a biogenic monoamine acting as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS), local mediator in the gut, and vasoactive agent in the blood. It has been linked to a variety of CNS functions and is implicated in many CNS and psychiatric disorders. The high comorbidity between some neuropathies can be partially understood by the fact that these diseases share a common etiology involving the serotoninergic system.

Brain Disorders and Chemical Pollutants: A Gap Junction Link?

The incidence of brain pathologies has increased during last decades. Better diagnosis (autism spectrum disorders) and longer life expectancy (Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease) partly explain this increase, while emerging data suggest pollutant exposures as a possible but still underestimated cause of major brain disorders. Taking into account that the brain parenchyma is rich in gap junctions and that most pollutants inhibit their function; brain disorders might be the consequence of gap-junctional alterations due to long-term exposures to pollutants.

Involvement of the Gap Junction Protein, Connexin43, in the Formation and Function of Invadopodia in the Human U251 Glioblastoma Cell Line.

The resistance of glioblastomas to treatments is mainly the consequence of their invasive capacities. Therefore, in order to better treat these tumors, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms which are responsible for this behavior. Previous work suggested that gap junction proteins, the connexins, facilitate the aggressive nature of glioma cells.

Direct Intercellular Communications and Cancer: A Snapshot of the Biological Roles of Connexins in Prostate Cancer.

Tissue homeostasis is the result of a complex intercellular network controlling the behavior of every cell for the survival of the whole organism. In mammalian tissues, cells do communicate via diverse long- and short-range communication mechanisms. While long-range communication involves hormones through blood circulation and neural transmission, short-range communication mechanisms include either paracrine diffusible factors or direct interactions (e.

Cx43-Associated Secretome and Interactome Reveal Synergistic Mechanisms for Glioma Migration and MMP3 Activation.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, degradation and glioma cell motility are critical aspects of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Despite being a rich source of potential biomarkers and targets for therapeutic advance, the dynamic changes occurring within the extracellular environment that are specific to GBM motility have yet to be fully resolved. The gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) increases glioma migration and invasion in a variety of and models.

Connexins in cancer: bridging the gap to the clinic.

Gap junctions comprise arrays of intercellular channels formed by connexin proteins and provide for the direct communication between adjacent cells. This type of intercellular communication permits the coordination of cellular activities and plays key roles in the control of cell growth and differentiation and in the maintenance of tissue homoeostasis. After more than 50 years, deciphering the links among connexins, gap junctions and cancer, researchers are now beginning to translate this knowledge to the clinic.

Serotonin and human cancer: A critical view.

Besides its classical functions as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, local mediator in the gastrointestinal tract and vasoactive agent in the blood, serotonin has more recently emerged as a growth factor for human tumor cells of different origins (carcinomas, glioma and carcinoids). Several data are also available on serotonin involvement in cancer cell migration, metastatic dissemination and tumor angiogenesis. The serotonin-induced signaling pathways that promote tumor progression are complex and only partly understood in some cancer types.

Pannexin-1 in Human Lymphatic Endothelial Cells Regulates Lymphangiogenesis.

The molecular mechanisms governing the formation of lymphatic vasculature are not yet well understood. Pannexins are transmembrane proteins that form channels which allow for diffusion of ions and small molecules (<1 kDa) between the extracellular space and the cytosol. The expression and function of pannexins in blood vessels have been studied in the last few decades.

Connexins and Pannexins: Important Players in Tumorigenesis, Metastasis and Potential Therapeutics.

Since their characterization more than five decades ago, gap junctions and their structural proteins-the connexins-have been associated with cancer cell growth. During that period, the accumulation of data and molecular knowledge about this association revealed an apparent contradictory relationship between them and cancer. It appeared that if gap junctions or connexins can down regulate cancer cell growth they can be also implied in the migration, invasion and metastatic dissemination of cancer cells.

Targeting Gap Junctions: New Insights into the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a multifactorial chronic and debilitating mood disease with high lifetime prevalence and associated with excess mortality. Treatments for this disease are not effective in all patients showing the need to find new therapeutic targets.

Objective: This review aims to update our knowledge on the involvement of astroglial gap junctions and hemichannels in MDD and to show how they have become potential targets for the treatment of this pathology.

Gestational and lactational exposure to dichlorinated bisphenol A induces early alterations of hepatic lipid composition in mice.

Objective: Using non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR) techniques and a histological approach, we assessed the outcomes of perinatal exposure at a low dose of 3,3'-DCBPA (2-chloro-4-[1-(3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]phenol) and/or 3,5-DCBPA (2,6-dichloro-4-[1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl]phenol) on mice livers.

Materials And Methods: Fertilized female Swiss mice were injected intraperitoneally during gestation and lactation with either vehicle control, 20 μg/kg/day of BPA, 3,5-DCBPA, 3,3'-DCBPA or a mixture (mix-DCBPA). Complementary methods were used to evaluate, in male and female pups, (1) liver structure by texture analysis of images obtained through MR imaging (MRI) and histology, (2) hepatic lipid composition through in vivo H MR spectroscopy (H MRS).

Connexin43- and Pannexin-Based Channels in Neuroinflammation and Cerebral Neuropathies.

Connexins (Cx) are largely represented in the central nervous system (CNS) with 11 Cx isoforms forming intercellular channels. Moreover, in the CNS, Cx43 can form hemichannels (HCs) at non-junctional membrane as does the related channel-forming Pannexin1 (Panx1) and Panx2. Opening of Panx1 channels and Cx43 HCs appears to be involved in inflammation and has been documented in various CNS pathologies.

Connexins, important players in the dissemination of prostate cancer cells.

Over the past 50years, increasing experimental evidences have established that connexins (Cxs) and gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) ensure an important role in both the onset and development of cancerous processes. In the present review, we focus on the impact of Cxs and GJIC during the development of prostate cancer (PCa), from the primary growth mainly localized in acinar glands and ducts to the distant metastasis mainly concentrated in bone. As observed in several other types of solid tumours, Cxs and especially Cx43 exhibit an ambivalent role with a tumour suppressor effect in the early stages and, conversely, a rather pro-tumoural profile for most of invasion and dissemination steps to secondary sites.

An update on minding the gap in cancer.

This article is a report of the "International Colloquium on Gap junctions: 50Years of Impact on Cancer" that was held 8-9 September 2016, at the Amphitheater "Pôle Biologie Santé" of the University of Poitiers (Poitiers, France). The colloquium was organized by M Mesnil (Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France) and C Naus (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the seminal work published in 1966 by Loewenstein and Kanno [Intercellular communication and the control of tissue growth: lack of communication between cancer cells, Nature, 116 (1966) 1248-1249] which initiated studies on the involvement of gap junctions in carcinogenesis. During the colloquium, 15 participants presented reviews or research updates in the field which are summarized below.

The connexin 43 C-terminus: A tail of many tales.

Connexins are chordate gap junction channel proteins that, by enabling direct communication between the cytosols of adjacent cells, create a unique cell signalling network. Gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) has important roles in controlling cell growth and differentiation and in tissue development and homeostasis. Moreover, several non-canonical connexin functions unrelated to GJIC have been discovered.

Gap junctions and cancer: communicating for 50 years.

Fifty years ago, tumour cells were found to lack electrical coupling, leading to the hypothesis that loss of direct intercellular communication is commonly associated with cancer onset and progression. Subsequent studies linked this phenomenon to gap junctions composed of connexin proteins. Although many studies support the notion that connexins are tumour suppressors, recent evidence suggests that, in some tumour types, they may facilitate specific stages of tumour progression through both junctional and non-junctional signalling pathways.

Specific Anti-Leukemic Activity of the Peptide Warnericin RK and Analogues and Visualization of Their Effect on Cancer Cells by Chemical Raman Imaging.

Antimicrobial peptides can be used as therapeutic agents against cancer cells. Warnericin RK and derivatives (WarnG20D and WarnF14V) were tested on various, solid tumor or leukemia, cancer cells. These peptides appeared to be cytotoxic on all the cell types tested, cancerous as well healthy, but very interestingly displayed no deleterious effect on healthy mononuclear cells.