Stochastic bi-resonance induced by external noise for Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript> signaling in hepatocytes

The influence of external noise on intracellular Ca²⁺ oscillations dynamics in a single cell of rat hepatocytes is studied. The coherence of noise-induced intracellular Ca²⁺ oscillations reached two maxima for multiple external noise intensity, indicating the occurrence of external noise stochastic bi-resonance (SBR). This phenomenon is compared with our previous result that was induced by internal noise. Additionally, the deterministic bifurcation character of the system was also discussed.     

Cell-permeant small-molecule modulators of NAADP-mediated Ca2+ release

Nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP, 1) is the most potent intracellular Ca2+ mobilizing agent in important mammalian cells and tissues, yet the identity of the NAADP receptor is elusive. Significantly, the coenzyme NADP is completely inactive in this respect. Current studies are restricted by the paucity of any chemical probes beyond NAADP itself, and importantly, none is cell permeant. We report simple nicotinic acid-derived pyridinium analogs as low molecular weight compounds that (1) inhibit Ca2+ release via the NAADP receptor (IC50 approximately 15 microM - 1 mM), (2) compete with NAADP binding, (3) cross the cell membrane of sea urchin eggs to inhibit NAADP-evoked Ca2+ release, and (4) selectively ablate NAADP-dependent Ca2+ oscillations induced by the external gastric peptide hormone agonist cholecystokinin (CCK) in murine pancreatic acinar cells.     

Enhancement of stochastic oscillations by colored noise or internal noise in NO reduction by CO on small platinum surfaces

In this paper, based on the stochastic model of NO reduction by CO on Pt crystal surfaces and taking Gaussian colored noise as external fluctuations of the NO partial pressure, we study the effect of the colored noise on the internal noise-induced stochastic oscillations (INSOs) and the effect of internal noise on the colored noise-induced stochastic oscillations (CNSOs). It is found that the INSO can be enhanced by the colored noise with appropriate correlation time or noise strength and, interestingly, the CNSO can be enhanced by the internal noise as well and, moreover, the enhanced CNSO can reach the best oscillatory states repetitively via proper internal noises. This effect of the internal noise is different from its effect on the stochastic oscillations induced by the external Gaussian white noise, which probably results from the interaction of the correlated colored noise and the internal noise.     

随机的长程关联对耦合细胞体系中钙信号传导的作用

The effect of random long-range connections（shortcuts）on Ca2 + signal propagation in the coupled cell chain is investigated by using the Euler method. It is found when the first cell is subjected to the external stimuli,the firing activity is triggered and then its neighboring cells excited,then the Ca2 + signal may propagate along the chain helped by the shortcuts,indicating the shortcuts can enhance intercellular Ca2 + signal propagations significantly. In addition,it is also found that there is an optimal level of randomness where the shortcuts can enhance the regularity of Ca2 + oscillations in the whole system. These results suggest that shortcuts among the cells may play a constructive role in helping the cell information propagating.     

Internal noise stochastic resonance in CO oxidation on nm-sized palladium particles

The constructive roles of noise and disorder in nonlinear system have been extensively studied in the last two decades. Among them the most well known phenomenon is stochastic resonance[1], which demon-strates that noise can help a nonlinear system to det…     

钙离子体系中隐式和显式内随机共振

近年来, 细胞内钙离子信号及其产生机理已成为研究热点之一, 这是因为钙离子信号能控制细胞的生死、 传递细胞间的信息、 提高基因表达的有效性和特殊性[^1~3]. 在钙离子信号传递过程中, 受环境扰动是不可避免的. Shuai等^[4]发现噪音能够控制钙离子通道中钙离子的释放. 在过去的十年中, 无论是物理、 化学还是生物体系^[5~10]的噪音效应已被广泛研究, 其中包括对随机共振(SR)的研究^[5], 经典SR是环境噪音能够放大弱的外加信号. 但随着研究的深入, 发现有无噪音SR^[11]和内SR(ISR) ^[6]. ISR的内信号来自噪音诱导的内信号, 这种SR现象叫隐式内SR(IISR). 而我们则发现了另外一种内SR, 即显式内SR(EISR) ^[12], 它的内信号是体系固有的内信号, 而不是由噪音诱导的. 本文主要研究加入外信号将对IISR和EISR产生的影响.     

Modification of intracellular Ca2+ dynamics by laser inactivation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor using membrane-permeant probes

A membrane-permeant malachite green-conjugated IP3 analog (MGIP3/PM) was synthesized as a probe for small molecule-based CALI (smCALI), and its effect on the Ca2+ signaling in intact DT40 chicken B cells was examined. In DT40 B cells treated with the smCALI probe, laser irradiation inhibited IP3-induced Ca2+ oscillations in response to B cell receptor stimulation, demonstrating that IP3R was acutely inactivated. We then applied smCALI to clarify the mechanism of capacitative Ca2+ entry (CCE), in which involvement of IP3R has been suggested. Despite the inactivation of IP3R by smCALI, thapsigargin-induced CCE remained unaffected, providing evidence that functional IP3R is not required for CCE in DT40 cells. These results demonstrate the potency of the smCALI technique for the study of the roles of IP3R in complex intracellular Ca2+ dynamics.     

Colored noise-enhanced intrinsic stochastic oscillations in CO oxidation on nanometer-sized Pd particles

How colored Gaussian noise (CN) affects the intrinsic stochastic oscillations (ISO) of CO oxidation on a nm-sized Pd particle is studied. It is found that the optimal ISO can be enhanced not only by a CN with appropriate noise intensity, but by a CN with appropriate correlation times. Moreover, the optimal ISO can be most greatly enhanced by the CN when the noise intensity or the correlation time is optimal. This result shows that external noise may, via its interplay with the internal noise of the system, play a constructive role in the ISO of the system, and the ISO can employ the external noise to reach a best oscillation performance. Supported by the Science Foundation of Ludong University (23140301, L20072805)     

细胞体系中内噪声对弱信号检测的积极作用

在小尺度的生物化学反应体系中内噪声是普遍存在的,本文采用化学Langevin方程研究了细胞体系中内噪声对弱信号检测的作用. 研究发现, 在Hopf分岔点附近, 当弱信号非常小以至于不能独立地激发细胞内的钙尖峰振荡时, 内噪声能够帮助细胞内的钙振荡信号越过一个域值, 并且在一个最佳的内噪声强度下, 内噪声、内噪声诱导的钙振荡和弱信号之间会产生共振现象, 由此极大地增强了细胞体系对弱信号的检测能力. 由于内噪声是通过细胞尺度变化而改变的, 因此这种现象也说明了在对弱信号检测行为中最佳细胞尺度的存在. 研究还发现最佳的细胞尺度与真正的细胞体积是相吻合的, 并且基本不随外界刺激的改变而改变, 这具有重要的生物学意义.     

Internal noise stochastic resonance in NO reduction by CO on platinum surfaces

We have studied the roles of internal noise in the oscillatory reaction kinetics during NO reduction by CO on low-index single crystal platinum surfaces using the chemical Langevin equation and the Poisson approximation algorithm. Considering that the surface is divided into small well-mixed cells, we have focused on the dynamical behavior inside a single cell. It is found that internal noise can induce rate oscillations and the performance of the stochastic rate oscillations undergoes a maximum with the variation of internal noise level for a given NO partial pressure, demonstrating the occurrence of internal noise stochastic resonance. Such a phenomenon is robust to the change of external parameters, such as NO pressures. Interestingly, it is also found that internal noise noticeably alters the oscillatory waveform and, hence, the reaction activity and oscillation signal intensity, but it nearly does not change the global reaction rate.     

Constructive Role of Internal Noise for the Detection of Weak Signal in Cell System

Taking into account the existence of internal noise in small scale biochemical reaction systems, we studied how the internal noise would influence the detection of weak external signal in the cell system using chemical Langevin equation. The weak signal was too small to, separately, fire calcium spikes for the cell. We found that, near the Hopf bifurcation point, the internal noise could help the calcium oscillation signal cross a threshold value, and at an optimal internal noise level, a resonance occurred among the internal noise, the internal noise-induced calcium oscillations, and the weak signal, so as to enhance intensively the ability of the cell system to detect the weak signal. Since the internal noise was changed via the cell size, this phenomenon demonstrated the existence of an optimal cell size for the signal detection. Interestingly, it was found that the optimal size matched well with the real cell size, which was robust to external stimulus, this was of significant biological meaning.     

Coherent Resonance for Rate Oscillations During CO Oxidation on Pt(110) Surfaces: Interplay Between Internal and External Noise

Effects of noise on rate oscillations during CO oxidation on Pt(110) surface were investigated, both theo-retically and numerically, by focusing on the interplay of internal noise (IN) due to stochasticity in reaction events, and external noise (EN) resulting from parameter perturbation. The surface is divided into cells of variable size which are assumed to be well mixed, and we consider the behavior inside a single cell. At-tention is paid to parameter regions subthreshold of the deterministic Hopf bifurcation, where noise can induce stochastic oscillations, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of which shows a maximum with the variation of noise intensity, known as coherent resonance (CR). By stochastic normal theory, we show that IN and EN contribute in a weighted additive way to an effective noise that lead to CR, such that SNR shows a ridge shape in the D-1/N plane, where D and 1/N measures the strength of EN and IN, respectively. It is shown that for too large IN (EN), CR behavior with EN (IN) no longer exists. Numerical simulations show good agreements with the theoretical results     

耦合生物细胞体系中内噪声对检测弱刺激的积极作用

By constructing a mesoscopic stochastic model for intracellular calcium oscillations in coupled cell system, we investigated the influence of internal noise on the detection of weak stimulation using the chemical Langevin equation (CLE). We found that an optimal cell size V existed for a coupled cell chain length N and an optimal value of N existed for a given cell size V. At these values, the collective calcium oscillations showed the best performance, indicating the occurrence of“system size resonance (SSR)”or“internal noise stochastic resonance (INSR)”. And such a phenomenon was robust to the coupling strength. Living cells may have learned to exploit the internal noise to detect weak stimulation via the mechanism of INSR, and then encode information to specifically regulate distinct cellular functions. It is interesting to note that the optimal cell size is always present at V抑103 μm3, which is close to the real living cell size in vivo. Since the internal noise in living systems can not be ignored and the systems may often encounter weak stimulations, our findings might have significance for stimulation detecting processes in living systems.     

Na+-Ca2+ exchanger modulates Ca2+ content in intracellular Ca2+ stores in rat osteoblasts

Na+-Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) transports Ca2+ coupled with Na+ across the plasma membrane in a bi-directional mode. Ca2+ flux via NCX mediates osteogenic processes, such as formation of extracellular matrix proteins and bone nodules. However, it is not clearly understood how the NCX regulates cellular Ca2+ movements in osteogenic processes. In this study, the role of NCX in modulating Ca2+ content of intracellular stores ([Ca2+]ER) was investigated by measuring intracellular Ca2+ activity in isolated rat osteoblasts. Removal of extracellular Na+ elicited a transient increase of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i). Pretreatment of antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (AS) against NCX depressed this transient Ca2+ rise and raised the basal level of [Ca2+]i. In AS-pretreated cells, the expression and activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), an osteogenic marker, were decreased. However, the cell viability was not affected by AS-pretreatment. Suppression of NCX activity by the AS-pretreatment decreased ATP-activated Ca2+ release from intracellular stores and significantly enhanced Ca2+ influx via store operated calcium influx (SOCI), compared to those of S-pretreated or control cells. These results strongly suggest that NCX has a regulatory role in cellular Ca2+ pathways in osteoblasts by modulating intracellular Ca2+ content.     

Generation of dynamic chemical signals with pulse code modulators

The on-chip generation of dynamic chemical signals in a flow stream via pulse code modulation (PCM) is demonstrated. In this chip the output signal concentration is determined by dispersion and averaging of a serial stream of digitally encoded plugs of concentrated solute and pure solvent as the plugs flow through a long dispersive capillary. A two-bit PCM chemical signal generator was fabricated in two-level PDMS technology. The chip was capable of generating 31 distinct output levels with 10-plug cycles. Several example chemical waveforms (sawtooth and cosine) were generated at flow rates of 43.2 nL s(-1), and plug frequencies of up to 15 Hz, with maximum output signal bandwidth of up to about 1 Hz. The modulator chip was also used to synthesize physiological signals emulating intracellular beta-cell cytosolic Ca(2+) oscillations, extracellular beta-cell insulin release and rat-striatum dopamine release.     

Doxorubicin-induced reactive oxygen species generation and intracellular Ca2+ increase are reciprocally modulated in rat cardiomyocytes

Doxorubicin (DOX) is one of the most potent anticancer drugs and induces acute cardiac arrhythmias and chronic cumulative cardiomyopathy. Though DOX-induced cardiotoxicity is known to be caused mainly by ROS generation, a disturbance of Ca2+ homeostasis is also implicated one of the cardiotoxic mechanisms. In this study, a molecular basis of DOX-induced modulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was investigated. Treatment of adult rat cardiomyocytes with DOX increased [Ca2+]i irrespectively of extracellular Ca2+, indicating DOX-mediated Ca2+ release from intracellular Ca2+ stores. The DOX-induced Ca2+ increase was slowly processed and sustained. The Ca2+ increase was inhibited by pretreatment with a sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ channel blocker, ryanodine or dantrolene, and an antioxidant, alpha-lipoic acid or alpha-tocopherol. DOX-induced ROS generation was observed immediately after DOX treatment and increased in a time-dependent manner. The ROS production was significantly reduced by the pretreatment of the SR Ca2+ channel blockers and the antioxidants. Moreover, DOX-mediated activation of caspase-3 was significantly inhibited by the Ca2+ channel blockers and a-lipoic acid but not a-tocopherol. In addition, cotreatment of ryanodine with alpha-lipoic acid resulted in further inhibition of the casapse-3 activity. These results demonstrate that DOX-mediated ROS opens ryanodine receptor, resulting in an increase in [Ca2+]i and that the increased [Ca2+]i induces ROS production. These observations also suggest that DOX/ROS-induced increase of [Ca2+]i plays a critical role in damage of cardiomyocytes.     

Inhibition of superoxide generation and of increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration by zinc in rat neutrophils stimulated with zymosan

The effect of Zn2+ on the O2- generation and change in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) of rat peritoneal neutrophils was studied. Zymosan (serum-treated zymosan (STZ))-induced O2- generation was inhibited by Zn2+ at concentrations as low as 10 microM. A large amount of the inhibition was observed in the absence of extracellular Ca2+ but the inhibition could not be restored by increasing the extracellular Ca2+ concentration, indicating that Zn2+ does not necessarily inhibit the O2- generation competitively with extracellular Ca2+. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, Zn2+ inhibited STZ-induced transient increase in [Ca2+]i in the concentration range that evoked a marked inhibition in the O2- generation. On the other hand, Zn2+ did not inhibit significantly STZ-induced uptake of 45Ca2+ from extracellular medium by the cells. From these results, it is suggested that Zn2+ inhibits STZ-induced release of Ca2+ from intracellular storage sites, resulting in the suppression of the activation mechanism of neutrophils.     

Development of intracellular calcium measurement by time-resolved photon-counting fluorescence

Calcium green I, a ratiometric probe based on fluorescence lifetime measurements, was used to monitor intracellular calcium activity ([Ca2+]i) in RINm5F cells using a time-resolved fluorescence confocal microscope. The probe affinity constant has been recalibrated in single cells using ionomycin as a calcium ionophore and ethylenebis(oxyethylenenitrilo)tetraacetic acid as a calcium buffer; Kd was found to equal 150 nmol/L. The kinetics of ionomycin equilibration showed that the calcium release from calcium stores occurs before equilibration with extracellular calcium. The response to the muscarinic agonist carbachol, measured on 17 cells receiving three consecutive applications was characterized both by a [Ca2+]i peak lasting 50 s without any trailing plateau and by desensitization with a 30% decrease in the response. The dose-dependent response was obtained for a carbachol concentration from 5 mumol/L to 0.5 mmol/L. The ability of our set-up to obtain a value every 10 ms enabled us to record asynchronous spikes of [Ca2+]i in the RINm5F cells. The spikes, lasting less than 1 s, are significantly bigger than the noise, and they are not observed in the colonic HT29 cells.     

Characterization of intracellular calcium oscillations induced by extracellular nucleotides in HEp-2 cells

The effect of extracellular nucleotides on the cytosolic calcium concentration of fluo-3-loaded HEp-2 cells was examined using confocal microscopy. Extracellular ATP and UTP at micromolar concentration induced cytosolic calcium oscillations in 42-66% of the cells. Oscillations were usually sinusoid and their frequency depended only slightly on agonist concentration. Oscillations developed in calcium-free medium but were diminished by depletion of intracellular calcium stores with thapsigargin, indicating periodic calcium release from internal stores. Inhibition of phospholipase C with U73122 prevented the development of oscillations, while ryanodine did not abolish the response to extracellular nucleotides. Activation of protein kinase C with 4beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate also prevented the development of oscillations. These results indicate that extracellular nucleotides induce periodic calcium release from inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-sensitive pools in HEp-2 cells and that the inhibitory effect of protein kinase C on the phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway can contribute to the development of intracellular calcium oscillations.