PMR spectra of the lignins ofCystoseira barbata at different ages

The PMR spectra of the dioxane lignins from the brown algaCystoseira have been studied. It has been established that the lignins isolated from specimens ofCystoseira of different ages have different degrees of substitution of the C₃ side chain and differ in their degree of condensation. The most highly condensed is the dioxane lignin of young specimens ofCystoseira (age up to one year) and the least condensed the Björkman lignin ofCystoseira aged more than three years. All the PMR spectra of preparations of the lignin of the alga under investigation contain the signals of protons present in coumaran structures, their amount being the greatest in the lignins of the youngest samples and decreasing with increasing age of the alga.Odessa Institute of Structural Engineering. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 91–94, January–February, 1983.     

The canalicular structure of compact bone in the rat at different ages.

Osteocytes communicate through a canalicular system that maintains the vitality and mineral metabolism of bone. Casting the vascular canals and canaliculi of compact bone with methacrylate and viewing them with scanning electron microscopy shows their extent and relationships. Confocal laser scanning microscopy of the same specimen before corrosion establishes the degree of calcification of the different tissue components. These methods were used to compare basal with alveolar compact bone in the rat mandible at different ages. Sections of the mandibular molar region were placed in a methacrylate resin. After polymerization and study with confocal microscopy, the organic matrix was removed. Juvenile rats had large irregular central vascular canals and lacunae that were more concentric in the basal than the alveolar bone. Cast lacunae were round, and the canaliculi from these lacunae were short and thick in both bones. Adult rats had regular concentrically arranged lacunae in the basal bone. Cast lacunae were ellipsoid and flatter in the basal bone than in the alveolar bone. The intercommunicating canaliculi were increased and canaliculi had more branching than the juvenile rats. The aged rats had fewer vascular canals, lacunae, and canaliculi and had osteoporotic changes. The cast lacunae were slender and flat especially in the basal bone. The porosity of the mandible became more pronounced in the alveolar than in the basal bone with aging. The canaliculi of mandibular compact bone thinned and developed extensive branching with adulthood but decreased in size and number with advanced age. Lacunae proceed from the large circular structures of youth to the flat forms of the aged. These studies show that the internal structure of compact bone changes with age and mirrors its functional state.     

Differential scanning calorimetric examination of the human skeletal muscle in a compartment syndrome of the lower extremities

The compartment syndrome—conditions of elevated intramuscular pressure—is one of the most serious complications of the injuries of the lower extremities. Early diagnosis is important, as delayed treatment leads to significant complications. The diagnosis of compartment syndrome is most commonly made by clinical examination and direct measurement of the intra-compartmental pressure. Our hypothesis was that in different stages of compartment syndrome there is a clear pathological abnormality in the tissue elements of the affected muscles, which is responsible for seriousness of the disease, and could be monitored besides the classical histological methods by differential scanning calorimetry. The thermal denaturation of different parts of human samples was monitored by a SETARAM Micro DSC-II calorimeter. All the experiments were performed between 0 and 100 °C. The heating rate was 0.3 K/min. DSC scans clearly demonstrated significant differences between the different types and conditions of samples (control: T_m = 55.5; 59.9 °C and ΔH_cal = 0.52 J/g, Gr. I.: T_m = 58.1; 62.2 °C and ΔH_cal = 0.28 J/g, Gr. II.: T_m = 57.45; 61.5 °C and ΔH_cal = 0.24 J/g, Volkmann’s ischemic contracture T_m = 57.75; 61.8; 65.8 °C and ΔH_cal = 0.74 J/g). These observations could be explained with the structural alterations caused by the biochemical processes. The heat capacity change between native and denatured states of muscle samples was significant, indicating significant water loosing during denaturation, but independent from the structural alterations.     

Exercise type and muscle fiber specific induction of caveolin-1 expression for insulin sensitivity of skeletal muscle

It is well known that exercise can have beneficial effects on insulin resistance by activation of glucose transporter. Following up our previous report that caveolin-1 plays an important role in glucose uptake in L6 skeletal muscle cells, we examined whether exercise alters the expression of caveolin-1, and whether exercise-caused changes are muscle fiber and exercise type specific. Fifty week-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were trained to climb a ladder and treadmill for 8 weeks and their soleus muscles (SOL) and extensor digitorum longus muscles (EDL) were removed after the last bout of exercise and compared with those from non-exercised animals. We found that the expression of insulin related proteins and caveolins did not change in SOL muscles after exercise. However, in EDL muscles, the expression of insulin receptor beta (IR beta) and glucose transporter-4 (GLUT-4) as well as phosphorylation of AKT and AMPK increased with resistance exercise but not with aerobic exercise. Also, caveolin-1 and caveolin-3 increased along with insulin related proteins only in EDL muscles by resistance exercise. These results suggest that upregulation of caveolin-1 in the skeletal muscle is fiber specific and exercise type specific, implicating the requirement of the specific mode of exercise to improve insulin sensitivity.     

Low-level laser therapy improves skeletal muscle performance, decreases skeletal muscle damage and modulates mRNA expression of COX-1 and COX-2 in a dose-dependent manner

We tested if modulation in mRNA expression of cyclooxygenase isoforms (COX-1 and COX-2) can be related to protective effects of phototherapy in skeletal muscle. Thirty male Wistar rats were divided into five groups receiving either one of four laser doses (0.1, 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0 J) or a no-treatment control group. Laser irradiation (904 nm, 15 mW average power) was performed immediately before the first contraction for treated groups. Electrical stimulation was used to induce six tetanic tibial anterior muscle contractions. Immediately after sixth contraction, blood samples were collected to evaluate creatine kinase activity and muscles were dissected and frozen in liquid nitrogen to evaluate mRNA expression of COX-1 and COX-2. The 1.0 and 3.0 J groups showed significant enhancement (P < 0.01) in total work performed in six tetanic contractions compared with control group. All laser groups, except the 3.0 J group, presented significantly lower post-exercise CK activity than control group. Additionally, 1.0 J group showed increased COX-1 and decreased COX-2 mRNA expression compared with control group and 0.1, 0.3 and 3.0 J laser groups (P < 0.01). We conclude that pre-exercise infrared laser irradiation with dose of 1.0 J enhances skeletal muscle performance and decreases post-exercise skeletal muscle damage and inflammation.     

Differential proteome analysis of tonsils from children with chronic tonsillitis or with hyperplasia reveals disease-associated protein expression differences

A proteomic approach has been used to establish a proteome map and differentiate between the protein composition of tonsils from patients with chronic tonsillitis (CT) and that of tonsils with hyperplasia (HPL). Two-dimensional gel analysis was performed with material from four patients with HPL and five patients with CT. An average of approximately 600 spots were detected in each gel. A total of 127 different proteins were identified in 158 spots analyzed by mass spectrometry. Our study revealed disease-associated differences between protein abundance for two protein spots, an HSP27 isoform and UMP-CMP kinase. Both protein spots were more abundant in the CT group. HSP27 ELISA was performed for 32 patients, 12 belonging to the HPL group and 20 to the CT group. ELISA could not be used to differentiate HSP27 isoforms nor to distinguish CT from HPL. HSP27 was found to migrate to two further protein spots in the 2D gels. The differently expressed HSP27 isoform migrated as the most acidic of all the HSP27 isoforms detected, indicating the highest degree of phosphorylation. The sum of all three HSP27 abundances in the gels from the CT group was not different from that of the HPL group, consistent with the ELISA results. Our results suggest that phosphorylation differences caused the observed migration differences of HSP27. Together with the UMP-CMP kinase abundance differences, we conclude that kinase and/or phosphatase activity are different in CT and HPL. This paper was presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Mass Spectrometry (DGMS) held in March 2005 in Rostock, Germany.     

Effect of phalloidin on the skeletal muscle ADP-actin filaments

The effect of phalloidin on the thermal stability of skeletal actin filaments polymerized from ADP-binding monomers was investigated with the method of differential scanning calorimetry. Phalloidin shifted the melting temperature of the ADP-F-actin from 59.1±1.0 to 80.0±1.2°C. The stabilizing effect of phalloidin propagated cooperatively along the filament. The cooperativity factor according to the applied model was 1.07±0.11. With these measurements it was possible to demonstrate that the binding of phalloidin has lower influence on the adjacent protomers in ADP- (k=1) than in ATP-actin filaments (k=3).     

Purification of rabbit skeletal muscle troponin C

Troponin C binds to phenyl-Sepharose in the presence of Ca2+ and can be eluted with EDTA. This property was used as an essential step in the purification of this protein from rabbit skeletal muscle. Troponin C was extracted with 6M urea from extensively washed ground muscle. The protein was bound to and eluted from DEAE-Sephadex, fractionated by size on Sephadex G75, and in a final step purified from UV-absorbing non-protein impurities on phenyl-Sepharose. The total yield of electrophoretically pure protein was 60 mg per 100 g of muscle, which is considerably higher than that previously obtained.     

Electrophoretic analysis of electrically trained skeletal muscle.

Sheep latissimus dorsi muscle was electrically trained, thereby inducing fast-to-slow fibre-type transformation. Using a combination of one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis techniques with computer analysis, we have analysed altered expression of contractile protein isoforms at protein and mRNA level over a time course of electrical training extending to 5 months. Myosin heavy chain and regulatory myosin light chain analysis showed predominant expression of their slow isoforms (86% and 92%, respectively) after 3 months of training. At the same time point, however, tropomyosin analysis revealed that the slow isoform of the alpha-subunit accounted for 64% of the total alpha expression. Troponin T isoform switching proceeded more slowly over the same time course than tropomyosin and the thick filament proteins studied. Troponin T analysis revealed 5 fast and 2 slow isoforms in the sheep, of which the second slow isoform only became clearly visible after 5 months' training. At this time point the two slow isoforms were more predominant than their fast counterparts. This suggests that a wide heterogeneity of fast and slow isoform combinations are possible in the thin filament of skeletal muscle.     

Quantitative validation of different protein precipitation methods in proteome analysis of blood platelets

For the preparation of proteins for proteome analysis, precipitation is frequently used to concentrate proteins and to remove interfering compounds. Various methods for protein precipitation are applied, which rely on different chemical principles. This study compares the changes in the protein composition of human blood platelet extracts after precipitation with ethanol (EtOH) or trichloroacetic acid (TCA). Both methods yielded the same amount of proteins from the platelet preparations. However, the EtOH-precipitated samples had to be dialyzed because of the considerable salt content. To characterize single platelet proteins, samples were analyzed by two-dimensional fluorescence differential gel electrophoresis. More than 90% of all the spots were equally present in the EtOH- and TCA-precipitated samples. However, both precipitation methods showed a smaller correlation with nonprecipitated samples (EtOH 74.9%, TCA 79.2%). Several proteins were either reduced or relatively enriched in the precipitated samples. The proteins varied randomly in molecular weight and isoelectric point. This study shows that protein precipitation leads to specific changes in the protein composition of proteomics samples. This depends more on the specific structure of the protein than on the precipitating agent used in the experiment.     

Determination of radix ginseng volatile oils at different ages by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Comprehensive 2-D GC (GC x GC) coupled with TOF MS or flame ionization detector (FID) was employed to characterize and quantify the chemical composition of volatile oil in the radixes of Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (ginseng) at different ages. Thirty-six terpenoids were tentatively identified based on the MS library search and retention index in a ginseng sample at the age of 3 years. An obvious group-type separation was obtained in the GC x GC-TOF MS chromatogram. The data collected by GC x GC-FID were processed using a principal component analysis (PCA) method to classify the samples at different ages. The compounds responsible for the significant differentiation among samples were defined. It was found that the relative abundances of alpha-cadinol, alpha-bisabolol, thujopsene, and n-hexadecanoic acid significantly rise with the increase in age.     

Dynamics of Arabidopsis thaliana soluble proteome in response to different nutrient culture conditions

In an effort to determine the best extraction procedure compatible with the high-reproducible 2-DE, different methods of soluble protein extraction from Arabidopsis cell culture suspensions grown in Gamborg B5 medium were tested. A reference 2-DE map was established for this soluble extract revealing 1184 spots. The most abundant protein spots were excised, trypsin-digested, and mass spectra obtained via MALDI-TOF and/or LC coupled to ESI-MS. Three hundred and thirty one proteins were identified and their functions were defined based on sequence comparisons and classified in different protein families. In order to analyze the impact of culture medium on the Arabidopsis proteome, we performed the 2-DE map from Arabidopsis cell suspensions cultured in another growth medium Murashige and Skoog (M-S) and 327 major spots were identified. Using PDQuest imaging analysis, significant increases in the amount of several housekeeping enzymes, stress/defense proteins, and heat shock proteins were found in M-S medium. Modified expression of certain proteins and detection of new isoforms involved in nitrate assimilation, nitrogen, and sulfur metabolism were also observed in the M-S medium. This study provides the first 2-DE maps of the soluble proteome of Arabidopsis cell suspensions. The comparative analysis of the Arabidopsis proteome in respect to different nutrient supplies shows that the culture medium may significantly influence the expression pattern of major soluble proteins in Arabidopsis cells. This work also constitutes an important step for further proteomic analysis concerning cell responses to abiotic or biotic stresses.     

Differential thermoanalytical investigation of Fe(II) salt solutions frozen at different pressures

In the H₂O-FeCl₂ and H₂O-Fe(ClO₄)₂ systems frozen under non-equilibrium conditions the nearly eutectic solution is supercooled, and then solidifies in a glassy form. The temperatures of the glass-to-supercooled liquid transition and of the crystallization of the quasi-eutectics, as well as some points of the solidus and liquidus curves were measured by the DTA method. The results are in good agreement with the changes in the Mössbauer spectra of these solutions.

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Zusammenfassung Ein unter Nicht-Gleichgewichtsverhältnissen gefrorenes System aus H₂O-FeCl₂ bzw. H₂O-Fe(ClO₄)₂ wurde unterkühlt. Die beinahe eutektische Lösung verfestigt sich zu einer glasartigen Form. Die Temperaturen der Übergänge vom Glas in unterkühlte Flüssigkeit und der Kristallisation der quasi-eutektischen Gemische sowie gewisse Punkte der Solidus- und Liquidus-Kurven wurden differentialthermoanalytisch gemessen. Die Ergebnisse waren in guter Übereinstimmung mit den in den Mössbauer-Spektren beobachteten Änderungen dieser Lösungen.

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Résumé Après congélation des systèmes H₂O-FeCl₂ et H₂O-Fe(ClO₄)₂ dans des conditions de non-équilibre, la solution approximativement eutectique formée est surfondue et se solidifie à l'état vitreux. On a déterminé par ATD la température de la transition de l'état vitreux au liquide surfondu et celle de la cristallisation de la solution presque eutectique ainsi que quelques points du solidus et du liquidus. Les résultats sont en bon accord avec les changements observés sur les spectres Mössbauer de ces solutions.

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H₂O-FeCl₂ H₂O-Fe(ClO₄)₂, , . . .

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The authors are indebted to Dr. L. Keszthelyi for his extensive support, and to Mr. I. Klim, Mr. B. Molnár and Mr. T. Grünstein for their assistance in the measurements.     

Differential thermoanalytical investigation of Fe(II) salt solutions frozen at different pressures

Phase transitions of pure water and aqueous Fe(II) perchlorate solutions, frozen between 1 and 5 kbar were detected by the DTA method at atmospheric pressure. Only the crystal structure of the primarily formed ice varies with the pressure, while water molecules remaining in the near eutectic solution — which solidifies into a glassy state — show no sensitivity towards pressure.

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Zusammenfassung Phasenübergänge von reinem Wasser und zwischen 1 und 5 kbar gefrorenen wäßrigen Eisen(II)perchlorat Lösungen wurden durch DTA bei atmosphärischem Druck nachgewiesen. Nur die Kristallstruktur des primär segregierenden Eises wird durch den Druck beeinflußt. Die in der beinahe eutektischen Lösung zurückbleibenden Wassermoleküle, die in einem glasartigen Zustand erstarren, scheinen nicht druckempfindlich zu sein.

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Résumé Mise en évidence par ATD à la pression atmosphérique des transitions de phase de l'eau pure et de solutions aqueuses de perchlorate de fer(II) préalablement congelées sous une pression allant de 1 à 5 kbar. Seule la structure cristalline de la phase qui se dépose la première dépend de la pression. Par contre, les molécules qui restent dans la solution presque eutectique — qui se solidifie à l'état vitreux — ne sont pas sensibles à la pression.

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, 1 5 . , , , , .

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The authors are indebted to Dr. L. Keszthelyi for his extensive help and to Mr. I. Klim. Mr. B. Molnár and Mr. T. Grünstein for their assistance in the measurements.     

Calsequestrin: a well-known but curious protein in skeletal muscle

Calsequestrin (CASQ) was discovered in rabbit skeletal muscle tissues in 1971 and has been considered simply a passive Ca²⁺-buffering protein in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) that provides Ca²⁺ ions for various Ca²⁺ signals. For the past three decades, physiologists, biochemists, and structural biologists have examined the roles of the skeletal muscle type of CASQ (CASQ1) in skeletal muscle and revealed that CASQ1 has various important functions as (1) a major Ca²⁺-buffering protein to maintain the SR with a suitable amount of Ca²⁺ at each moment, (2) a dynamic Ca²⁺ sensor in the SR that regulates Ca²⁺ release from the SR to the cytosol, (3) a structural regulator for the proper formation of terminal cisternae, (4) a reverse-directional regulator of extracellular Ca²⁺ entries, and (5) a cause of human skeletal muscle diseases. This review is focused on understanding these functions of CASQ1 in the physiological or pathophysiological status of skeletal muscle.Subject terms: Physiology, Calcium and vitamin D, Diseases     

Expression of aquaporin-5 and its regulation in skeletal muscle cells

The aquaporins constitute a family of homologous intrinsic membrane proteins that function as highly selective water channels and are highly expressed in tissues where rapid water movement across the cell membrane is required. Molecular mechanism of water transport through the plasma membrane of skeletal muscle is still not clear. This study was designed to identify aquaporin subtypes and their expression regulation in C2C12 cells, a mouse myoblastic cell line. RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis revealed that C2C12 cells express AQP5. AQP5 expression was increased by induction of C2C12 differentiation. Exposure of C2C12 cells to hypertonic solutions induced an increase in AQP5 expression and p38 kinase activation. However, a p38 kinase inhibitor failed to inhibit hyperosmolar induction of AQP5 expression in C2C12 cells. These data indicate that skeletal muscle cells express AQP5 protein and its expression is regulated by differentiation and hypertonic stress.