Immunotoxic effects of cis-urocanic acid exposure in C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation results in increased levels of intradermal cis-urocanic acid (cUCA) and alters cutaneous immunity by interfering with processing and presentation of antigen by Langerhans cells. Reports on effects of systemic immunotoxicity with 30 day cUCA exposure in laboratory rodents include thymic atrophy, thymic hypocellularity and decreased T-cell-mediated immunity; however, immune effects of single exposure or 5 day cUCA administration, which may better mimic human exposures, are poorly defined. The present study initially evaluated immune effects of single, 5 day, and 4 week cUCA exposure in C57BL/6N mice. Single administration of intradermal cUCA resulted in decreased splenocyte phagocytosis that persisted for 30 days after cUCA exposure. Five day consecutive cUCA exposure decreased numbers of phenotypically mature CD4(+)CD8(-) and CD4(-)CD8(+) (single positive) thymocytes, increased CD4(+)CD8(+) (double positive) immature thymocytes and increased splenocyte proliferation. Prolonged cUCA exposure (4 weeks) caused profound thymic hypocellularity and splenic hypercellularity and increased splenic macrophage chemiluminescence. Because of this apparent sensitivity of C57BL/6N mice to cUCA, thymic hypocellularity was compared between C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice dosed with cUCA, and was found to be more pronounced in the C57BL/6N strain. These results are an extension of previous conclusions on immune modulation caused by cUCA in the spleen and thymus. Further, the observed variation in sensitivity between the mouse strains is consistent with known genetic susceptibility of these strains to the immunomodulatory effects of exposure to sunlight.     

Mikrobestimmung von Kohlenstoff und Wasserstoff

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Combined dermal exposure to permethrin and cis-urocanic acid suppresses the contact hypersensitivity response in C57BL/6N mice in an additive manner

Cutaneous exposure to the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin significantly suppresses contact hypersensitivity (CH) response to oxazolone in C57BL/6N mice. Additionally, cis-urocanic acid (cUCA), an endogenous cutaneous chromophore isomerized to its active form following exposure to ultraviolet radiation, modulates cell-mediated cutaneous immune responses. This study describes cutaneous immune alterations following combined topical permethrin and intradermal cUCA exposure. Female C57BL/6N mice were administered 5, 50 or 100 microg cUCA daily for 5 consecutive days. CH was then evaluated by the mouse ear swelling test (MEST) response to oxazolone. Decreased responses of 52.3%, 76.3% and 76.3%, respectively, as compared to controls were observed. Then, mice were co-exposed to 5 microg cUCA daily for 5 days and 1.5, 5, 15, or 25 microL permethrin, on either day 1, 3 or 5 of the cUCA treatment to evaluate combined immunomodulatory effects of the two chemicals, or cUCA daily for 5 days followed by permethrin on day 3, 5, or 7 after the last cUCA injection to demonstrate prolonged immunosuppressive effects. Two days after final treatment, mice were sensitized with oxazolone and MEST was performed. Mice receiving five cUCA injections and permethrin topically on cUCA injection day 1 showed up to 93.3% suppression of MEST compared to vehicle control. CH was suppressed by 87.5%, 86.6% and 74.2% in mice treated with 25 muL permethrin on days 3, 5 and 7 after cUCA, respectively, compared to vehicle control. Taken together, these data indicate co-exposure to cUCA and permethrin profoundly suppresses cell-mediated cutaneous immunity.     

Defects in room-temperature ferromagnetic Cu-doped ZnO films probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

We report a comprehensive study of the defects in room-temperature ferromagnetic (RTFM) Cu-doped ZnO thin films using x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The films are doped with 2 at.% Cu, and are prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering (RMS) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD), respectively. The results reveal unambiguously that atomic point defects exist in these RTFM thin films. The valence states of the Cu ions in both films are 2(+). In the film prepared by PLD, the oxygen vacancies (V(O)) form around both Zn ions and Cu ions in the hexagonal wurtzite structure. Upon annealing of the film in O(2), the V(O) population reduces and so does the RTFM. In the film prepared by RMS, the V(O)s around Cu ions are not detected, and the V(O) population around Zn ions is also smaller than in the PLD-prepared film. However, zinc vacancies (V(Zn)) are evidenced. Given the low doping level of spin-carrying Cu ions, these results provide strong support for defect-mediated ferromagnetism in Cu-doped ZnO thin films.     

Soil penetration measurements supporting the design of an impact boring tool

Experimental Techniques - The hardware, transducers, and data acquisition system used for these tests performed quite well. Our experimental and simulation results show good agreement, and...     

Radial transport and electron-cyclotron-current drive in the TCV and DIII-D tokamaks

Calculation of electron-cyclotron-current drive (ECCD) with the comprehensive CQL3D Fokker-Planck code for a TCV tokamak shot gives 550 kA of driven toroidal current, in marked disagreement with the 100-kA experimental value. Published ECCD efficiencies calculated with CQL3D in the much larger, higher-confinement DIII-D tokamak are in excellent agreement with experiment. The disagreement is resolved by including in the calculations electrostatic-type radial transport at levels given by global energy confinement in tokamaks. The radial transport of energy and toroidal current are in agreement.     

Welding dynamics in an atomistic model of an amorphous polymer blend with polymer–polymer interface

We consider an atomistic model of thermal welding at the polymer-polymer interface of a polyetherimide/polycarbonate blend, motivated by applications to 3D manufacturing in space. We follow diffusion of semiflexible chains at the interface and analyze strengthening of the samples as a function of the welding time t_w by simulating the strain–stress and shear viscosity curves. The time scales for initial wetting, and for fast and slow diffusion, are revealed. It is shown that each component of the polymer blend has its own characteristic time of slow diffusion at the interface. Analysis of strain–stress demonstrates saturation of the Young's modulus at t_w = 240 ns, while the tensile strength continues to increase. The shear viscosity is found to have a very weak dependence on the welding time for t_w > 60 ns. It is shown that both strain–stress and shear viscosity curves agree with experimental data.