Symmetrical adhesion of two cylindrical colloids to a tubular membrane

With the full treatment of the Helfrich model we theoretically study the symmetrical adhesion of two cylindrical colloids to a tubular membrane. The adhesion of the rigid cylinders with different radius from the membrane tube surface can produce both shallow wrapping with relatively small wrapping angle and deep wrapping with big wrapping angle. These significant structural behaviors can be obtained by analyzing the system energy. A second order adhesion transition from the desorbed to weakly adhered states is found, and a first order phase transition where the cylindrical colloids undergo an abrupt transition from weakly adhered to strongly adhered states can be obtained as well.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor protects retinal ganglion cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction

AIM： To investigate the potential of pigment epitheliumderived factor（PEDF） to protect the immortalized rat retinal ganglion cells-5（RGC-5） exposed to Co Cl2-induced chemical hypoxia. METHODS： After being differentiated with staurosporine（SS）, RGC-5 cells were cultured in four conditions： control group cells cultured in Dulbecco ＇s modified eagle medium（DMEM） supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 μmol/m L streptomycin and penicillin（named as normal conditions）; hypoxia group cells cultured in DMEM containing 300 μmol/m L Co Cl2; cells in the group protected by PEDF were first pretreated with 100 ng/m L PEDF for 2h and then cultured in the same condition as hypoxia group cells; and PEDF group cells that were cultured in the presence of 100 ng/m L PEDF under normal conditions. The cell viability was assessed by MTT assay, the percentage of apoptotic cells was quantified using Annexin V-FITC apoptosis kit, and intra-cellar reactive oxygen species（ROS） was measured by dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate（DCFH-DA） probe. The mitochondria-mediated apoptosis was also examined to further study the underlying mechanism of the protective effect of PEDF. The opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pores（m PTPs） and membrane potential（Δψm） were tested as cellular adenosine triphosphate（ATP） level and glutathione（GSH）. Also, the expression and distribution of Cyt C and apoptosis inducing factor（AIF） were observed.RESULTS： SS induced differentiation of RGC-5 cells resulting in elongation of their neurites and establishing contacts between outgrowths. Exposure to 300 μmol/m L Co Cl2 triggered death of 30% of the total cells in cultures within 24 h. At the same time, pretreatment with 100 ng/m L PEDF significantly suppressed the cell death induced by hypoxia（P〈0.05）. The apoptosis induced by treatment of Co Cl2 was that induced cell death accompanied with increasing intracellar ROS and decreasing GSH and ATP level. PEDF pretreatment suppressed these effects（P〈0.05）. Additionally, PEDF treatment inhibited the opening of m PTPs and suppressed decreasing of Δψm in RGC-5 cells, resulting in blocking of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.CONCLUSION： Pretreatment of RGC-5 cells with 100 ng/m L PEDF significantly decreases the extent of apoptosis. PEDF inhibits the opening of m PTPs and suppresses decreasing of Δψm. Moreover, PEDF also reduces ROS production and inhibits cellular ATP level＇s reduction. Cyt C and AIF activation in PEDF-pretreated cultures are also reduced. These results demonstrate the potential for PEDF to protect RGCs against hypoxic damage in vitro by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction.

Macroscopic Self-Organized Electrochemical Patterns in Excitable Tissue and Irreversible Thermodynamics

In this paper we make the assertion that the key to understand the emergent properties of excitable tissue (brain and heart) lies in the application of irreversible thermodynamics. We support this assertion by pointing out where symmetry break, phase transitions both in structure of membranes as well as in the dynamic of interactions between membranes occur in excitable tissue and how they create emergent low dimensional electrochemical patterns. These patterns are expressed as physiological or physiopathological concomitants of the organ or organism behavior. We propose that a set of beliefs about the nature of biological membranes and their interactions are hampering progress in the physiology of excitable tissue. We will argue that while there is no direct evidence to justify the belief that quantum mechanics has anything to do with macroscopic patterns expressed in excitable tissue, there is plenty of evidence in favor of irreversible thermodynamics. Some key predictions have been fulfilled long time ago and they have been ignored by the mainstream literature. Dissipative structures and phase transitions appear to be a better conceptual context to discuss biological self-organization. The central role of time as a global coupling agent is emphasized in the interpretation of the presented results.