Energy-rich Environment Research Articles

Regulation of Osteoclast Growth and Fusion by mTOR/raptor and mTOR/rictor/Akt.

Osteoclasts are giant bone cells formed by fusion from monocytes and uniquely capable of a complete destruction of mineralized tissues. Previously, we have demonstrated that in energy-rich environment not only osteoclast fusion index (the number of nuclei each osteoclast contains), but also cytoplasm volume per single nucleus was increased. The goal of this study was to investigate the regulation of metabolic sensor mTOR during osteoclast differentiation in energy-rich environment simulated by addition of pyruvate. We have found that in the presence of pyruvate, the proportion of mTOR associated with raptor increased, while mTOR-rictor-mediated Akt phosphorylation decreased. Inhibition of mTOR with rapamycin (10 nM) significantly interfered with all aspects of osteoclastogenesis. However, rapamycin at 1 nM, which preferentially targets mTOR-raptor complex, was only effective in control cultures, while in the presence of pyruvate osteoclast fusion index was successfully increased. Inhibition of Akt drastically reduced osteoclast fusion, however in energy-rich environment, osteoclasts of comparable size were formed through increased cytoplasm growth. These data suggest that mTOR-rictor mediated Akt signaling regulates osteoclast fusion, while mTOR-raptor regulation of protein translation contributes to fusion-independent cytoplasm growth. We demonstrate that depending on the bioenergetics microenvironment osteoclastogenesis can adjust to occur through preferential multinucleation or through cell growth, implying that attaining large cell size is part of the osteoclast differentiation program.

Global sensitivity analysis of the radiative transfer model

AbstractWith the recently launched Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, it is very important to have a complete understanding of the radiative transfer model for better soil moisture retrievals and to direct future research and field campaigns in areas of necessity. Because natural systems show great variability and complexity with respect to soil, land cover, topography, precipitation, there exist large uncertainties and heterogeneities in model input factors. In this paper, we explore the possibility of using global sensitivity analysis (GSA) technique to study the influence of heterogeneity and uncertainties in model inputs on zero order radiative transfer (ZRT) model and to quantify interactions between parameters. GSA technique is based on decomposition of variance and can handle nonlinear and nonmonotonic functions. We direct our analyses toward growing agricultural fields of corn and soybean in two different regions, Iowa, USA (SMEX02) and Winnipeg, Canada (SMAPVEX12). We noticed that, there exists a spatio‐temporal variation in parameter interactions under different soil moisture and vegetation conditions. Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) behaves more non‐linearly in SMEX02 and linearly in SMAPVEX12, with average parameter interactions of 14% in SMEX02 and 5% in SMAPVEX12. Also, parameter interactions increased with vegetation water content (VWC) and roughness conditions. Interestingly, soil moisture shows an exponentially decreasing sensitivity function whereas parameters such as root mean square height (RMS height) and vegetation water content show increasing sensitivity with 0.05 v/v increase in soil moisture range. Overall, considering the SMAPVEX12 fields to be water rich environment (due to higher observed SM) and SMEX02 fields to be energy rich environment (due to lower SM and wide ranges of TSURF), our results indicate that first order as well as interactions between the parameters change with water and energy rich environments.

Decreased glucose tolerance and plasma adiponectin:resistin ratio in a mouse model of post-traumatic stress disorder

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are among the most serious health pathologies worldwide. Stress has been proposed as a factor contributing to the development of these health risk factors; however, the underlying mechanisms that link stress to obesity and diabetes need to be further clarified. Here, we study in mice how chronic stress affects dietary consumption and how that relationship contributes to obesity and diabetes. C57BL/6J mice were subjected to chronic variable stress (CVS) for 15 days and subsequently fed with a standard chow or high-fat diet. Food intake, body weight, respiratory quotient, energy expenditure and spontaneous physical activity were measured with a customised calorimetric system and body composition was measured with nuclear magnetic resonance. A glucose tolerance test was also applied and blood glucose levels were measured with a glucometer. Plasma levels of adiponectin and resistin were measured using Lincoplex kits. Mice under CVS and fed with a high-fat diet showed impaired glucose tolerance associated with low plasma adiponectin:resistin ratios. This study demonstrates, in a novel mouse model, how post-traumatic stress disorder enhances vulnerability for impaired glucose metabolism in an energy-rich environment and proposes a potential adipokine-based mechanism.

Fetal origins of adult diabetes

According to the fetal origin of adult diseases hypothesis, the intrauterine environment through developmental plasticity may permanently influence long-term health and disease. Therefore, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), due either to maternal, placental, or genetic factors, may permanently alter the endocrine-metabolic status of the fetus, driving an insulin resistance state that can promote survival at the short term but that facilitates the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in adult life, especially when the intrauterine nutrient restriction is followed by a postnatal obesogenic environment. Furthermore, an energy-rich environment during fetal programming may also drive the development of excess abdominal fat and type 2 diabetes in later life, demonstrating that both intrauterine nutrient restriction as well as intrauterine nutrient excessive supply may predispose for the development of adult diabetes.

Stress and fish reproduction: The roles of allostasis and hormesis

This paper is a review of the effects of stress on reproduction in fishes. I hope to further the development of the concepts of allostasis and hormesis as relevant to understanding reproduction in general and in fish in particular. The main contentions I derive in this review are the following: Stressors affect fish reproduction in a variety of ways depending on the nature and severity of the stressor. The effects are transduced through a hormonal cascade initiated by perception of the stressor and involving the hypothalamus–pituitary–interrenal axis, the catecholamines, and also cytokines. Mounting a stress response and resisting a stressor is an energetically costly process, including costs associated with allostasis, attempting to reset homeostatic norms. Responses in emergency situations (e.g., being chased by a predator or a net) can be different from those where fish can cope (e.g., being in a more crowded environment) with a stressor, but both situations involve energy re-budgeting. Emergency responses happen in concert with the onset of energy limitations (e.g., the fish may not eat), while coping with allostatic overload can happen in a more energy-rich environment (e.g., the fish can continue to eat). Low levels of stress may have a positive effect on reproductive processes while greater stress has negative effects on fish reproduction. The concept of hormesis is a useful way to think about the effect of stressors on fish reproduction since responses can be nonmonotonal, often biphasic.

Hydrogeologic Controls on Episodic H2 Release from Precambrian Fractured Rocks—Energy for Deep Subsurface Life on Earth and Mars

Dissolved H(2) concentrations up to the mM range and H(2) levels up to 9-58% by volume in the free gas phase are reported for groundwaters at sites in the Precambrian shields of Canada and Finland. Along with previously reported dissolved H(2) concentrations up to 7.4 mM for groundwaters from the Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa, these findings indicate that deep Precambrian Shield fracture waters contain some of the highest levels of dissolved H(2) ever reported and represent a potentially important energy-rich environment for subsurface microbial life. The delta (2)H isotope signatures of H(2) gas from Canada, Finland, and South Africa are consistent with a range of H(2)-producing water-rock reactions, depending on the geologic setting, which include both serpentinization and radiolysis. In Canada and Finland, several of the sites are in Archean greenstone belts characterized by ultramafic rocks that have under-gone serpentinization and may be ancient analogues for serpentinite-hosted gases recently reported at the Lost City Hydrothermal Field and other hydrothermal seafloor deposits. The hydrogeologically isolated nature of these fracture-controlled groundwater systems provides a mechanism whereby the products of water-rock interaction accumulate over geologic timescales, which produces correlations between high H(2) levels, abiogenic hydrocarbon signatures, and the high salinities and highly altered delta (18)O and delta (2)H values of these groundwaters. A conceptual model is presented that demonstrates how periodic opening of fractures and resultant mixing control the distribution and supply of H(2) and support a microbial community of H(2)-utilizing sulfate reducers and methanogens.

Lipotoxicity, an imbalance between lipogenesis de novo and fatty acid oxidation

Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus are the major noncommunicable public health problem of the 21st century. The best strategy to tackle this problem is to develop strategies to prevent/treat obesity. However, it is becoming clear that despite successful research identifying weight regulatory pathways, the development of the obesity epidemic is outpacing scientific progress. The lack of success controlling the obesity epidemic in an aging population will result in another subsequent uncontrolled epidemic of complications. Our research focuses on the mechanisms causing lipotoxicity aiming to identify suitable strategies to prevent or at least retard the development of the metabolic syndrome. Previous work using transgenic and knockout mouse models has shown an interplay between white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle linking fatty acid (FA) synthesis with reciprocal effects on FA oxidation. Work from our lab and others suggests that defective adipose tissue is a key link between obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus by promoting the development of lipotoxicity in peripheral tissues. We propose a series of models to describe the process by which the adipose tissue could react to an energy-rich environment and responds depending on genetic and physiological factors, impacting on the functions of other peripheral tissues. We suggest that by examining hypotheses that encompass multiple organs and the partitioning of energy between these organs, a suitable strategy can be devised for the treatment of chronic obesity.

Life History Covariation in Intestinal Nematodes of Mammals

Using data on 66 species from 18 families and 6 orders, we examine patterns of interspecific covariation in female size, egg size, time from infection to production of infective stages (prepatency period), duration of reproduction (patency period), and fecundity in mammalian intestinal nematodes. Nematode species with shorter prepatency periods are smaller, have lower rates of somatic growth, lower fecundity and shorter reproductive periods; those with longer prepatency periods have the opposite suite of characters. These patterns are very different from that found in interspecific analyses of life history variation in other taxa. This may be a consequence of the energy-rich environment intestinal nematodes exploit, though comparable studies of free-living nematodes or other soft-bodied invertebrate phyla have not yet been done. The advantages of delaying reproduction, with the subsequent increase in fecundity and reproductive lifespan, depend on a number of factors, such as the relative importance of prepatency in the determination of parasite generation times, and adult mortality rates. Contrary to previous claims, nematode egg size is shown to be highly variable (as variable as female size), yet this variation is not associated with

Feeding, conversion efficiencies, and growth of larval mummichogs, Fundulus heteroclitus

Feeding rates, conversion efficiencies and growth of larvae of the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus, an extremely abundant estuarine fish, were measured at temperatures ranging from 18° to 30°C. The food used was Artemia salina nauplii. At the time of total yolk sac absorption (5 to 7 days after hatching), the feeding rate decreased for a short time, an indication of a shift in metabolism. Higher feeding rates and growth occurred at higher rearing temperatures. The highest conversion efficiency (gross growth efficiency) was 1.1%, at 22°C. Mummichog larvae may be energetically inefficient compared with other fish species, but efficiency might not be critical for this fish, which is an opportunistic omnivore in an energy-rich environment.