Astrocytic contributions to blood-brain barrier (BBB) formation by endothelial cells: a possible use of aortic endothelial cell for in vitro BBB model

Astrocytic contribution of endothelial cell monolayer permeability was examined in two blood-brain barrier (BBB) models, using the coculture in a double chamber system: rat astrocytes and bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) or bovine brain endothelial cells (BBECs). In system 1, where astrocytes were separated from endothelial cells, a 40% reduction in L-glucose permeability of the BBEC monolayer, but not the BAEC monolayer, was observed by cocultivation with astrocytes. Although several passages of BBEC in culture elicited morphological transformation from spindle-shapes to cobblestone-like features, the passaged BBECs remained responsive to astrocytes in coculture in system 1 (37% reduction of the L-glucose permeability). By contrast, in system 2, where respective endothelial cells and astrocytes layered on the upper and lower surfaces of a membrane, the permeability of both BAEC and BBEC monolayers was reduced by cocultivation with astrocytes (75% reduction for BAEC and 40% reduction for BBEC). BAECs in this contiguous coculture (system 2) with astrocytes showed numerous tight junction-like structures characteristic of the BBB in vivo. These results suggest that primary cultured BBECs, which had been primed by astrocytes in vivo, retain a higher sensitivity to astrocytes possibly through an astrocytic soluble factor (s) to exhibit BBB-specific phenotypes, and that even BAEC from extra-neural tissues, when cultured with astrocytes in close proximity in vitro, may acquire the similar phenotypes and serve for an extensive use of BBB model in vitro.     

Origin attribution of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans in sediment and soil from a Japanese freshwater lake area through congener-specific data analysis

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs) in sediment and soil from a freshwater lake area were congener-specifically determined. The obtained data were examined to estimate the major origins of these compounds, with the aid of principal component analysis (PCA). Four major principal components (PCs) were obtained, and three of them were attributed to PCDDs/PCDFs in the atmosphere, in a diphenyl ether herbicide and in pentachlorophenol, based on congener-specific comparisons with references. One PC remained unattributed. These four were interpreted as the major origins of PCDDs/PCDFs in the area. The relative influence of the origins was also investigated.     

Minimization of measurement points on automobile traffic flow

The acquisition of information on the relation between flow speed and jam conditions of automobile traffic flow on express ways is necessary to achieve appropriate traffic flow. It is very difficult to use a large number of measuring points on a road, so in practice a grasp of the situation is achieved by measuring the flow conditions at a small number of measuring points. This paper deals with the application of a graphical interpolation method to the minimized number of measuring points in order to estimate the spatial density field of flow concentration. The traffic flow is expressed as a compressive flow, and this model is analyzed by a nonlinear equation. The results are given by the combination of characteristic lines and the propagation of a shock wave.     

New sample cell configuration for wide-frequency dielectric spectroscopy: DC to radio frequencies

A new configuration for the sample cell to be used in broadband dielectric spectroscopy is presented. A coaxial structure with a parallel plate capacitor (outward parallel plate cell: OPPC) has made it possible to extend the frequency range significantly in comparison with the frequency range of the conventional configuration. In the proposed configuration, stray inductance is significantly decreased; consequently, the upper bound of the frequency range is improved by two orders of magnitude from the upper limit of conventional parallel plate capacitor (1 MHz). Furthermore, the value of capacitance is kept high by using a parallel plate configuration. Therefore, the precision of the capacitance measurement in the lower frequency range remains sufficiently high. Finally, OPPC can cover a wide frequency range (100 Hz-1 GHz) with an appropriate admittance measuring apparatus such as an impedance or network analyzer. The OPPC and the conventional dielectric cell are compared by examining the frequency dependence of the complex permittivity for several polar liquids and polymeric films.     

Hydrogen atom absorption in hydrogen-covered Pd(110) (1 × 2) missing-row surface

The absorption of H atom in H-covered Pd(110) (1 × 2) missing-row surface is investigated using density functional theory based calculations. For 1.5 monolayer H coverage, interaction among the adsorbed H atoms is found to be negligible and was verified by analyzing the electronic structure of the system and by comparing the calculated binding energies with low H coverage case. Neither the monoatomic absorption of H nor the assistance from the initially adsorbed H atom explains the experimentally observed presence of subsurface H in Pd(110) at high H coverage. Instead, H absorption is realized through the assistance of incoming H atoms from vacuum. The absorption of H in the H-covered surface is non-activated while the dissociation of H₂ is the rate-limiting process. Dissociation on ridge site is energetically more preferred than on trough site and the difference in the activation barrier is elucidated by investigating the electronic structures of the system.     

Non-contact measurements of water jet spreading width with a laser instrument

Jet spreading width is one of the important characteristics of water jets discharging into the air. Many researchers have dealt with measuring this width, and contact measuring methods on the water jet surface were employed in a lot of the cases. In order to avoid undesirable effects caused by the contact on the jet surface, we introduce non-contact measuring methods with a laser instrument to the measurements of jet spreading width. In measurements, a transmitter emits sheet-like laser beam to a receiver. The water jet between the transmitter and the receiver interrupts the laser beam and makes a shadow. The minimum and maximum values of the shadow width are measured. In addition, pictures of the water jet are taken with a scale, and the shadow width is measured from the pictures. The experiments on various needle strokes were performed. Three kinds of width consistent with the jet structure were obtained. In the results, it can be concluded that our non-contact measuring methods are feasible. The data of jet spreading widths and jet taper were obtained and are useful for future applications.     

Negative faradaic resistance in extracellular electron transfer by anode-respiring Geobacter sulfurreducens cells

Geobacter sulfurreducens is a gram-negative δ-proteobacterium that is capable of transferring respiratory electrons to solid-state extracellular acceptors, including anodes, via abundant c-type cytochromes expressed in the outer membrane. As extracellular electron transfer (EET) to solid-state acceptors can proceed without the addition of exogenous mediators, this microbe has attracted significant attention with respect to energy conversion between electrical and chemical energy. Here, we revealed that clear redox peaks were present in the whole-cell cyclic voltammogram of G. sulfurreducens at around -0.15 V vs Ag|AgCl when tin-doped In(2)O(3) (ITO) glass was used as an anode. Interestingly, the EET current decreased in the potential region more positive than the midpoint potential (E(m)) of the redox peak. Thus, EET of anode-respiring G. sulfurreducens cells exhibited a negative Faradaic resistance (NFR) characteristic at the E(m) of the redox peak, in contrast to general electrochemical systems where the Faradaic current typically increases with increasing overpotential.     

Identification of genes from Aspergillus oryzae that are preferentially expressed in membrane-surface liquid culture

We identified 22 genes from Aspergillus oryzae that are preferentially expressed in membrane-surface liquid culture (MSLC), among which Ser/Thr protein kinase (aopk1) and phosphatase (aoppt) genes were cloned. We also revealed that aopk1 encodes a protein with an N-terminal sequence 150 amino acid residues longer than that predicted from the registered sequence in GenBank.