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  • c-Fos protein expression is increased in cholinergic neurons of the rodent basal forebrain during spontaneous and induced wakefulness. 19716862

    It has been proposed that cholinergic neurons of the basal forebrain (BF) may play a role in vigilance state control. Since not all vigilance states have been studied, we evaluated cholinergic neuronal activation levels across spontaneously occurring states of vigilance, as well as during sleep deprivation and recovery sleep following sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation was performed for 2h at the beginning of the light (inactive) period, by means of gentle sensory stimulation. In the rodent BF, we used immunohistochemical detection of the c-Fos protein as a marker for activation, combined with labeling for choline acetyl-transferase (ChAT) as a marker for cholinergic neurons. We found c-Fos activation in BF cholinergic neurons was highest in the group undergoing sleep deprivation (12.9% of cholinergic neurons), while the spontaneous wakefulness group showed a significant increase (9.2%), compared to labeling in the spontaneous sleep group (1.8%) and a sleep deprivation recovery group (0.8%). A subpopulation of cholinergic neurons expressed c-Fos during spontaneous wakefulness, when possible confounds of the sleep deprivation procedure were minimized (e.g., stress and sensory stimulation). Double-labeling in the sleep deprivation treatment group was significantly elevated in select subnuclei of the BF (medial septum/vertical limb of the diagonal band, horizontal limb of the diagonal band, and the magnocellular preoptic nucleus), when compared to spontaneous wakefulness. These findings support and provide additional confirming data of previous reports that cholinergic neurons of BF play a role in vigilance state regulation by promoting wakefulness.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    AB143
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Choline Acetyltransferase (ChAT) Antibody
  • Human protein arginine methyltransferases in vivo--distinct properties of eight canonical members of the PRMT family. 19208762

    Methylation of arginine residues is a widespread post-translational modification of proteins catalyzed by a small family of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). Functionally, the modification appears to regulate protein functions and interactions that affect gene regulation, signalling and subcellular localization of proteins and nucleic acids. All members have been, to different degrees, characterized individually and their implication in cellular processes has been inferred from characterizing substrates and interactions. Here, we report the first comprehensive comparison of all eight canonical members of the human PRMT family with respect to subcellular localization and dynamics in living cells. We show that the individual family members differ significantly in their properties, as well as in their substrate specificities, suggesting that they fulfil distinctive, non-redundant functions in vivo. In addition, certain PRMTs display different subcellular localization in different cell types, implicating cell- and tissue-specific mechanisms for regulating PRMT functions.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    Multiple
    Product Catalog Name:
    Multiple
  • Nuclear protein accumulation in cellular senescence and organismal aging revealed with a novel single-cell resolution fluorescence microscopy assay. 22006542

    Replicative cellular senescence was discovered some 50 years ago. The phenotypes of senescent cells have been investigated extensively in cell culture, and found to affect essentially all aspects of cellular physiology. The relevance of cellular senescence in the context of age-associated pathologies as well as normal aging is a topic of active and ongoing interest. Considerable effort has been devoted to biomarker discovery to enable the microscopic detection of single senescent cells in tissues. One characteristic of senescent cells documented very early in cell culture studies was an increase in cell size and total protein content, but whether this occurs in vivo is not known. A limiting factor for studies of protein content and localization has been the lack of suitable fluorescence microscopy tools. We have developed an easy and flexible method, based on the merocyanine dye known as NanoOrange, to visualize and quantitatively measure total protein levels by high resolution fluorescence microscopy. NanoOrange staining can be combined with antibody-based immunofluorescence, thus providing both specific target and total protein information in the same specimen. These methods are optimally combined with automated image analysis platforms for high throughput analysis. We document here increasing protein content and density in nuclei of senescent human and mouse fibroblasts in vitro, and in liver nuclei of aged mice in vivo. Additionally, in aged liver nuclei NanoOrange revealed protein-dense foci that colocalize with centromeric heterochromatin.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB3211
  • Total protein analysis as a reliable loading control for quantitative fluorescent Western blotting. 24023619

    Western blotting has been a key technique for determining the relative expression of proteins within complex biological samples since the first publications in 1979. Recent developments in sensitive fluorescent labels, with truly quantifiable linear ranges and greater limits of detection, have allowed biologists to probe tissue specific pathways and processes with higher resolution than ever before. However, the application of quantitative Western blotting (QWB) to a range of healthy tissues and those from degenerative models has highlighted a problem with significant consequences for quantitative protein analysis: how can researchers conduct comparative expression analyses when many of the commonly used reference proteins (e.g. loading controls) are differentially expressed? Here we demonstrate that common controls, including actin and tubulin, are differentially expressed in tissues from a wide range of animal models of neurodegeneration. We highlight the prevalence of such alterations through examination of published "-omics" data, and demonstrate similar responses in sensitive QWB experiments. For example, QWB analysis of spinal cord from a murine model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy using an Odyssey scanner revealed that beta-actin expression was decreased by 19.3±2% compared to healthy littermate controls. Thus, normalising QWB data to β-actin in these circumstances could result in 'skewing' of all data by ∼20%. We further demonstrate that differential expression of commonly used loading controls was not restricted to the nervous system, but was also detectable across multiple tissues, including bone, fat and internal organs. Moreover, expression of these "control" proteins was not consistent between different portions of the same tissue, highlighting the importance of careful and consistent tissue sampling for QWB experiments. Finally, having illustrated the problem of selecting appropriate single protein loading controls, we demonstrate that normalisation using total protein analysis on samples run in parallel with stains such as Coomassie blue provides a more robust approach.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    AB9568
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Neurofilament L Antibody
  • Protein misfolding detected early in pathogenesis of transgenic mouse model of Huntington disease using amyloid seeding assay. 22187438

    Huntington disease (HD) is one of several fatal neurodegenerative disorders associated with misfolded proteins. Here, we report a novel method for the sensitive detection of misfolded huntingtin (HTT) isolated from the brains of transgenic (Tg) mouse models of HD and humans with HD using an amyloid seeding assay (ASA), which is based on the propensity of misfolded proteins to act as a seed and shorten the nucleation-associated lag phase in the kinetics of amyloid formation in vitro. Using synthetic polyglutamine peptides as the substrate for amyloid formation, we found that partially purified misfolded HTT obtained from end-stage brain tissue of two Tg HD mouse models and brain tissue of post-mortem human HD patients was capable of specifically accelerating polyglutamine amyloid formation compared with unseeded reactions and controls. Alzheimer and prion disease brain tissues did not do so, demonstrating the specificity of the ASA. It is unclear whether early intermediates or later conformational species in the protein misfolding process act as seeds in the ASA for HD. However, we were able to detect misfolded protein in the brains of YAC128 mice early in disease pathogenesis (11 weeks of age), whereas large inclusion bodies have not been observed in the brains of these mice by histology until 78 weeks of age, much later in the pathogenic process. The sensitive detection of misfolded HTT protein early in the disease pathogenesis in the YAC128 Tg mouse model strengthens the argument for a causative role of protein misfolding in HD.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB1574
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Polyglutamine-Expansion Diseases Marker Antibody, clone 5TF1-1C2
  • Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is critical for the photoreceptor stress response after retinal detachment via modulating anti-apoptotic Akt kinase. 21356360

    Photoreceptor apoptosis is a major cause of vision loss in many ocular diseases. Significant progress has been made to elucidate the molecular pathways involved in this process, yet little is known about proteins counteracting these apoptotic pathways. It is established that heat shock proteins (HSPs) function as molecular helper proteins (chaperones) by preventing protein aggregation and facilitating refolding of dysfunctional proteins, critical to the survival of all organisms. Here, we investigated the role of HSP70 on photoreceptor survival after experimental retinal detachment (RD) in mice and rats. We found that HSP70 was up-regulated after RD and associated with phosphorylated Akt, thereby preventing its dephosphorylation and further activation of cell death pathways. Administration of quercetin, which inhibits HSP70 and suppresses Akt phosphorylation significantly increased photoreceptor apoptosis. Similarly, RD-induced photoreceptor apoptosis was augmented in mice carrying hypomorphic mutations of the genes encoding HSP70. On the other hand, administration of geranylgeranylacetone, which induces an increase in HSP70 significantly decreased photoreceptor apoptosis after RD through prolonged activation of Akt pathway. Thus, HSP70 may be a favorable potential target to increase photoreceptor cell survival after RD.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    S7110
    Product Catalog Name:
    ApopTag® Fluorescein In Situ Apoptosis Detection Kit
  • Protein oxidation implicated as the primary determinant of bacterial radioresistance. 17373858

    In the hierarchy of cellular targets damaged by ionizing radiation (IR), classical models of radiation toxicity place DNA at the top. Yet, many prokaryotes are killed by doses of IR that cause little DNA damage. Here we have probed the nature of Mn-facilitated IR resistance in Deinococcus radiodurans, which together with other extremely IR-resistant bacteria have high intracellular Mn/Fe concentration ratios compared to IR-sensitive bacteria. For in vitro and in vivo irradiation, we demonstrate a mechanistic link between Mn(II) ions and protection of proteins from oxidative modifications that introduce carbonyl groups. Conditions that inhibited Mn accumulation or Mn redox cycling rendered D. radiodurans radiation sensitive and highly susceptible to protein oxidation. X-ray fluorescence microprobe analysis showed that Mn is globally distributed in D. radiodurans, but Fe is sequestered in a region between dividing cells. For a group of phylogenetically diverse IR-resistant and IR-sensitive wild-type bacteria, our findings support the idea that the degree of resistance is determined by the level of oxidative protein damage caused during irradiation. We present the case that protein, rather than DNA, is the principal target of the biological action of IR in sensitive bacteria, and extreme resistance in Mn-accumulating bacteria is based on protein protection.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    S7150
    Product Catalog Name:
    OxyBlot Protein Oxidation Detection Kit
  • Prion protein detection using nanomechanical resonator arrays and secondary mass labeling. 18271602

    Nanomechanical resonators have shown potential application for mass sensing and have been used to detect a variety of biomolecules. In this study, a dynamic resonance-based technique was used to detect prion proteins (PrP), which in conformationally altered forms are known to cause neurodegenerative diseases in animals as well as humans. Antibodies and nanoparticles were used as mass labels to increase the mass shift and thus amplify the frequency shift signal used in PrP detection. A sandwich assay was used to immobilize PrP between two monoclonal antibodies, one of which was conjugated to the resonator's surface while the other was either used alone or linked to the nanoparticles as a mass label. Without additional mass labeling, PrP was not detected at concentrations below 20 microg/mL. In the presence of secondary antibodies the analytical sensitivity was improved to 2 microg/mL. With the use of functionalized nanoparticles, the sensitivity improved an additional 3 orders of magnitude to 2 ng/mL.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    17-191
    Product Catalog Name:
    MAP Kinase/Erk Assay Kit, non-radioactive
  • Expression of a protein involved in bone resorption, Dkk1, is activated by HTLV-1 bZIP factor through its activation domain. 20653953

    Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia, a malignancy characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of virally-infected CD4+ T-cells. Hypercalcemia and bone lesions due to osteoclast-mediated bone resorption are frequently associated with more aggressive forms of the disease. The HTLV-1 provirus contains a unique antisense gene that expresses HTLV-1 basic leucine zipper (bZIP) factor (HBZ). HBZ is localized to the nucleus where it regulates levels of transcription by binding to certain cellular transcriptional regulators. Among its protein targets, HBZ forms a stable complex with the homologous cellular coactivators, p300 and CBP, which is modulated through two N-terminal LXXLL motifs in the viral protein and the conserved KIX domain in the coactivators.To determine the effects of these interactions on transcription, we performed a preliminary microarray analysis, comparing levels of gene expression in cells with wild-type HBZ versus cells with HBZ mutated in its LXXLL motifs. DKK1, which encodes the secreted Wnt signaling inhibitor, Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1), was confirmed to be transcriptionally activated by HBZ, but not its mutant. Dkk1 plays a major role in the development of bone lesions caused by multiple myeloma. In parallel with the initial findings, activation of Dkk1 expression by HBZ was abrogated by siRNA-mediated knockdown of p300/CBP or by a truncated form of p300 containing the KIX domain. Among HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines tested, the detection of Dkk1 mRNA partially correlated with a threshold level of HBZ mRNA. In addition, an uninfected and an HTLV-1-infected T-cell line transfected with an HBZ expression vector exhibited de novo and increased DKK1 transcription, respectively. In contrast to HBZ, The HTLV-1 Tax protein repressed Dkk1 expression.These data indicate that HBZ activates Dkk1 expression through its interaction with p300/CBP. However, this effect is limited in HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines, which in part, may be due to suppression of Dkk1 expression by Tax. Consequently, the ability of HBZ to regulate expression of Dkk1 and possibly other cellular genes may only be significant during late stages of ATL, when Tax expression is repressed.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    Multiple
    Product Catalog Name:
    Multiple