Expression of the cAMP binding protein EPAC1 in thyroid tumors and growth regulation of thyroid cells and thyroid carcinoma cells by EPAC proteins.

The thyrotropin receptor-cAMP pathway is central in growth regulation of thyroid cells and thyroid tumorigenesis, and it regulates expression of thyroid specific genes. Recently, 2 new protein kinase A-independent cAMP effectors named EPAC1 and 2 were described that activate additional intracellular pathways. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of EPAC proteins in growth regulation of thyroid cells and thyroid carcinomas. EPAC1 expression was investigated immunohistochemically in tissues of various thyroid tumors. Utilizing MTT assay, the effect of EPAC stimulation on proliferation in thyroid carcinoma cells and in non-transformed rat FRTL5 cells was investigated. The activation of intracellular signaling pathways was examined by RAP pull-down assay and Western blots. EPAC1 expression was strong in non-oxyphilic follicular thyroid adenomas and carcinomas and in follicular papillary thyroid carcinomas. It was moderate in oxyphilic follicular tumors and classical and tall cell papillary carcinomas. In contrast, EPAC1 expression was low in poorly differentiated carcinomas and very low in anaplastic carcinomas. Thyroid carcinoma cell lines showed no or very weak EPAC1 expression and exhibited no growth-promoting effect after EPAC stimulation. Non-transformed rat FRTL5 cells were growth-stimulated by an EPAC-specific cAMP-analogue and showed EPAC-dependent activation of RAP, ERK, and p70S6 kinase. EPAC1 expression and cellular response to EPAC activation in rat FRTL5 cells reflect cellular responses to cAMP and TSH stimulation in non-transformed thyroid cells. In undifferentiated thyroid carcinomas, loss of EPAC1 expression may be in accordance with the loss of thyroid-specific functions and the loss of responsiveness of the TSHR-cAMP pathway.

Influence of isotherm inflection on the loading dependence of the diffusivities of n-hexane and n-heptane in MFI zeolite. Quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments supplemented by molecular simulations.

Quasi-Elastic Neutron Scattering (QENS) experiments were carried out to determine (a) Fick diffusivity, D (b) self-diffusivity, Dself, and (c) 1/Gamma, the inverse of the thermodynamic correction factor, for n-hexane (nC6) and n-heptane (nC7) in MFI zeolite (all silica silicalite-1) at 300 K for a variety of loadings. These experimental results are compared with configurational-bias Monte Carlo (CBMC) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of, respectively, the adsorption isotherms and diffusivities. For n-hexane, the CBMC simulated isotherm shows a slight inflection at a loading=4 molecules per unit cell; this inflection manifests, also, in the loading dependence of 1/Gamma, obtained from QENS. The trend in the loading dependence of the Fick D and Dself of nC6 obtained from QENS matches the MD simulation results. For nC7 the CBMC simulated isotherm shows a strong inflection at a loading=4 molecules per unit cell. At this loading=4, 1/Gamma tends to zero and there is a very good match between QENS and molecular simulations for the loading dependence of 1/Gamma. Both MD simulations and QENS data on the Fick diffusivity shows a sharp maximum at a loading in the region of=4. For both nC6 and nC7 the simulated values of diffusivity are about an order of magnitude higher than those determined from QENS.

Diffusion of alkane mixtures in zeolites: validating the maxwell-stefan formulation using MD simulations.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been carried out for pure components, binary, ternary, and quaternary mixtures containing methane, ethane, propane, and n-butane in FAU zeolite at 300 K for a range of molecular loadings Theta, approaching saturation limits. The n-dimensional matrix of Maxwell-Stefan (M-S) diffusivities [Delta], defined by (N) = -rho[Delta][Gamma](nabla Theta), was determined along with the self-diffusivities, D(i)(,self). Additionally, configurational-bias Monte Carlo (CBMC) simulations were carried out to obtain the pure component sorption isotherms and the saturation capacities Theta(i)(,sat). From the information on Delta(ij), D(i)(,self), and Theta(i)(,sat), the various M-S diffusivities were determined: (1) component D(i), reflecting the interactions of the species i with the zeolite, self-exchange D(ii), and (2) binary exchange D(ij). The obtained data underline the major advantage of the M-S formulation that at a given occupancy, theta = Sigma(N)(n)(i=l)Theta(j)/Theta(j)(,sat) within the zeolite, the D(i) has nearly the same value for species i whether this species is present on its own or in a mixture with other species. The same advantage holds, too, for the self-exchange D(ii); the value at a given occupancy, theta, is the same whether determined from pure component, binary, or ternary mixture data. For all binary and ternary mixtures studied, it was verified that the binary exchange coefficient D(ij) can be interpolated from the corresponding values of the self-exchange parameters D(ii) and D(jj) using a generalization of the interpolation formula developed earlier (Skoulidas et al., Langmuir, 2003, 19, 7977). We also demonstrate that if the occupancy dependence of the pure component parameters D(i) and D(ii) are modeled properly, this information is sufficient to provide very good estimates of the matrix [Delta] for mixtures with 2, 3, or 4 components over the entire range of loadings. Simulations of mixture diffusion of alkanes in MFI and LTA confirm that the above-mentioned advantages of the M-S formulation also hold for these zeolite topologies.