Relationship among ovarian follicular status, developmental competence of oocytes, and anti-Müllerian hormone levels: A comparative study in Japanese wild boar crossbred gilts and Large White gilts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the ovarian follicular development, developmental competence of oocytes, and plasma anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels of Japanese wild boar crossbred (wild hybrid) gilts, whose litter size is inferior to that of European breeds. Ovary and plasma samples were collected from two different breeds of gilts (wild hybrid and Large White breeds). The ovaries from the wild hybrid gilts had a lower average numbers of secondary follicles and vesicular follicles in ovarian cross-sections and of good quality oocytes collected from ovarian follicles as compared with those from Large White gilts (p < 0.05). The development rate to the blastocyst stage of good quality oocytes after in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture was also lower (p < 0.05) in wild hybrid gilts than in Large White gilts. Plasma AMH levels with >0.16 ng/ml were detected in 8.3% of the examined wild hybrid gilts and 33% of the Large White gilts. These results indicate that the low reproductive performance of wild hybrid breed may result in part from low numbers of vesicular follicles and good quality oocytes, and low developmental competence of oocytes. Moreover, plasma AMH levels may support low number of vesicular follicles in ovaries of wild hybrid gilts.

Association between sleep and residential environments in the summertime in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to identify the effect of environmental factors on sleep in the summertime in Japan. METHODS: A self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted in Japan. Age of participants ranged from 20 to 70 years. RESULTS: The mean Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score was 4.9 (±2.7), and 123 (35.0%) participants had scores of >5. According to the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for PSQI scores of >5 without installation of air conditioner was 1.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-3.3; P<.05), use of a light bulb was 3.7 (95% CI, 1.1-12.6; P<.05), and noise was 2.1 (95% CI, 1.1-4.1; P<.05) after controlling for several confounding variables. Difficulty initiating sleep (DIS) was associated with installation of an air conditioner (1 [reference] to 3 [aOR, 2.5 {95% CI, 1.2-5.1}] and 4 [aOR, 2.8 {95% CI, 1.1-7.1}]) and noise (1 [reference] to 3 [aOR, 2.4 {95% CI, 1.0-5.9}] and 4 [aOR, 8.8 {95% CI, 3.1-25.0}]). Difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS) was associated with installation of a fan (1 [reference] to 2 [aOR, 0.4 {95% CI, 0.2-0.8}] and noise (1 [reference] to 3 [aOR, 2.3 {95% CI, 1.0-5.3}]) after controlling for several confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding using analysis of the association between residential environments and subjective sleep statuses, which determined that the installation of an air conditioner and lighting equipment might affect sleep, may be useful to discuss sleep environments and improve sleep quality.

IGF binding protein 2 supports the survival and cycling of hematopoietic stem cells.

The role of IGF binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) in cell growth is intriguing and largely undefined. Previously we identified IGFBP2 as an extrinsic factor that supports ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Here we showed that IGFBP2-null mice have fewer HSCs than wild-type mice. While IGFBP2 has little cell-autonomous effect on HSC function, we found decreased in vivo repopulation of HSCs in primary and secondary transplanted IGFBP2-null recipients. Importantly, bone marrow stromal cells that are deficient for IGFBP2 have significantly decreased ability to support the expansion of repopulating HSCs. To investigate the mechanism by which IGFBP2 supports HSC activity, we demonstrated that HSCs in IGFBP2-null mice had decreased survival and cycling, down-regulated expression of antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2, and up-regulated expression of cell cycle inhibitors p21, p16, p19, p57, and PTEN. Moreover, we found that the C-terminus, but not the RGD domain, of extrinsic IGFBP2 was essential for support of HSC activity. Defective signaling of the IGF type I receptor did not rescue the decreased repopulation of HSCs in IGFBP2-null recipients, suggesting that the environmental effect of IGFBP2 on HSCs is independent of IGF-IR mediated signaling. Therefore, as an environmental factor, IGFBP2 supports the survival and cycling of HSCs.

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 2 secreted by a tumorigenic cell line supports ex vivo expansion of mouse hematopoietic stem cells.

Successful hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is often limited by the numbers of HSCs, and robust methods to expand HSCs ex vivo are needed. We previously showed that angiopoietin-like proteins (Angptls), a group of growth factors isolated from a fetal liver HSC-supportive cell population, improved ex vivo expansion of HSCs. Here, we demonstrate that insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 2 (IGFBP2), secreted by a tumorigenic cell line, also enhanced ex vivo expansion of mouse HSCs. On the basis of these findings, we established a completely defined, serum-free culture system for mouse HSCs, containing SCF, thrombopoietin, fibroblast growth factor 1, Angptl3, and IGFBP2. As measured by competitive repopulation analyses, there was a 48-fold increase in numbers of long-term repopulating mouse HSCs after 21 days of culture. This is the first demonstration that IGFBP2 stimulates expansion or proliferation of murine stem cells. Our finding also suggests that certain cancer cells synthesize proteins that can stimulate HSC expansion. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Angiopoietin-like 5 and IGFBP2 stimulate ex vivo expansion of human cord blood hematopoietic stem cells as assayed by NOD/SCID transplantation.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the basis of bone marrow transplantation and are attractive target cells for hematopoietic gene therapy, but these important clinical applications have been severely hampered by difficulties in ex vivo expansion of HSCs. In particular, the use of cord blood for adult transplantation is greatly limited by the number of HSCs. Previously we identified angiopoietin-like proteins and IGF-binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) as new hormones that, together with other factors, can expand mouse bone marrow HSCs in culture. Here, we measure the activity of multipotent human severe combined immunodeficient (SCID)-repopulating cells (SRCs) by transplantation into the nonobese diabetic SCID (NOD/SCID) mice; secondary transplantation was performed to evaluate the self-renewal potential of SRCs. A serum-free medium containing SCF, TPO, and FGF-1 or Flt3-L cannot significantly support expansion of the SRCs present in human cord blood CD133+ cells. Addition of either angiopoietin-like 5 or IGF-binding protein 2 to the cultures led to a sizable expansion of HSC numbers, as assayed by NOD/SCID transplantation. A serum-free culture containing SCF, TPO, FGF-1, angiopoietin-like 5, and IGFBP2 supports an approximately 20-fold net expansion of repopulating human cord blood HSCs, a number potentially applicable to several clinical processes including HSC transplantation.

Establishment and functional characterization of novel natural killer cell lines derived from a temperature-sensitive SV40 large T antigen transgenic mouse.

Natural killer (NK) cells belong to an important lymphocyte population that eliminates transformed cells and invading pathogens without any prior sensitization. NK cells possess not only natural killing activity against non-self and altered-self cells but also exhibit cytokine production and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Despite their important roles in the innate immune system, little is known about the details of NK cell biology. In spite of that several murine NK cell clones have been established, studies have mainly focused on their natural killing activity but not their cytokine production or ADCC. In this study, we established and characterized eight novel, immortalized murine NK cell clones derived from a temperature-sensitive SV40 large-T antigen transgenic mouse. These NK cell lines continuously proliferated for more than 30 months in a culture medium supplemented with interleukin 2. All cell lines contained azurophilic granules in the cytoplasm, and a few clones retained the NK cell functions, such as natural killing activity, cytokine production, and ADCC. In addition, one clone could serve as a host for transient as well as stable gene transfection. Taken together, these findings indicate that the cell lines could constitute useful tools for detailed analysis of murine NK cell biology.

Electrostatic shocks excited by velocity modulation of an ion beam in a plasma.

Nonlinear evolutions of electrostatic shocks excited by a velocity-modulated ion beam along a magnetized plasma column are investigated by computer simulation for a Q-machine experiment. In the case of a beam velocity modulation, the perturbations grow spatially with subsequent saturation due to an ion bunching of the beam. With an increase in modulation ratio an electrostatic shock is formed, accompanied with a steepening of the propagating front. In the case of a beam density-modulation, however, the initial density jump decays simply. The velocity modulation method is quite effective for an excitation of electrostatic shocks in the Q-machine plasma with finite Landau damping. The simulation results using velocity modulation are consistent with the experimental results.