Development of a Sol Particle Homogeneous Immunoassay for Measuring Full-Length Selenoprotein P in Human Serum.

BACKGROUND: Selenoprotein P (SeP), a selenium-rich extracellular glycoprotein, is the primary selenoprotein in the plasma. SeP plays an important role in the maintenance of selenium levels in the peripheral tissues. We developed a new sol particle homogeneous immunoassay (SPIA) for measuring full-length SeP (FL-SeP) levels in the human serum. METHODS: We used colloidal gold particles coated with two types of anti-SeP monoclonal antibodies, one recognizing the N-terminal side domain of SeP and the other recognizing the C-terminal side domain. RESULTS: The assay range was 0.2-9 mg/l, and the linearity was excellent. The within-day and between-day coefficients of variation ranged from 0.73% to 2.24% and 0.45% to 1.11%, respectively. Serum samples (n = 200) were examined using the newly developed assay system (employing a Model 7070 Hitachi automatic clinical analyzer) and the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These two methods were compared using the Passing-Bablok regression analysis; the resulting regression equation and correlation coefficient were y = 0.940x + 0.165 and r = 0.954, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our new SPIA assay is a fully automated homogeneous immunoassay that can be used in conjunction with various commercial analyzers. The assay was sensitive, precise, and suitable for clinical measurement of the FL-SeP in the human serum.

Role of an excitatory preoptic-raphé pathway in febrile vasoconstriction of the rat's tail.

Heat dissipation from the rat's tail is reduced in response to cold and during fever. The sympathetic premotor neurons for this mechanism, located in the medullary raphé, are under tonic inhibitory control from the preoptic area. In parallel with the inhibitory pathway, an excitatory pathway from the rostromedial preoptic region (RMPO) to the medullary raphé mediates the vasoconstrictor response to cold skin. Whether this applies also to the tail vasoconstrictor response in fever is unknown. Single- or a few-unit tail sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) was recorded in urethane-anesthetized, artificially ventilated rats. Experimental fever was induced by PGE2 injected into the lateral cerebral ventricle (50 ng in 1.5 µl icv) or into the RMPO (0.2 ng in 60 nl); in both cases, there was a robust increase in tail SNA and a delayed rise in core temperature. Microinjection of glutamate receptor antagonist kynurenate (50 mM, 120 nl) into the medullary raphé completely reversed the tail SNA response to intracerebroventricular or RMPO PGE2 injection. Inhibiting RMPO neurons by microinjecting glycine (0.5 M, 60 nl) or the GABAA receptor agonist, muscimol (2 mM, 30-60 nl), reduced the tail SNA response to PGE2 injected into the same site by approximately half. Vehicle injections into the medullary raphé or RMPO were without effect. These results suggest that the tail vasoconstrictor response during experimental fever depends on a glutamatergic excitatory synaptic relay in the medullary raphé and that an excitatory output signal from the RMPO contributes to the tail vasoconstrictor response during fever.

Preoptic-raphé connections for thermoregulatory vasomotor control.

Blood flow to glabrous skin such as the rat's tail determines heat dissipation from the body and is regulated by sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerves. Tail vasoconstrictor activity is tonically inhibited by neurons in two distinct preoptic regions, rostromedial (RMPO) and caudolateral (CLPO) regions, whose actions may be via direct projections to medullary raphé premotor neurons. In urethane-anesthetized rats, we sought single preoptic neurons that were antidromically activated from the medullary raphé and could subserve this function. Nine of 45 raphé-projecting preoptic neurons, predominantly in the CLPO, showed spontaneous activity under warm conditions and were inhibited by cooling the trunk skin (warm-responsive). Unexpectedly, 14 raphé-projecting preoptic neurons (mostly in the RMPO) were activated by skin cooling (cold-responsive), suggesting that an excitatory pathway from this region could contribute to tail vasoconstriction. Supporting this, neuronal disinhibition in the RMPO by microinjecting the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline (0.5 mm, 15 nl) caused a rapid increase in tail sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). Similar injections into the CLPO were without effect. Electrical stimulation of the RMPO also activated tail SNA, with a latency ∼25 ms longer than to stimulation of the medullary raphé. Injection of the glutamate receptor antagonist kynurenate (50 mm, 120 nl) into the medullary raphé suppressed tail SNA responses to both RMPO bicuculline and skin cooling. These findings suggest that both inhibitory and excitatory descending drives regulate tail vasoconstriction in the cold and that warm- and cold-responsive raphé-projecting preoptic neurons may mediate these actions.

Multiple thermoregulatory effectors with independent central controls.

This review first considers how mammalian body temperature regulation evolved, and how the brain's responses to thermoregulatory challenges are likely to be organised differently from the way an engineer would design them. This is because thermoregulatory effector mechanisms would have evolved one at a time, with each being superimposed on pre-existing mechanisms. There may be no functional need for the final ensemble of control loops to be coordinated by neural cross-connections: appropriate thermal thresholds would solve the problem sufficiently. Investigations first into thermoregulatory behaviours and later into unconscious thermoregulatory mechanisms (autonomic and shivering) have led investigators to the realisation that multiple control loops exist in the brain, with each effector system apparently regulated by its own central temperature sensors. This theme is developed with reference to data on four temperature-regulated neural outflows that have been studied on anaesthetized rats under standard conditions in the authors' laboratory. Direct comparisons were made between the behaviour of sympathetic nerves supplying the tail vasculature, vessels in the proximal hairy skin, interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) and fusimotor fibres to hind limb muscle. All four outflows were activated by cooling the skin, and all were silenced by neuronal inhibition in the medullary raphé. Their thermal thresholds were quite different, however, as were their relative responsiveness to core temperature. This was ranked as: tail > back skin > BAT > fusimotor. These and other data indicate that the four thermoeffector outflows are driven by separate neural pathways, each regulated by independent brain temperature sensors.

Crystal structure of pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus lipase complex with the anti-obesity drug orlistat.

Staphylococcus aureus lipase (SAL), a triacylglycerol esterase, is an important virulence factor and may be a therapeutic target for infectious diseases. Herein, we determined the 3D structure of native SAL, the mutated S116A inactive form, and the inhibitor complex using the anti-obesity drug orlistat to aid in drug development. The determined crystal structures showed a typical α/ß hydrolase motif with a dimeric form. Fatty acids bound near the active site in native SAL and inactive S116A mutant structures. We found that orlistat potently inhibits SAL activity, and it covalently bound to the catalytic Ser116 residue. This is the first report detailing orlistat-lipase binding. It provides structure-based information on the production of potent anti-SAL drugs and lipase inhibitors. These results also indicated that orlistat can be repositioned to treat bacterial diseases.

Staphylococcus aureus lipase: purification, kinetic characterization, crystallization and crystallographic study.

Staphylococcus aureus lipase (SAL), a triacylglycerol esterase, is an important virulence factor in S. aureus and may be a therapeutic target for infectious diseases caused by S. aureus. For the purposes of anti-SAL drug development using structure-based drug design, X-ray crystallographic analysis of SAL overexpressed in Escherichia coli was performed. The recombinant protein was purified using a three-step protocol involving immobilized metal-affinity chromatography, cation-exchange chromatography and anion-exchange chromatography flowthrough methods, yielding 40 mg of protein per litre of bacterial culture. Crystals were obtained using the sitting-drop vapor-diffusion technique. Diffraction data to 3.0 Šresolution were collected on the BL44XU beamline at SPring-8 at the zinc peak of 1.2842 Šfor SAD phasing. The crystals belonged to space group P4122 or P4322, with unit-cell parameters a = 131.0, b = 131.0, c = 250.6 Å, and are likely to contain four SAL molecules (408 residues) per asymmetric unit.

Serum selenoprotein P, but not selenium, predicts future hyperglycemia in a general Japanese population.

We aimed to test the hypothesis that selenoprotein P (SELENOP), a hepatokine involved in the development of both insulin resistance and impaired insulin production in mice, is related to future onset of hyperglycemia in humans. 76 healthy non-pregnant human subjects without diabetes underwent oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at baseline and 4-years follow-up. Nine subjects developed either impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes at follow-up. At baseline, SELENOP concentrations correlated negatively with insulinogenic index, but not with homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Multivariate analysis showed that baseline SELENOP predicted fasting plasma glucose at follow-up independently of the other parameters. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that baseline concentrations of serum SELENOP, but not of selenium, were a reliable test to predict future onset of glucose intolerance. In conclusion, elevation of circulating SELENOP, but not of circulating selenium, was positively and independently associated with future onset of glucose intolerance in a general Japanese population.

Deficiency of the hepatokine selenoprotein P increases responsiveness to exercise in mice through upregulation of reactive oxygen species and AMP-activated protein kinase in muscle.

Exercise has numerous health-promoting effects in humans; however, individual responsiveness to exercise with regard to endurance or metabolic health differs markedly. This 'exercise resistance' is considered to be congenital, with no evident acquired causative factors. Here we show that the anti-oxidative hepatokine selenoprotein P (SeP) causes exercise resistance through its muscle receptor low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1). SeP-deficient mice showed a 'super-endurance' phenotype after exercise training, as well as enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and peroxisome proliferative activated receptor γ coactivator (Ppargc)-1α (also known as PGC-1α; encoded by Ppargc1a) expression in skeletal muscle. Supplementation with the anti-oxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) reduced ROS production and the endurance capacity in SeP-deficient mice. SeP treatment impaired hydrogen-peroxide-induced adaptations through LRP1 in cultured myotubes and suppressed exercise-induced AMPK phosphorylation and Ppargc1a gene expression in mouse skeletal muscle-effects which were blunted in mice with a muscle-specific LRP1 deficiency. Furthermore, we found that increased amounts of circulating SeP predicted the ineffectiveness of training on endurance capacity in humans. Our study suggests that inhibitors of the SeP-LRP1 axis may function as exercise-enhancing drugs to treat diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

Control of cutaneous blood flow by central nervous system.

Hairless skin acts as a heat exchanger between body and environment, and thus greatly contributes to body temperature regulation by changing blood flow to the skin (cutaneous) vascular bed during physiological responses such as cold- or warm-defense and fever. Cutaneous blood flow is also affected by alerting state; we 'go pale with fright'. The rabbit ear pinna and the rat tail have hairless skin, and thus provide animal models for investigating central pathway regulating blood flow to cutaneous vascular beds. Cutaneous blood flow is controlled by the centrally regulated sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic premotor neurons in the medullary raphé in the lower brain stem are labeled at early stage after injection of trans-synaptic viral tracer into skin wall of the rat tail. Inactivation of these neurons abolishes cutaneous vasomotor changes evoked as part of thermoregulatory, febrile or psychological responses, indicating that the medullary raphé is a common final pathway to cutaneous sympathetic outflow, receiving neural inputs from upstream nuclei such as the preoptic area, hypothalamic nuclei and the midbrain. Summarizing evidences from rats and rabbits studies in the last 2 decades, we will review our current understanding of the central pathways mediating cutaneous vasomotor control.

Involvement of the raphé pallidus in the suppressive effect of preoptic warming on non-shivering thermogenesis in rats.

Thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) is activated by the stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH). Local warming of the preoptic area (PO) suppresses this response. Injection of the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline into the caudal periaqueductal gray (cPAG), where excitatory neurons for BAT thermogenesis are located, did not influence the suppressive effect of PO warming. On the other hand, after bicuculline injection into the raphé pallidus, where excitatory neurons for BAT thermogenesis are also located, VMH stimulation produced BAT thermogenesis even during PO warming. The present results suggest that the inhibitory signal from the PO reaches the raphé pallidus and not the cPAG for the control of BAT thermogenesis.

A sol particle homogeneous immunoassay for measuring serum cystatin C.

OBJECTIVES: We have developed a sol particle immunoassay (SPIA) for measuring serum cystatin C, an endogenous marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). DESIGN AND METHODS: We used colloidal gold particles coated with anti-cystatin C antibodies. RESULTS: The assay was linear in the range 0.2 to 8 mg/L and showed good correlation between theoretical and obtained values. The within and between-day coefficients of variation (CV) varied from 1.1 to 1.6% and 0.4 to 1.0%, respectively. Analytical recovery was 95.7 to 103.7%. No interference could be detected from bilirubin (up to 200 mg/L), hemoglobin (up to 3 g/L), chyle (up to 5,000 FTU), rheumatoid factor (up to 1,000 IU/mL) or anticoagulants. Serum samples (n = 101), from which turbidity had been removed, were measured either with our assay or with Dako Cystatin C PET kits, using a Model 7070 Hitachi automatic clinical analyzer. Comparing these two methods, the calculated linear regression equation and the correlation coefficient were y = 0.986 x -0.153 and r = 0.995, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our new SPIA assay is a fully automated, homogeneous immunoassay that can readily be used in conjunction with various commercial analyzers that are currently available. The assay is sensitive, precise and suitable for clinical use and appears to offer advantages over other GFR markers such as creatinine.

Roles of two preoptic cell groups in tonic and febrile control of rat tail sympathetic fibers.

In response to cold and in fever, heat dissipation from the skin is reduced by sympathetic vasoconstriction. The preoptic region has been implicated in regulating basal, thermal, and febrile vasoconstriction of cutaneous vessels such as the rat's tail, but the neurons responsible for these functions have not been well localized. We recorded activity from single sympathetic nerve fibers supplying tail vessels in urethane-anesthetized rats, while microinjections of GABA (300 mM, 15-30 nl) were used to inhibit neurons in different parts of the preoptic region. Tail fiber activity increased promptly after GABA injections in two distinct regions: a rostromedial preoptic region (RMPO) centered around the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, and a second region centered approximately 1 mm caudolaterally (CLPO). Responses to GABA within each region were similar. The febrile mediator, PGE(2) (0.2 or 1 ng in 15 nl) was then microinjected into GABA-sensitive preoptic sites. Injections of PGE(2) into the RMPO induced a rapid increase in tail fiber activity followed by a rise in core temperature; injections into the rostromedial part of CLPO gave delayed tail fiber responses; injections into the central and caudal parts of CLPO were without effect. These results indicate that neurons in two distinct preoptic regions provide tonic inhibitory drive to the tail vasoconstrictor supply, but febrile vasoconstriction is mediated by PGE(2) selectively inhibiting neurons in the rostromedial region.

Functional topography of the dorsomedial hypothalamus.

The dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) has been proposed to play key roles in both the defense reaction to acute stress and in the thermoregulatory response to cold. We reasoned that the autonomic/respiratory motor patterns of these responses would be mediated by at least partly distinct DMH neuron populations. To test this, we made simultaneous recordings of phrenic nerve and plantar cutaneous vasoconstrictor (CVC) activity in 14 vagotomized, ventilated, urethane-anesthetized rats. Microinjections of d,l-homocysteic acid (DLH; 15 nl, 50 mM) were used to cause localized, short-lasting (<1 min) activation of DMH neuron clusters. Cooling the rat's trunk skin by perfusing cold water through a water jacket-activated plantar CVC activity but depressed phrenic burst rate (cold-response pattern). The expected "stress/defense response" pattern would be phrenic activation, with increased blood pressure, heart rate, and possibly CVC activity. DLH microinjections into 76 sites within the DMH region never reduced phrenic activity. They frequently increased phrenic rate and/or plantar CVC activity, but the magnitudes of those two responses were not significantly correlated. Plantar CVC responses were evoked most strongly from the dorsal hypothalamic area and most dorsal part of the dorsomedial nucleus, whereas peak phrenic rate responses were evoked from more caudal sites; their relative magnitudes varied systematically with rostrocaudal position. Tachycardia correlated with plantar CVC responses but not phrenic rate. These findings indicate that localized activation of DMH neurons does not evoke full "cold-response" or stress/defense response patterns, but they demonstrate the existence of significant functional topography within the DMH region.

Independent vasomotor control of rat tail and proximal hairy skin.

Quantitative differences are known to exist between the vasomotor control of hairy and hairless skin, but it is unknown whether they are regulated by common central mechanisms. We made simultaneous recordings from sympathetic cutaneous vasoconstrictor (CVC-type) fibres supplying back skin (hairy) and tail (hairless) in urethane-anaesthetized, artificially ventilated rats. The animal's trunk was shaved and encased in a water-perfused jacket. Both tail and back skin CVC-type fibres were activated by cooling the trunk skin, and independently by the resultant fall in core (rectal) temperature, but their thresholds for activation differed (skin temperatures 38.8 +/- 0.4 degrees C versus 36.8 +/- 0.4 degrees C, core temperatures 38.1 +/- 0.2 degrees C versus 36.8 +/- 0.2 degrees C, respectively; P < 0.01). Back skin CVC-type fibres were more responsive to skin than to core cooling, while the reverse applied to tail fibres. Back skin CVC-type fibres were less responsive than tail fibres to prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) microinjected into the preoptic area. Spectral analysis showed no significant coherence between tail and back skin CVC-type fibre activities during cooling. After preoptic PGE2 injection, a coherent peak at 1 Hz appeared in some animals; this disappeared after partialization with respect to ventilatory pressure, indicating that it was attributable to common ventilatory modulation. Neuronal inhibition in the rostral medullary raphé by microinjected muscimol (2 mM, 60-120 nl) suppressed both tail and back skin CVC-type fibre activities, and prevented their responses to subsequent skin cooling. These results indicate that thermoregulatory responses of hairless and hairy skin vessels are controlled by independent neural pathways, although both depend on synaptic relays in the medullary raphé.

Reflex activation of rat fusimotor neurons by body surface cooling, and its dependence on the medullary raphe.

The nature of muscle efferent fibre activation during whole body cooling was investigated in urethane-anaesthetized rats. Multiunit efferent activity to the gastrocnemius muscle was detected when the trunk skin was cooled by a water-perfused jacket to below 36.0 +/- 0.7 degrees C. That efferent activity was not blocked by hexamethonium (50 mg kg(-1), i.v.) and was not associated with movement or electromyographic activity. Cold-induced efferent activity enhanced the discharge of afferent filaments from the isotonically stretched gastrocnemius muscle, demonstrating that it was fusimotor. Fusimotor neurons were activated by falls in trunk skin temperature, but that activity ceased when the skin was rewarmed, regardless of how low core temperature had fallen. While low core temperature alone was ineffective, a high core temperature could inhibit the fusimotor response to skin cooling. Fusimotor activation by skin cooling was often accompanied by desynchronization of the frontal electroencephalogram (EEG), but was not a simple consequence of cortical arousal, in that warming the scrotum desynchronized the EEG without activating fusimotor fibres. Inhibition of neurons in the rostral medullary raphé by microinjections of glycine (0.5 m, 120-180 nl) reduced the fusimotor response to skin cooling by 95 +/- 3%, but did not prevent the EEG response. These results are interpreted as showing a novel thermoregulatory reflex that is triggered by cold exposure. It may underlie the increased muscle tone that precedes overt shivering, and could also serve to amplify shivering. Like several other cold-defence responses, this reflex depends upon neurons in the rostral medullary raphé.

A subsidiary fever center in the medullary raphé?

In fever, as in normal thermoregulation, signals from the preoptic area drive both cutaneous vasoconstriction and thermogenesis by brown adipose tissue (BAT). Both of these responses are mediated by sympathetic nerves whose premotor neurons are located in the medullary raphé. EP3 receptors, key prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) receptors responsible for fever induction, are expressed in this same medullary raphé region. To investigate whether PGE2 in the medullary raphé might contribute to the febrile response, we tested whether direct injections of PGE2 into the medullary raphé could drive sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) to BAT and cutaneous (tail) vessels in anesthetized rats. Microinjections of glutamate (50 mM, 60-180 nl) into the medullary raphé activated both tail and BAT SNA, as did cooling the trunk skin. PGE2 injections (150-500 ng in 300-1,000 nl) into the medullary raphé had no effect on tail SNA, BAT SNA, body temperature, or heart rate. By contrast, 150 ng PGE2 injected into the preoptic area caused large increases in both tail and BAT SNA (+60 +/- 17 spikes/15 s and 1,591 +/- 150% of control, respectively), increased body temperature (+1.8 +/- 0.2 degrees C), blood pressure (+17 +/- 2 mmHg), and heart rate (+124 +/- 19 beats/min). These results suggest that despite expression of EP3 receptors, neurons in the medullary raphé are unable to drive febrile responses of tail and BAT SNA independently of the preoptic area. Rather, they appear merely to transmit signals for heat production and heat conservation originating from the preoptic area.

Role of the medullary raphé in thermoregulatory vasomotor control in rats.

To investigate the involvement of the medullary raphé in thermoregulatory vasomotor control, we chemically manipulated raphé neuronal activity while monitoring the tail vasomotor response to preoptic warming. For comparison, neuronal activity in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) was manipulated in similar experiments. Injections of D,L-homocysteic acid (DLH; 0.5 mM, 0.3 microl) into a restricted region of the ventral medullary raphé suppressed the tail vasodilatation normally elicited by warming the preoptic area to 42 degrees C. DLH injection into the RVLM also suppressed the vasodilatation elicited by preoptic warming. Injection of bicuculline (0.5 mM, 0.3 microl) into the same raphé region suppressed the vasodilatation elicited by preoptic warming. Bicuculline injection into the RVLM did not suppress tail vasodilatation. These results suggest that neurones in both the medullary raphé and the RVLM are vasoconstrictor to the tail, but only those in the raphé receive inhibitory input from the preoptic area. That input might be direct and/or indirect (e.g. via the periaqueductal grey matter).

Effects of fasting on thermoregulatory processes and the daily oscillations in rats.

To investigate the mechanism involved in the reduction of body core temperature (T(core)) during fasting in rats, which is selective in the light phase, we measured T(core), surface temperature, and oxygen consumption rate in fed control animals and in fasted animals on day 3 of fasting and day 4 of recovery at an ambient temperature (T(a)) of 23 degrees C by biotelemetry, infrared thermography, and indirect calorimetry, respectively. On the fasting day, 1) T(core) in the light phase decreased (P < 0.05) from the control; however, T(core) in the dark phase was unchanged, 2) tail temperature fell from the control (P < 0.05, from 30.7 +/- 0.1 to 23.9 +/- 0.1 degrees C in the dark phase and from 29.4 +/- 0.1 to 25.2 +/- 0.2 degrees C in the light phase), 3) oxygen consumption rate decreased from the control (P < 0.05, from 24.37 +/- 1.06 to 16.24 +/- 0.69 ml. min(-1). kg body wt(-0.75) in the dark phase and from 18.91 +/- 0.64 to 14.00 +/- 0.41 ml. min(-1). kg body wt(-0.75) in the light phase). All these values returned to the control levels on the recovery day. The results suggest that, in the fasting condition, T(core) in the dark phase was maintained by suppression of the heat loss mechanism, despite the reduction of metabolic heat production. In contrast, the response was weakened in the light phase, decreasing T(core) greatly. Moreover, the change in the regulation of tail blood flow was a likely mechanism to suppress heat loss.