The exocyst complex in plants.
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Arabidopsis↗
Biomedical subjects
D Ziak
Publications and source records attributed to D Ziak.
Association of Borrelia afzelii with rodents in Europe.
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) is maintained in nature by complex zoonotic transmission cycles, involving a large variety of vertebrates as hosts and hard ticks of the genus Ixodes as vectors. Recent studies suggest that the genospecies of B. burgdorferi s.l. and sometimes their subtypes are propagated by different spectra of hosts, mainly birds and rodents. In order to test the concept of host-association, we analysed the relationships between Borrelia genospecies, rodent hosts and I. ricinus ticks in an endemic focus of Lyme borreliosis in western Slovakia. Rodents and questing ticks were collected at a forested low land locality near Bratislava. Tick infestation levels on rodents were determined, and spirochaete infections in ticks and in ear punch biopsies were analysed by PCR followed by genotyping. Mice were more heavily infested with ticks than bank voles, and a higher proportion of mice was infected with spirochactes than voles. However, the infectivity of soles was much higher than that of mice. The vast majority of infections detected in the skin and in ticks feeding on the rodents represented B. afzelii. In contrast, more than half of all infections in questing ticks collected in the same region of Slovakia were identified as B. valaisiana and B. garinii. In conclusion, whilst the study reveals that mice and voles play different quantitative roles in the ecology of Lyme borreliosis, it demonstrates that B. afzelii is specifically maintained by European rodents, validating the concept of host-association of B. burgdorferi s.l.
Animals↗
Effect of osmotic stress on potassium accumulation around glial cells and extracellular space volume in rat spinal cord slices.
In rat brain and spinal cord slices, the local extracellular accumulation of K(+), as indicated by K(+) tail currents (I(tail)) after a depolarization step, is greater in the vicinity of oligodendrocytes than that of astrocytes. It has been suggested that this may reflect a smaller extracellular space (ECS) around oligodendrocytes compared to astrocytes [Chvátal et al. [1997] J. Neurosci. Res. 49:98-106; [1999] J. Neurosci. Res. 56:493-505). We therefore compared the effect of osmotic stress in spinal cord slices from 5-11-day-old rats on the changes in reversal potentials (V(rev)) of I(tail) measured by the whole-cell patch-clamp technique and the changes in ECS volume measured by the real-time iontophoretic method. Cell swelling induced by a 20 min perfusion of hypoosmotic solution (200 mmol/kg) decreased the ECS volume fraction from 0.21 +/- 0.01 to 0.15 +/- 0.02, i.e., by 29%. As calculated from V(rev) of I(tail) using the Nernst equation, a depolarizing prepulse increased [K(+)](e) around astrocytes from 11.0 to 44.7 mM, i.e., by 306%, and around oligodendrocytes from 26.1 to 54.9 mM, i.e., by 110%. The ECS volume fraction decrease had the same time course as the changes in V(rev) of I(tail). Cell shrinkage in hyperosmotic solution (400 mmol/kg) increased ECS volume fraction from 0.24 +/- 0.02 to 0.32 +/- 0.02, i.e., by 33%. It had no effect on [K(+)](e) evoked by a depolarizing prepulse in astrocytes, whereas in oligodendrocytes [K(+)](e) rapidly decreased from 52 to 26 mM, i.e., by 50%. The increase in ECS volume was slower than the changes in [K(+)](e). These data demonstrate that hypoosmotic solution has a larger effect on the ECS volume around astrocytes than around oligodendrocytes and that hyperosmotic solution affects the ECS volume around oligodendrocytes only. This indicates that increased K(+) accumulation in the vicinity of oligodendrocytes could be due to a restricted ECS. Oligodendrocytes in the CNS are therefore most likely surrounded by clusters of "compacted" ECS, which may selectively affect the diffusion of neuroactive substances in specific areas and directions and facilitate spatial K(+) buffering.
Animals↗
Membrane currents and morphological properties of neurons and glial cells in the spinal cord and filum terminale of the frog.
Using the patch-clamp technique in the whole-cell configuration combined with intracellular dialysis of the fluorescent dye Lucifer yellow (LY), the membrane properties of cells in slices of the lumbar portion of the frog spinal cord (n=64) and the filum terminale (FT, n=48) have been characterized and correlated with their morphology. Four types of cells were found in lumbar spinal cord and FT with membrane and morphological properties similar to those of cells that were previously identified in the rat spinal cord (Chvátal, A., Pastor, A., Mauch, M., Syková, E., Kettenmann, H., 1995. Distinct populations of identified glial cells in the developing rat spinal cord: Ion channel properties and cell morphology. Eur. J. Neurosci. 7, 129-142). Neurons, in response to a series of symmetrical voltage steps, displayed large repetitive voltage-dependent Na(+) inward currents and K(+) delayed rectifying outward currents. Three distinct types of non-neuronal cells were found. First, cells that exhibited passive symmetrical non-decaying currents were identified as astrocytes. These cells immunostained for GFAP and typically had at least one thick process and a number of fine processes. Second, cells with the characteristic properties of rat spinal cord oligodendrocytes, with passive symmetrical decaying currents and large tail currents after the end of the voltage step. These cells exhibited either long parallel or short hairy processes. Third, cells that expressed small brief inward currents in response to depolarizing steps, delayed rectifier outward currents and small sustained inward currents identical to rat glial precursor cells. Morphologically, they were characterized by round cell bodies with a number of finely branched processes. LY dye-coupling in the frog spinal cord gray matter and FT was observed in neurons and in all glial populations. All four cell types were found in both the spinal cord gray matter and FT. The glia/neuron ratio in the spinal cord was 0.78, while in FT it was 2.0. Moreover, the overall cell density was less in the FT than in the spinal cord. The present study shows that the membrane and morphological properties of glial cells in the frog and rat spinal cords are similar. Such striking phylogenetic similarity suggests a significant contribution from distinct glial cell populations to various spinal cord functions, particularly ionic and volume homeostasis in both mammals and amphibians.
Animals↗
Glial depolarization evokes a larger potassium accumulation around oligodendrocytes than around astrocytes in gray matter of rat spinal cord slices.
The cell membrane of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes is almost exclusively permeable for K+. Depolarizing and hyperpolarizing voltage steps produce in oligodendrocytes, but not in astrocytes, decaying passive currents followed by large tail currents (Itail) after the offset of a voltage jump. The aim of the present study was to characterize the properties of Itail in astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and their respective precursors in the gray matter of spinal cord slices. Studies were carried out on 5- to 11-day-old rats, using the whole-cell patch clamp technique. The reversal potential (Vrev) of Itail evoked by membrane depolarization was significantly more positive in oligodendrocytes (-31.7+/-2.58 mV, n = 53) than in astrocytes (-57.9+/-2.43 mV, n = 21), oligodendrocyte precursors (-41.2+/-3.44 mV, n = 36), or astrocyte precursors (-52.1+/-1.32 mV, n = 43). Analysis of the Itail (using a variable amplitude and duration of the de- and hyperpolarizing prepulses as well as an analysis of the time constant of the membrane currents during voltage steps) showed that the Itail in oligodendrocytes arise from a larger shift of K+ across their membrane than in other cell types. As calculated from the Nernst equation, changes in Vrev revealed significantly larger accumulation of the extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]e) around oligodendrocytes than around astrocytes. The application of 50 mM K+ or hypotonic solution, used to study the effect of cell swelling on the changes in [K+]e evoked by a depolarizing prepulse, produced in astrocytes an increase in [K+]e of 201% and 239%, respectively. In oligodendrocytes, such increases (22% and 29%) were not found. We conclude that K+ tail currents, evoked by a larger accumulation of K+ in the vicinity of the oligodendrocyte membrane, could result from a smaller extracellular space (ECS) volume around oligodendrocytes than around astrocytes. Thus, in addition to the clearance of K+ from the ECS performed by astrocytes, the presence of the K+ tail currents in oligodendrocytes indicates that they might also contribute to efficient K+ homeostasis.
Animals↗
Glutamate-, kainate- and NMDA-evoked membrane currents in identified glial cells in rat spinal cord slice.
The effect of L-glutamate, kainate and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) on membrane currents of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and their respective precursors was studied in acute spinal cord slices of rats between the ages of postnatal days 5 and 13 using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. L-glutamate (10(-3) M), kainate (10(-3) M), and NMDA (2x10(-3) M) evoked inward currents in all glial cells. Kainate evoked larger currents in precursors than in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, while NMDA induced larger currents in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes than in precursors. Kainate-evoked currents were blocked by the AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist CNQX (10(-4) M) and were, with the exception of the precursors, larger in dorsal than in ventral horns, as were NMDA-evoked currents. Currents evoked by NMDA were unaffected by CNQX and, in contrast to those seen in neurones, were not sensitive to Mg2+. In addition, they significantly decreased during development and were present when synaptic transmission was blocked in a Ca2+-free solution. NMDA-evoked currents were not abolished during the block of K+ inward currents in glial cells by Ba2+; thus they are unlikely to be mediated by an increase in extracellular K+ during neuronal activity. We provide evidence that spinal cord glial cells are sensitive to the application of L-glutamate, kainate and transiently, during postnatal development, to NMDA.
6-Cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione↗