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G Miesenböck

Publications and source records attributed to G Miesenböck.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Genetic schemes and schemata in neurophysiology.

Information in nervous systems is often carried by neural ensembles--groups of neurons in transient functional linkage--and written in a code that involves the spatial locations of active neurons or synapses and the times at which activity occurs. Even in favorable neuroanatomical circumstances, studying neural ensemble function presents a serious experimental challenge. One recent strategy to overcome this challenge relies on protein-based sensors that provide direct optical images of neural activity, and on protein-based effectors that interfere with it. Because these molecules are encodable in DNA, they can be introduced into intact animals by genetic manipulation, and their expression pattern can be tailored to include--exclusively and at the same time comprehensively--the neurons of interest. Circumscribed populations of neurons can thus be studied in virtual isolation at defined stages of intact neural pathways.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

PRIM: proximity imaging of green fluorescent protein-tagged polypeptides.

We report a serendipitous discovery that extends the impressive catalog of reporter functions performed by green fluorescent protein (GFP) or its derivatives. When two GFP molecules are brought into proximity, changes in the relative intensities of green fluorescence emitted upon excitation at 395 vs. 475 nm result. These spectral changes provide a sensitive ratiometric index of the extent of self-association that can be exploited to quantitatively image homo-oligomerization or clustering processes of GFP-tagged proteins in vivo. The method, which we term proximity imaging (PRIM), complements fluorescence resonance energy transfer between a blue fluorescent protein donor and a GFP acceptor, a powerful method for imaging proximity relationships between different proteins. However, unlike fluorescence resonance energy transfer (which is a spectral interaction), PRIM depends on direct contact between two GFP modules, which can lead to structural perturbations and concomitant spectral changes within a module. Moreover, the precise spatial arrangement of the GFP molecules within a given dimer determines the magnitude and direction of the spectral change. We have used PRIM to detect FK1012-induced dimerization of GFP fused to FK506-binding protein and clustering of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored GFP at cell surfaces.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Visualizing secretion and synaptic transmission with pH-sensitive green fluorescent proteins.

In neural systems, information is often carried by ensembles of cells rather than by individual units. Optical indicators provide a powerful means to reveal such distributed activity, particularly when protein-based and encodable in DNA: encodable probes can be introduced into cells, tissues, or transgenic organisms by genetic manipulation, selectively expressed in anatomically or functionally defined groups of cells, and, ideally, recorded in situ, without a requirement for exogenous cofactors. Here we describe sensors for secretion and neurotransmission that fulfil these criteria. We have developed pH-sensitive mutants of green fluorescent protein ('pHluorins') by structure-directed combinatorial mutagenesis, with the aim of exploiting the acidic pH inside secretory vesicles to monitor vesicle exocytosis and recycling. When linked to a vesicle membrane protein, pHluorins were sorted to secretory and synaptic vesicles and reported transmission at individual synaptic boutons, as well as secretion and fusion pore 'flicker' of single secretory granules.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Patterns of synaptic activity in neural networks recorded by light emission from synaptolucins.

The emission of light, coupled to exocytosis, can in principle be utilized to monitor the activity of a large number of individual synapses simultaneously. To illustrate this concept, fusion proteins of Cypridina luciferase and synaptotagmin-I or VAMP-2/synaptobrevin (which we term "synaptolucins") were expressed in cultured hippocampal neurons with the help of viral vectors. Synaptolucins were targeted to synaptic vesicles and, upon exocytosis, formed light-emitting complexes with their cognate luciferin, which was added to the extracellular medium. Photon emissions required a depolarizing stimulus, occurred from regions with high synaptic density as ascertained by vital staining of recycling synaptic vesicles, and were sensitive to Ca2+ depletion and clostridial neurotoxins. The method can currently detect exocytosis of the readily releasable pool of synaptic vesicles at a hippocampal synapse, corresponding to about two dozen quanta, but has the potential for greater sensitivity.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

The capacity to retrieve escaped ER proteins extends to the trans-most cisterna of the Golgi stack.

To explore how far into the Golgi stack the capacity to retrieve KDEL proteins extends, we have introduced an exogenous probe (the peptide YHPNSTCSEKDEL) into the TGN of living cells. For this purpose, a CHO cell line expressing a c-myc-tagged version of the transmembrane protein TGN38--which cycles between the TGN and the cell surface--was generated. The cells internalized peptides that were disulfide bonded to anti-myc antibodies and accumulated the peptide-antibody complexes in the TGN. Peptides released from these complexes underwent retrograde transport to the ER, as evidenced by the transfer of N-linked carbohydrate to their acceptor site. The KDEL-tagged glycopeptides (approximately 10% of the endocytosed load) behaved like endogenous ER residents: they stayed intracellular, and their oligosaccharide side chains remained sensitive to endoglycosidase H. An option thus exists to extract ER residents even at the most distant pole of the Golgi stack, suggesting that sorting of resident from exported ER proteins may occur in a multistage process akin to fractional distillation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Effect of pancreas transplantation on lipoprotein lipase, postprandial lipemia, and HDL cholesterol.

Pancreas transplantation with systemic venous drainage of the graft causes elevated plasma levels of insulin, known to be a potent regulator of plasma lipoprotein metabolism. We studied 11 post-type I diabetic pancreas-kidney transplant recipients, 9 type I diabetic kidney transplant recipients displaying peripheral hyperinsulinemia due to subcutaneous insulin treatment, 11 nondiabetic kidney transplant recipients as controls for the effects of immunosuppressive medication, and 11 healthy control subjects, all matched for age, sex, and body mass index. We determined fasting lipids, lipoproteins and lipolytic enzymes, as well as postprandial lipid metabolism after a standardized oral fat load. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol averaged 1.98 (0.40) mmol/L in pancreas-kidney transplant patients, clearly higher than that of kidney transplant recipients (1.52 (0.36) mmol/L, P < 0.05) or of controls (1.50 (0.38) mmol/L, P < 0.05). In pancreas-kidney transplant patients postprandial lipemia was lowest and lipoprotein lipase activity was highest (average 32% and 154%, respectively, of the mean of the controls) compared with nondiabetic kidney transplant recipients (P < 0.005, P < 0.05) and healthy controls (P < 0.001, P < 0.01). In type I diabetic kidney transplant recipients the levels of HDL cholesterol (1.88 (0.63) mmol/L), postprandial lipemia, and lipoprotein lipase activity were intermediate between pancreas-kidney transplant patients and healthy controls. The distinctly elevated HDL cholesterol in pancreas-kidney transplant patients can be readily explained by the low postprandial triglyceride levels resulting from a high activity of lipoprotein lipase. The very favorable lipid profile in post-diabetic pancreas-kidney transplant recipients could be expected to counteract the severe atherosclerotic risk of long-standing diabetes.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Fenofibrate improves postprandial chylomicron clearance in II B hyperlipoproteinemia.

In 11 patients with IIB hyperlipoproteinemia we studied fasting lipids, lipoproteins, lipoprotein-modifying enzymes, and postprandial lipid metabolism after a standardized oral fat load supplemented with vitamin A before and 12 weeks after treatment with fenofibrate, a third-generation fibric acid derivative. Fasting plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01, P < 0.01), high-density lipoprotein subfraction 3 cholesterol increased significantly (P < 0.05), and high-density lipoprotein subfraction 2 cholesterol remained unchanged. Postprandial lipemia, i.e., the integrated postprandial triglyceride concentrations corrected for the fasting triglyceride level, and postprandial chylomicron concentrations, as assessed by biosynthetic labeling of chylomicrons with retinyl palmitate, decreased by 40.6% and 60.1% (P < 0.05; P < 0.05), respectively. The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) increased by 33.6% (P < 0.05); the increase in LPL during fenofibrate treatment was positively correlated with the increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = 0.84; P < 0.005). Hepatic lipase and cholesteryl ester transfer protein mass and activity remained unchanged. We conclude that lipid-lowering therapy with fenofibrate ameliorates fasting and, more profoundly, postprandial lipoprotein transport in hypertriglyceridemia by curbing postprandial triglyceride and chylomicron accumulation, at least in part, through an increase in LPL activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

TGN38 recycles basolaterally in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.

Sorting of newly synthesized plasma membrane proteins to the apical or basolateral surface domains of polarized cells is currently thought to take place within the trans-Golgi network (TGN). To explore the relationship between protein localization to the TGN and sorting to the plasma membrane in polarized epithelial cells, we have expressed constructs encoding the TGN marker, TGN38, in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. We report that TGN38 is predominantly localized to the TGN of these cells and recycles via the basolateral membrane. Analyses of the distribution of Tac-TGN38 chimeric proteins in MDCK cells suggest that the cytoplasmic domain of TGN38 has information leading to both TGN localization and cycling through the basolateral surface. Mutations of the cytoplasmic domain that disrupt TGN localization also lead to nonpolarized delivery of the chimeric proteins to both surface domains. These results demonstrate an apparent equivalence of basolateral and TGN localization determinants and support an evolutionary relationship between TGN and plasma membrane sorting processes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Heterozygous lipoprotein lipase deficiency due to a missense mutation as the cause of impaired triglyceride tolerance with multiple lipoprotein abnormalities.

In 16 members of two Austrian families affected by a missense mutation at codon 188 of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene (8 heterozygous and 8 normal subjects), carrier status for the mutation as determined by DNA analysis was related to LPL activity in postheparin plasma, to the magnitude of postprandial lipemia, and to concentration, composition, and size of the major lipoprotein classes of postabsorptive plasma. Carriers exhibited clearly reduced LPL activity, normal fasting triglycerides, but pronounced postprandial lipemia. The carriers' impaired triglyceride tolerance, as evident in the postprandial state of challenge only, was associated with a fasting lipoprotein constellation characterized by (a) enrichment of HDL2 with triglycerides, (b) reduced HDL2-cholesterol, (c) enrichment of VLDL and intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL) with cholesteryl esters, (d) elevated IDL levels, and (e) small-sized LDL. Within any given individual, the degrees of expression of these characteristics were quantitatively and continuously related with each other as well as with the magnitude of lipemia and with LPL activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Relation of triglyceride metabolism and coronary artery disease. Studies in the postprandial state.

The status of fasting triglycerides as a risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) has been considered weak because in multivariate analyses, triglycerides tend to be eliminated by high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. To further evaluate the role of triglycerides in CAD, we employed postprandial lipemia as a more informative means of characterizing triglyceride metabolism. In 61 male subjects with severe CAD and 40 control subjects without CAD as verified by angiography, we measured cholesterol; triglycerides; HDL cholesterol; HDL2 cholesterol; and apolipoproteins A-I, A-II, and B in fasting plasma and triglycerides before and 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours after a standardized test meal. Both the maximal triglyceride increase and the magnitude of postprandial lipemia (area under the triglyceride curve over 8 hours after the meal) were higher in cases than in control subjects. Single postprandial triglyceride levels 6 and 8 hours after the meal were highly discriminatory (p < 0.001), and by logistic-regression analysis displayed an accuracy of 68% in predicting the presence or absence of CAD. In this respect, accuracy was higher than that of HDL2 cholesterol (64%) and equal to that of apolipoprotein B (68%), the most discriminatory fasting parameter. Multivariate logistic-regression analysis was performed to reduce the number of risk factors to those that were statistically independent. This statistical procedure selected postprandial but not fasting triglycerides into the most accurate multivariate model, which also contained the accepted risk factors HDL2 cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and age. This model classified 82% of subjects correctly. We conclude that triglycerides are independent predictors of CAD in multivariate analyses including HDL cholesterol, provided that a challenge test of triglyceride metabolism such as postprandial lipemia is used. The study suggests that the metabolism of triglycerides is a critical determinant of cholesterol metabolic routing. The findings support the concept that the negative association between HDL cholesterol levels and CAD actually originates in part from a positive relation between CAD and plasma triglycerides, as ascertained in the postprandial state.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Long-term follow-up of glycaemic control and parameters of lipid transport after pancreas transplantation.

We report the long-term metabolic observations made on 37 patients after simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation. Plasma C-peptide levels were above the physiological range in all patients and there was no significant difference between patients undergoing delayed duct occlusion (n = 12) or those with drainage of exocrine secretion into the urinary bladder (n = 25). HbA1c was equally at the upper end of the normal range in both subsets of patients. Mean fasting cholesterol (237 mg/dl) and triglycerides (122 mg/dl) were normal, and HDL-cholesterol was above normal with an average concentration of 77 mg/dl. Two patients underwent an oral fat tolerance test and showed extremely low postprandial lipaemia and very high lipoprotein lipase activities. We conclude that patients with a functioning pancreas graft persistently demonstrate normoglycaemia, elevated C-peptide, and a very favourable lipid profile both in the fasting and the postprandial state.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Mechanochemistry of the joint cartilage and arthrosis--a pathophysiologic correlation].

The influence of changes in physicochemical parameters on the biomechanics of articular cartilage is investigated using relaxation tests in healthy rabbit cartilage. A mathematical model is established. An increase in ionic strength and osmolarity, as well as a rise in temperature lead to an increase in the compliance of cartilage. The majority of these phenomena are nonlinear and in most cases so characteristic that they can be associated with particular molecular processes in the cartilage matrix. The experimental results allow an insight into the functioning of articular cartilage and put another pathogenetical factor of arthrosis up for discussion by demonstrating the lability of the ideal mechanical condition.

Animals↗