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Biomedical subjects

G Zaman

Publications and source records attributed to G Zaman.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Mechanical strain-induced NO production by bone cells: a possible role in adaptive bone (re)modeling?

The structural competence of the skeleton is maintained by an adaptive mechanism in which resident bone cells respond to load-induced strains. To investigate the possible role of the messenger molecule nitric oxide (NO) in this response, we studied NO production in well-characterized organ culture systems, rat long bone-derived osteoblast-like (LOBs) cells, and embryonic chick osteocytes (LOCYs) in monolayer culture. In superfused cancellous bone cores, loading (for 15 min) produces increases in NO2- (stable NO metabolite) release during the loading period, which paralleled those in PGI2 and PGE2. Loading of rat vertebrae and ulnae produces increases in NO2- release, and in ulnae NO synthase inhibitors diminish these responses. Transient rapid increases in NO release are stimulated by strain in both LOBs and LOCYs. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of extracted mRNA shows that rat ulnae, LOBs, and LOCYs express both the inducible and neuronal (constitutive) isoforms of NO synthase. Adaptability to mechanical strain relies on assessment of the strain environment followed by modification of bone architecture. Immediate increases in NO production induced by loading suggest the involvement of NO in strain measurement and cellular communication to establish strain distribution, as well as potentially in adaptive changes in bone cell behavior.

Adaptation, Physiological

Estrogen enhances the stimulation of bone collagen synthesis by loading and exogenous prostacyclin, but not prostaglandin E2, in organ cultures of rat ulnae.

The shafts of ulnae from 110 g male rats were cultured, and after a period of 5 h preincubation one of each pair of bones was either loaded cyclically (500 g, 1 Hz, 8 minutes) to produce physiologic strains (-1300 mu epsilon) or treated with exogenous prostacyclin (PGI2) or prostaglandin E2 (10(-6) M, 8 minutes) in the presence or absence of 17 beta-estradiol (10(-8) M). PGI2, PGE2, and loading stimulated almost immediate increases in glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity in osteocytes and osteoblasts. This increase was uniform throughout the section with exogenous PGs in the medium but was related to local strain magnitude in loading. Elevated G6PD levels in response to loading and PGI2 persisted for 18 h, by which time, ALP activity in surface osteoblasts was elevated and [3H]proline incorporation into collagen increased. PGE2 produced similar immediate and sustained increases in G6PD activity and [3H]proline incorporation after 18 h but no change in ALP activity. Bones cultured for 18 h with 17 beta-estradiol increased their [3H]proline incorporation, as did those loaded, and treated with PGI2 and PGE2. Loading and PGI2 but not PGE2 produced similar proportional increases in [3H]proline incorporation above the increased baseline of estradiol alone. These results suggest that estrogen and loading together produce a greater osteogenic response than either separately. If so, estrogen withdrawal would result in a rapid fall in bone mass to establish a new equilibrium appropriate to the reduced effectiveness of the loading-related stimulus. Such a fall in bone mass is a characteristic feature of estrogen withdrawal at the menopause.

Alkaline Phosphatase

Early strain-related changes in cultured embryonic chick tibiotarsi parallel those associated with adaptive modeling in vivo.

A model was developed for the application of cyclic mechanical loads to 17 day embryonic chick tibiotarsi in culture. A single 20 minute period of intermittent loading at 0.4 Hz, producing physiologic peak strains and strain rates, resulted in two peak strain magnitude-related responses that were previously reported in vivo: (1) a rapid increase in glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity in osteoblasts and osteocytes and (2) increased RNA synthesis, as shown by increased incorporation of [3H]uridine into extracted RNA. The RNA response was detectable 8 h following loading but was more pronounced by 24 h. Both responses were blocked by indomethacin (10(-6) M). These results demonstrate that embryonic chick bones in organ culture exhibit cellular responses to loading similar to those previously identified in adult canine cancellous bone cultures in vitro and adult avian cortical bone in vivo. These findings are consistent with a sequence of events between loading and new bone formation that includes an immediate strain magnitude-related, prostanoid-dependent increase in activity of the pentose monophosphate shunt in osteoblasts and osteocytes, followed by a similarly strain magnitude-related increase in RNA synthesis over the subsequent 24 h.

Adaptation, Physiological

Cultured embryonic bone shafts show osteogenic responses to mechanical loading.

Pairs of 17-day embryonic chick tibiotarsi were removed and maintained in organ culture. One of each pair was subjected to a single 20-minute period of intermittent loading at 0.4 Hz, producing peak longitudinal compressive strains of 650 microstrain (mu epsilon). In the 18-hour culture period following loading, alkaline phosphatase levels in the osteoblasts of the loaded tibiotarsi were maintained whereas in controls they declined. In situ hybridization using a collagen type I cRNA riboprobe showed a substantial increase in expression of mRNA for collagen type I in the periosteal tissue of bones that were cultured for 18 hours after loading compared with that in similarly cultured controls and bones cultured for 4 hours. These results demonstrate that appropriate loading of embryonic chick bones in organ culture elicits adaptive regulation of matrix synthesis as evidenced by increased expression of the gene for type I collagen and alkaline phosphatase activity. This model may be useful as it must contain all the obligatory steps between strain change in the matrix and modified osteogenic activity.

Adaptation, Physiological

Regulation of expression of the genome of bacteriophage M13. Gene V protein regulated translation of the mRNAs encoded by genes I, III, V and X.

With the aid of a binary plasmid in vivo testsystem it was demonstrated that the single-stranded DNA binding protein encoded by gene V of bacteriophage M13 not only regulates the synthesis of its cognate DNA replication proteins at the level of translation, but also of the assembly proteins and the coat proteins encoded by genes I and II, respectively. Furthermore, gene V protein functions as a translational autoregulator of its own synthesis. Comparison of the mRNA levels of genes I and X in the presence and absence of wild-type gene V protein indicated that gene V protein augments the physical stability of these mRNAs. The expression of the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene and of a gene X mutant containing a deletion in the nontranslated mRNA leader sequence was not influenced by gene V protein, lending support to the conclusion that gene V protein exerts its regulatory effect via a specific nucleotide sequence in the leader sequences of the respective M13 mRNAs. We conclude that gene V protein functions as a master regulatory protein of the expression and replication of the M13 genome.

Autoradiography

Biological properties of synthetic human parathyroid hormone: effect of deamidation at position 76 on agonist and antagonist activity.

Recent studies have suggested a role for the carboxyl-terminus of PTH in the binding of the molecule to renal and skeletal receptors, but the functional significance of this binding remains uncertain. We have investigated the possible role of this region by examining the effect of substituting the asparagine residue at position 76 of the native human molecule [Asn76]hPTH-(1-84) with an aspartate residue, [Asp76] hPTH-(1-84) on activity in both renal and skeletal cytochemical (CBA) and adenylate cyclase (AC) bioassays. In the renal CBA, [Asp76]hPTH-(1-84) was considerably less potent than [Asn76]hPTH-(1-84) and produced dose-dependent inhibition of the bioactivity of intact bovine (b) PTH-(1-84), bPTH-(1-34), and [Asn76]hPTH-(1-84). [Asp76]hPTH-(39-84) inhibited the response to intact PTH to a lesser extent, whereas [Asp76]hPTH-(53-84) had no antagonistic activity. In the metatarsal CBA, [Asp76]hPTH-(1-84) inhibited the response to intact PTH, but was less potent than in the renal CBA. In both renal (OK) and skeletal (UMR) cell AC assays [Asp76]hPTH-(1-84) and [Asn76]hPTH-(1-84) were equipotent agonists. Therefore, the CBAs are much more sensitive to modification of the carboxyl end of the molecule than AC assays. The antagonist properties of [Asp76]hPTH-(1-84) appeared to be mediated by phosphodiesterase activation as theophylline abolished the antagonism of this analog. These studies indicate that generation of PTH analogs, modified at the carboxyl-terminal region as well as at the amino-terminus, may be useful for developing potent PTH antagonists.

Adenylyl Cyclases