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Biomedical subjects

L Ström

Publications and source records attributed to L Ström.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

CD40 signaling induces interleukin-4-independent IgE switching in vivo.

T cell-deficient T cell receptor (TCR) beta-/- x TCR delta-/- knockout mice lack circulating IgE and fail to produce antigen-specific IgE in response to stimulation with T cell-dependent antigens. We show here that these animals are able to produce significant levels of circulating polyclonal IgE when injected with an agonistic anti-mouse CD40 monoclonal antibody. CD40-mediated induction of circulating polyclonal IgE in T cell-deficient mice was only partially reduced when the animals were co-treated with neutralizing anti-interleukin-4 (IL-4) antibody. The IL-4 independence of this response was further supported by experiments showing that anti-CD40 antibodies induced circulating IgE when injected into IL-4 knockout mice, and sterile RNA epsilon transcript production when cultured with purified B cells from the same mice. These data strongly suggest that CD40 signaling causes IL-4-independent IgE switching in mice.

Animals

Cell cycle regulation of immunoglobulin class switch recombination and germ-line transcription: potential role of Ets family members.

Previous studies have indicated that transcription of germ-line (GL) CH genes is necessary to obtain immunoglobulin (Ig) class switching. We report here a correlation between proliferation, switching and GL transcripts. Smu-S gamma 1 switch recombination in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) + interleukin-4 (IL-4)-activated mouse B cells was assayed by a digestion-circularization polymerase chain reaction. Switching to gamma 1 is reduced upon inhibition of DNA synthesis with hydroxy-urea (HU) or aphidicholin (AC). Incubation of activated B cells with HU severely reduces steady-state levels of GL gamma 1 and epsilon RNA. By utilizing elutriation to synchronize B cell blasts in different phases of the cell cycle, it was found that GL gamma 1 transcripts are mainly expressed in G1 and S phases, but not in G0. Using the electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we characterized two major LPS-induced complexes, which bind to the GL gamma 1 promoter and are expressed at levels which correlate with the amount of LPS-induced DNA synthesis. Furthermore, the intensity of the complexes is reduced when cells are arrested with the DNA synthesis inhibitors HU or AC. Elutriation experiments revealed that the complexes are expressed in G1 and S, but not in G0. They bind to an Ets consensus element near the major initiation sites used in proliferating cells. The possible implications of these findings for Ig isotype switching are discussed.

Animals

The relation between neural and perceptual intensity: a comparative study on the neural and psychophysical response to taste stimuli.

1. Recording the summated electrical response from the human chorda tympani in the middle ear provides data for a quantitative study of the relation between the neural activity and the strength of the stimulus applied to the tongue which can be compared with the relation between the subjective estimation and the stimulus strength.2. Full comparative data obtained from two patients showed a very high correlation between the functions describing the subjective and the neural response in relation to the strength of citric acid and sucrose solutions applied to the tongue. In a third patient the same high correlation was obtained for NaCl and citric acid.3. The good agreement between the individual neurophysiological experiments and the psychophysical group experiment favours the view that a fundamental congruity is found between neural activity and perceptual intensity.

Chorda Tympani Nerve