Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:Q86TM3 (cage)
 29,987 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Fluorescently labeled desmin was incorporated into intermediate filaments when microinjected into living tissue culture cells. The desmin, purified from chicken gizzard smooth muscle and labeled with the fluorescent dye iodoacetamido rhodamine, was capable of forming a network of 10-nm filaments in solution. The labeled protein associated specifically with the native vimentin filaments in permeabilized, unfixed interphase and mitotic PtK2 cells. The labeled desmin was microinjected into living, cultured embryonic skeletal myotubes, where it became incorporated in straight fibers aligned along the long axis of the myotubes. Upon exposure to nocodazole, microinjected myotubes exhibited wavy, fluorescent filament bundles around the muscle nuclei. In PtK2 cells, an epithelial cell line, injected desmin formed a filamentous network, which colocalized with the native vimentin intermediate filaments but not with the cytokeratin networks and microtubular arrays. Exposure of the injected cells to nocadazole or acrylamide caused the desmin network to collapse and form a perinuclear cap that was indistinguishable from vimentin caps in the same cells. During mitosis, labeled desmin filaments were excluded from the spindle area, forming a cage around it. The filaments were partitioned into two groups either during anaphase or at the completion of cytokinesis. In the former case, the perispindle desmin filaments appeared to be stretched into two parts by the elongating spindle. In the latter case, a continuous bundle of filaments extended along the length of the spindle and appeared to be pinched in two by the contracting cleavage furrow. In these cells, desmin filaments were present in the midbody where they gradually were removed as the desmin filament network became redistributed throughout the cytoplasm of the spreading daughter cells.
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PMID:Visualization of intermediate filaments in living cells using fluorescently labeled desmin. 265 44

Immunoreactivity for desmin, plectin and alpha-actinin was investigated in rat atrophic soleus muscle fibers induced by hindlimb suspension between 1 and 4 weeks (hindlimb suspension group, HSG), and compared with that of the control group (CG). Some of the HSG for 4 weeks were allowed unrestricted cage activity for 2 weeks as the recovery group (RG). In the cross-sectioned muscle fibers of the CG, desmin and plectin showed honey-comb immunoreactive patterns extending throughout the sarcoplasm. Superimposed images by double immunofluorescence labeling showed overlapping of both immunoreactivities. In the longitudinally sectioned profiles, superimposed images of alpha-actinin and desmin were overlapped at the level of Z-discs. The focal disorganization of the above honeycomb immunoreactive patterns, followed by the reduction of the cross-sectional area (CSA) of atrophic soleus muscle fibers and the appearance of Z-streaming, uniquely arose in the HSG from the first week and extended throughout the sarcoplasm in proportion to the suspension period. Such honey-comb patterns of both desmin and plectin were already restored in the RG at 2 weeks, followed by the disappearance of Z-streaming, prior to the recovery of the CSA. These findings indicate that the disorganization of topological and structural relationships of desmin and plectin with Z-discs surrounding individual myofibrils is primarily evoked, which leads to Z-streaming of atrophic soleus muscle fibers, and that the restoration of the muscle activity results in an early arrangement recovery of desmin and plectin around myofibrils.
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PMID:Disorganization of honey-comb immunoreactive pattern of desmin and plectin in rat atrophic soleus muscle fiber induced by hindlimb suspension. 1196 47

We examined voluntary wheel running and forced treadmill running exercise performance of wild-type mice and mice null for the desmin gene. When given access to a cage wheel, desmin null mice spent less time running and ran less far than wild-type mice. Wild-type mice showed a significant training effect with prolonged voluntary wheel running, as evidenced by an increase in mean running speed across the 3-wk exercise period, whereas desmin null mice did not. Desmin null mice also performed less well in acute treadmill stress and endurance tests compared with wild-type mice. We also evaluated serum creatine kinase (CK) activity in wild-type and desmin null mice in response to running. Voluntary running did not result in elevated CK activity in either wild-type or desmin null mice, whereas downhill treadmill running caused significant increases in serum CK activity in both wild-type and desmin null mice. However, the increase in serum CK was significantly less in desmin null mice than in wild-type mice. These results suggest that the lack of desmin adversely affects the ability of mice to engage in both chronic and acute bouts of endurance running exercise but that this decrement in performance is not associated with an increase in serum CK activity.
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PMID:Loss of desmin leads to impaired voluntary wheel running and treadmill exercise performance. 1284 97

Extensive scientific literature data point to reciprocal interactions between prostate stromal cells and prostate cancer cells that likely regulate tumor progression. To investigate whether these intratumoral-reactive stromal cells in human prostate cancer are predictive of survival, tumor stroma volume and specific stroma markers were quantitated by using tissue microarrays (index tumors of 847 patients), and the results were analyzed relative to the recurrence-free survival data set for these patients. Tumor tissue was evaluated with Masson's trichrome stains and by immunohistochemistry with antibody probes to smooth muscle alpha-actin, desmin, vimentin, pro-collagen type I, and calponin. The relative volume of intratumor stroma (5% stroma, grade 0; 5-15%, grade 1; 15-50%, grade 2; >50%, grade 3) and the expression index of stromal marker (staining intensity grade x percentage of positive cells per field) were quantitated and analyzed. Interpretable data were obtained from 545 patients. Statistical analysis of the survival data set showed that the volume of reactive stroma in the tumor was a significant predictor of disease-free survival. Stroma volume was most optimal as an independent predictor in tumors containing stroma, defined as Gleason 7 and lower grades. Of interest, tumors with either little to no stroma or tumors with abundant stroma each showed reduced recurrence-free survival. For specific stromal markers, reduced desmin and smooth muscle alpha-actin were hallmarks of cancer-associated reactive stroma relative to normal fibromuscular stroma. Quantitative analysis of desmin and smooth muscle alpha-actin expression showed both to be significant and independent predictors of recurrence-free survival. This is the first study to demonstrate that nonepithelial-reactive stroma elements in prostate cancer tumors can be used as prognostic indicators. These data also add to the concept that tumors are not purely epithelial and the tumor-reactive stroma must be considered an important biological component of the cancer.
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PMID:Reactive stroma as a predictor of biochemical-free recurrence in prostate cancer. 1458 50

Apparently synchronous, aggressive, mixed mesenchymal tumors in the right tibia, right femur, left femur, and rib cage produced multiple microscopic metastases in the lungs and macroscopic metastases in the liver, kidney, and spleen in a 1.5-year-old, neutered male, mixed-breed dog. No primary soft tissue tumor mass was present. Microscopically, the neoplasm exhibited osteosarcomatous, chondrosarcomatous, liposarcomatous, leiomyosarcomatous, fibrosarcomatous, angiosarcomatous, and leukocytic differentiation and was diagnosed as a multipotential osteosarcoma with various mesenchymal differentiation. Immunohistochemically, the neoplasm was cytoplasmically immunoreactive for vimentin, osteonectin, osteocalcin, CD 18, CD 31, desmin, and muscle-specific actin. Oil Red O staining was positive within liposarcomatous areas. Skeletal metastases from a primary bone tumor are exceedingly rare in human and veterinary medicine. However, the history, clinical signs, location, microscopic and immunohistochemical features were similar to those described in aggressive, poorly differentiated osteosarcomas of children. In addition, the wide range of mesenchymal tissue differentiation of this neoplasm was unusual, and to the authors' knowledge, an osteosarcoma with this degree of multiple differentiation has not been previously reported in the dog.
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PMID:Multipotential osteosarcoma with various mesenchymal differentiations in a young dog. 1513 75

This study investigated the use of the hindlimb suspension (HS) and reloading model of mice for the mapping of ultrastructural and gene expressional alterations underlying load-dependent muscular adaptations. Mice were hindlimb suspended for 7 days or kept as controls (n = 12). Soleus muscles were harvested after HS (HS7, n = 23) or after resuming ambulatory cage activity (reloading) for either 1 day (R1, n = 13) or 7 days (R7, n = 9). Using electron microscopy, a reduction in mean fiber area (-37%) and in capillary-to-fiber ratio (from 1.83 to 1.42) was found for HS7. Subsequent reloading caused an increase in interstitial cells (+96%) and in total capillary length (+57%), whereas mean fiber area and capillary-to-fiber ratio did not significantly change compared with HS. Total RNA in the soleus muscle was altered with both HS (-63%) and reloading (+108% in R7 compared with control). This is seen as an important adaptive mechanism. Gene expression alterations were assessed by a muscle-specific low-density cDNA microarray. The transcriptional adjustments indicate an early increase of myogenic factors during reloading together with an overshoot of contractile (MyHC I and IIa) and metabolic (glycolytic and oxidative) mRNA amounts and suggest mechano-sensitivity of factors keeping the sarcomeres in register (desmin, titin, integrin-beta1). Important differences to published data from former rat studies were found with the mouse HS model for contractile and glycolytic enzyme expression. These species-specific differences need to be considered when transgenic mice are used for the elucidation of monogenetic factors in mechano-dependent muscle plasticity.
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PMID:Transcriptional reprogramming and ultrastructure during atrophy and recovery of mouse soleus muscle. 1547 60

Two experiments were conducted with laying hens (Lohmann Brown) in an individual cage system and with single feeding conditions. Experiment 1 (n = 24) was a performance trial (22 to 61 wk) to evaluate phytase effects on performance and nutrient utilization in corn-soybean meal (CSM1) and wheat-soybean meal (WSM1) basal diets (0.12% NPP; 3.1% Ca) supplemented (300 U/kg) with an experimental microbial phytase (CSM2 and WSM2) or 1.5 g/kg inorganic P (CSM3 and WSM3). Experiment 2 (n = 16) was also conducted as a performance trial (22 to 61 wk) only using CSM diets with dietary treatments similar to those in experiment 1. In addition, parallel N and P balance experiments in 2 age periods (26 and 33 wk, respectively) were conducted. In experiment 1, no significant (P < 0.05) differences in mortality, feed intake, egg production, egg weight, or body weight were observed. Tibia bone mineral composition was significantly affected by microbial phytase. Microbial phytase in the low-P CSM diet significantly (P < 0.05) improved the feed conversion ratio. In experiment 2, only feed conversion ratio was significantly improved by microbial phytase. The phytase supplementation had no significant effect on P excretion, P balance, P utilization, N balance, N utilization, or AMEn in the balance experiments.
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PMID:Performance and nutrient utilization of laying hens fed low-phosphorus corn-soybean and wheat-soybean diets supplemented with microbial phytase. 1633 27

The protective effect of nitric oxide (NO) on the cytoskeletal muscle proteins desmin and dystrophin has been studied under eccentric exercise. Experiments were performed on 28 male Wistar rats, which were divided into four groups: cage control (C, n = 7); group of eccentric exercise (running down a motor-driven treadmill, inclination 16 degrees) (20 m/min, 40 min running) (R, n = 7); eccentric exercise + L-arginine group (RA, n = 7) (with a daily supplementation of 500 mg/kg wt L-arginine for 3 days before the running); and eccentric exercise + L-NAME group (RN, n = 7) (with a daily supplementation of 90 mg/kg wt L-NAME (Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, nNOS blocker) for 3 days before the running). It was found that increasing the NO concentration (in RA group) prevents the disruption of the dystrophin layer and decreases the loss of desmin in m. soleus under eccentric contraction, whereas in the R and RN groups the level of damage to dystrophin and desmin was significantly higher compared to the control rats. The inhibition of nNOS (by L-NAME) increases the nNOS mRNA level in the m. soleus, whereas increasing the NO concentration in m. soleus (L-arginine administration) does not affect the level of nNOS mRNA during the eccentric running. It was concluded that NO has a protective action on the cytoskeletal proteins desmin and dystrophin in skeletal muscle under eccentric contraction-induced damage.
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PMID:[Protective effect of nitric oxide on cytoskeletal proteins in skeletal muscles under eccentric exercise]. 1956 15

A 9-month-old p53-null female mouse was found dead in its cage. At necropsy, a large thymic mass encompassed the heart. Microscopically, the mass was composed of numerous varying-sized cysts lined with simple squamous epithelial cells to columnar ciliated cells. Also present within this mass was a large aggregate of loosely arranged fusiform-shaped cells. These cells also were found in smaller numbers in the connective tissue surrounding the cysts. The larger aggregate of fusiform cells was positive for desmin and S-100 and negative for smooth muscle actin. Electron microscopy revealed well-formed Z lines and I bands of skeletal muscle phenotype. A diagnosis of rhabdomyoma within a congenital multilocular thymic cyst was made. The thymus contains a small population of myoid cells, which should be taken in consideration when evaluating thymic tumors.
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PMID:A rhabdomyoma within a multilocular thymic cyst in a p53-null mouse. 2008 Apr 93

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is critical for tumor growth and progression. However, the formation of the TME is largely unknown. This report demonstrates a color-coded imaging model in which the development of the TME can be visualized. In order to image the TME, a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing mouse was used as the host which expresses GFP in all organs but not the parenchymal cells of the liver. Non-colored HCT-116 human colon cancer cells were injected in the spleen of GFP nude mice which led to the formation of experimental liver metastasis. TME formation resulting from the liver metastasis was observed using the Olympus OV100 small animal fluorescence imaging system. HCT-116 cells formed tumor colonies in the liver 28 days after cell transplantation to the spleen. GFP-expressing host cells were recruited by the metastatic tumors as visualized by fluorescence imaging. A desmin positive area increased around and within the liver metastasis over time, suggesting cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) were recruited by the liver metastasis which have a role in tumor progression. The color-coded model of the TME enables its formation to be visualized at the cellular level in vivo, in real-time. This imaging model of the TME should lead to new visual targets in the TME.
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PMID:Imaging the recruitment of cancer-associated fibroblasts by liver-metastatic colon cancer. 2132 69


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