1,720,999 research outputs found
The inhibition of gadolinium ion (Gd3+) on the mitochondrial F1FO-ATPase is linked to the modulation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore
Full text linkThe mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP), which drives regulated cell death when Ca2+ concentration suddenly increases in mitochondria, was related to changes in the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase. The effects of the gadolinium cation (Gd3+), widely used for diagnosis and therapy, and reported as PTP blocker, were evaluated on the F1FO-ATPase activated by Mg2+ or Ca2+ and on the PTP. Gd3+ more effectively inhibits the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase than the Mg2+-activated F1FO-ATPase by a mixed-type inhibition on the former and by uncompetitive mechanism on the latter. Most likely Gd3+ binding to F1, is favoured by Ca2+ insertion. The maximal inactivation rates (Kinact) of pseudo-first order inactivation are similar either when the F1FO-ATPase is activated by Ca2+ or by Mg2+. The half-maximal inactivator concentrations (KI) are 2.35 ± 0.35 mM and 0.72 ± 0.11 mM, respectively. The potency of a mechanism-based inhibitor (Kinact/KI) also highlights a higher inhibition efficiency of Gd3+ on the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase (0.59 ± 0.09 mM-1∙s-1) than on the Mg2+-activated F1FO-ATPase (0.13 ± 0.02 mM-1∙s-1). Consistently, the PTP is desensitized in presence of Gd3+. The Gd3+ inhibition on both the mitochondrial Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase and the PTP strengthens the link between the PTP and the F1FO-ATPase when activated by Ca2+ and provides insights on the biological effects of Gd3+
Two separate pathways underlie NADH and succinate oxidation in swine heart mitochondria: Kinetic evidence on the mobile electron carriers
Full text link: We have investigated NADH and succinate aerobic oxidation in frozen and thawed swine heart mitochondria. Simultaneous oxidation of NADH and succinate showed complete additivity under a variety of experimental conditions, suggesting that the electron fluxes originating from NADH and succinate are completely independent and do not mix at the level of the so-called mobile diffusible components. We ascribe the results to mixing of the fluxes at the level of cytochrome c in bovine mitochondria: the Complex IV flux control coefficient in NADH oxidation was high in swine mitochondria but very low in bovine mitochondria, suggesting a stronger interaction of cytochrome c with the supercomplex in the former. This was not the case in succinate oxidation, in which Complex IV exerted little control also in swine mitochondria. We interpret the data in swine mitochondria as restriction of the NADH flux by channelling within the I-III2-IV supercomplex, whereas the flux from succinate shows pool mixing for both Coenzyme Q and probably cytochrome c. The difference between the two types of mitochondria may be ascribed to different lipid composition affecting the cytochrome c binding properties, as suggested by breaks in Arrhenius plots of Complex IV activity occurring at higher temperatures in bovine mitochondria
Sulfide affects the mitochondrial respiration, the Ca2+-activated F1FO-ATPase activity and the permeability transition pore but does not change the Mg2+-activated F1FO-ATPase activity in swine heart mitochondria
Full text linkIn mammalian cells enzymatic and non-enzymatic pathways produce H2S, a gaseous transmitter which recently emerged as promising therapeutic agent and modulator of mitochondrial bioenergetics. To explore this topic, the H2S donor NaHS, at micromolar concentrations, was tested on swine heart mitochondria. NaHS did not affect the F1FO-ATPase activated by the natural cofactor Mg2, but, when Mg2+ was replaced by Ca2+, a slight 15% enzyme inhibition at 100M NaHS was shown. Conversely, both the NADH-O2 and succinate-O2 oxidoreductase activities were totally inhibited by 200muM NaHS with IC50 values of 61.6±4.1 and 16.5±4.6muM NaHS, respectively. Since the mitochondrial respiration was equally inhibited by NaHS at both first or second respiratory substrates sites, the H2S generation may prevent the electron transfer from complexes I and II to downhill respiratory chain complexes, probably because H2S competes with O2 in complex IV, thus reducing membrane potential as a consequence of the cytochrome c oxidase activity inhibition. The Complex IV blockage by H2S was consistent with the linear concentration-dependent NADH-O2 oxidoreductase inhibition and exponential succinate-O2 oxidoreductase inhibition by NaHS, whereas the coupling between substrate oxidation and phosphorylation was unaffected by NaHS. Even if H2S is known to cause sulfhydration of cysteine residues, thiol oxidizing (GSSG) or reducing (DTE) agents, did not affect the F1FO-ATPase activities and mitochondrial respiration, thus ruling out any involvement of post-translational modifications of thiols. The permeability transition pore, the lethal channel which forms when the F1FO-ATPase is stimulated by Ca2+, did not open in the presence of NaHS, which showed a similar effect to ruthenium red, thus suggesting a putative Ca2+ transport cycle inhibition
Lipid unsaturation per se does not explain the physical state of mitochondrial membranes in Mytilus galloprovincialis
No full textThrough a multiple approach, the present study on the mitochondrial membranes from mussel gills and swine heart combines some biochemical information on fatty acid composition, sterol pattern, and temperature dependence of the F1FO-ATPase activity (EC 3.6.3.14.) with fluorescence data on mitochondrial membranes and on liposomes obtained from lipid extracts of mitochondria. The physical state of mussel gills and swine heart was investigated by Laurdan steady state fluorescence. Quite surprisingly, the similar temperature dependence of the F1FO complex, illustrated as Arrhenius plot which in bothmitochondria exhibits the samediscontinuity at approximately 21 °C and overlapping activation energies above and belowthe discontinuity, is apparently compatible with a different composition and physical state of mitochondrial membranes. Accordingly, mussel membranes contain highly unsaturated fatty acids, abundant sterols, including phytosterols, while mammalian membranes only contain cholesterol and in prevalence shorter and less unsaturated fatty acids, leading to a lowermembrane unsaturationwith respect tomussel mitochondria.As suggested by fluorescence data, the likely formation of peculiar microdomains interacting with the membrane-bound enzyme complex in mussel mitochondria could produce an environment which somehow approaches the physical state of mammalian mitochondrial membranes. Thus, as an adaptive strategy, the interaction between sterols, highly unsaturated phospholipids and proteins in mussel gill mitochondria could allow the F1FO-ATPase activity to maintain the same activation energy as the mammalian enzyme
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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