The sweet mysteries of the nervous system

RUB-researchers develop new antibody for cell labelling

2011-05-11

(Press-News.org) The antibody 5750 recognises a specific sugar residue on the cell surface, which is called LewisX. The research group lead by Prof. Dr. Andreas Faissner has now been able to use LewisX for the first time to separate different types of stem cells. The researchers report on their results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Unexpected sugar diversity

Antibodies that recognise the LewisX sugar residue are used routinely to identify so-called neural stem cells from which the various cells of the nervous system originate. Prof. Faissner's team has now shown that the designation "LewisX" does not just cover a single sugar motif, but a whole range of different sugar residues. Different types of neural stem cells are equipped with individual combinations of LewisX sugar residues on their cell surface. The new Bochum antibody 5750 recognises a different LewisX sugar residue to the antibodies previously used. "This sugar diversity could also be interesting for cancer diagnosis" Prof. Faissner explained, "because LewisX sugars have also been detected on tumour cells".

Identifying properties of stem cells

With the aid of the new antibody 5750, certain types of neural stem cells can be isolated from a mixture of different cell types. The aim of Prof. Faissner's research group is now to examine the properties of the stem cells which carry the LewisX sugar residues. The researchers have already found out that the LewisX motif on the cell surface changes when the stem cells develop further – for example into oligodendrocytes, which form the insulation layer of the nerve cells, or into nerve cells themselves.

INFORMATION:

Bibliographic record

Hennen E, Czopka T, Faissner A (2011) Structurally Distinct LewisX Glycans Distinguish Subpopulations of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 286: 16321-16331. doi 10.1074/jbc.M110.201095

Further information

Prof. Dr. Andreas Faissner, Department of Cell Morphology and Molecular Neurobiology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at the Ruhr-Universität, 44780 Bochum, Tel. 0234/32-14313, Andreas.Faissner@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Los Angeles Criminal Attorney, Matian and Moaddel, Provide Expungement Services to Help Their Clients Have a Better Life

2011-05-11

The process to expunge criminal record in California is a legal relief for many people with a criminal charge in their record. More people are learning that the mistakes they have made in the past are now coming back to haunt them due to public background checks. The law firm of Matian and Moaddel is now extending their legal services to expunge criminal charges from permanent criminal records to help people live a normal and peaceful life. People can make poor decisions in life and go through an arrest and get charged for a criminal offense. The convicted person may ...

Study: Pace of brain development still strong in late teens

2011-05-11

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Boys and girls have put many of the trappings of teenagerhood behind them by the age of 18 or 19, but at least some of the brain resculpting that characterizes the decade of adolescence may still be going as strong as ever, according to findings in a new study that measured brainwaves of subjects in their midteens and again in their late teens. One of the kinds of neurological changes underway in a teen brain is a pruning of unneeded connections forged earlier in life — the brain invests in developing some connections but sheds a ...

Wild animals age too

2011-05-11

Until now, the scientific community had assumed that wild animals died before they got old. Now, a Spanish-Mexican research team has for the first time demonstrated ageing in a population of wild birds (Sula nebouxii) in terms of their ability to live and reproduce. "It was always thought that senescence was something particular to humans and domestic animals, because we have an extended life expectancy", Alberto Velando, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Ecology and Animal Biology Department of the University of Vigo, tells SINC. However, the idea that ...

Bacterium Salmonella enterica regulates virulence according to iron levels found in its surroundings

2011-05-11

Salmonella enterica, one of the main causes of gastrointestinal infections, modulates its virulence gene expression, adapting it to each stage of the infection process, depending on the free iron concentration found in the intestinal epithelium of its host. Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have demonstrated for the first time that the pathogen activates these genes through the Fur protein, which acts as a sensor of iron levels in its surroundings. The research, published online in the journal PLoS ONE and entitled "Fur activates the expression of ...

Vitamin D deficiency in pneumonia patients associated with increased mortality

2011-05-11

A new study published in the journal Respirology reveals that adult patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is known to be involved in the innate immune response to infection. The team of researchers at Waikato Hospital and the Universities of Waikato and Otago, measured vitamin D in the blood samples of 112 adult patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia during the winter at the only acute-care hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand. The researchers found that Vitamin D deficiency was ...

Herschel Space Observatory discovers the clearing out of star-forming gas

2011-05-11

(WASHINGTON) -- The European Space Agency (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, home to the largest single mirror telescope in space, has detected massive amounts of molecular gas gusting at high velocities — in some cases in excess of 1000 kilometers per second — from the centers of a sample of merging galaxies. Herschel was built by a European-led, multi-national team, including U.S. contributions from researchers at NASA's JPL, Caltech, and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). It opens a new terahertz window on the cold and dusty Universe, enabling its scientific objective: ...

Munster Eye Care Associates: Specializing in Personalized Care

2011-05-11

Munster Eye Care Associates has been an integral part of the ophthalmology community in Munster, Indiana for 30 years. Munster Eye Care Associates specializes in providing patients with the personalized care that everyone deserves. MECA offers complete eye healthcare by using the latest techniques, refractive surgery, and general ophthalmology treatments to obtain the optimal visual health. MECA has one of the best equipped eye care facilities in Northwest Indiana. Munster Eye Care Associates exists for the purpose of providing patients with the highest quality eye ...

6 percent of Spanish workers have high cardiovascular risk

2011-05-11

The first study into the prevalence of overall cardiovascular risk in the Spanish working population (ICARIA) shows that 6% of workers have a high risk (8% on men and 2% in women). This prevalence increases with age in both sexes, and is highest in the farming sector, followed by construction, industry and services. "In Spain, approximately one million workers have a high level of cardiovascular risk, but only a minority of these people classify themselves as at risk", Miguel Ángel Sánchez Chaparro, coordinator of the ICARIA study and a researcher at the University of ...

A comforting swan song

2011-05-11

Montreal, May 10, 2010 – As people face a terminal illness and are confined to a hospital bed or hospice room, music can provide a great source of solace. North American healthcare professionals have increasingly recognized the benefits of music therapy in palliative care, since end-of-life treatment is designed to meet the psychosocial, physical and spiritual needs of patients. Sandi Curtis, a music therapy professor in the Concordia University Department of Creative Arts Therapies, has published a new study on the topic in the journal Music and Medicine. Her findings ...

Pairing quantum dots with fullerenes for nanoscale photovoltaics

2011-05-11

UPTON, NY - In a step toward engineering ever-smaller electronic devices, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have assembled nanoscale pairings of particles that show promise as miniaturized power sources. Composed of light-absorbing, colloidal quantum dots linked to carbon-based fullerene nanoparticles, these tiny two-particle systems can convert light to electricity in a precisely controlled way. "This is the first demonstration of a hybrid inorganic/organic, dimeric (two-particle) material that acts as an electron donor-bridge-acceptor ...

BioCompNet: a deep learning workflow enabling automated body composition analysis toward precision management of cardiometabolic disorders

Nonlinear association between systemic immune-inflammation index and in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectio

The sweet mysteries of the nervous system

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: