The axon initial segment (AIS) plays a key role in maintaining the molecular and functional polarity of the neuron. The relationship between the AIS architecture and the microtubules (MTs) supporting axonal transport is unknown. Here we provide evidence that the MT plus-end-binding (EB) proteins EB1 and EB3 have a role in the AIS in addition to their MT plus-end tracking protein behavior in other neuronal compartments. In mature neurons, EB3 is concentrated and stabilized in the AIS. We identified a direct interaction between EB3/EB1 and the AIS scaffold protein ankyrin G (ankG). In addition, EB3 and EB1 participate in AIS maintenance, and AIS disassembly through ankG knockdown leads to cell-wide up-regulation of EB3 and EB1 comets. Thus, EB3 and EB1 coordinate a molecular and functional interplay between ankG and the AIS MTs that supports the central role of ankG in the maintenance of neuronal polarity. N eurons are highly polarized cells that rely on microtubules (MTs) for maintenance of their architecture and long-range polarized trafficking (1). MTs supporting axonal transport travel through the axon initial segment (AIS), a compartment that is essential for the generation of action potentials (2) and the maintenance of neuronal polarity (3). Generation of action potentials depends on the concentration of voltage-gated sodium (Nav) and potassium channels at the AIS, which are tethered at the plasma membrane via their interaction with ankyrin G (ankG (4-7). ankG, in turn, is linked to the actin cytoskeleton via βIV-spectrin and organizes AIS formation by recruiting membrane proteins and βIV-spectrin to the nascent AIS (3).The AIS maintains neuronal polarity by forming a diffusion barrier for membrane constituents at the cell surface (4,8,9) and also by dampening intracellular diffusion and vesicular transport through the AIS (10). Both phenomena depend on ankG, because depletion of ankG results in the disappearance of AIS and the acquisition of dendritic identity by the proximal axon (11,12). However, the molecular role of ankG in the intracellular AIS organization is still unknown. The dependence of the AIS intracellular filter on ankG (10) and the disorganization of MT bundles in the AIS of Purkinje cells from ankG-deficient mice (12) suggest an unknown link between ankG and MTs in the AIS.The end-binding (EB) proteins family, composed of three members (EB1-3), has been described as plus-end-tracking proteins (+TIPs) that coordinate a network of dynamic proteins on the growing MT plus-ends (13). In neurons, EB1 has been implicated in axonal transport (14, 15), whereas EB3 has been characterized as a molecular link between MTs and the actin cytoskeleton (16, 17). We hypothesized that EB proteins could have a role in the AIS via interaction with the ankG/βIV-spectrin scaffold. We first found that EB3 is accumulated and stabilized in the AIS of mature neurons. Both EB3 and EB1 bind to ankG and participate in the maintenance of the AIS scaffold. Reciprocally, altering neuronal polarity through ankG knockdown in...

SummaryThe aim of this six-centre, split-sample study was to compare ThinPrep fluid-based cytology to the conventional Papanicolaou smear. Six cytopathology laboratories and 35 gynaecologists participated. 5428 patients met the inclusion criteria (age > 18 years old, intact cervix, informed consent). Each cervical sample was used first to prepare a conventional Pap smear, then the sampling device was rinsed into a PreservCyt vial, and a ThinPrep slide was made. Screening of slide pairs was blinded (n = 5428). All non-negative concordant cases (n = 101), all non-concordant cases (n = 206), and a 5% random sample of concordant negative cases (n = 272) underwent review by one independent pathologist then by the panel of 6 investigators. Initial (blinded) screening results for ThinPrep and conventional smears were correlated. Initial diagnoses were correlated with consensus cytological diagnoses. Differences in disease detection were evaluated using McNemar's test. On initial screening, 29% more ASCUS cases and 39% more low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) and more severe lesions (LSIL+) were detected on the ThinPrep slides than on the conventional smears (P = 0.001), including 50% more LSIL and 18% more high-grade SIL (HSIL). The ASCUS:SIL ratio was lower for the ThinPrep method (115:132 = 0.87:1) than for the conventional smear method (89:94 = 0.95:1). The same trend was observed for the ASCUS/AGUS:LSIL ratio. Independent and consensus review confirmed 145 LSIL+ diagnoses; of these, 18% more had been detected initially on the ThinPrep slides than on the conventional smears (P = 0.041 360-366 © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign doi: 10.1054/ bjoc.2000.1588, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on http://www.bjcancer.com Linder and Zahniser, 1997;Roberts et al, 1997; Bolick and Heuman, 1998;Corkill et al, 1998;Dupree et al, 1998;Papillo et al, 1998; Carpenter and Daveu, 1999;Diaz-Rosario and Kabawat, 1999;Guidos and Selvaggi, 1999;Wang et al, 1999; Yeoh et al, 1999; Weintraub and Morabia, 2000).This study, conducted in France, is the first formal multilaboratory, large-scale evaluation of the ThinPrep Pap Test in the European setting. METHODS Study organization6 laboratories in France participated in the study, each laboratory obtaining cervical samples from 5 to 8 participating gynaecologists and their patients. A total of 35 gynaecologists participated in the study.Before the study commenced, the 6 laboratory directors (4 cytopathologists and 2 cytologists) and their participating staff were trained to interpret ThinPrep slides, and also to use the Bethesda System for reporting the screening results (Kurman and Solomon, 1994). The study protocols and forms were reviewed and approved by the local Ethics Committee.Patients were recruited sequentially in the participating gynaecologists' practices, from March 1998 to September 1998. According to the inclusion criteria, female patients aged 18 and older, attending regular cervical cancer screening, and who voluntarily gave their informed consen...

These results showed that positive-pressure mechanical ventilation using a tidal volume of 10 ml/kg and zero positive end-expiratory pressure was harmful in the setting of endotoxemia, suggesting that the use of this ventilator strategy in the operating room may predispose to lung injury when endotoxemia occurs.

Phosphorylation of Kvβ2 releases Kv1 channels from microtubules to control their specific distribution at the axonal membrane.

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Mesencephalic neurons were cultured for 2 days on mesencephalic or striatal astrocyte monolayers. The morphology of these neurons was studied in electron microscopy. The number of dendritic profiles was higher on mesencephalic astrocytes (homotopic neuro-astroglial co-cultures) than on striatal astrocytes (heterotopic co-cultures). This increase in the number of dendrites correlated with a more mature aspect of the neurons. Striatal neurons were also cultured on the astrocytic monolayers. The state of maturation of these neurons was more advanced, and the number of their dendrites was higher on striatal than on mesencephalic astrocytes. These results confirm and extend the fact that neuronal maturation and dendritic growth can be regulated through region-specific neuro-astroglial interactions (Denis-Donini et al., 1984; Chamak et al., 1987).

In addition to their role in action potential generation and fast synaptic transmission in neurons, voltage-dependent sodium channels can also be active in glia. Terminal Schwann cells (TSCs) wrap around the nerve terminal arborization at the neuromuscular junction, which they contribute to shape during development and in the postdenervation processes. Using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), immunofluorescence, and confocal microscopy, we detected the neuronal Nav1.6 sodium channel transcripts and proteins in TSCs in normal adult rats and mice. Nav1.6 protein co-localized with the Schwann cell marker S-100 but was not detected in the SV2-positive nerve terminals. The med phenotype in mice is due to a mutation in the SCN8A gene resulting in loss of Nav1.6 expression. It leads to early onset in postnatal life of defects in neuromuscular transmission with minimal alteration of axonal conduction. Strikingly, in mutant mice, the nonmyelinated pre-terminal region of axons showed abundant sprouting at neuromuscular junctions, and most of the alpha-bungarotoxin-labeled endplates were devoid of S-100- or GFAP-positive TSCs. Using specific antibodies against the Nav1.2 and Nav1.6 sodium channels, ankyrin G and Caspr 1, and a pan sodium channel antibody, we found that a similar proportion of ankyrin G-positive nodes of Ranvier express sodium channels in mutant and wild-type animals and that nodal expression of Nav1.2 persists in med mice. Our data supports the hypothesis that the lack of expression of Nav1.6 in Schwann cells at neuromuscular junctions might play a role in the med phenotype.