Background Hypoxic vasodilation is a physiological response to low oxygen (O2) tension that increases blood supply to match metabolic demands. While this response has been characterized for more than 100 years, the underlying hypoxic sensing and effector signaling mechanisms remain uncertain. We have shown that deoxygenated myoglobin (deoxyMb) in the heart can reduce nitrite to nitric oxide (NO˙) and thereby contribute to cardiomyocyte NO˙ signaling during ischemia. Based on recent observations that Mb is expressed in the vasculature of hypoxia-tolerant fish, we hypothesized that endogenous nitrite may contribute to physiological hypoxic vasodilation via reactions with vascular Mb to form NO˙. Methods and Results We here show that Mb is expressed in vascular smooth muscle and contributes significantly to nitrite-dependent hypoxic vasodilation in vivo and ex vivo. The generation of NO˙ from nitrite reduction by deoxyMb activates canonical soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signaling pathways. In vivo and ex vivo vasodilation responses, the reduction of nitrite to NO˙ and the subsequent signal transduction mechanisms were all significantly impaired in mice without myoglobin (Mb−/−). Hypoxic vasodilation studies in Mb, endothelial and inducible NO synthase knockout models (eNOS−/−, iNOS−/−) suggest that only Mb contributes to systemic hypoxic vasodilatory responses in mice. Conclusions Endogenous nitrite is a physiological effector of hypoxic vasodilation. Its reduction to NO˙ via the heme globin Mb enhances blood flow and matches O2 supply to increased metabolic demands under hypoxic conditions.

BackgroundSeveral eukaryotic parasites form cysts that transmit infection. The process is found in diverse organisms such as Toxoplasma, Giardia, and nematodes. In Entamoeba histolytica this process cannot be induced in vitro, making it difficult to study. In Entamoeba invadens, stage conversion can be induced, but its utility as a model system to study developmental biology has been limited by a lack of genomic resources. We carried out genome and transcriptome sequencing of E. invadens to identify molecular processes involved in stage conversion.ResultsWe report the sequencing and assembly of the E. invadens genome and use whole transcriptome sequencing to characterize changes in gene expression during encystation and excystation. The E. invadens genome is larger than that of E. histolytica, apparently largely due to expansion of intergenic regions; overall gene number and the machinery for gene regulation are conserved between the species. Over half the genes are regulated during the switch between morphological forms and a key signaling molecule, phospholipase D, appears to regulate encystation. We provide evidence for the occurrence of meiosis during encystation, suggesting that stage conversion may play a key role in recombination between strains.ConclusionsOur analysis demonstrates that a number of core processes are common to encystation between distantly related parasites, including meiosis, lipid signaling and RNA modification. These data provide a foundation for understanding the developmental cascade in the important human pathogen E. histolytica and highlight conserved processes more widely relevant in enteric pathogens.

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Myoglobin (Myg) is an oxygen-binding hemoprotein that is widely thought to be expressed exclusively in oxidative skeletal and cardiac myocytes, where it plays a key role in coping with chronic hypoxia. We now show in a hypoxia-tolerant fish model, that Myg is also expressed in a range of other tissues, including liver, gill, and brain. Moreover, expression of Myg transcript was substantially enhanced during chronic hypoxia, the fold-change induction being far greater in liver than muscle. By using 2D gel electrophoresis, we have confirmed that liver expresses a protein corresponding to the Myg-1 transcript and that it is significantly up-regulated during hypoxia. We have also discovered a second, unique Myg isoform, distinct from neuroglobin, which is expressed exclusively in the neural tissue but whose transcript expression was unaffected by environmental hypoxia. Both observations of nonmuscle expression and a brain-specific isoform are unprecedented, indicating that Myg may play a much wider role than previously understood and that Myg might function in the protection of tissues from deep hypoxia and ischemia as well as in reoxygenation and reperfusion injury.

The first bioinspired microporous metal–organic framework (MOF) synthesized using ellagic acid, a common natural antioxidant and polyphenol building unit, is presented. Bi 2 O(H 2 O) 2 (C 14 H 2 O 8 )· n H 2 O (SU-101) was inspired by bismuth phenolate metallodrugs, and could be synthesized entirely from nonhazardous or edible reagents under ambient aqueous conditions, enabling simple scale-up. Reagent-grade and affordable dietary supplement-grade ellagic acid was sourced from tree bark and pomegranate hulls, respectively. Biocompatibility and colloidal stability were confirmed by in vitro assays. The material exhibits remarkable chemical stability for a bioinspired MOF (pH = 2–14, hydrothermal conditions, heated organic solvents, biological media, SO 2 and H 2 S), attributed to the strongly chelating phenolates. A total H 2 S uptake of 15.95 mmol g –1 was recorded, representing one of the highest H 2 S capacities for a MOF, where polysulfides are formed inside the pores of the material. Phenolic phytochemicals remain largely unexplored as linkers for MOF synthesis, opening new avenues to design stable, eco-friendly, scalable, and low-cost MOFs for diverse applications, including drug delivery.

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Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) are some of the most interesting and promising candidates to sequester toxic H 2 S and SO 2 gases. MOFs show interesting advantages over classic porous materials due to their chemical composition, ligand functionality, cavity dimensions, ease of preparation, and relatively low cost reactivation. The optimization of the physical−chemical interactions between MOFs and H 2 S and SO 2 molecules is the key to further amplification of their capture. Reversibility after the adsorption of H 2 S and SO 2 can be modulated through noncovalent bonding between functionalized ligands (within MOF structures) and H 2 S and SO 2 . This review aims to summarize recent advances in the development of MOF-based systems for the capture and removal of H 2 S and SO 2 . We anticipate that this review article can offer very useful information on the significant and rapid progress of the enhancement of H 2 S and SO 2 capture by MOFs.

Advancing (theta(A)) and receding (theta(R)) contact angles were measured with several probe liquids on the external facets (201), (001), (011), and (110) of macroscopic form I paracetamol crystals as well as the cleaved (internal) facet (010). For the external crystal facets, dispersive surface energies gamma(d) calculated from the contact angles were found to be similar (34 +/- 1 mJ/m(2)), while the polar components varied significantly. Cleaving the crystals exposed a more apolar (010) surface with very different surface properties, including gamma(d) = 45 +/- 1 mJ/m(2). The relative surface polarity (gamma(p)/gamma) of the facets in decreasing order was (001) > (011) > (201) > (110) > (010), which agreed with the fraction of exposed polar hydroxyl groups as determined from C and O 1s X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra, and could be correlated with the number of non-hydrogen-bonded hydroxyl groups per unit area present for each crystal facet, based on the known crystal structures. In conclusion, all facets of form I paracetamol crystals examined exhibited anisotropic wetting behavior and surface energetics that correlated to the presence of surface hydroxyl groups.