Using two-colour imaging and high resolution TIRF microscopy, we investigated the assembly and maturation of nascent adhesions in migrating cells. We show that nascent adhesions assemble and are stable within the lamellipodium. The assembly is independent of myosin II but its rate is proportional to the protrusion rate and requires actin polymerization. At the lamellipodium back, the nascent adhesions either disassemble or mature through growth and elongation. Maturation occurs along an α-actinin–actin template that elongates centripetally from nascent adhesions. α-Actinin mediates the formation of the template and organization of adhesions associated with actin filaments, suggesting that actin crosslinking has a major role in this process. Adhesion maturation also requires myosin II. Rescue of a myosin IIA knockdown with an actin-bound but motor-inhibited mutant of myosin IIA shows that the actin crosslinking function of myosin II mediates initial adhesion maturation. From these studies, we have developed a model for adhesion assembly that clarifies the relative contributions of myosin II and actin polymerization and organization.

We have used isoform-specific RNA interference knockdowns to investigate the roles of myosin IIA (MIIA) and MIIB in the component processes that drive cell migration. Both isoforms reside outside of protrusions and act at a distance to regulate cell protrusion, signaling, and maturation of nascent adhesions. MIIA also controls the dynamics and size of adhesions in central regions of the cell and contributes to retraction and adhesion disassembly at the rear. In contrast, MIIB establishes front–back polarity and centrosome, Golgi, and nuclear orientation. Using ATPase- and contraction-deficient mutants of both MIIA and MIIB, we show a role for MIIB-dependent actin cross-linking in establishing front–back polarity. From these studies, MII emerges as a master regulator and integrator of cell migration. It mediates each of the major component processes that drive migration, e.g., polarization, protrusion, adhesion assembly and turnover, polarity, signaling, and tail retraction, and it integrates spatially separated processes.

Acute stress suppresses new cell birth in the hippocampus in several species. Relatively little is known, however, on how chronic stress affects the turnover, i.e. proliferation and apoptosis, of the rat dentate gyrus (DG) cells, and whether the stress effects are lasting. We investigated how 3 weeks of chronic unpredictable stress would influence the structural dynamic plasticity of the rat DG, and studied newborn cell proliferation, survival, apoptosis, volume and cell number in 10-week-old animals. To study lasting effects, another group of animals was allowed to recover for 3 weeks. Based on two independent parameters, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and Ki-67 immunocytochemistry, our results show that both chronic and acute stress decrease new cell proliferation rate. The reduced proliferation after acute stress normalized within 24 h. Interestingly, chronically stressed animals showed recovery after 3 weeks, albeit with still fewer proliferating cells than controls. Apoptosis, by contrast, increased after acute but decreased after chronic stress. These results demonstrate that, although chronic stress suppresses proliferation and apoptosis, 3 weeks of recovery again normalized most of these alterations. This may have important implications for our understanding of the reversibility of stress-related hippocampal volume changes, such as occur, for example, in depression.

Cell migration is regulated in part by the connection between the substratum and the actin cytoskeleton. However, the very large number of proteins involved in this linkage and their complex network of interactions make it difficult to assess their role in cell migration. We apply a novel image analysis tool, spatio-temporal image correlation spectroscopy (STICS), to quantify the directed movements of adhesion-related proteins and actin in protrusions of migrating cells. The STICS technique reveals protein dynamics even when protein densities are very low or very high, and works in the presence of large, static molecular complexes. Detailed protein velocity maps for actin and the adhesion-related proteins α-actinin, α5-integrin, talin, paxillin, vinculin and focal adhesion kinase are presented. The data show that there are differences in the efficiency of the linkage between integrin and actin among different cell types and on the same cell type grown on different substrate densities. We identify potential mechanisms that regulate efficiency of the linkage, or clutch, and identify two likely points of disconnect, one at the integrin and the other at α-actinin or actin. The data suggests that the efficiency of the linkage increases as actin and adhesions become more organized showing the importance of factors that regulate the efficiency in adhesion signaling and dynamics.

Recent evidence has shown that cell proliferation in the adult hippocampal dentate gyrus occurs in tight clusters located near the vasculature. Also, changes in neurogenesis often appear parallel to changes in angiogenesis. Moreover, both these processes share similar modulating factors, like vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor Flk-1. In an earlier study we found that chronic stress decreased new cell proliferation in the adult dentate gyrus. We here questioned whether these effects of chronic stress are mediated through the vasculature and whether they involve an angiogenic-signaling pathway. We therefore measured the surface area covered by the vasculature, the proportion of vascular-associated newborn cells, and analysed VEGF and Flk-1 protein expression in the hippocampus of a control, chronically stressed and recovery group of rats. Our results show that 32% of the proliferating cells in the rat hippocampus is vascular associated. Chronic stress affected this population of newborn cells to a significantly larger extent than the non-associated cells. Interestingly, after 3 weeks of recovery, the decreased proliferation not associated with the vasculature was more effectively restored than vascular-associated proportion of proliferating cells. VEGF protein was expressed in high densities in GFAP-positive astrocytes located in the hilus, with VEGF-positive end feet extending into and often contacting the granule cells. After chronic stress, both VEGF and Flk-1 protein levels were significantly decreased in the granular cell layer, and again recovered after 3 weeks. This demonstrates that changes in angiogenic factors are implicated in the decreased adult proliferation found after chronic stress.

Difluoroboron dibenzoylmethane-polylactide, BF 2 dbmPLA, a biocompatible polymerluminophore conjugate was fabricated as nanoparticles. Spherical particles <100 nm in size were generated via nanoprecipitation. Intense blue fluorescence, two-photon absorption, and long-lived room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) are retained in aqueous suspension. The nanoparticles were internalized by cells and visualized by fluorescence microscopy. Luminescent boron biomaterials show potential for imaging and sensing.Keywords boron dye; fluorescence; phosphorescence; poly(lactic acid) (PLA); nanoparticles Difluoroboron-based dyes, such as BODIPY 1 and β-diketonate derivatives, 2 exhibit large extinction coefficients, high emission quantum yields, large two-photon absorption crosssections, and in some cases, sensitivity to the surrounding medium. 3 These exceptional optical properties make them useful as imaging agents, 4 photosensitizers, 5 and sensors. 6 Often dyes are combined with material substrates to modulate properties, enhance stability, and reduce toxicity. Dye leaching with associated toxicity and ambiguity in imaging and sensing schemes can be minimized with dye-polymer conjugates versus blends. 7 For example, active agents such as Ru(II) complexes 8,9 or metalloporphyrins 10 are embedded in polymer matrices that act as protective shells and allow their use in biological contexts with increased stability and improved delivery 11,12 by passive 13,14 or active targeting. 15 Many multifunctional imaging and sensing agents combine controlled material synthesis with nanofabrication. 16,17 Nanoparticles based on luminescent dye conjugates and quantum dots 18 are used to label intracellular structures and pathways in fundamental studies as well as for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. 19,20 Both fluorescence (singlet) and phosphorescence (triplet) emitters are widely used. Phosphorescence, in particular, is susceptible to oxygen quenching via triplet energy transfer, serving as the basis for oxygen sensing. 21-23 Good oxygen permeability and fast response time are important factors. Photodynamic therapy, on the other hand, utilizes photosensitizers in combination with oxygen or other quenchers to generate reactive species for selective tissue treatment. 24-26Previously we reported that when boron difluoride dibenzoylmethane (BF 2 dbm) is combined with poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a biocompatible polymer, 27 the intense blue fluorescence is retained and new properties emerge, namely temperature-sensitive delayed fluorescence and * Address correspondence to fraser@virginia.edu. NIH Public Access RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONDifluoroboron dibenzoylmethane polylactide, BF 2 dbmPLA (Figure 1), was synthesized by ring opening polymerization of lactide using a hydroxyl-functionalized BF 2 dbm initiator and tin catalyst as previously described. 28 Nanoparticles were produced by the solvent displacement method (i.e., nanoprecipitation) 29,30 in which the polymer is dissolved in a solvent miscible with water (e.g., DMF) (oil phase),...

Summary Background A complex network of putative molecular interactions underlies the architecture and function of cell-matrix adhesions. Most of these interactions are implicated from co-immunoprecipitation studies using expressed components; but few have been demonstrated or characterized functionally in living cells. Results We introduce fluorescence fluctuation methods to determine, at high spatial and temporal resolution, ‘when’ and ‘where’ molecular complexes form and their stoichiometry in nascent adhesions (NAs). We focus on integrin-associated molecules implicated in integrin-activation and in the integrin-actin linkage in NAs and show that these molecules form integrin containing complexes hierarchically within the adhesion itself. Integrin and kindlin reside in a molecular complex as soon as adhesions are visible; talin, while also present early, associates with the integrin-kindlin complex only after NAs have formed and in response to myosin II activity. Furthermore, talin and vinculin association precedes the formation of the integrin-talin complex. Finally, α-actinin enters NAs periodically and in clusters that transiently associate with integrins. The absolute number and stoichiometry of these molecules varies among the molecules studied and changes as adhesions mature. Conclusions These observations suggest a working model for NA assembly, whereby transient α-actinin- integrin complexes help nucleate NAs within the lamellipodium. Subsequently integrin complexes containing kindlin, but not talin, emerge. Once NAs have formed, myosin II activity promotes talin association with the integrin-kindlin complex in a stoichiometry consistent with each talin molecule linking two integrin-kindlin complexes.

We used correlation methods to detect and quantify interactions between paxillin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in migrating cells. Cross-correlation raster-scan image correlation spectroscopy revealed that wild-type paxillin and the phosphorylation-inhibiting paxillin mutant Y31F-Y118F do not interact with FAK in the cytosol but a phosphomimetic mutant of paxillin, Y31E-Y118E, does. By extending cross-correlation number and brightness analysis to the total internal reflection fluorescence modality, we were able to show that tetramers of paxillin and FAK form complexes in nascent adhesions with a 1:1 stoichiometry ratio. The phosphomimetic mutations on paxillin increase the size of the complex and the assembly rate of nascent adhesions, suggesting that the physical molecular aggregation of paxillin and FAK regulates adhesion formation. In contrast, when phosphorylation is inhibited, the interaction decreases and the adhesions tend to elongate rather than turn over. These direct in vivo data show that the phosphorylation of paxillin is specific to adhesions and leads to localized complex formation with FAK to regulate the dynamics of nascent adhesions.