Capabilities in health monitoring via capture and quantitative chemical analysis of sweat could complement, or potentially obviate the need for, approaches based on sporadic assessment of blood samples. Established sweat monitoring technologies use simple fabric swatches and are limited to basic analysis in controlled laboratory or hospital settings. We present a collection of materials and device designs for soft, flexible and stretchable microfluidic systems, including embodiments that integrate wireless communication electronics, which can intimately and robustly bond to the surface of skin without chemical and mechanical irritation. This integration defines access points for a small set of sweat glands such that perspiration spontaneously initiates routing of sweat through a microfluidic network and set of reservoirs. Embedded chemical analyses respond in colorimetric fashion to markers such as chloride and hydronium ions, glucose and lactate. Wireless interfaces to digital image capture hardware serve as a means for quantitation. Human studies demonstrated the functionality of this microfluidic device during fitness cycling in a controlled environment and during long-distance bicycle racing in arid, outdoor conditions. The results include quantitative values for sweat rate, total sweat loss, pH and concentration of both chloride and lactate.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is heavily implicated in Parkinson disease (PD) as exemplified by the finding of an increased frequency of respiratory chain-deficient dopamine (DA) neurons in affected patients. An inherited form of PD is caused by impaired function of Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase reported to translocate to defective mitochondria in vitro to facilitate their clearance. We have developed a reporter mouse to assess mitochondrial morphology in DA neurons in vivo and show here that respiratory chain deficiency leads to fragmentation of the mitochondrial network and to the formation of large cytoplasmic bodies derived from mitochondria. Surprisingly, the dysfunctional mitochondria do not recruit Parkin in vivo, and neither the clearance of defective mitochondria nor the neurodegeneration phenotype is affected by the absence of Parkin. We also show that anterograde axonal transport of mitochondria is impaired in respiratory chain-deficient DA neurons, leading to a decreased supply of mitochondria to the axonal terminals.mitochondrial DNA | mitochondrial biogenesis | oxidative phosphorylation

The number and morphology of mitochondria within a cell are precisely regulated by the mitochondrial fission and fusion machinery. The human protein, hFis1, participates in mitochondrial fission by recruiting the Drp1 into the mitochondria. Using short hairpin RNA, we reduced the expression levels of hFis1 in mammalian cells. Cells lacking hFis1 showed sustained elongation of mitochondria and underwent significant cellular morphological changes, including enlargement, flattening, and increased cellular granularity. In these cells, staining for acidic senescence-associated ␤-galactosidase activity was elevated, and the rate of cell proliferation was greatly reduced, indicating that cells lacking hFis1 undergo senescence-associated phenotypic changes. Reintroduction of the hFis1 gene into hFis1-depleted cells restored mitochondrial fragmentation and suppressed senescence-associated ␤-galactosidase activity. Moreover, depletion of both hFis1 and OPA1, a critical component of mitochondrial fusion, resulted in extensive mitochondrial fragmentation and markedly rescued cells from senescence-associated phenotypic changes. Intriguingly, sustained elongation of mitochondria was associated with decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased reactive oxygen species production, and DNA damage. The data indicate that sustained mitochondrial elongation induces senescence-associated phenotypic changes that can be neutralized by mitochondrial fragmentation. Thus, one of the key functions of mitochondrial fission might be prevention of the sustained extensive mitochondrial elongation that triggers cellular senescence.Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that can change in number and morphology within a cell during development, the cell cycle, or when challenged with various cytotoxic conditions. Size, shape, and interconnectivity of mitochondria are determined by fusion and fission. In mammals, the key molecules for mitochondrial fission are hFis1 and Drp1. The hFis1 protein is anchored to the outer mitochondrial membrane via a C-terminal transmembrane domain, and overexpression of hFis1 was found to induce mitochondrial fragmentation (1, 2). The Drp1 is predominantly distributed in the cytoplasm and partially associates with the mitochondrial outer membrane (3). A portion of cytosolic Drp1 can be recruited to mitochondria through an interaction with hFis1 (4 -6). The opposing process, mitochondrial fusion, is controlled in mammalian cells by Mitofusins (Mfn) 3 and OPA1. Mitofusin1 and -2 (Mfn1 and Mfn2) localize on the outer membrane of mitochondria and may directly mediate mitochondrial fusion (7-9). OPA1 (optic atrophy 1) is a dynamin family GTPase that resides in the intermembrane space of mitochondria and is essential for mitochondrial fusion (10, 11). However, the functional mechanism by which these proteins cooperate to induce mitochondrial fission and fusion remains unidentified.Despite relatively intensive studies on the components of the mitochondrial fission and fusion machineries, a link between mitochondrial...

SummaryMitochondria constantly divide and combine through fission and fusion activities. MARCH5, a mitochondrial E3 ubiquitin ligase, has been identified as a molecule that binds mitochondrial fission 1 protein (hFis1), dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) and mitofusin 2 (Mfn2), key proteins in the control of mitochondrial fission and fusion. However, how these interactions control mitochondrial dynamics, and cellular function has remained obscure. Here, we show that shRNA-mediated MARCH5 knockdown promoted the accumulation of highly interconnected and elongated mitochondria. Cells transfected with MARCH5 shRNA or a MARCH5 RING domain mutant displayed cellular enlargement and flattening accompanied by increased senescence-associated b-galactosidase (SA-b-Gal) activity, indicating that these cells had undergone cellular senescence. Notably, a significant increase in Mfn1 level, but not Mfn2, Drp1 or hFis1 levels, was observed in MARCH5-depleted cells, indicating that Mfn1 is a major ubiquitylation substrate. Introduction of Mfn1 T109A , a GTPase-deficient mutant form of Mfn1, into MARCH5-RNAi cells not only disrupted mitochondrial elongation, but also abolished the increase in SA-b-Gal activity. Moreover, the aberrant mitochondrial phenotypes in MARCH5-RNAi cells were reversed by ectopic expression of Drp1, but not by hFis1, and reversion of the mitochondria morphology in MARCH5-depleted cells was accompanied by a reduction in SA-b-Gal activity. Collectively, our data indicate that the lack of MARCH5 results in mitochondrial elongation, which promotes cellular senescence by blocking Drp1 activity and/or promoting accumulation of Mfn1 at the mitochondria.

No abstract

Septic shock is characterized by increased vascular permeability and hypotension despite increased cardiac output. Numerous vasoactive cytokines are upregulated during sepsis, including angiopoietin 2 (ANG2), which increases vascular permeability. Here we report that mice engineered to inducibly overexpress ANG2 in the endothelium developed sepsis-like hemodynamic alterations, including systemic hypotension, increased cardiac output, and dilatory cardiomyopathy. Conversely, mice with cardiomyocyte-restricted ANG2 overexpression failed to develop hemodynamic alterations. Interestingly, the hemodynamic alterations associated with endothelial-specific overexpression of ANG2 and the loss of capillary-associated pericytes were reversed by intravenous injections of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) transducing cDNA for angiopoietin 1, a TIE2 ligand that antagonizes ANG2, or AAVs encoding PDGFB, a chemoattractant for pericytes. To confirm the role of ANG2 in sepsis, we i.p. injected LPS into C57BL/6J mice, which rapidly developed hypotension, acute pericyte loss, and increased vascular permeability. Importantly, ANG2 antibody treatment attenuated LPS-induced hemodynamic alterations and reduced the mortality rate at 36 hours from 95% to 61%. These data indicate that ANG2-mediated microvascular disintegration contributes to septic shock and that inhibition of the ANG2/ TIE2 interaction during sepsis is a potential therapeutic target.

Magnetic microrobots were developed for three-dimensional culture and the precise delivery of stem cells in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo. Hippocampal neural stem cells attached to the microrobots proliferated and differentiated into astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neurons. Moreover, microrobots were used to transport colorectal carcinoma cancer cells to tumor microtissue in a body-on-a-chip, which comprised an in vitro liver-tumor microorgan network. The microrobots were also controlled in a mouse brain slice and rat brain blood vessel. Last, microrobots carrying mesenchymal stem cells derived from human nose were manipulated inside the intraperitoneal cavity of a nude mouse. The results indicate the potential of microrobots for the culture and delivery of stem cells.

All data described in this study can be browsed through the FTFD web site at http://ftfd.snu.ac.kr/.