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Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) holds promise as a noninvasive imaging technique for characterizing collagen structure, and thus mechanical properties, through imaging second harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon fluorescence in engineered and real connective tissues. Controlling polymerization pH to manipulate collagen gel microstructure, we quantified pore and fiber dimensions using both standard methods and image correlation spectroscopy (ICS) on MPM, scanning electron, and darkfield microscopy images. The latter two techniques are used to confirm microstructural measurements made from MPM images. As polymerization pH increased from 5.5 to 8.5, mean fiber diameter decreased from 3.7 +/- 0.7 microm to 1.6 +/- 0.3 microm, the average pore size decreased from 81.7 +/- 3.7 microm(2) to 7.8 +/- 0.4 microm(2), and the pore area fraction decreased from 56.8% +/- 0.8% to 18.0% +/- 1.3% (measured from SHG images), whereas the storage modulus G' and loss modulus G'', components of the shear modulus, increased approximately 33-fold and approximately 16-fold, respectively. A characteristic length scale measured using ICS, W(ICS), correlates well with the mean fiber diameter from SHG images (R(2) = 0.95). Semiflexible network theory predicts a scaling relationship of the collagen gel storage modulus (G') depending upon mesh size and fiber diameter, which are estimated from SHG images using ICS. We conclude that MPM and ICS are an effective combination to assess bulk mechanical properties of collagen hydrogels in a noninvasive, objective, and systematic fashion and may be useful for specific in vivo applications.

Uracil-DNA glycosylase releases free uracil from DNA and initiates base excision repair for removal of this potentially mutagenic DNA lesion. Using the yeast twohybrid system, human uracil-DNA glycosylase encoded by the UNG gene (UNG) was found to interact with the C-terminal part of the 34-kDa subunit of replication protein A (RPA2). No interaction with RPA4 (a homolog of RPA2), RPA1, or RPA3 was observed. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with trimeric RPA and the two-hybrid system both demonstrated that the interaction depends on a region in UNG localized between amino acids 28 and 79 in the open reading frame. In this part of UNG a 23-amino acid sequence has a significant homology to the RPA2-binding region of XPA, a protein involved in damage recognition in nucleotide excision repair. Trimeric RPA did not enhance the activity of UNG in vitro on single-or double-stranded DNA. A part of the N-terminal region of UNG corresponding in size to the complete presequence was efficiently removed by proteinase K, leaving the proteinase K-resistant compact catalytic domain intact and fully active. These results indicate that the N-terminal part constitutes a separate structural domain required for RPA binding and suggest a possible function for RPA in base excision repair. Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG)1 is the first enzyme in base excision repair for removal of uracil from DNA and its main function is probably to remove mutagenic uracil residues resulting from deamination of cytosine in DNA (1). The subsequent steps in the base excision repair pathway include, as the minimal enzymatic requirement in vitro, an apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease, a deoxyribophosphodiesterase activity (which may be contributed by DNA polymerase ␤), DNA polymerase ␤, and a DNA ligase (2). In analogy to the complexity of the nucleotide excision repair pathway, base excision repair is likely to be more complex in vivo. This is in fact supported by the finding of an alternative, short patch pathway, requiring proliferating cell nuclear antigen and DNA polymerase ␦ (3, 4). A catalytically fully active form of human UDG has been expressed in Escherichia coli (5) and structure-function relationships determined by site-directed mutagenesis and x-ray crystallography (6). These studies identified this form of human UDG as a one domain structure with a positively charged DNA-binding groove. UDGs are relatively small monomeric enzymes that, at least in vitro, do not require cofactors. However, UDG is preferentially associated with replicating SV40 minichromosomes, indicating a possible interaction with components of the replication machinery (7). The gene encoding the major human UDG, UNG, is transcribed predominantly late in the G 1 -phase, resulting in a 2-3-fold increase in UDG activity early in the S-phase (8). The cell cycle regulation is consistent with the presence of several putative regulatory elements detected in the UNG gene (9), including a putative element for binding of replication protein A (RPA) (10) reported previously in D...

Nuclear (UNG2) and mitochondrial (UNG1) forms of human uracil-DNA glycosylase are both encoded by the UNG gene but have different N-terminal sequences. We have expressed fusion constructs of truncated or site-mutated UNG cDNAs and green fluorescent protein cDNA and studied subcellular sorting. The unique 44 N-terminal amino acids in UNG2 are required, but not sufficient, for complete sorting to nuclei. In this part the motif R17K18R19is essential for sorting. The complete nuclear localization signal (NLS) in addition requires residues common to UNG2 and UNG1 within the 151 N-terminal residues. Replacement of certain basic residues within this region changed the pattern of subnuclear distribution of UNG2. The 35 unique N-terminal residues in UNG1 constitute a strong and complete mitochondrial localization signal (MLS) which when placed at the N-terminus of UNG2 overrides the NLS. Residues 11-28 in UNG1 have the potential of forming an amphiphilic helix typical of MLSs and residues 1-28 are essential and sufficient for mitochondrial import. These results demonstrate that UNG1 contains a classical and very strong MLS, whereas UNG2 contains an unusually long and complex NLS, as well as subnuclear targeting signals in the region common to UNG2 and UNG1.

No abstract

A Monte Carlo model has been developed for optical coherence tomography (OCT). A geometrical optics implementation of the OCT probe with low-coherence interferometric detection was combined with three-dimensional stochastic Monte Carlo modelling of photon propagation in the homogeneous sample medium. Optical properties of the sample were selected to simulate intralipid and blood, representing moderately (g = 0.7) and highly (g = 0.99) anisotropic scattering respectively. For shallow optical depths in simulated intralipid (<3 scattering mean free path (mfp) units), the number of detected backscattered photons followed the extinction-single-backscatter model, and OCT was found to detect only minimally scattered photons. Within this depth range the backscatter positions of detected photons corresponded well with the nominal focus position of the probe. For propagation to deeper positions in intralipid, localization of backscattering was quickly lost due to detection of stray photons, and the number of detected photons remained constant with increasing depth in the non-absorbing medium. For strongly forward-directed scattering in simulated blood, the number of detected photons approached the extinction-single-backscatter model only for very shallow depths (<2 mfp units). However, backscattering positions for detected photons correlated well with the nominal focus position of the probe even for optical depths greater than 40 mfp units.

The fibrillar collagen network in tumor and normal tissues is different due to remodeling of the extracellular matrix during the malignant process. Collagen type I fibers have the crystalline and noncentrosymmetric properties required for generating the second-harmonic signal. The content and structure of collagen were studied by imaging the second-harmonic generation (SHG) signal in frozen sections from three tumor tissues, osteosarcoma, breast carcinoma, and melanoma, and were compared with corresponding normal tissues, bone/femur, breast, and dermis/skin. The collagen density was measured as the percentage of pixels containing SHG signal in tissue images, and material parameters such as the second-order nonlinear optical susceptibility given by the d22 coefficient and an empirical anisotropy parameter were used to characterize the collagen structure. Generally, normal tissues had much more collagen than tumor tissues. In tumor tissues, a cap of collagen was seen at the periphery, and further into the tumors, the distribution of collagen was sparse and heterogeneous. The difference in structure was reflected in the two times higher d22 coefficient and lower anisotropy values in normal tissues compared with tumor tissues. Together, the differences in the collagen content, distribution, and structure show that collagen signature is a promising diagnostic marker.

A new flow configuration for flow cytometry has been devised in which a flat, laminar stream of water, containing the stained cells in a narrow sector, is formed on a microscope cover slip by a pressurized jet of water directed onto the glass at low angle. The stream of cells is viewed by means of a fluorescence microscope with incident illumination and a pulse photometer. Coupled to a multichannel pulse height analyzer, the instrument constitutes a stable and easy-to-operate flow cytometer with a resolution equal to or better than a coefficient of variance of 1.4 percent in measurements of cellular DNA.