-
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2024Many aspects of heart development are topographically complex and require three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction to understand the pertinent morphology. We have recently...
Many aspects of heart development are topographically complex and require three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction to understand the pertinent morphology. We have recently completed a comprehensive primer of human cardiac development that is based on firsthand segmentation of structures of interest in histological sections. We visualized the hearts of 12 human embryos between their first appearance at 3.5 weeks and the end of the embryonic period at 8 weeks. The models were presented as calibrated, interactive, 3D portable document format (PDF) files. We used them to describe the appearance and the subsequent remodeling of around 70 different structures incrementally for each of the reconstructed stages. In this chapter, we begin our account by describing the formation of the single heart tube, which occurs at the end of the fourth week subsequent to conception. We describe its looping in the fifth week, the formation of the cardiac compartments in the sixth week, and, finally, the septation of these compartments into the physically separated left- and right-sided circulations in the seventh and eighth weeks. The phases are successive, albeit partially overlapping. Thus, the basic cardiac layout is established between 26 and 32 days after fertilization and is described as Carnegie stages (CSs) 9 through 14, with development in the outlet component trailing that in the inlet parts. Septation at the venous pole is completed at CS17, equivalent to almost 6 weeks of development. During Carnegie stages 17 and 18, in the seventh week, the outflow tract and arterial pole undergo major remodeling, including incorporation of the proximal portion of the outflow tract into the ventricles and transfer of the spiraling course of the subaortic and subpulmonary channels to the intrapericardial arterial trunks. Remodeling of the interventricular foramen, with its eventual closure, is complete at CS20, which occurs at the end of the seventh week. We provide quantitative correlations between the age of human and mouse embryos as well as the Carnegie stages of development. We have also set our descriptions in the context of variations in the timing of developmental features.
Topics: Humans; Heart; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Organogenesis
PubMed: 38884703
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-44087-8_1 -
Nature Communications Nov 2023Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are essential for the formation of high affinity antibodies after vaccination or infection. Although the signals responsible for...
Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are essential for the formation of high affinity antibodies after vaccination or infection. Although the signals responsible for initiating Tfh differentiation from naïve T cells have been studied, the signals controlling sequential developmental stages culminating in optimal effector function are not well understood. Here we use fate mapping strategies for the cytokine IL-21 to uncover sequential developmental stages of Tfh differentiation including a progenitor-like stage, a fully developed effector stage and a post-effector Tfh stage that maintains transcriptional and epigenetic features without IL-21 production. We find that progression through these stages are controlled intrinsically by the transcription factor FoxP1 and extrinsically by follicular regulatory T cells. Through selective deletion of Tfh stages, we show that these cells control antibody dynamics during distinct stages of the germinal center reaction in response to a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Together, these studies demonstrate the sequential phases of Tfh development and how they promote humoral immunity.
Topics: Humans; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer; T Follicular Helper Cells; COVID-19 Vaccines; Immunity, Humoral; Germinal Center; Cell Differentiation; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 38001088
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43427-4 -
Issues in Mental Health Nursing Nov 2023Adolescence is one of the most crucial and challenging developmental stages to navigate. This critical stage of life marks an important time when individuals learn how...
Adolescence is one of the most crucial and challenging developmental stages to navigate. This critical stage of life marks an important time when individuals learn how to incorporate independence and autonomy with healthy decision-making. Relationships are a strong factor in mental and emotional wellness during adolescence. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine limited opportunities for connectedness outside the home. This may have affected adolescents in unhealthy ways, negatively impacting their sense of support, belonging, and closeness with others. Understanding, evaluating, and promoting connectedness during adolescence is now more essential than ever. The purpose of this concept analysis is to add to what has previously been addressed regarding adolescent connectedness in an effort to promote healthy behaviors during this stage of development and into adulthood.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Pandemics; Emotions; Mental Health; Health Status
PubMed: 37616591
DOI: 10.1080/01612840.2022.2141388 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jul 2023Zinc finger and SCAN domain-containing 4 (), a DNA-binding protein, maintains telomere length and plays a key role in critical aspects of mouse embryonic stem cells,...
Zinc finger and SCAN domain-containing 4 (), a DNA-binding protein, maintains telomere length and plays a key role in critical aspects of mouse embryonic stem cells, including maintaining genomic stability and defying cellular senescence. However, the effect of in porcine parthenogenetic embryos remains unclear. To investigate the function of and the underlying mechanism in porcine embryo development, was knocked down via dsRNA injection in the one-cell stage. was highly expressed in the four- and five- to eight-cell stages in porcine embryos. The percentage of four-cell stage embryos, five- to eight-cell stage embryos, and blastocysts was lower in the knockdown group than in the control group. Notably, depletion of induced the protein expression of and 5-Methylcytosine (5mC, a methylated form of the DNA base cytosine) in the four-cell stage. The H3K27ac level and ZGA genes expression decreased following knockdown. Furthermore, knockdown led to DNA damage and shortened telomere compared with the control. Additionally, -dsRNA was injected to reduce DNA hypermethylation in knockdown embryos. knockdown rescued telomere shortening and developmental defects caused by knockdown. In conclusion, is involved in the regulation of transcriptional activity and is essential for maintaining telomere length by regulating expression in porcine ZGA.
Topics: Animals; Mice; Swine; Transcription Factors; Telomere; Telomere Shortening; DNA-Binding Proteins; Zygote; Embryonic Development; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
PubMed: 37569497
DOI: 10.3390/ijms241512121 -
Developmental and Comparative Immunology Oct 2023With its contribution to nutrition, development, and disease resistance, gut microbiome has been recognized as a crucial component of the animal's health and well-being.... (Review)
Review
With its contribution to nutrition, development, and disease resistance, gut microbiome has been recognized as a crucial component of the animal's health and well-being. Microbiome in the gastrointestinal tract constantly interacts with the host animal's immune systems as part of the normal function of the intestines. Interactions between the microbiome and the immune system are complex and dynamic, with the microbiome shaping immune development and function. In contrast, the immune system modulates the composition and activity of the microbiome. In shrimp, as with all other aquatic animals, the interaction between the microbiome and the animals occurs at the early developmental stages. This early interaction is likely essential to the development of immune responses of the animal as well as many key physiological developments that further contribute to the health of shrimp. This review provides background knowledge on the early developmental stage of shrimp and its microbiome, examines the interaction between the microbiome and the immune system in the early life stage of shrimp, and discusses potential pitfalls and challenges associated with microbiome research. Understanding the interaction between the microbiome and shrimp immune system at this crucial developmental stage could have the potential to aid in the establishment of a healthy microbiome, improve shrimp survival, and provide ways to shape the microbiome with feed supplements or other strategies.
Topics: Animals; Bacteria; Penaeidae; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Microbiota; Gastrointestinal Microbiome
PubMed: 37380117
DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2023.104765 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Nov 2023Spontaneous retinal waves are a critical driving force for the self-organization of the mouse visual system prior to eye-opening. Classically characterized as taking...
Spontaneous retinal waves are a critical driving force for the self-organization of the mouse visual system prior to eye-opening. Classically characterized as taking place in three distinct stages defined by their primary excitatory drive, Stage II waves during the first postnatal week are propagated through the volume transmission of acetylcholine while Stage III retinal waves during the second postnatal week depend on glutamatergic transmission from bipolar cells. However, both late Stage II and early Stage III retinal waves share a defining propagation bias toward the temporal-to-nasal direction despite developmental changes in the underlying cholinergic and glutamatergic retinal networks. Here, we leverage genetic and pharmacological manipulations to investigate the relationship between cholinergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission during the transition between Stage II and Stage III waves . We find that the cholinergic network continues to play a vital role in the propagation of waves during Stage III after the primary mode of neurotransmission changes to glutamate. In the absence of glutamatergic waves, compensatory cholinergic activity persists but lacks the propagation bias typically observed in Stage III waves. In the absence of cholinergic waves, gap junction-mediated activity typically associated with Stage I waves persists throughout the developmental window in which Stage III waves usually emerge and lacks the spatiotemporal profile of normal Stage III waves, including a temporal-to-nasal propagation bias. Finally, we show that cholinergic signaling through β2 subunit-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, essential for Stage II wave propagation, is also critical for Stage III wave directionality.
PubMed: 38014271
DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.10.566639 -
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology Aug 2023Intracellular protozoan parasites are responsible for wide-spread infectious diseases. These unicellular pathogens have complex, multi-host life cycles, which present... (Review)
Review
Intracellular protozoan parasites are responsible for wide-spread infectious diseases. These unicellular pathogens have complex, multi-host life cycles, which present challenges for investigating their basic biology and for discovering vulnerabilities that could be exploited for disease control. Throughout development, parasite proteomes are dynamic and support stage-specific functions, but detection of these proteins is often technically challenging and complicated by the abundance of host proteins. Thus, to elucidate key parasite processes and host-pathogen interactions, labeling strategies are required to track pathogen proteins during infection. Herein, we discuss the application of bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging and proximity-dependent labeling to broadly study protozoan parasites and include outlooks for future applications to study Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria. We highlight the potential of these technologies to provide spatiotemporal labeling with selective parasite protein enrichment, which could enable previously unattainable insight into the biology of elusive developmental stages.
Topics: Animals; Parasites; Proteome; Protozoan Proteins; Malaria; Life Cycle Stages
PubMed: 37192562
DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2023.102316 -
Blood Advances Sep 2023During development down the erythroid lineage, hematopoietic stem cells undergo dramatic changes to cellular morphology and function in response to a complex and tightly...
During development down the erythroid lineage, hematopoietic stem cells undergo dramatic changes to cellular morphology and function in response to a complex and tightly regulated program of gene expression. In malaria infection, Plasmodium spp parasites accumulate in the bone marrow parenchyma, and emerging evidence suggests erythroblastic islands are a protective site for parasite development into gametocytes. Although it has been observed that Plasmodium falciparum infection in late-stage erythroblasts can delay terminal erythroid differentiation and enucleation, the mechanism(s) underlying this phenomenon are unknown. Here, we apply RNA sequencing after fluorescence-activated cell sorting of infected erythroblasts to identify transcriptional responses to direct and indirect interaction with P falciparum. Four developmental stages of erythroid cells were analyzed: proerythroblast, basophilic erythroblast, polychromatic erythroblast, and orthochromatic erythroblast. We found extensive transcriptional changes in infected erythroblasts compared with that in uninfected cells in the same culture, including dysregulation of genes involved in erythroid proliferation and developmental processes. Although some indicators of cellular oxidative and proteotoxic stress were common across all stages of erythropoiesis, many responses were specific to cellular processes associated with developmental stage. Together, our results evidence multiple possible avenues by which parasite infection can induce dyserythropoiesis at specific points along the erythroid continuum, advancing our understanding of the molecular determinants of malaria anemia.
Topics: Humans; Plasmodium falciparum; Erythroblasts; Malaria, Falciparum; Erythropoiesis; Malaria
PubMed: 37493969
DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010844 -
International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2024The Japanese pine sawyer serves as the primary vector for pine wilt disease, a devastating pine disease that poses a significant threat to the sustainable development...
The Japanese pine sawyer serves as the primary vector for pine wilt disease, a devastating pine disease that poses a significant threat to the sustainable development of forestry in the Eurasian region. Currently, trap devices based on informational compounds have played a crucial role in monitoring and controlling the population. However, the specific proteins within involved in recognizing the aforementioned informational compounds remain largely unclear. To elucidate the spatiotemporal distribution of chemosensory-related genes, this study conducted neural transcriptome analyses to investigate gene expression patterns in different body parts during the feeding and mating stages of both male and female beetles. The results revealed that 15 genes in the gustatory receptor (GR) gene family exhibited high expression in the mouthparts, most genes in the odorant binding protein (OBP) gene family exhibited high expression across all body parts, 22 genes in the odorant receptor (OR) gene family exhibited high expression in the antennae, a significant number of genes in the chemosensory protein (CSP) and sensory neuron membrane protein (SNMP) gene families exhibited high expression in both the mouthparts and antennae, and 30 genes in the ionotropic receptors (IR) gene family were expressed in the antennae. Through co-expression analyses, it was observed that 34 genes in the IR gene family were co-expressed across the four developmental stages. The Antenna IR subfamily and IR8a/Ir25a subfamily exhibited relatively high expression levels in the antennae, while the Kainate subfamily, NMDA subfamily, and Divergent subfamily exhibited predominantly high expression in the facial region. is expressed only during the feeding stage of , the gene exhibits specific expression in male beetles, the gene exhibits specific expression during the feeding stage in male beetles, the and genes exhibit specific expression during the feeding stage in female beetles, and is expressed only during two developmental stages in male beetles and during the mating stage in female beetles. The IR gene family exhibits gene-specific expression in different spatiotemporal contexts, laying the foundation for the subsequent selection of functional genes and facilitating the full utilization of host plant volatiles and insect sex pheromones, thereby enabling the development of more efficient attractants.
Topics: Animals; Coleoptera; Male; Transcriptome; Female; Receptors, Odorant; Insect Proteins; Gene Expression Profiling; Arthropod Antennae; Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate
PubMed: 38674138
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25084553