Wayne Rasband of NIH has created ImageJ, an open source Java-written program that is now at version 1.31 and is used for many imaging applications, including those that that span the gamut from skin analysis to neuroscience. ImageJ is in the public domain and runs on any operating system (OS). ImageJ is easy to use and can do many imaging manipulations. A very large and knowledgeable group makes up the user community for ImageJ. Topics covered are imaging abilities; cross platform; image formats support as of June 2004; extensions, including macros and plug-ins; and imaging library. NIH reports tens of thousands of downloads at a rate of about 24,000 per month currently. ImageJ can read most of the widely used and significant formats used in biomedical images. Manipulations supported are read/write of image files and operations on separate pixels, image regions, entire images, and volumes (stacks in ImageJ). Basic operations supported include convolution, edge detection, Fourier transform, histogram and particle analyses, editing and color manipulation, and more advanced operations, as well as visualization. For assistance in using ImageJ, users e-mail each other, and the user base is highly knowledgeable and will answer requests on the mailing list. A thorough manual with many examples and illustrations has been written by Tony Collins of the Wright Cell Imaging Facility at Toronto Western Research Institute and is available, along with other listed resources, via the Web.

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Image processing with ImageJ

Capsaicin, the main pungent ingredient in 'hot' chilli peppers, elicits a sensation of burning pain by selectively activating sensory neurons that convey information about noxious stimuli to the central nervous system We have used an expression cloning strategy based on calcium influx to isolate a functional cDNA encoding a capsaicin receptor from sensory neurons This receptor is a non-selective cation channel that is structurally related to members of the TRP family of ion channels The cloned capsaicin receptor is also activated by increases in temperature in the noxious range, suggesting that it functions as a transducer of painful thermal stimuli in vivo

/pdf/the-capsaicin-receptor-a-heat-activated-ion-channel-in-the-57mhjl9hkd.pdf

The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway

Protein kinase C has a crucial role in signal transduction for a variety of biologically active substances which activate cellular functions and proliferation. When cells are stimulated, protein kinase C is transiently activated by diacylglycerol which is produced in the membrane during the signal-induced turnover of inositol phospholipids. Tumour-promoting phorbol esters, when intercalated into the cell membrane, may substitute for diacylglycerol and permanently activate protein kinase C. The enzyme probably serves as a receptor for the tumour promoters. Further exploration of the roles of this enzyme may provide clues for understanding the mechanism of cell growth and differentiation.

The role of protein kinase C in cell surface signal transduction and tumour promotion

Inositol trisphosphate is a second messenger that controls many cellular processes by generating internal calcium signals. It operates through receptors whose molecular and physiological properties closely resemble the calcium-mobilizing ryanodine receptors of muscle. This family of intracellular calcium channels displays the regenerative process of calcium-induced calcium release responsible for the complex spatiotemporal patterns of calcium waves and oscillations. Such a dynamic signalling pathway controls many cellular processes, including fertilization, cell growth, transformation, secretion, smooth muscle contraction, sensory perception and neuronal signalling.

Inositol trisphosphate and calcium signalling

There has recently been rapid progress in understanding receptors that generate intracellular signals from inositol lipids. One of these lipids, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, is hydrolysed to diacylglycerol and inositol trisphosphate as part of a signal transduction mechanism for controlling a variety of cellular processes including secretion, metabolism, phototransduction and cell proliferation. Diacylglycerol operates within the plane of the membrane to activate protein kinase C, whereas inositol trisphosphate is released into the cytoplasm to function as a second messenger for mobilizing intracellular calcium.

Inositol trisphosphate, a novel second messenger in cellular signal transduction.

1. The membrane resistance of isolated salivary glands was found to decrease in response to 5-HT. The change in resistance was calcium-dependent. 2. The resistance change of the apical membrane was found to be much greater than the change in resistance of the basal membrane. 3. Potential responses under current-clamped conditions showed that one part of the biphasic response to 5-HT (attributed to an increase in chloride permeability) could be reversed and the other part (attributed to an increase in a potassium pump) could not. 4. These observations have been incorporated into a model which, on evaluation, predicts all of the observed potential changes during the action of 5-HT. It suggests that the potential responses reflect changes in the internal chloride concentration produced by the calcium-dependent increases in chloride permeability.

Membrane permeability changes during stimulation of isolated salivary glands of Calliphora by 5-hydroxytryptamine.

Neurobiology: Second messenger dualism in neuromodulation and memory

Vitamin D is a hormone that maintains healthy cells. It functions by regulating the low resting levels of cell signalling components such as Ca(2+) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Its role in maintaining phenotypic stability of these signalling pathways depends on the ability of vitamin D to control the expression of those components that act to reduce the levels of both Ca(2+) and ROS. This regulatory role of vitamin D is supported by both Klotho and Nrf2. A decline in the vitamin D/Klotho/Nrf2 regulatory network may enhance the ageing process, and this is well illustrated by the age-related decline in cognition in rats that can be reversed by administering vitamin D. A deficiency in vitamin D has also been linked to two of the major diseases in man: heart disease and Alzheimer's disease (AD). In cardiac cells, this deficiency alters the Ca(2+) transients to activate the gene transcriptional events leading to cardiac hypertrophy and the failing heart. In the case of AD, it is argued that vitamin D deficiency results in the Ca(2+) landscape that initiates amyloid formation, which then elevates the resting level of Ca(2+) to drive the memory loss that progresses to neuronal cell death and dementia.This article is part of the themed issue 'Evolution brings Ca(2+) and ATP together to control life and death'.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2015.0434

Vitamin D, reactive oxygen species and calcium signalling in ageing and disease

In cardiac cells, Ca2+ signals appear as brief transients responsible for controlling both contraction and transcription Information may be encoded in these digital signals through changes in both frequency and shape An increase in Ca2+ signalling contributes to a process of phenotypic remodelling during hypertrophy The increase in Ca2+ that drives the larger contractions may be responsible for switching on a second process of signalosome remodelling to down-regulate the Ca2+ signalling pathway It is a change in the properties of the Ca2+ transient that seems to carry the information responsible for the remodelling of the cardiac gene transcription programme that leads first to hypertrophy and then to congestive heart failure

Michael J. Berridge

Papers

Membrane permeability changes during stimulation of isolated salivary glands of Calliphora by 5-hydroxytryptamine.

Neurobiology: Second messenger dualism in neuromodulation and memory

Vitamin D, reactive oxygen species and calcium signalling in ageing and disease

Remodelling Ca2+ signalling systems and cardiac hypertrophy.

Quantal Ca2+ release from caffeine-sensitive stores in adrenal chromaffin cells