Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) has found a niche in the world of biological imaging as the best noninvasive means of fluorescence microscopy in tissue explants and living animals. Coupled with transgenic mouse models of disease and 'smart' genetically encoded fluorescent indicators, its use is now increasing exponentially. Properly applied, it is capable of measuring calcium transients 500 microm deep in a mouse brain, or quantifying blood flow by imaging shadows of blood cells as they race through capillaries. With the multitude of possibilities afforded by variations of nonlinear optics and localized photochemistry, it is possible to image collagen fibrils directly within tissue through nonlinear scattering, or release caged compounds in sub-femtoliter volumes.

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Nonlinear magic: multiphoton microscopy in the biosciences

Design strategies for water-soluble small molecular chromogenic and fluorogenic probes.

The incidence of the metabolic syndrome has taken epidemic proportions in the past decades, contributing to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The metabolic syndrome can be d...

Role of Bile Acids and Bile Acid Receptors in Metabolic Regulation

Bile acids: regulation of synthesis.

Phosphoinositides (PIs) make up only a small fraction of cellular phospholipids, yet they control almost all aspects of a cell's life and death. These lipids gained tremendous research interest as plasma membrane signaling molecules when discovered in the 1970s and 1980s. Research in the last 15 years has added a wide range of biological processes regulated by PIs, turning these lipids into one of the most universal signaling entities in eukaryotic cells. PIs control organelle biology by regulating vesicular trafficking, but they also modulate lipid distribution and metabolism via their close relationship with lipid transfer proteins. PIs regulate ion channels, pumps, and transporters and control both endocytic and exocytic processes. The nuclear phosphoinositides have grown from being an epiphenomenon to a research area of its own. As expected from such pleiotropic regulators, derangements of phosphoinositide metabolism are responsible for a number of human diseases ranging from rare genetic disorders to the most common ones such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Moreover, it is increasingly evident that a number of infectious agents hijack the PI regulatory systems of host cells for their intracellular movements, replication, and assembly. As a result, PI converting enzymes began to be noticed by pharmaceutical companies as potential therapeutic targets. This review is an attempt to give an overview of this enormous research field focusing on major developments in diverse areas of basic science linked to cellular physiology and disease.

Phosphoinositides: Tiny Lipids With Giant Impact on Cell Regulation

https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(01)27305-3/pdf

The orphan nuclear receptor, shp, mediates bile acid-induced inhibition of the rat bile acid transporter, ntcp.

Calcium is a second messenger in virtually all cells and tissues1. Calcium signals in the nucleus have effects on gene transcription and cell growth that are distinct from those of cytosolic calcium signals; however, it is unknown how nuclear calcium signals are regulated. Here we identify a reticular network of nuclear calcium stores that is continuous with the endoplasmic reticulum and the nuclear envelope. This network expresses inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) receptors, and the nuclear component of InsP3-mediated calcium signals begins in its locality. Stimulation of these receptors with a little InsP3 results in small calcium signals that are initiated in this region of the nucleus. Localized release of calcium in the nucleus causes nuclear protein kinase C (PKC) to translocate to the region of the nuclear envelope, whereas release of calcium in the cytosol induces translocation of cytosolic PKC to the plasma membrane. Our findings show that the nucleus contains a nucleoplasmic reticulum with the capacity to regulate calcium signals in localized subnuclear regions. The presence of such machinery provides a potential mechanism by which calcium can simultaneously regulate many independent processes in the nucleus.

/pdf/regulation-of-calcium-signals-in-the-nucleus-by-a-bnohwhhwee.pdf

Regulation of calcium signals in the nucleus by a nucleoplasmic reticulum

Nuclear calcium (Ca2+) regulates a number of important cellular processes, including gene transcription, growth, and apoptosis. However, it is unclear whether Ca2+ signaling is regulated differently in the nucleus and cytosol. To investigate this possibility, we examined subcellular mechanisms of Ca2+ release in the HepG2 liver cell line. The type II isoform of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) receptor (InsP3R) was expressed to a similar extent in the endoplasmic reticulum and nucleus, whereas the type III InsP3R was concentrated in the endoplasmic reticulum, and the type I isoform was not expressed. Ca2+ signals induced by low InsP3 concentrations started earlier or were larger in the nucleus than in the cytosol, indicating higher sensitivity of nuclear Ca2+ stores for InsP3. Nuclear InsP3R channels were active at lower InsP3 concentrations than InsP3R from cytosol. Enriched expression of type II InsP3R in the nucleus results in greater sensitivity of the nucleus to InsP3, thus providing a mechanism for independent regulation of Ca2+-dependent processes in this cellular compartment.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/100/5/2975.full.pdf

Nuclear and cytosolic calcium are regulated independently

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4419-9034-1_4.pdf

Wihelma Echevarria

Papers

The orphan nuclear receptor, shp, mediates bile acid-induced inhibition of the rat bile acid transporter, ntcp.

Regulation of calcium signals in the nucleus by a nucleoplasmic reticulum

Nuclear and cytosolic calcium are regulated independently

Gap Junctions in the Liver