Page 7 of 105 I. Abstract The α2δ-3 subunit was first discovered as an auxiliary subunit of voltage gated calcium channels. Recently it has been shown that a deficit in the Cacna2d3-gene leads to a reduction in heat pain sensitivity in drosophila, mice and humans [1]. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon, however, is not clear yet. Here we describe that the deficit in heat sensitivity is ca...

Perception of heat or cold in higher organisms is mediated by specialized ion channels whose gating is exquisitely sensitive to temperature. The physicochemical underpinnings of this temperature-sensitive gating have proven difficult to parse. Here, we took a bottom-up protein design approach and rationally engineered ion channels to activate in response to thermal stimuli. By varying amino aci...

Sensitivity to pain varies considerably between individuals and is known to be heritable. Increased sensitivity to experimental pain is a risk factor for developing chronic pain, a common and debilitating but poorly understood symptom. To understand mechanisms underlying pain sensitivity and to search for rare gene variants (MAF<5%) influencing pain sensitivity, we explored the genetic variatio...

The effect of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection on contact sensitivity to 2-phenyl-4-ethoximethylene-oxazolone (oxazolone) and on antibody response to sheep erythrocytes, horse erythrocytes, and Escherichia coli 0111:B4 lipopolysacharide was investigated in outbred C57BL/6 mice. Injection of 0.5 and 0.2 median lethal doses significantly depressed contact sensitivity to oxazolone, whereas injecti...

The dynamics of cellular heat production and propagation remains elusive at a subcellular level. Here we report the first small molecule fluorescent thermometer selectively targeting the endoplasmic reticulum (ER thermo yellow), with the highest sensitivity reported so far (3.9%/°C). Unlike nanoparticle thermometers, ER thermo yellow stains the target organelle evenly without the commonly encou...

The design, fabrication, testing and analysis of a microchannel heat exchanger, a key component for a microminiature Joule-Thomson Cryogenic Refrigerator is described. Results show that the heat exchanger can be fabricated efficiently and economically with the existing manufacturing technology. The heat exchanger was tested to be mechanically robust and durable under high pressure operating con...

Thermal dose-survival curves for normal hematopoietic and leukemia cells were assessed by spleen colony assays after in vitro heat exposure ranging from 41 degrees to 45 degrees. No effect of 43 degrees heat treatment on the fraction of cells lodging in the spleen was observed. Marked differences in heat sensitivity were observed between normal, L1210, and AKR leukemia cells, the first being le...

10 Leishmania parasites must survive and proliferate in two vastly different environs – the guts of 11 poikilothermic sandflies and the antigen-presenting cells of homeothermic mammals. The change of 12 temperature during transmission from sandflies to mammals is both a key trigger for the 13 progression of their life cycle and for elevated synthesis of heat shock proteins which have been 14 im...

panisons with HeLa cells (22, 23, 29), pig kidney cells (17, 33), V79 cells (16, 36), and CHO cells (7, 20). Some studies also have shown that malignant cells cultured in vitro are more sensitive to heat treatment than the normal cell lines (11, 21, 26, 27). Because of the differences in cellular heat responses among different laboratories, it is difficult to ascertain whether the differential ...

BACKGROUND The main goal of oral vaccination of foxes is eradication of rabies in the red fox population as rabies reservoirs. To evaluate the success of vaccination a serological testing is conducted as a part of monitoring program. Two different methods are used regarding rabies serology: virus neutralisation test and ELISA. METHODS In this study the reliability of BioPro ELISA was evaluate...