Autophagy controls carbon, nitrogen, and redox homeostasis in plants.

During leaf senescence, autophagy is essential for nutrient recycling and remobilization, and for plant productivity. Metabolome and transcriptome studies performed on autophagy mutants revealed major disorders in nitrogen, carbon, and redox metabolisms. Analysis showed that autophagy mutants are depleted of antioxidant anthocyanin molecules. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the depletion of anthocyanin is due to the downregulation of the master genes encoding the enzymes and regulatory proteins involved in the flavonoid pathway. The hyperaccumulation of salicylic acid and the depletion of anthocyanin in autophagy mutants might result from the rerouting of carbon resources in the phenylpropanoid pathway and amplify oxidative stress in autophagy mutants.

Leaf nitrogen remobilisation for plant development and grain filling.

A major challenge of modern agriculture is to reduce the excessive input of fertilisers and, at the same time, to improve grain quality without affecting yield. One way to achieve this goal is to improve plant nitrogen economy through manipulating nitrogen recycling, and especially nitrogen remobilisation, from senescing plant organs. In this review, the contribution of nitrogen remobilisation efficiency (NRE) to global nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and tools dedicated to the determination of NRE are described. An overall examination of the physiological, metabolic and genetic aspects of nitrogen remobilisation is presented.

[Hospital in-patients with diabetes]. / Le patient diabétique hospitalisé.

As the diabetic population is becoming older, hospitalization is more frequent and of longer duration with increased costs. Hospital stay could be a good opportunity to improve diabetes care. All observational studies demonstrate that improving metabolic control reduces mortality, morbidity and hospitalisation costs. For critically ill patients and those referred for myocardial infarction or submitted to cardiac surgery, randomised controlled studies have proven the efficacy of strict metabolic control and defined the targets to be reached. Unfortunately, for many reasons, it is difficult to treat the patients to the targets and in non specialized departments, diabetes control may even be worse during hospitalisation. We urgently need to find innovating solutions to mitigate the consequences of the reduced number of competent nurses and doctors in the field of diabetes.

Synthesis and inverse emulsion polymerization of aminated acrylamidodextran.

A chemically modified form of dextran was prepared, having a polymerizable moiety (acrylamide) and a reactive functional group (primary amine). Dextran was activated with 4-nitrophenyl-chloroformate (24 mol per polysaccharide, 9.8 mol per 100 glucose residues); 9.8% glucose residues were converted to aliphatic carbonates and 5.2% were converted to cyclic carbonates. The activated dextran was coupled with trityldiaminoethane (8 mol per 100 glucose residues), reactivated with 4-nitrophenylchloroformate, then coupled with acryloamidodiaminohexane (6.8 mol per 100 glucose residues). The trityl group was removed by hydrolysis with trifluoroacetic acid to yield the required aminated acryloamidodextran. The modified dextran was shown to be polymerizable by inverse emulsion polymerization. Submicron particles were successfully prepared, containing functional amine groups suitable for preparing drug conjugates or for modifying the surface properties of this biomaterial.

Effects of a novel gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist (ORG 30850) on gonadotropin and prolactin secretion by rat pituitary cells in culture.

The effect of a new GnRH antagonist (ORG 30850 ANT) on FSH, LH, and PRL secretion was studied using male rat pituitary cells in monolayer cell culture. In the absence of GnRH, ORG 30850 ANT did not alter spontaneous FSH and LH secretion into culture medium or the cell content of these hormones. In the presence of GnRH (10(-8) mol/l), ORG 30850 ANT significantly and dose-dependently inhibited FSH and LH secretion into culture medium while increasing their cell content. Conversely, in the presence of a single dose of ORG 30850 ANT, FSH and LH secretion rose significantly when subjected to increasing amounts of GnRH, whereas the hormonal cell content diminished. Furthermore, inhibition of GnRH-induced FSH and LH release by ORG 30850 ANT was not changed by pre-incubation with the GnRH antagonist regardless of the pre-incubation time. The inhibitory effect of the GnRH antagonist was observed early, with its peak occurring within 6 h of culture. These short-term studies indicate that ORG 30850 ANT specifically inhibits GnRH-induced gonadotropin release into culture medium, exerts no effect on the rate of gonadotropin production in the presence or absence of GnRH, competitively and reversibly inhibits the binding of natural GnRH to its receptors, and does not lead to any modifications in PRL secretion.