Intracellular Mechanisms of Oxygen Sensing

The review describes molecular mechanisms for sensing oxygen levels in various compartments of animal cell. Several pathways for intracellular oxygen sensing are discussed together with details of functioning of the near-membrane and cytoplasmic pools of molecular components in hypoxic cells. The data on the role of mitochondria in cell sensitivity to a decreased oxygen content are presented. Details of mutual influence of the operational and chronic intracellular mechanisms for detecting the negative gradients of molecular oxygen concentration and their relationship with cell metabolism response to the oxidative stress are discussed.

From Lipid Homeostasis to Differentiation: Old and New Functions of the Zinc Cluster Proteins Ecm22, Upc2, Sut1 and Sut2

Zinc cluster proteins are a large family of transcriptional regulators with a wide range of biological functions. The zinc cluster proteins Ecm22, Upc2, Sut1 and Sut2 have initially been identified as regulators of sterol import in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These proteins also control adaptations to anaerobic growth, sterol biosynthesis as well as filamentation and mating. Orthologs of these zinc cluster proteins have been identified in several species of Candida. Upc2 plays a critical role in antifungal resistance in these important human fungal pathogens. Upc2 is therefore an interesting potential target for novel antifungals. In this review we discuss the functions, mode of actions and regulation of Ecm22, Upc2, Sut1 and Sut2 in budding yeast and Candida.

Lung inhomogeneities, inflation and [18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake rate in acute respiratory distress syndrome

The aim of the study was to determine the size and location of homogeneous inflamed/noninflamed and inhomogeneous inflamed/noninflamed lung compartments and their association with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) severity.

In total, 20 ARDS patients underwent 5 and 45 cmH2O computed tomography (CT) scans to measure lung recruitability. [18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([18F]FDG) uptake and lung inhomogeneities were quantified with a positron emission tomography-CT scan at 10 cmH2O. We defined four compartments with normal/abnormal [18F]FDG uptake and lung homogeneity.

The homogeneous compartment with normal [18F]FDG uptake was primarily composed of well-inflated tissue (80±16%), double-sized in nondependent lung (32±27% versus 16±17%, p<0.0001) and decreased in size from mild, moderate to severe ARDS (33±14%, 26±20% and 5±9% of the total lung volume, respectively, p=0.05). The homogeneous compartment with high [18F]FDG uptake was similarly distributed between the dependent and nondependent lung. The inhomogeneous compartment with normal [18F]FDG uptake represented 4% of the lung volume. The inhomogeneous compartment with high [18F]FDG uptake was preferentially located in the dependent lung (21±10% versus 12±10%, p<0.0001), mostly at the open/closed interfaces and related to recruitability (r2=0.53, p<0.001).

The homogeneous lung compartment with normal inflation and [18F]FDG uptake decreases with ARDS severity, while the inhomogeneous poorly/not inflated compartment increases. Most of the lung inhomogeneities are inflamed. A minor fraction of healthy tissue remains in severe ARDS.