SUMMARY In Drosophila it is well established that signaling between the germline and surrounding follicle cells establishes the axes of the future embryo and is required for patterning of the eggshell. However, little is known about how this is achieved in other insects. Genome sequencing studies imply that maternal axis determination may be rapidly evolving, as a number of Drosophila maternal patterning genes are absent from the genomes of other insects. We have examined the distribution and function of six developmental signaling pathways present, and active, in honeybee ovarioles. We have confirmed an evolutionarily conserved role for transforming growth factor-α-epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in dorsal-ventral (DV) patterning. We also found evidence for the involvement of Dpp/Mad and JNK-MAPK pathways in DV patterning, unlike Drosophila. Several of these pathways are also active in the germarium, implicating them in germ and somatic stem cell maintenance and proliferation, similar to their activities in Drosophila ovaries.

No abstract

A comparison of the efficacy of the copper chelator, trientine, with combined renin angiotensin system (RAS) blockade on the progression of glomerular pathology in the diabetic (mREN-2)27 rat is reported. Animals were treated for 2 months with trientine, combined RAS blockers, combined trientine plus RAS blockers or none. Treatments began after inducing diabetes with streptozotocin. Physiological data were recorded monthly and light microscopic glomerular features were scored. Plasma allantoin and both plasma and renal protein carbonyls were measured as markers of oxidative stress. Trientine and RAS blockade decreased proteinuria and albuminuria and prevented an increase in creatinine clearance and kidney weight. Both reduced the diabetes-related glomerular features of mesangiolysis and glomerular segmental hypocellularity and trientine prevented severe tuft-to-capsule adhesion and reduced tubularization. Hypertension-related severe mesangial matrix expansion and global hypercellularity were increased by both treatments, which may reflect repair of mesangiolysis. Trientine reduced plasma but not renal protein carbonyls or plasma allantoin. In this model, trientine prevented the development of many diabetes-specific features similarly to RAS blockade. Amelioration of oxidative stress and features commonly observed in human diabetic nephropathy (DN), support a diabetes-related defect in copper (Cu) metabolism. The addition of Cu(II) chelation may improve current DN therapy.