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We have shown marked promotion of both proliferation and neuronal differentiation in pluripotent P19 cells exposed to the green tea amino acid theanine, which is a good substrate for SLC38A1 responsible for glutamine transport. In this study, we evaluated the activity of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) kinase pathway, which participates in protein translation, cell growth and autophagy in a manner relevant to intracellular glutamine levels, in murine neural progenitor cells exposed to theanine. Exposure to theanine promoted the phosphorylation of mTOR and downstream proteins in neurospheres from embryonic mouse neocortex. Although stable overexpression of SLC38A1 similarly facilitated phosphorylation of mTOR-relevant proteins in undifferentiated P19 cells, theanine failed to additionally accelerate the increased phosphorylation in these stable transfectants. Theanine accelerated the formation of neurospheres from murine embryonic neocortex and adult hippocampus, along with facilitation of both 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine incorporation and 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide reduction in embryonic neurospheres. In embryonic neurospheres previously exposed to theanine, a significant increase was seen in the number of cells immunoreactive for a neuronal marker protein after spontaneous differentiation. These results suggest that theanine activates the mTOR signaling pathway for proliferation together with accelerated neurogenesis in murine undifferentiated neural progenitor cells., Highlights • Theanine promotes mTOR phosphorylation in neural progenitors. • Theanine promotes the formation of embryonic and adult neurospheres. • SLC38A1 overexpression promotes mTOR phosphorylation in pluripotent P19 cells. • Theanine fails to further promote mTOR phosphorylation in SLC38A1 transfectants. • Theanine promotes subsequent neuronal differentiation in embryonic progenitors.

We have shown marked promotion of both cluster growth and neuronal specification in pluripotent P19 cells with overexpression of solute carrier 38a1 (Slc38a1), which is responsible for membrane transport of glutamine. In this study, we evaluated pharmacological profiles of the green tea amino acid ingredient theanine, which is a good substrate for glutamine transporters, on proliferation and neuronal specification in neural progenitor cells from embryonic rat neocortex. Sustained exposure to theanine, but not glutamine, accelerated the growth of neurospheres composed of proliferating cells and 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) reducing activity at concentrations of 1–100 μM in undifferentiated progenitor cells. Such prior exposure to theanine promoted spontaneous and induced commitment to a neuronal lineage with concomitant deteriorated astroglial specification. Selective upregulation was seen in the expression of Slc38a1 in progenitor cells cultured with theanine. Similarly significant increases in cluster growth and MTT reducing activity were found in P19 cells cultured with theanine for 4 days. Luciferase activity was doubled in a manner sensitive to the deletion of promoter regions in P19 cells with a luciferase reporter plasmid of the Slc38a1 promoter after sustained exposure to theanine for 4 days. Overexpression of X-box binding protein-1 led to a marked increase in luciferase activity in P19 cells transfected with the Slc38a1 reporter plasmid. These results suggest that theanine accelerates cellular proliferation and subsequent neuronal specification through a mechanism relevant to upregulation of Slc38a1 gene in undifferentiated neural progenitor cells.

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Posttraumatic stress disorder is a long-lasting psychiatric disease with the consequence of hippocampal atrophy in humans exposed to severe fatal stress. We demonstrated a positive correlation between the transient decline of 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) and long-lasting behavioral abnormalities in mice with traumatic stress. Here, we investigated pharmacological properties of theanine on the declined BrdU incorporation and abnormal behaviors in mice with traumatic stress. Prior daily oral administration of theanine at 50–500 mg/kg for 5 days significantly prevented the decline of BrdU incorporation, while theanine significantly prevented the decline in the DG even when administered for 5 days after stress. Consecutive daily administration of theanine significantly inhibited the prolonged immobility in mice with stress in forced swimming test seen 14 days later. Although traumatic stress significantly increased spontaneous locomotor activity over 30 min even when determined 14 days later, the increased total locomotion was significantly ameliorated following the administration of theanine at 50 mg/kg for 14 days after stress. These results suggest that theanine alleviates behavioral abnormalities together with prevention of the transient decline of BrdU incorporation in the hippocampal DG in adult mice with severe traumatic stress.

Multi-core cable-like TiO2 nanofibres were fabricated by calcination of composite polyvinyl acetate (PVAc)/titania nanofibres with a hot pressing pre-treatment. This resultant novel fibre structure was composed of sheaths of 200?nm in diameter and 25?nm in wall thickness, and cores filled with 24?nm thick TiO2 fibrils. The formation of multi-core cable-like structures of fibres is considered to be due to the enhanced phase separation of PVAc-rich and TiO2-rich phases during the hot pressing process. The BET results showed that the specific surface area of pressed TiO2 membranes was much higher than that of unpressed TiO2 membranes. In this study, the novel multi-core cable-like TiO2 fibrous membranes were used as electrode materials for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It was observed that the photocurrent and conversion efficiency of the electrodes increased concurrently with increasing applied pressure and average membrane thickness in the range of 1?9??m. The maximum short circuit photocurrent and energy conversion efficiency were 16.09?mA?cm?2 and 5.77% when the membrane had an average thickness of 9.21??m and 8?MPa applied pressure.

An attempt to realize graviton as a Nambu-Goldstone particle has been made on the basis of the spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz in variance. By applying this· spontaneous breakdown, an interacting system of a neutral vector field and a symmetric tensor field is · considered. The symmetric tensor field is composed of the trace part and the traceless diver­ genceless part. The tensor current of the neutral vector field is given in a general form. The breakdown of Lorentz invariance is achieved by. making only the time-time component of the vacuum expectation value of the tensor current nonvanished. From Dyson's equation for the interacting system, it is proved that the ,renormalized tensor field propagator has a massless pole, when the Hartree condition is satisfied for this breakdown. To get better understanding on this spontaneous breakdown, the. formal theory by Bludman and Klein is also adopted, where the same conclusion is derived.