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It is well-known that past knowledge affects color perception, as for example in the perception of familiar objects having richer colors. Although there have been many studies on human memory function with regard to color perception, it is not clear how color signals are treated in the early stages of human memory formation. Here, we tested whether in early memory color information is conserved without any interaction of other visual information. We found that performance of chromatic discrimination between a memorized color and a test color did not deteriorate under any contrast condition of dynamic luminance masking, and thus concluded that color signals were not disturbed by dynamic luminance signals. The results indicate that chromatic sensation per se is not modified at the early stages of the human memory system. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011

The periodontal ligament (PDL), a connective tissue located between the cementum of teeth and the alveolar bone of mandibula, plays a crucial role in the maintenance and regeneration of periodontal tissues. The PDL contains fibroblastic cells of a heterogeneous cell population, from which we have established several cell lines previously. To analyze characteristics unique for PDL at a molecular level, we performed cDNA microarray analysis of the PDL cells versus MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells. The analysis followed by validation by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunochemical staining revealed that endoglin, which had been shown to associate with transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) as signaling modulators, was abundantly expressed in PDL cells but absent in osteoblastic cells. The knockdown of endoglin greatly suppressed the BMP-2-induced osteoblastic differentiation of PDL cells and subsequent mineralization. Interestingly, the endoglin knockdown did not alter the level of Smad-1/5/8 phosphorylation induced by BMP-2, while it suppressed the BMP-2-induced expression of Id1, a representative BMP-responsive gene. Therefore, it is conceivable that endoglin regulates the expression of BMP-2-responsive genes in PDL cells at some site downstream of Smad-1/5/8 phosphorylation. Alternatively, we found that Smad-2 as well as Smad-1/5/8 was phosphorylated by BMP-2 in the PDL cells, and that the BMP-2-induced Smad-2 phosphorylation was suppressed by the endoglin knockdown. These results, taken together, raise a possibility that PDL cells respond to BMP-2 via a unique signaling pathway dependent on endoglin, which is involved in the osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization of the cells.

Our work focuses on genetic and molecular mechanisms for the reciprocal regulation of bone and energy metabolism orchestrated by leptin and osteocalcin. In the context of thisreciprocalregulation,thefindingthatleptininhibitsinsulinsecretionby βcellswhile osteocalcin favors it is surprising. In exploring the molecular bases of this paradox we found that leptin, as is the case for most of its functions, uses a neuronal relay to inhibit insulin secretion. Cell-specific gene-deletion experiments revealed that a component of this neuronal regulation is the sympathetic innervation to osteoblasts. Under the control of leptin the sympathetic tone favors expression in osteoblasts of Esp, which inhibitsthemetabolicactivityofosteocalcin.WefurtheridentifyATF4asatranscription factor that regulates Esp expression and thereby insulin secretion and sensitivity. Taken togetherthesedataillustratethetightconnectionsbetweenboneremodelingandenergy metabolism and add further credence to the notion that the osteoblast is a bona fide endocrine cell type.

We previously demonstrated that tensile stress (TS)-induced osteoblast differentiation eventually led to osteogenesis in an organ culture of mouse calvarial sutures. In the present study, we employed RNA-fingerprinting using an arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (RAP-PCR) to identify alpha-adaptin C, a component of the endocytosis machinery AP2, as a TS-inducible gene. Protein production, as well as the gene expression of alpha-adaptin C, was induced by TS as early as 3 h following the initiation of loading. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the induction of alpha-adaptin C mostly occurred in fibroblastic cells in the sutures, suggesting that it precedes TS-induced osteoblast differentiation. Consistent with this result, TS significantly increased the number of coated pits (CPs) and coated vesicles (CVs) in the undifferentiated fibroblastic cells but not in the osteoblastic cells around calvarial bones. Further, TS-induced osteoblast differentiation was suppressed when endocytosis was inhibited by potassium depletion. These results, taken together, suggest that TS accelerates osteoblast differentiation and osteogenesis, possibly through the induction of the alpha-adaptin C expression and consequent activation of receptor-mediated endocytosis.

We developed a full-color Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display on a plastic substrate. The display area is a 3- inch diagonal area with 160 × RGB × 120 pixels. Silicon oxynitride (SiON) was used as a moisture barrier film on the substrate and silicon nitride (SiN) as a passivation film on the device. The display was approximately 0.2 mm thick, weighted approximately 3 g, and it was bendable.