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Potentiodynamic measurements are used to determine key potentials to classify certain corrosion properties. The material selection for components (e.g. shafts) in corrosive environments is widely based upon these potentiodynamic measurements. Criticism for using these potentials for component design has been expressed in literature. Potentiostatic measurements are known to represent the long term corrosive impact experienced by components in a more realistic manner but are prone to scatter. Therefore a statistical approach called staircase method was adapted to the given electrochemical problem. With using this staircase method, a reliable value for the median potential (threshold potential) can be determined. This potential defines the threshold between anodic dissolution and cathodic protection. For the first time, this newly defined potentiostatic threshold potential is offering a validated median potential value for corrosion prediction in a given corrosion system based on potentiostatic measurements. Threshold potentials for the stainless steel grades 1.4057 and 1.4542 were investigated in aerated electrolytes at 25°C with different chloride ion concentrations.

Primary cilia are sensory organelles present in many cell types, partaking in various signaling processes. Primary cilia of pancreatic beta cells play pivotal roles in paracrine signaling and their dysfunction is linked to diabetes. Yet, the structural basis for their functions is unclear. We present three-dimensional reconstructions of beta cell primary cilia by electron and expansion microscopy. These cilia are spatially confined within deep ciliary pockets or narrow spaces between cells, lack motility components and display an unstructured axoneme organization. Furthermore, we observe a plethora of beta cell cilia-cilia and cilia-cell interactions with other islet and non-islet cells. Most remarkably, we have identified and characterized axo-ciliary synapses between beta cell cilia and the cholinergic islet innervation. These findings highlight the beta cell cilia's role in islet connectivity, pointing at their function in integrating islet intrinsic and extrinsic signals and contribute to understanding their significance in health and diabetes., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Lithium and sodium (Na) mixed polyanion solid electrolytes for all-solid-state batteries display some of the highest ionic conductivities reported to date. However, the effect of polyanion mixing on the ion-transport properties is still not fully understood. Here, we focus on Na 1+x Zr 2 Si x P 3-x O 12 (0 ≤ x ≤ 3) NASICON electrolyte to elucidate the role of polyanion mixing on the Na-ion transport properties. Although NASICON is a widely investigated system, transport properties derived from experiments or theory vary by orders of magnitude. We use more than 2000 distinct ab initio-based kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to map the compositional space of NASICON over various time ranges, spatial resolutions and temperatures. Via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements on samples with different sodium content, we find that the highest ionic conductivity (i.e., about 0.165 S cm -1 at 473 K) is experimentally achieved in Na 3.4 Zr 2 Si 2.4 P 0.6 O 12 , in line with simulations (i.e., about 0.170 S cm -1 at 473 K). The theoretical studies indicate that doped NASICON compounds (especially those with a silicon content x ≥ 2.4) can improve the Na-ion mobility compared to undoped NASICON compositions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Microtubules play a major role in intracellular trafficking of vesicles in endocrine cells. Detailed knowledge of microtubule organization and their relation to other cell constituents is crucial for understanding cell function. However, their role in insulin transport and secretion is under debate. Here, we use FIB-SEM to image islet β cells in their entirety with unprecedented resolution. We reconstruct mitochondria, Golgi apparati, centrioles, insulin secretory granules, and microtubules of seven β cells, and generate a comprehensive spatial map of microtubule-organelle interactions. We find that microtubules form nonradial networks that are predominantly not connected to either centrioles or endomembranes. Microtubule number and length, but not microtubule polymer density, vary with glucose stimulation. Furthermore, insulin secretory granules are enriched near the plasma membrane, where they associate with microtubules. In summary, we provide the first 3D reconstructions of complete microtubule networks in primary mammalian cells together with evidence regarding their importance for insulin secretory granule positioning and thus their supportive role in insulin secretion., (© 2020 Müller et al.)

The realization of green and economically friendly energy storage systems needs materials with outstanding properties. Future batteries based on Na as an abundant element take advantage of non-flammable ceramic electrolytes with very high conductivities. Na 3 Zr 2 (SiO 4 ) 2 PO 4 -type superionic conductors are expected to pave the way for inherently safe and sustainable all-solid-state batteries. So far, only little information has been extracted from spectroscopic measurements to clarify the origins of fast ionic hopping on the atomic length scale. Here we combined broadband conductivity spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation to study Na ion dynamics from the µm to the angstrom length scale. Spin-lattice relaxation NMR revealed a very fast Na ion exchange process in Na 3.4 Sc 0.4 Zr 1.6 (SiO 4 ) 2 PO 4 that is characterized by an unprecedentedly high self-diffusion coefficient of 9 × 10 -12 m 2 s -1 at -10 °C. Thus, well below ambient temperature the Na ions have access to elementary diffusion processes with a mean residence time τ NMR of only 2 ns. The underlying asymmetric diffusion-induced NMR rate peak and the corresponding conductivity isotherms measured in the MHz range reveal correlated ionic motion. Obviously, local but extremely rapid Na + jumps, involving especially the transition sites in Sc-NZSP, trigger long-range ion transport and push ionic conductivity up to 2 mS/cm at room temperature.

NASICON-based solid electrolytes with exceptionally high Na-ion conductivities are considered to enable future all solid-state Na-ion battery technologies. Despite 40 years of research the interrelation between crystal structure and Na-ion conduction is still controversially discussed and far from being fully understood. In this study, microcontact impedance spectroscopy combined with single crystal X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry is applied to tackle the question how bulk Na-ion conductivity σ bulk of sub-mm-sized flux grown Na 3 Sc 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (NSP) single crystals is influenced by supposed phase changes (α, β, and γ phase) discussed in literature. Although we found a smooth structural change at around 140 °C, which we assign to the β → γ phase transition, our conductivity data follow a single Arrhenius law from room temperature (RT) up to 220 °C. Obviously, the structural change, being mainly related to decreasing Na-ion ordering with increasing temperature, does not cause any jumps in Na-ion conductivity or any discontinuities in activation energies E a . Bulk ion dynamics in NSP have so far rarely been documented; here, under ambient conditions, σ bulk turned out to be as high as 3 × 10 -4 S cm -1  at RT ( E a, bulk = 0.39 eV) when directly measured with microcontacts for individual small single crystals., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Objective: Insulin release from pancreatic islet β cells should be tightly controlled to avoid hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. The cortical actin cytoskeleton is a gate for regulated exocytosis of insulin secretory granules (SGs) by restricting their mobility and access to the plasma membrane. Prior studies suggest that SGs interact with F-actin through their transmembrane cargo islet cell autoantigen 512 (Ica512) (also known as islet antigen 2/Ptprn). Here we investigated how Ica512 modulates SG trafficking and exocytosis., Methods: Transcriptomic changes in Ica512 (-/-) mouse islets were analyzed. Imaging as well as biophysical and biochemical methods were used to validate if and how the Ica512-regulated gene villin modulates insulin secretion in mouse islets and insulinoma cells., Results: The F-actin modifier villin was consistently downregulated in Ica512 (-/-) mouse islets and in Ica512-depleted insulinoma cells. Villin was enriched at the cell cortex of β cells and dispersed villin (-/-) islet cells were less round and less deformable. Basal mobility of SGs in villin-depleted cells was enhanced. Moreover, in cells depleted either of villin or Ica512 F-actin cages restraining cortical SGs were enlarged, basal secretion was increased while glucose-stimulated insulin release was blunted. The latter changes were reverted by overexpressing villin in Ica512-depleted cells, but not vice versa., Conclusion: Our findings show that villin controls the size of the F-actin cages restricting SGs and, thus, regulates their dynamics and availability for exocytosis. Evidence that villin acts downstream of Ica512 also indicates that SGs directly influence the remodeling properties of the cortical actin cytoskeleton for tight control of insulin secretion.

The type 1 diabetes autoantigen ICA512/IA-2/RPTPN is a receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase of the insulin secretory granules (SGs) which regulates the size of granule stores, possibly via cleavage/signaling of its cytosolic tail. The role of its extracellular region remains unknown. Structural studies indicated that β2- or β4-strands in the mature ectodomain (ME ICA512) form dimers in vitro. Here we show that ME ICA512 prompts proICA512 dimerization in the endoplasmic reticulum. Perturbation of ME ICA512 β2-strand N-glycosylation upon S508A replacement allows for proICA512 dimerization, O-glycosylation, targeting to granules, and conversion, which are instead precluded upon G553D replacement in the ME ICA512 β4-strand. S508A/G553D and N506A/G553D double mutants dimerize but remain in the endoplasmic reticulum. Removal of the N-terminal fragment (ICA512-NTF) preceding ME ICA512 allows an ICA512-ΔNTF G553D mutant to exit the endoplasmic reticulum, and ICA512-ΔNTF is constitutively delivered to the cell surface. The signal for SG sorting is located within the NTF RESP18 homology domain (RESP18-HD), whereas soluble NTF is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. Hence, we propose that the ME ICA512 β2-strand fosters proICA512 dimerization until NTF prevents N506 glycosylation. Removal of this constraint allows for proICA512 β4-strand-induced dimerization, exit from the endoplasmic reticulum, O-glycosylation, and RESP18-HD-mediated targeting to granules., (Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

Glucose and GLP-1 stimulate not only insulin secretion, but also the post-transcriptional induction of insulin granule biogenesis. This process involves the nucleocytoplasmic translocation of the RNA binding protein PTBP1. Binding of PTBP1 to the 3'-UTRs of mRNAs for insulin and other cargoes of beta cell granules increases their stability. Here we show that glucose enhances also the binding of PTBP1 to the 5'-UTRs of these transcripts, which display IRES activity, and their translation exclusively in a cap-independent fashion. Accordingly, glucose-induced biosynthesis of granule cargoes was unaffected by pharmacological, genetic or Coxsackievirus-mediated inhibition of cap-dependent translation. Infection with Coxsackieviruses, which also depend on PTBP1 for their own cap-independent translation, reduced instead granule stores and insulin release. These findings provide insight into the mechanism for glucose-induction of insulin granule production and on how Coxsackieviruses, which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes, can foster beta cell failure.

Insulin is stored within the secretory granules of pancreatic β-cells, and impairment of its release is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes. Preferential exocytosis of newly synthesized insulin suggests that granule aging is a key factor influencing insulin secretion. Here, we illustrate a technology that enables the study of granule aging in insulinoma cells and β-cells of knock-in mice through the conditional and unequivocal labeling of insulin fused to the SNAP tag. This approach, which overcomes the limits encountered with previous strategies based on radiolabeling or fluorescence timer proteins, allowed us to formally demonstrate the preferential release of newly synthesized insulin and reveal that the motility of cortical granules significantly changes over time. Exploitation of this approach may enable the identification of molecular signatures associated with granule aging and unravel possible alterations of granule turnover in diabetic β-cells. Furthermore, the method is of general interest for the study of membrane traffic and aging.

Polypyrimidine-tract binding protein 1 (PTBP1) is an important cellular regulator of messenger RNAs influencing the alternative splicing profile of a cell as well as its mRNA stability, location and translation. In addition, it is diverted by some viruses to facilitate their replication. Here, we used a novel PTBP1 knockout mouse to analyse the tissue expression pattern of PTBP1 as well as the effect of its complete removal during development. We found evidence of strong PTBP1 expression in embryonic stem cells and throughout embryonic development, especially in the developing brain and spinal cord, the olfactory and auditory systems, the heart, the liver, the kidney, the brown fat and cartilage primordia. This widespread distribution points towards a role of PTBP1 during embryonic development. Homozygous offspring, identified by PCR and immunofluorescence, were able to implant but were arrested or retarded in growth. At day 7.5 of embryonic development (E7.5) the null mutants were about 5x smaller than the control littermates and the gap in body size widened with time. At mid-gestation, all homozygous embryos were resorbed/degraded. No homozygous mice were genotyped at E12 and the age of weaning. Embryos lacking PTBP1 did not display differentiation into the 3 germ layers and cavitation of the epiblast, which are hallmarks of gastrulation. In addition, homozygous mutants displayed malformed ectoplacental cones and yolk sacs, both early supportive structure of the embryo proper. We conclude that PTBP1 is not required for the earliest isovolumetric divisions and differentiation steps of the zygote up to the formation of the blastocyst. However, further post-implantation development requires PTBP1 and stalls in homozygous null animals with a phenotype of dramatically reduced size and aberration in embryonic and extra-embryonic structures.

Although the antimicrobial, fungal peptide alamethicin has been extensively studied, the conformation of the peptide and the interaction with lipid bilayers as well as the mechanism of channel gating are still not completely clear. As opposed to studies of the crystalline state, the polypeptide structures in the environment of fluid bilayers are difficult to probe. We have investigated the conformation of alamethicin in highly aligned stacks of model lipid membranes by synchrotron-based x-ray scattering. The (wide-angle) scattering distribution has been measured by reciprocal space mappings. A pronounced scattering signal is observed in samples of high molar peptide/lipid ratio which is distinctly different from the scattering distribution of an ideal helix in the transmembrane state. Beyond simple models of ideal helices, the data is analyzed in terms of models based on atomic coordinates from the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank, as well as from published molecular dynamics simulations. The results can be explained by assuming a wide distribution of helix tilt angles with respect to the membrane normal and a partial insertion of the N-terminus into the membrane.

We present a structural study of biomimetic lipid bilayers interacting with the antimicrobial peptide magainin 2 amide, using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space mapping (RSM) techniques. The short-range order of lipid chains in lecithin is found to be strongly reduced by the peptides. From the scattering intensity of the chain correlation peak, we can quantify the lateral length scale R over which the bilayer structure is affected by peptide binding. The non-local perturbation of the bilayer is discussed in the framework of bilayer elasticity theory.

The epithelial Na(+) channel (ENaC) plays an essential role in the regulation of whole body Na(+) balance and blood pressure. The cell surface expression of this channel, a complex of three subunits (alpha, beta and gamma ENaC), has been shown to be regulated by hormones such as aldosterone and vasopressin and by intracellular signaling, including ubiquitylation and/or phosphorylation. However, the molecular mechanisms involving phosphorylation in the regulation of ENaC are unclear. Here we show by expression studies in Xenopus laevis oocytes that the aldosterone-induced Sgk1 kinase interacts with the ubiquitin protein ligase Nedd4-2 in a PY motif-dependent manner and phosphorylates Nedd4-2 on Ser444 and, to a lesser extent, Ser338. Such phosphorylation reduces the interaction between Nedd4-2 and ENaC, leading to elevated ENaC cell surface expression. These data show that phosphorylation of an enzyme involved in the ubiquitylation cascade (Nedd4-2) controls cell surface density of ENaC and propose a paradigm for the control of ion channels. Moreover, they suggest a novel and complete signaling cascade for aldosterone-dependent regulation of ENaC.

The structure of self-assembled polyelectrolyte thin films on float glass has been investigated by interface sensitive X-ray and neutron scattering methods. Special emphazis was given to the adsorption process of poly (ethylene imine) and polystyrole sulfonate as an important model system which is often used as a basis for subsequent multilayer buildup. From complementary X-ray and neutron reflectivity data, the vertical film density profile was derived for various growth parameters, including kinetic effects of different adsorption times. In addition to specular reflectivity, we have for the first time employed nonspecular X-ray scattering to study lateral structure parameters in self-assembled polyelectrolyte films. Furthermore, the technique of time-resolved in situ X-ray reflectivity during film growth has been demonstrated and is discussed in view of its future potential. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.