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APPLICATION OF NOVEL NEUTRON CORRELATION TECHNIQUES TO NUCLEAR MATERIAL MEASUREMENTS (open access)

APPLICATION OF NOVEL NEUTRON CORRELATION TECHNIQUES TO NUCLEAR MATERIAL MEASUREMENTS

Confirmation of the fissile mass of a system containing plutonium can be done using neutron multiplicity techniques. This can be accomplished with a detector system that is smaller and less costly than a standard neutron multiplicity counter (NMC). Also the fissile mass of a uranium containing system can be confirmed by passive means. Recent work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has demonstrated that simple slab neutron detectors and a novel approach to data acquisition and analysis can be used to make an accurate measurement of the mass of fissile materials. Purely passive measurement of kilogram quantities of highly enriched uranium (HEU) have also been shown to be feasible. In this paper we discuss calculational tools for assessing the application of these techniques to fissile material transparency regimes. The tools required to adequately model the correlations and their application will be discussed.
Date: June 9, 2006
Creator: Sale, Ken
System: The UNT Digital Library
Autonomous UAV-Based Mapping of Large-Scale Urban Firefights (open access)

Autonomous UAV-Based Mapping of Large-Scale Urban Firefights

This paper describes experimental results from a live-fire data collect designed to demonstrate the ability of IR and acoustic sensing systems to detect and map high-volume gunfire events from tactical UAVs. The data collect supports an exploratory study of the FightSight concept in which an autonomous UAV-based sensor exploitation and decision support capability is being proposed to provide dynamic situational awareness for large-scale battalion-level firefights in cluttered urban environments. FightSight integrates IR imagery, acoustic data, and 3D scene context data with prior time information in a multi-level, multi-step probabilistic-based fusion process to reliably locate and map the array of urban firing events and firepower movements and trends associated with the evolving urban battlefield situation. Described here are sensor results from live-fire experiments involving simultaneous firing of multiple sub/super-sonic weapons (2-AK47, 2-M16, 1 Beretta, 1 Mortar, 1 rocket) with high optical and acoustic clutter at ranges up to 400m. Sensor-shooter-target configurations and clutter were designed to simulate UAV sensing conditions for a high-intensity firefight in an urban environment. Sensor systems evaluated were an IR bullet tracking system by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and an acoustic gunshot detection system by Planning Systems, Inc. (PSI). The results demonstrate convincingly the ability for …
Date: March 9, 2006
Creator: Snarski, S.; Scheibner, K. F.; Shaw, S.; Roberts, R. S.; LaRow, A.; Oakley, D. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Band gap bowing and electron localization of (GaxIn1-x)N (open access)

Band gap bowing and electron localization of (GaxIn1-x)N

The band gap bowing and the electron localization ofGaxIn1-xN are calculated using both the local density approximation (LDA)and screened-exchange local density functional (sX-LDA) methods. Thecalculated sX-LDA band gaps are in good agreement with the experimentallyobserved values, with errors of -0.26 and 0.09 eV for bulk GaN and InN,respectively. The LDA band gap errors are 1.33 and 0.81 eV for GaN andInN, in order. In contrast to the gap itself, the band gap bowingparameter is found to be very similar in sX-LDA and LDA. We identify thelocalization of hole states in GaxIn1-xN alloys along In-N-In chains. Thepredicted localizationis stronger in sX-LDA.
Date: May 9, 2006
Creator: Lee, Byounghak & Wang, Lin-Wang
System: The UNT Digital Library
Benchmark Calculation of Inclusive Electromagnetic Responses in the Four-Body Nuclear System (open access)

Benchmark Calculation of Inclusive Electromagnetic Responses in the Four-Body Nuclear System

Both the no-core shell model and the effective interaction hyperspherical harmonic approaches are applied to the calculation of different response functions to external electromagnetic probes, using the Lorentz integral transform method. The test is performed on the four-body nuclear system, within a simple potential model. The quality of the agreement in the various cases is discussed, together with the perspectives for rigorous ab initio calculations of cross sections of heavier nuclei.
Date: May 9, 2006
Creator: Stetcu, I.; Quaglioni, S.; Bacca, S.; Barrett, B. R.; Johnson, C. W.; Navratil, P. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Charge-State-Resolved Ion Energy Distribution Functions ofCathodic Vacuum Arcs: A Study Involving the Plasma Potential and BiasedPlasmas (open access)

Charge-State-Resolved Ion Energy Distribution Functions ofCathodic Vacuum Arcs: A Study Involving the Plasma Potential and BiasedPlasmas

There are divergent results in the literature on the(in)dependence of the ion velocity distribution functions on the ioncharge states. Apparently, most time-of-flight methods of measurementsindicate independence whereas most measurements with electrostaticanalyzers state the opposite. It is shown here that this grouping iscoincidental with investigations of pulsed and continuous arcs. Allresults can be consolidated by taking ion-neutral interaction intoaccount, especially charge exchange collisions with the metal neutralsproduced by the arc itself. The velocity distribution functions areindependent of charge state when produced at cathode spots but becomecharge-state dependent when the plasma interacts withneutrals.
Date: March 9, 2006
Creator: Anders, Andre & Oks, Efim
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chemical and biological differentiation of three human breast cancer cell types using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) (open access)

Chemical and biological differentiation of three human breast cancer cell types using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS)

We use Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) to image and classify individual cells based on their characteristic mass spectra. Using statistical data reduction on the large data sets generated during TOF-SIMS analysis, similar biological materials can be differentiated based on a combination of small changes in protein expression, metabolic activity and cell structure. We apply this powerful technique to image and differentiate three carcinoma-derived human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T47D and MDA-MB-231). In homogenized cells, we show the ability to differentiate the cell types as well as cellular compartments (cytosol, nuclear and membrane). These studies illustrate the capacity of TOF-SIMS to characterize individual cells by chemical composition, which could ultimately be applied to detect and identify single aberrant cells within a normal cell population. Ultimately, we anticipate characterizing rare chemical changes that may provide clues to single cell progression within carcinogenic and metastatic pathways.
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Kulp, K. S.; Berman, E. F.; Knize, M. G.; Shattuck, D. L.; Nelson, E. J.; Wu, L. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climate change uncertainty for daily minimum and maximum temperatures: a model inter-comparison (open access)

Climate change uncertainty for daily minimum and maximum temperatures: a model inter-comparison

Several impacts of climate change may depend more on changes in mean daily minimum (T{sub min}) or maximum (T{sub max}) temperatures than daily averages. To evaluate uncertainties in these variables, we compared projections of T{sub min} and T{sub max} changes by 2046-2065 for 12 climate models under an A2 emission scenario. Average modeled changes in T{sub max} were slightly lower in most locations than T{sub min}, consistent with historical trends exhibiting a reduction in diurnal temperature ranges. However, while average changes in T{sub min} and T{sub max} were similar, the inter-model variability of T{sub min} and T{sub max} projections exhibited substantial differences. For example, inter-model standard deviations of June-August T{sub max} changes were more than 50% greater than for T{sub min} throughout much of North America, Europe, and Asia. Model differences in cloud changes, which exert relatively greater influence on T{sub max} during summer and T{sub min} during winter, were identified as the main source of uncertainty disparities. These results highlight the importance of considering separately projections for T{sub max} and T{sub min} when assessing climate change impacts, even in cases where average projected changes are similar. In addition, impacts that are most sensitive to summertime T{sub min} or wintertime …
Date: November 9, 2006
Creator: Lobell, D; Bonfils, C & Duffy, P
System: The UNT Digital Library
Complete chloroplast genome of Trachelium caeruleum: extensiverearrangements are associated with repeats and tRNAs (open access)

Complete chloroplast genome of Trachelium caeruleum: extensiverearrangements are associated with repeats and tRNAs

Chloroplast genome structure, gene order and content arehighly conserved in land plants. We sequenced the complete chloroplastgenome sequence of Trachelium caeruleum (Campanulaceae) a member of anangiosperm family known for highly rearranged chloroplast genomes. Thetotal genome size is 162,321 bp with an IR of 27,273 bp, LSC of 100,113bp and SSC of 7,661 bp. The genome encodes 115 unique genes, with 19duplicated in the IR, a tRNA (trnI-CAU) duplicated once in the LSC and aprotein coding gene (psbJ) duplicated twice, for a total of 137 genes.Four genes (ycf15, rpl23, infA and accD) are truncated and likelynonfunctional; three others (clpP, ycf1 and ycf2) are so highly divergedthat they may now be pseudogenes. The most conspicuous feature of theTrachelium genome is the presence of eighteen internally unrearrangedblocks of genes that have been inverted or relocated within the genome,relative to the typical gene order of most angiosperm chloroplastgenomes. Recombination between repeats or tRNAs has been suggested as twomeans of chloroplast genome rearrangements. We compared the relativenumber of repeats in Trachelium to eight other angiosperm chloroplastgenomes, and evaluated the location of repeats and tRNAs in relation torearrangements. Trachelium has the highest number and largest repeats,which are concentrated near inversion endpoints or other rearrangements.tRNAs occur at …
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Haberle, Rosemarie C.; Fourcade, Matthew L.; Boore, Jeffrey L. & Jansen, Robert K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Consistent Prescription for the Production Involving MassiveQuarks in Hadron Collisions (open access)

A Consistent Prescription for the Production Involving MassiveQuarks in Hadron Collisions

This paper addresses the issue of production of charm orbottom quarks in association with a high pT process in hadron hadroncollision. These quarks can be produced either as part of the hardscattering process or as a remnant from the structure functions. Thelatter sums terms of the type (alpha_s log(pT/mq))n. If structurefunctions of charm or bottom quarks are used together with a hard processwhich also allows production of these quarks double counting occurs. Thispaper describes the correct procedure and provides two examples of itsimplimentation in single top and Drell-Yan at the LHC.
Date: March 9, 2006
Creator: Kersevan, Borut Paul & Hinchliffe, Ian
System: The UNT Digital Library
Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab: S1 Dark Matter Working Group (open access)

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab: S1 Dark Matter Working Group

In this report we have described the broad and compelling range of astrophysical and cosmological evidence that defines the dark matter problem, and the WIMP hypothesis, which offers a solution rooted in applying fundamental physics to the dynamics of the early universe. The WIMP hypothesis is being vigorously pursued, with a steady march of sensitivity improvements coming both from astrophysical searches and laboratory efforts. The connections between these approaches are profound and will reveal new information from physics at the smallest scales to the origin and workings of the entire universe. Direct searches for WIMP dark matter require sensitive detectors that have immunity to electromagnetic backgrounds, and are located in deep underground laboratories to reduce the flux from fast cosmic-ray-muon-induced neutrons which is a common background to all detection methods. With US leadership in dark matter searches and detector R&D, a new national laboratory will lay the foundation of technical support and facilities for the next generation of scientists and experiments in this field, and act as magnet for international cooperation and continued US leadership. The requirements of depth, space and technical support for the laboratory are fairly generic, regardless of the approach. Current experiments and upgraded versions that run …
Date: June 9, 2006
Creator: Akerib, Daniel S.; Aprile, E.; Baltz, E. A.; Dragowsky, M. R.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gondolo, P. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL COMPLEX HYDRIDESSYNTHESIZED VIA MOLTEN STATE PROCESSING (open access)

DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL COMPLEX HYDRIDESSYNTHESIZED VIA MOLTEN STATE PROCESSING

This study developed novel hydrides for hydrogen storage through a novel synthesis technique utilizing high hydrogen overpressure at elevated temperatures denoted as Molten State Processing, MSP. The ultimate goal is to produce materials that have high hydrogen capacity, are stable after cycling and possess favorable thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics compatible with onboard hydrogen storage for automotive applications. In order to achieve these goals the MSP Process was developed and used to modify and form new complex hydride compounds with desired characteristics. This synthesis technique holds the potential of fusing different known complex hydrides at elevated temperatures and pressures to form new complexes having different sorption and thermodynamic properties. The new complex hydrides produced by this method were identified through structural determination and thermodynamic characterization in order to achieve a more fundamental understanding of their formation and dissociation mechanisms.
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Zidan, R
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dissimilar behavior of technetium and rhenium in borosilicatewaste glass as determined by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (open access)

Dissimilar behavior of technetium and rhenium in borosilicatewaste glass as determined by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Technetium-99 is an abundant, long-lived (t1/2 = 213,000 yr)fission product that creates challenges for the safe, long-term disposalof nuclear waste. While 99Tc receives attention largely due to its highenvironmental mobility, it also causes problems during its incorporationinto nuclear waste glass due to the volatility of Tc(VII) compounds. Thisvolatility decreases the amount of 99Tc stabilized in the waste glass andcauses contamination of the waste glass melter and off-gas system. Theapproach to decrease the volatility of 99Tc that has received the mostattention is reduction of the volatile Tc(VII) species to less volatileTc(IV) species in the glass melt. On engineering scale experiments,rhenium is often used as a non-radioactive surrogate for 99Tc to avoidthe radioactive contamination problems caused by volatile 99Tc compounds.However, Re(VII) is more stable towards reduction than Tc(VII), so morereducing conditions would be required in the glass melt to produceRe(IV). To better understand the redox behavior of Tc and Re in nuclearwaste glass, a series of glasses were prepared under different redoxconditions. The speciation of Tc and Re in the resulting glasses wasdetermined by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Surprisingly,Re and Tc do not behave similarly in the glass melt. Although Tc(0),Tc(IV), and Tc(VII) were observed in these samples, only Re(0) andRe(VII) …
Date: November 9, 2006
Creator: Lukens, Wayne W.; McKeown, David A.; Buechele, Andrew C.; Muller,Isabelle S.; Shuh, David K. & Pegg, Ian L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dynamic pathways for viral capsid assembly (open access)

Dynamic pathways for viral capsid assembly

We develop a class of models with which we simulate the assembly of particles into T1 capsid-like objects using Newtonian dynamics. By simulating assembly for many different values of system parameters, we vary the forces that drive assembly. For some ranges of parameters, assembly is facile, while for others, assembly is dynamically frustrated by kinetic traps corresponding to malformed or incompletely formed capsids. Our simulations sample many independent trajectories at various capsomer concentrations, allowing for statistically meaningful conclusions. Depending on subunit (i.e., capsomer) geometries, successful assembly proceeds by several mechanisms involving binding of intermediates of various sizes. We discuss the relationship between these mechanisms and experimental evaluations of capsid assembly processes.
Date: February 9, 2006
Creator: Hagan, Michael F. & Chandler, David
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elastic Scattering of Low-Energy Electrons byTetrahydrofuran (open access)

Elastic Scattering of Low-Energy Electrons byTetrahydrofuran

We present the results of ab initio calculations for elasticelectron scattering by tetrahydrofuran (THF) using the complex Kohnvariational method. We carried out fixed-nuclei calculations at theequilibrium geometry of the target molecule for incident electronenergies up to 20 eV. The calculated momentum transfer cross sectionsclearly reveal the presence of broad shape resonance behavior in the 8-10eV energy range, in agreement with recent experiments. The calculateddifferential cross sections at 20 eV, which include the effects of thelong-range electron-dipole interaction, are alsofound to be in agreementwith the most recent experimental findings.
Date: May 9, 2006
Creator: Trevisan, Cynthia S.; Orel, Ann E. & Rescigno, Thomas N.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electrical Conductivity Calculations from the Purgatorio Code (open access)

Electrical Conductivity Calculations from the Purgatorio Code

The Purgatorio code [Wilson et al., JQSRT 99, 658-679 (2006)] is a new implementation of the Inferno model describing a spherically symmetric average atom embedded in a uniform plasma. Bound and continuum electrons are treated using a fully relativistic quantum mechanical description, giving the electron-thermal contribution to the equation of state (EOS). The free-electron density of states can also be used to calculate scattering cross sections for electron transport. Using the extended Ziman formulation, electrical conductivities are then obtained by convolving these transport cross sections with externally-imposed ion-ion structure factors.
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Hansen, S B; Isaacs, W A; Sterne, P A; Wilson, B G; Sonnad, V & Young, D A
System: The UNT Digital Library
Electromagnetic Confined Plasma Target for Interaction Studies with Intense Laser Fields (open access)

Electromagnetic Confined Plasma Target for Interaction Studies with Intense Laser Fields

The paper describes a novel application of an electron beam ion trap as a plasma target facility for intense laser-plasma interaction studies. The low density plasma target ({approx}10{sup 13}/cm{sup 3}) is confined in a mobile cryogenic electromagnetic charged particle trap, with the magnetic confinement field of 1-3T maintained by a superconducting magnet. Ion plasmas for a large variety of ion species and charge states are produced and maintained within the magnetic field and the space charge of an energetic electron beam in the ''Electron Beam Ion Trap'' (EBIT) geometry. Intense laser beams (optical lasers, x-ray lasers and upcoming ''X-Ray Free Electron Lasers'' (XFEL)) provide strong time varying electromagnetic fields (>10{sup 12} V/cm in femto- to nano-sec pulses) for interactions with electromagnetically confined neutral/non-neutral plasmas. The experiments are aimed to gain understanding of the effects of intense photon fields on ionization/excitation processes, the ionization balance, as well as photon polarization effects. First experimental scenarios and tests with an intense laser that utilize the ion plasma target are outlined.
Date: August 9, 2006
Creator: Zielbauer, B.; Ursescu, U.; Trotsenko, S.; Spillmann, U.; Schuch, R.; Stohlker, T. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Entangled Solid-State Circuits (open access)

Entangled Solid-State Circuits

None
Date: August 9, 2006
Creator: Siddiqi, Irfan & Clarke, John
System: The UNT Digital Library
EUV multilayer coatings for the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (open access)

EUV multilayer coatings for the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory

Multilayer coatings for the 7 EUV channels of the AIA have been developed and completed successfully on all AIA flight mirrors. Mo/Si coatings (131, 171, 193.5, 211 {angstrom}) were deposited at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Mg/SiC (304, 335 {angstrom}) and Mo/Y (94 {angstrom}) coatings were deposited at Columbia University. EUV reflectance of the 131/335 {angstrom}, 171 {angstrom}, 193.5/211 {angstrom} primary and secondary flight mirrors and the 94/304 {angstrom} secondary flight mirror was measured at beamline 6.3.2. of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at LBNL. EUV reflectance of the 94/304 {angstrom} primary and secondary flight mirrors was measured at beamline X24C of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Lab. Preliminary EUV reflectance measurements of the 94, 304 and 335 {angstrom} coatings were performed with a laser plasma source reflectometer located at Columbia University. Prior to multilayer coating, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) characterization and cleaning of all flight substrates was performed at LLNL.
Date: February 9, 2006
Creator: Soufli, R.; Windt, D. L.; Robinson, J. C.; Baker, S. L.; Spiller, E.; Dollar, F. J. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Exploiting Data Parallelism in the Image Content Engine (open access)

Exploiting Data Parallelism in the Image Content Engine

The Image Content Engine (ICE) is a framework of software and underlying mathematical and physical models that enable scientists and analysts to extract features from Terabytes of imagery and search the extracted features for content relevant to their problem domain. The ICE team has developed a set of tools for feature extraction and analysis of image data, primarily based on the image content. The scale and volume of imagery that must be searched presents a formidable computation and data bandwidth challenge, and a search of moderate to large scale imagery quickly becomes intractable without exploiting high degrees of data parallelism in the feature extraction engine. In this paper we describe the software and hardware architecture developed to build a data parallel processing engine for ICE. We discuss our highly tunable parallel process and job scheduling subsystem, remote procedure invocation, parallel I/O strategy, and our experience in running ICE on a 16 node, 32 processing element (CPU) Linux Cluster. We present performance and benchmark results, and describe how we obtain excellent speedup for the imagery searches in our test-bed prototype.
Date: March 9, 2006
Creator: Miller, W M; Garlick, J E; Weinert, G F & Abdulla, G M
System: The UNT Digital Library
Formation of Primordial Stars in a Lambda-CDM Universe (open access)

Formation of Primordial Stars in a Lambda-CDM Universe

Primordial stars are formed from a chemically pristine gas consisting of hydrogen and helium. They are believed to have been born at some early epoch in the history of the Universe and to have enriched the interstellar medium with synthesized heavy elements before the emergence of ordinary stellar populations. We study the formation of the first generation of stars in the standard cold dark matter model. We follow the gravitational collapse and thermal evolution of primordial gas clouds within early cosmic structures using very high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Our simulation achieves a dynamic range of {approx} 10{sup 10} in length scale. With accurate treatment of atomic and molecular physics, it allows us to study the chemo-thermal evolution of primordial gas clouds to densities up to {rho} {approx} 2 x 10{sup -8}g cm{sup -3} (n{sub H} {approx} 10{sup 16}cm{sup -3}) without assuming any a priori equation of state; a six orders of magnitudes improvement over previous three-dimensional calculations. We implement an extensive chemistry network for hydrogen, helium and deuterium. All the relevant atomic and molecular cooling and heating processes, including cooling by collision-induced continuum emission, are implemented. For calculating optically thick H{sub 2} cooling at high densities, we use the Sobolev …
Date: June 9, 2006
Creator: Yoshida, Naoki; U., /Nagoya; Omukai, Kazuyuki; /Tokyo, Astron. Observ.; Hernquist, Lars; Astrophys., /Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fusion of X-Ray and Ultrasound Images for As-Built Modeling (open access)

Fusion of X-Ray and Ultrasound Images for As-Built Modeling

None
Date: November 9, 2006
Creator: Clark, G A & Jackson, J A
System: The UNT Digital Library
Grand Unification as a Bridge Between String Theory and Phenomenology (open access)

Grand Unification as a Bridge Between String Theory and Phenomenology

In the first part of the talk, I explain what empirical evidence points to the need for having an effective grand unification-like symmetry possessing the symmetry SU(4)-color in 4D. If one assumes the premises of a future predictive theory including gravity--be it string/M theory or a reincarnation--this evidence then suggests that such a theory should lead to an effective grand unification-like symmetry as above in 4D, near the string-GUT-scale, rather than the standard model symmetry. Advantages of an effective supersymmetric G(224) = SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R} x SU(4){sup c} or SO(10) symmetry in 4D in explaining (1) observed neutrino oscillations, (2) baryogenesis via leptogenesis, and (3) certain fermion mass-relations are noted. And certain distinguishing tests of a SUSY G(224) or SO(10)-framework involving CP and flavor violations (as in {mu} {yields} e{gamma}, {tau} {yields} {mu}{gamma}, edm's of the neutron and the electron) as well as proton decay are briefly mentioned. Recalling some of the successes we have had in our understanding of nature so far, and the current difficulties of string/M theory as regards the large multiplicity of string vacua, some comments are made on the traditional goal of understanding vis a vis the recently evolved view of landscape and …
Date: June 9, 2006
Creator: Pati, Jogesh C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ground State Quarkonium Spectral Functions Above Deconfinement. (open access)

Ground State Quarkonium Spectral Functions Above Deconfinement.

We discuss the temperature-dependence of S-wave quarkonium spectral functions in a nonrelativistic Green's function approach and compare these to lattice QCD results.
Date: June 9, 2006
Creator: Mocsy, A.; Petreczky, P. & Casalderrey-Solana, J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human cathepsin L rescues the neurodegeneration and lethality incathepsin B/L double deficient mice (open access)

Human cathepsin L rescues the neurodegeneration and lethality incathepsin B/L double deficient mice

Cathepsin B (CTSB) and cathepsin L (CTSL) are two widelyexpressed cysteine proteases thought to predominantly reside withinlysosomes. Functional analysis of CTSL in humans is complicated by theexistence of two CTSL-like homologues (CTSL and CTSL2), in contrast tomice which contain only one CTSL enzyme. Thus transgenic expression ofhuman CTSL in CTSL deficient mice provides an opportunity to study the invivo functions of this human protease without interference by its highlyrelated homologue. While mice with single gene deficiencies for murineCTSB or CTSL survive without apparent neuromuscular impairment, murineCTSB/CTSL double deficient mice display degeneration of cerebellarPurkinje cells and neurons of the cerebral cortex, resulting in severehypotrophy, motility defects, and lethality during their third to fourthweek of life. Here we show that expression of human CTSL through agenomic transgene results in widespread expression of human CTSL in themouse which is capable of rescuing the lethality found in CTSB/CTSLdouble-deficient animals. Human CTSL is expressed in the brain of thesecompound mutants predominantly in neurons of the cerebral cortex and inPurkinje cells of the cerebellum, where it appears to prevent neuronalcell death.
Date: January 9, 2006
Creator: Sevenich, Lisa; Pennacchio, Len A.; Peters, Christoph & Reinheckel, Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library