All Organisms Can Be Anesthetized, but There's No Point?

Because of their interest in medicine, most studies on anesthesia have historically focused on the nervous systems of animals. This has often led to the neglect of the fact that all life forms have the potential to be anesthetized. Anesthetics target proteins, such as four-domain voltage-dependent Na/Ca⁺ channels (4D-NaV/CaV) and glutamate receptor channels (iGluR/GLR), which have homologs in a wide variety of species.

Plants have two minds as we do.

This discussion paper carefully analyzes the cognition-related theories proposed for behavioral economics, to expand the concepts from human behaviors to those of plants. Behavioral economists analyze the roles of the intuitive sense and the rational thoughts affecting the human behavior, by employing the psychology-based models such as Two Minds theory (TMT) highlighting intuitive rapid thoughts (System 1) and rational slower thoughts (System 2) and Prospect theory (PT) with probability ()-weighting functions explaining the human tendencies to overrate the low events and to underrate the high events. There are similarities between non-consciously processed System 1 (of TMT) and overweighing of low- events (as in PT) and also, between the consciously processed System 2 (of TMT) and underrating of high- events (as in PT).

Toxic and signaling effects of the anaesthetic lidocaine on rice cultured cells.

Most studies on anesthesia focus on the nervous system of mammals due to their interest in medicine. The fact that any life form can be anaesthetised is often overlooked although anesthesia targets ion channel activities that exist in all living beings. This study examines the impact of lidocaine on rice ().

[Anaesthesia, a process common to all living organisms].

Because of their interest in medicine, most studies of anaesthesia focus on the nervous system of metazoans, and the fact that any life form can be anaesthetised is often underlooked. If electrical signalling is an essential phenomenon for the success of animals, it appears to be widespread beyond metazoans. Indeed, anaesthesia targets Na/Ca voltage-gated channels that exist in a wide variety of species and originate from ancestral channels that predate eukaryotes in the course of evolution.

Our sisters the plants? notes from phylogenetics and botany on plant kinship blindness.

Before the upheaval brought about by phylogenetic classification, classical taxonomy separated living beings into two distinct kingdoms, animals and plants. Rooted in 'naturalist' cosmology, Western science has built its theoretical apparatus on this dichotomy mostly based on ancient Aristotelian ideas. Nowadays, despite the adoption of the Darwinian paradigm that unifies living organisms as a kinship, the concept of the "scale of beings" continues to structure our analysis and understanding of living species.

Erratum: Tran et al. Early Cellular Responses Induced by Sedimentary Calcite-Processed Particles in Bright Yellow 2 Tobacco Cultured Cells. , , 4279.

The authors would like to remove the scientific consortium 'Camille Nous' from the author list and the Author Contributions section in the published paper [...

Biphasic activation of survival and death pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana cultured cells by sorbitol-induced hyperosmotic stress.

Hyperosmotic stresses represent some of the most serious abiotic factors that adversely affect plants growth, development and fitness. Despite their central role, the early cellular events that lead to plant adaptive responses remain largely unknown. In this study, using Arabidopsis thaliana cultured cells we analyzed early cellular responses to sorbitol-induced hyperosmotic stress.

Early Cellular Responses Induced by Sedimentary Calcite-Processed Particles in Bright Yellow 2 Tobacco Cultured Cells.

Calcite processed particles (CaPPs, Megagreen) elaborated from sedimentary limestone rock, and finned by tribomecanic process were found to increase photosynthetic CO fixation grapevines and stimulate growth of various cultured plants. Due to their processing, the CaPPs present a jagged shape with some invaginations below the micrometer size. We hypothesised that CaPPs could have a nanoparticle (NP)-like effects on plants.

Activation of plasma membrane H-ATPases participates in dormancy alleviation in sunflower seeds.

Using various inhibitors and scavengers we took advantage of the size of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seeds to investigate in vivo the effects of hormones, namely abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene (ET), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) on the polarization of dormant (D) and non-dormant (ND) embryonic seed cells using microelectrodes. Our data show that D and ND seed cells present different polarization likely due to the regulation of plasma membrane (PM) H-ATPase activity. The data obtained after addition of hormones or ROS scavengers further suggest that ABA dependent inhibition of PM H-ATPases could participate in dormancy maintenance and that ET-and ROS-dependent PM H-ATPase stimulation could participate in dormancy release in sunflower seeds.

Cellular mechanisms to survive salt in the halophyte Cakile maritima.

We recently identified two behaviours in cultured cells of the salt accumulating halophyte Cakile maritima: one related to a sustained depolarization due to Na influx through the non-selective cation channels leading to programmed cell death of these cells, a second one related to a transient depolarization allowing cells to survive (Ben Hamed-Laouti, 2016). In this study, we considered at the cellular level mechanisms that could participate to the exclusion of Na out of the cell and thus participate in the regulation of the internal contents of Na and cell survival. Upon addition of NaCl in the culture medium of suspension cells of C.

Methanol induces cytosolic calcium variations, membrane depolarization and ethylene production in arabidopsis and tobacco.

Background And Aims: Methanol is a volatile organic compound released from plants through the action of pectin methylesterases (PMEs), which demethylesterify cell wall pectins. Plant PMEs play a role in developmental processes but also in responses to herbivory and infection by fungal or bacterial pathogens. However, molecular mechanisms that explain how methanol could affect plant defences remain poorly understood.

Comparison of NaCl-induced programmed cell death in the obligate halophyte Cakile maritima and the glycophyte Arabidopsis thaliana.

Salinity represents one of the most important constraints that adversely affect plants growth and productivity. In this study, we aimed at determining possible differences between salt tolerant and salt sensitive species in early salt stress response. To this purpose, we subjected suspension-cultured cells from the halophyte Cakile maritima and the glycophyte Arabidopsis thaliana, two Brassicaceae, to salt stress and compared their behavior.

Early events induced by the toxin deoxynivalenol lead to programmed cell death in Nicotiana tabacum cells.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin affecting animals and plants. This toxin synthesized by Fusarium culmorum and Fusarium graminearum is currently believed to play a decisive role in the fungal phytopathogenesis as a virulence factor. Using cultured cells of Nicotiana tabacum BY2, we showed that DON-induced programmed cell death (PCD) could require transcription and translation processes, in contrast to what was observed in animal cells.

Deciphering the dual effect of lipopolysaccharides from plant pathogenic Pectobacterium.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are a component of the outer cell surface of almost all Gram-negative bacteria and play an essential role for bacterial growth and survival. Lipopolysaccharides represent typical microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) molecules and have been reported to induce defense-related responses, including the expression of defense genes and the suppression of the hypersensitive response in plants. However, depending on their origin and the challenged plant, LPS were shown to have complex and different roles.

Deciphering early events involved in hyperosmotic stress-induced programmed cell death in tobacco BY-2 cells.

Hyperosmotic stresses represent one of the major constraints that adversely affect plants growth, development, and productivity. In this study, the focus was on early responses to hyperosmotic stress- (NaCl and sorbitol) induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]cyt) increase, ion fluxes, and mitochondrial potential variations, and on their links in pathways leading to programmed cell death (PCD). By using BY-2 tobacco cells, it was shown that both NaCl- and sorbitol-induced PCD seemed to be dependent on superoxide anion (O2·(-)) generation by NADPH-oxidase.