Radioautographic study of palatine tonsillar cells

Proliferative and functional (protein producing) activities of palatine tonsillar cells were studied by light radioautography (semithin sections). ³H-Thymidine incorporation demonstrated the dynamics of renewal of palatine tonsillar cell populations in various pathological states. ³H-Uridine labeling objectively evaluated functional activity of different cells and more accurately showed distribution of destructive processes in the organ. __________ Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 141, No. 3, pp. 349–351, March, 2006     

Radioautographic study of 3H-GABA uptake in the oculomotor nucleus of the cat

Summary The uptake of tritiated -aminobutyric acid (³H-GABA) in the oculomotor nucleus of the cat was studied, using light and electron microscopic examination of radioautograms after intracerebral in vivo administration of the amino-acid. A glial uptake by oligodendrocytes was seen together with a neuronal uptake of the tracer in a certain type of axon terminals found in synaptic contact with both dendrites and soma, some of them exhibiting all the ultrastructural features of motoneurons. Previous neurochemical, electrophysiological and immunocytochemical studies indicate that GABA might well be the inhibitory neurotransmitter in the vestibuloocular reflex arc. The present results show that a morphological substrate exists for the presumed postsynaptic GABAergic inhibition of ocular motoneurons, at least in the oculomotor nucleus of the cat.Supported by grant ATP 3650 from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique     

大肠癌肠嗜铬细胞的免疫细胞化学研究

In a series of 130 cases of adenocarcinoma of the large intestine, enterochromaffin (EC) cells were detected in 54 cases (41.5%) by immunocytochemistry with anti-chromogranin monoclonal antibody. Among the 54 cases, 30 were found positive for serotonin, 14 for somatostatin, 11 for glucagon, 5 for pancreatic polypeptide, and only one for gastrin. The cases with EC cells (++) or polypeptide positive cells exhibited higher grade of differentiation, earlier stage of tumour extension and higher survival rate than those without EC cells. A significant difference of the EC cell population pattern among different histological grades of the tumours and nonneoplastic mucosa was found. The proportion of hormone, especially polypeptide positive cells was the highest in the mucosa and lowest in the moderately poorly differentiated carcinomas. The incidence, methodology and clinicopathological significance of EC cells found in the tumours are discussed.     

Extraepithelial enterochromaffin cells and Schwann cells in the human appendix

To test earlier theories on the subject, extraepithelial enterochromaffin (EEEC) cells were sought in the mucosa of 500 appendixes and in the solid axial cores of 283 others whose lumina were obliterated over part or all of their lengths. The EEEC cells were lying free in the lamina propria of 53% of the specimens with intact lumina and in the axial cores of 49% of the obliterated specimens. In both locations they were invariably accompanied by Schwann cells and neurites, which were often present in markedly increased numbers. Therefore, because they occur so frequently in nonepithelial locations, enterochromaffin cells can no longer be considered as exclusively epithelial. Their close association with Schwann cells and neurites suggests that they may have some sort of neural function.     

Renewal of enterochromaffin cells in the rat caecum

The localization, morphology, and neurohormonal peptide content of neuroendocrine cells have been extensively investigated. Relatively little is known about the kinetics of growth and differentiation of these cells. We studied the kinetics of enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the caecum of the rat, by applying the thymidine analogue 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU), to identify cells in S-phase, administered in pulse-chase and synchronous continuous labeling experiments. By double indirect immunofluorescence staining of tissue sections, using antibodies against serotonin and BrdU, percentages of BrdU positive EC cells could be enumerated, from which cell-kinetic parameters were derived. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) EC cells are renewed by proliferation of EC cells and by recruitment from proliferating precursor cells. (2) Caecal EC cells appear to consist of a relatively rapidly renewing and migrating fraction (60–65%) with a turnover time of approximately 16 days and a relatively slowly renewing and possibly stationary fraction (35–40%) with an estimated turnover time of approximately 150 days. (3) Seventy percent of the EC cells are localized in the lower half of mucosal crypts, 30% in the upper half. After prolonged labeling the percentage of labeled EC cells in the lower crypt half always exceeds that in the upper crypt half. This decrease in labeled EC cells during migration towards the mucosal surface indicates loss of endocrine cells, possibly owing to loss of endocrine characteristics. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Renewal of enterochromaffin cells in the rat caecum.

The localization, morphology, and neurohormonal peptide content of neuroendocrine cells have been extensively investigated. Relatively little is known about the kinetics of growth and differentiation of these cells. We studied the kinetics of enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the caecum of the rat, by applying the thymidine analogue 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU), to identify cells in S-phase, administered in pulse-chase and synchronous continuous labeling experiments. By double indirect immunofluorescence staining of tissue sections, using antibodies against serotonin and BrdU, percentages of BrdU positive EC cells could be enumerated, from which cell-kinetic parameters were derived. The following conclusions were drawn: 1) EC cells are renewed by proliferation of EC cells and by recruitment from proliferating precursor cells. 2) Caecal EC cells appear to consist of a relatively rapidly renewing and migrating fraction (60-65%) with a turnover time of approximately 16 days and a relatively slowly renewing and possibly stationary fraction (35-40%) with an estimated turnover time of approximately 150 days. 3) Seventy percent of the EC cells are localized in the lower half of mucosal crypts, 30% in the upper half. After prolonged labeling the percentage of labeled EC cells in the lower crypt half always exceeds that in the upper crypt half. This decrease in labeled EC cells during migration towards the mucosal surface indicates loss of endocrine cells, possibly owing to loss of endocrine characteristics.     

Radioautographic study of leucine uptake and transmission of proteins by rat enterocytes following Concanavalin A binding

The transport of labeled leucine and following protein synthesis has been investigated in rat enterocytes using quantitative electron microscope radioautography. The presented normal distribution of the label has been compared with the distribution of radioactivity after Concanavalin A treatment. It has been established that the transport of amino acid and subsequent newly synthesized proteins are delayed and confused after Concanavalin A binding.     

Neuronal proliferation in the 9-month-old rodent — Radioautographic study of granule cells in the hippocampus

Nine-month-old rats were injected with 5 microCi 3H-thymidine (3H-Tdr) and allowed to survive for 20 days. In light-microscopic radioautographs, labeled cells were found in the granule cell layer of the hippocampus. Analysis of electron micrographs of the labeled cells, taken from re-embedded 1.5 micron radioautographic sections, clearly demonstrated their neuronal nature with synapses along their cell bodies and dendrites. Our results indicate that 0.025% of the granule neurons are heavily labeled in the dorsal hippocampus. Electron microscopy of re-embedded light-microscopic radioautographic sections confirms that granule neurons in the rodent are newly formed up until 9 months after birth.     

Immunohistochemical detection of the localization of melationin and N-acetylserotonin in enterochromaffin cells

Melatonin synthesis was identified by an immunohistochemical method with specific antisera against melatonin and N-acetylserotonin in the enterochromaffin cells of the gastrointestinal tract. It is considered that enterochromaffin cells, together with the pinealocytes of the pineal gland and other cells synthesizing melatonin in the retina and cerebellum, form a group of melatonin-producing cells with an important role in the maintenance of homeostasis.Laboratory of Histochemistry and Electron Microscopy, Department of Pathological Anatomy of Human Tumors, Oncological Scientific-Research Center, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR N. A. Kraevskii.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 82, No. 11, pp. 1400–1401, November, 1976.     

Norepinephrine-containing glomus cells in the rabbit carotid body. I. Autoradiographic and morphometric study after tritiated norepinephrine uptake

Summary Rabbit carotid bodies were investigated by autoradiography at both the light and electron microscope levels following tritiated norepinephrine administration eitherin vivo orin vitro. Two kinds of labelled structures were found: nerve fibres (absent in sympathectomized carotid bodies) and some type I glomus cells. Desipramine (a specific norepinephrine uptake inhibitor) prevented labelling. Most of the labelled cells differed from unlabelled ones by the presence of (i) large dense-cored vesicles characterized by a large halo between the membrane and an eccentric dense core; (ii) a nucleus showing a more electron dense chromatin and a more irregular shape; and (iii) relatively abundant glycogen particles. A few weakly-labelled cells were characterized by a pyknotic nucleus and very swollen dense-cored vesicles, and were presumed to be degenerating.Dense core diameters of dense-cored vesicles were distributed according to a unimodal distribution in labelled cells as in unlabelled ones but with an extension towards both large and very small diameters in labelled cells. The mean diameter was higher in labelled cells than in unlabelled ones (127 nm versus 113 nm,P < 0.01). The labelling intensity (as estimated by the number of silver grains per unit of cytoplasmic area) was maximum in cells having dense-cored vesicles whose mean diameter was between 130 and 170 nm, but decreased for cells with mean diameter of dense cores smaller than 130 nm, or larger than 170 nm.Thus, in the rabbit carotid body, some glomus cells differ from others by their ability to take up tritiated norepinephrine and by the presence of larger dense-cored vesicles. However, this distinction is not clearcut and there are many intermediates. The observations suggest a phenomenon of evolution deriving from a unique cell type and typified by both metabolic norepinephrine uptake ability, glycogen accumulation) and morphologic changes (increase in diameter of dense-cored vesicles). It seems, therefore, more appropriate to consider these results in terms of different functional states rather than different types of glomus cells.     

Cytology and arrangement of enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the human stomach

Serotonin containing enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the human gastric mucosa were observed using serial semithin sections immunostained by Sternberger's PAP method and reconstructed by computer-assisted methods. In oxyntic glands, EC cells displayed a marked pleomorphism which suggests their plasticity or active movement. They sometimes possessed multipolar cytoplasmic processes directly contacting the neighboring epithelial cells and/or gastric lumen. In the antropyloric glands, they are exclusively the "closed-type," which fails to contact the lumen, and are often arranged touching other EC cells (cluster formation), apparently exhibiting polynuclear enterochromaffin syncytia. This syncitium-like arrangement is interpreted as the morphological counterpart of a possibly synchronized function of these cells. The morphological differences of EC cells in their shape, luminal endings and arrangement between both regions may be indicative of regional differences in their functions. Furthermore, the present study provides the first three-dimensional visualization of EC cells in the human stomach.     

Diminished content of enterochromaffin cells in the rectal mucosa of an infant

Summary This report deals with an extremely small number of enterochromaffin cells in the rectum of a newborn male. This finding occurred only in 200 biopsies. The correlations to connatal disturbances of the motility of the intestine in the newborn are discussed.The frequency of this alterations seems to be comparable with other disturbances of cells of the neural crest, as for example pigment anomalies.Although further biochemical investigations could not be carried out because of technical difficulties, the case seems to be worth publishing for theoretical and practical reasons and in view of the possibility of special treatment.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird über einen extrem niedrigen Gehalt an enterochromaffinen Zellen in der Rectumschleimhaut eines männlichen Neugeborenen berichtet, bei welchem seit der Geburt eine mit Obstipation einhergehende Motilitätsstörung des Magendarmtraktes bestand. Eine Störung der Innervation konnte ausgeschlossen werden. Der Säugling verstarb an einer Enterocolitis und sekundären Komplikationen im 7. Monat und mußte vorher über lange Zeiträume parenteral ernährt werden.Die bekannte Wirkung der Produkte der enterochromaffinen Zellen — Serotonin und Motilin — auf die Motilität des Darmes erlaubt unseres Erachtens die hypothetische Annahme eines kausalen Zusammenhanges zwischen dem erhobenen Befund am enterochromaffinen Zellsystem und den klinischen Erscheinungen. Die Tatsache, daß dieser Befund in bisher über 200 untersuchten Fällen erstmals erhoben werden konnte, scheint eine Mitteilung zu rechtfertigen, da nach unseren heutigen Kenntnissen eventuell zielführende therapeutische Konsequenzen möglich sind. Die mögliche Frequenz solcher Störungen des enterochromaffinen Zellsystems wird diskutiert.