Phenotypic plasticity of T cell progenitors upon exposure to Notch ligands

Despite many efforts, the nature of thymic immigrants that give rise to T cells has remained obscure, especially since it became known that extrathymic lineage-negative, Sca-1-positive, c-kit high progenitor cells differ from intrathymic early T cell progenitors (ETPs) by functional potential and dependence on Notch signaling. After our observation that intrathymic T cell precursors expressing a human CD25 reporter under control of pre-TCRalpha regulatory elements almost exclusively have the ETP phenotype, we have analyzed the phenotypic changes of reporter-expressing common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) cells in the bone marrow when cultured on Delta-like 1-expressing stromal cells. We note that these quickly adopt the phenotype of double negative (DN)2 thymocytes with little display of the ETP phenotype. Our data suggest that common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) cells could be responsible for the rapid reconstitution of thymus function after bone marrow transplantation since CLP cells in the blood have the capacity to rapidly enter the thymus and become DN2 thymocytes.     

The collagen content of skin and gingival tissues in ascorbic acid-deficient monkeys

Five green monkeys were used in this study. Three animals were fed a scorbutigenic diet and the remaining two served as controls. Biopsies were dissected from the vestivular gingiva and dorsal skin and polyvinyl sponges were implanted subcutaneously during 4 week periods throughout the experimental period. The animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks and the periodontal ligament was removed. Collagen extracts were prepared from the gingival and granulation tissues and treated with bacterial collagenase. Following acid hydrolysis the total amount of proline and hydroxyproline was determined in various tissue preparations. In the tissues examined, the content of hydroxyproline decreased in the scorbutic animals throughout the experimental period. The decrease in the hydroxyproline content of the gingiva started within the first 4 weeks and was faster than that of the skin, indicating that the extent of decrease is dependent of the turnover rate of the collagen in the tissues. The synthesis of hydroxyproline was almost totally impaired in the granulation tissue formed in the sponges implanted after the 8th week of experimentation. Collagenase treatment of collagen extracts resulted in a release of proline and hydroxyproline in a higher ratio in extracts from the experimental animals than in extracts from the controls. It is concluded that ascorbic acid is a prerequisite for the maintenance of the collagen pool in the tissues and that lack of this vitamin results in the formation of a collagenase degradable protein fraction with a low hydroxyproline content.     

Vergiftungen durch Trinitrotoluol und durch Tetranitromethylanilin

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Literaturübersicht

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Experimentelle Allergie

Research in Experimental Medicine - Es stand zur Untersuchung, welche Aufgaben einerseits den Organen und andererseits dem Blut allergischer Tiere im Ablauf der Antikörper-Antigenreaktion...     

Automatic Actin Filament Quantification of Osteoblasts and Their Morphometric Analysis on Microtextured Silicon-Titanium Arrays

Microtexturing of implant surfaces is of major relevance in the endeavor to improve biorelevant implant designs. In order to elucidate the role of biomaterial’s topography on cell physiology, obtaining quantitative correlations between cellular behavior and distinct microarchitectural properties is in great demand. Until now, the microscopically observed reorganization of the cytoskeleton on structured biomaterials has been difficult to convert into data. We used geometrically microtextured silicon-titanium arrays as a model system. Samples were prepared by deep reactive-ion etching of silicon wafers, resulting in rectangular grooves (width and height: 2 µm) and cubic pillars (pillar dimensions: 2 × 2 × 5 and 5 × 5 × 5 µm); finally sputter-coated with 100 nm titanium. We focused on the morphometric analysis of MG-63 osteoblasts, including a quantification of the actin cytoskeleton. By means of our novel software FilaQuant, especially developed for automatic actin filament recognition, we were first able to quantify the alterations of the actin network dependent on the microtexture of a material surface. The cells’ actin fibers were significantly reduced in length on the pillared surfaces versus the grooved array (4–5 fold) and completely reorganized on the micropillars, but without altering the orientation of cells. Our morpho-functional approach opens new possibilities for the data correlation of cell-material interactions.