Gastrointestinal hormone receptors on isolated smooth muscle cells from gastric antrum of the rabbit

The regulation by gastrointestinal polypeptide hormones of contraction and relaxation of functionally isolated smooth muscle cells from gastric antrum of the rabbit has been investigated. Gastrin, cholecystokinin (CCK-8) and motilin induced a rapid contraction of isolated cells: significant response occurred within a 5-sec incubation with these peptides and maximal response (40% decrease in cell length) after 30 sec. A higher sensitivity of smooth muscle cells to gastrin and CCK-8 than to motilin stimulations was demonstrated (EC50 = 10 pM for both gastrin and CCK-8 and EC50 = 1 nM for motilin). The minimal gastrin fragment required to get full contraction was the C-terminal pentapeptide amide common to gastrin and CCK. Proglumide inhibited gastrin- or CCK-8- but not motilin-induced contractions with an IC50 of 50 microM. contraction induced by gastrin and motilin required normal levels of extracellular calcium, whereas that due to CCK-8 seemed to be independent of extracellular calcium. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) caused a relaxation of smooth muscle cells maximally contracted by carbachol or CCK-8 or gastrin (EC50 = 2.2 nM) with a parallel increase in intracellular cAMP content.     

Ulcer of the tongue as a presenting feature of pulmonary tuberculosis

Oral tuberculosis is very rare and when present they are usually secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculous lesions of the tongue have become so infrequent that they are virtually a forgotten disease entity and may pose a diagnostic problem. The case reported in this paper emphasizes the importance of including tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of any chronic oral ulcer. The low number of oral infections by M. tuberculosis could be due to underreporting.     

Efficacy of lycopene in the management of oral submucous fibrosis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of oral lycopene therapy in patients with oral submucous fibrosis and to compare these effects with a placebo. STUDY DESIGN: Fifty-eight patients with oral submucous fibrosis formed the population for the study and were randomly divided into 3 groups, evaluated weekly over a 2-month period. Patients of group A (n = 21) received 16 mg of lycopene, those of group B (n = 19) received 16 mg of lycopene along with biweekly intralesional steroid injections, and those of group C (n = 18) were given a placebo. Paired and unpaired t tests were used for statistical evaluation. RESULTS: Mouth-opening values for the patients showed an average increase of 3.4 mm, 4.6 mm, and 0.0 mm for patients in groups A, B, and C, respectively. These values were statistically found to be highly significant. CONCLUSIONS: The observed effects suggest that lycopene can and should be used as a first line of therapy in the initial management of oral submucous fibrosis.     

Receptor-Mediated Choreography of Life and Death

The cytokine tumor necrosis factor was originally identified as a protein that kills tumor cells. So far, 18 distinct members of this family have been identified. All of them regulate cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and cell death, also called apoptosis. The apoptosis induced by TNF, and other members of the family, for example, FasL, VEGI, and TRAIL is mediated through death receptors. The apoptotic signals by these cytokines are transduced by eight different death domain- (DD) containing receptors (TNFR1, also called DR1; Fas, also called DR2; DR3, DR4, DR5, DR6, NGFR, and EDAR). The intracellular portion of all these receptors contains a region approximately 80 amino acids long referred to as the death domain. Upon activation by its ligand, the DD recruits various proteins that mediate both death and proliferation of the cells. These proteins in turn recruit other proteins via their DDs or death effector domains. The actual destruction of the cell, however, is accomplished by serial activation of a family of proteases referred to as caspases. Cell death is negatively regulated by a family of proteins that includes decoy receptors, silencer of DD, sentrin, cellular FLICE inhibitory protein, cellular inhibitors of apoptosis, and survivin. This review is an attempt to describe how these negative and positive players of cell death perform a harmonious dance with each other.     

Induction of sister chromatid exchanges by cypermethrin and carbosulfan in bone marrow cells of mice in vivo

The public health effects of pesticides cannot be denied. However, the undesired effects of chemical pesticides have been recognized as a serious public health concern during the past decades. The present study describes the genotoxic effects of two pesticides, namely cypermethrin and carbosulfan, in a murine test system in vivo. The test parameter used was analysis of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in bone marrow cells. Both cypermethrin (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg) and carbosulfan (1.25, 2.5 and 5 mg/kg) induced significant increases in the frequency of SCEs (P < 0.001). However, no significant dose-response correlation could be found for either of the pesticides. Carbosulfan induced a cell cycle delay, as evidenced by an increase in average generation time accompanied by accumulation of cells in the first division cycle, but cypermethrin did not induce any such response. The present study indicates that carbosulfan has a higher potential to cause genetic alterations than cypermethrin in mice and may also pose a mutagenic risk to human beings.     

Role of Periductal and Ductular Epithelial Cells of the Adult Rat Pancreas in Pancreatic Hepatocyte Lineage: A Change in the Differentiation Commitment

Development of pancreatic hepatocytes in adult rats maintained on copper deficient diet containing 0.6% trien (CuDT) has been reported recently. To elucidate the histogenesis of hepatocytes a sequential study was undertaken using morphologic, histochemical, immunochemical, in situ hybridization, and Northern blot analysis. Male F-344 rats weighing 80 to 90 g were fed CuDT for 8 weeks and returned to normal rat chow. Beginning from 4 weeks of copper depletion, there was a progressive loss of acinar cells and by 8 weeks more than 90% of the acinar tissue was lost. During this period, there was an increase in the number of adipocytes in the interstitium, and in the number of interstitial and ductular cells. Morphologic observations were confirmed by immunoblot and Northern blot analysis, in which the amount of pancreatic proteins and their mRNAs decreased between 5 and 8 weeks. During this period, a progressive increase in the level of albumin mRNA was observed. In situ hybridization, performed at 7 weeks of copper deficiency, showed localization of albumin mRNA over interstitial and ductular cells. Pancreatic hepatocytes were identified immediately after the rats were returned to a normal diet and gradually increased in number. The hepatocytes occupied almost 60% of the pancreatic volume by 8 weeks. During the early recovery phase, hepatocytes were identified in ductules as well as in the interstitium. Based on these studies, it is concluded that both the ductular cells and interstitial cells, which resemble oval cells of liver, are capable of transforming into pancreatic hepatocytes and these cells may be considered stem-cell equivalent.     

Human mtDNA hypervariable regions, HVR I and II, hint at deep common maternal founder and subsequent maternal gene flow in Indian population groups

We have analysed the hypervariable regions (HVR I and II) of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in individuals from Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar (BI) and Punjab (PUNJ), belonging to the Indo-European linguistic group, and from South India (SI), that have their linguistic roots in Dravidian language. Our analysis revealed the presence of known and novel mutations in both hypervariable regions in the studied population groups. Median joining network analyses based on mtDNA showed extensive overlap in mtDNA lineages despite the extensive cultural and linguistic diversity. MDS plot analysis based on Fst distances suggested increased maternal genetic proximity for the studied population groups compared with other world populations. Mismatch distribution curves, respective neighbour joining trees and other statistical analyses showed that there were significant expansions. The study revealed an ancient common ancestry for the studied population groups, most probably through common founder female lineage(s), and also indicated that human migrations occurred (maybe across and within the Indian subcontinent) even after the initial phase of female migration to India.