Cytokinetic analysis of the expanding Kupffer-cell population in rat liver

Zymosan stimulation in rats provides a useful model for studying the expansion of the Kupffer-cell population in liver, which represents the major population of tissue macrophages. This study, using tritiated-thymidine-labelling experiments, demonstrates that during population expansion at least 90% of the resident macrophages (Kupffer cells) develop proliferative activity. The mean duration of the cell cycle is estimated to be 52 hr, with an S phase of 7 hr. We have calculated that about 75% of population expansion results from local Kupffer-cell replication, whereas the remaining growth results from extrahepatic recruitment of macrophage precursors. These findings conflict with a concept of the mononuclear phagocyte system, which states that resident macrophages are (monocyte-derived) non-dividing end-cells.     

A pericentric inversion of chromosome six in a patient with Peutz-Jeghers’ syndrome and the use of FISH to localise the breakpoints on a genetic map

Karyotypic analysis in a patient with Peutz-Jeghers’ syndrome demonstrated a pericentric inversion on chromosome 6. Further investigation was undertaken using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) with yeast artificial chromosome clones selected to contain genetic markers from chromosome 6, and a probe for the centromeric alphoid repeat array. This analysis located one inversion breakpoint within the alphoid array, in a 1-cM interval between D6S257 and D6S402, and the other in a 4-cM interval between D6S403 and D6S311. The oestrogen receptor gene locus (ESR) is excluded from the latter interval. Received: 23 January 1996 / Revised: 26 February 1996