Estimating quantitative physiological and morphological tissue parameters of murine tumor models using hyperspectral imaging and optical profilometry

Understanding tumors and their microenvironment are essential for successful and accurate disease diagnosis. Tissue physiology and morphology are altered in tumors compared to healthy tissues, and there is a need to monitor tumors and their surrounding tissues, including blood vessels, non-invasively. This preliminary study utilizes a multimodal optical imaging system combining hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and three-dimensional (3D) optical profilometry (OP) to capture hyperspectral images and surface shapes of subcutaneously grown murine tumor models. Hyperspectral images are corrected with 3D OP data and analyzed using the inverse-adding doubling (IAD) method to extract tissue properties such as melanin volume fraction and oxygenation. Blood vessels are segmented using the B-COSFIRE algorithm from oxygenation maps. From 3D OP data, tumor volumes are calculated and compared to manual measurements using a vernier caliper. Results show that tumors can be distinguished from healthy tissue based on most extracted tissue parameters (). Furthermore, blood oxygenation is 50% higher within the blood vessels than in the surrounding tissue, and tumor volumes calculated using 3D OP agree within 26% with manual measurements using a vernier caliper. Results suggest that combining HSI and OP could provide relevant quantitative information about tumors and improve the disease diagnosis.     

Unsaturated wax esters in the Harderian gland of the rat

The presence of (n ? 7) unsaturated alcohols and (n ? 7) monoenoic fatty acids in the wax esters of the Harderian gland of rats was established by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry. The main components are the C_{24:1(n ? 7)} alcohol and C_{20:1(n ? 7)} fatty acid. It is suggested that desaturation in (n ? 7) position, nearly without exception, must be caused by a special system of desaturation and/or chain elongation.     

„Systematisch maßgebende“ Merkmale für die Einordnung derLentibulariaceen in das System

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Effect of an analog of proline (L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid) on in vitro differentiation of the rat fetal testis

The initial stages of the development of the seminiferous cords involve the differentiation and the aggregation of primordial Sertoli cells opposite to cells which acquire a mesenchymal-like aspect. The hypothesis that the development of the seminiferous cords depends on epithelial-mesenchymal relations between the two cell types was submitted to experimental test. Male gonadal primordia of rat fetuses were cultured in vitro in a synthetic medium containing the proline competitor, L-Azetidine-2-Carboxylic Acid. This drug is known to disturb the synthesis and secretion of collagen and proline-containing proteins. It prevents testicular organogenesis or destroys it if it has begun. It suppresses the expression of laminin and fibronectin in the gonadal primordium. These observations are taken as evidence that cellular correlations of the epithelial-mesenchymal type play a role in the development of the testis as they do in that of other organs.     

Urothelial proliferation in growing mice

Developing murine urothelium undergoes pronounced proliferation until at least 10 days after birth. Thereafter, both mitotic and [3H]TdR-labelling indices fall sharply with age. The ratio of labelling to mitotic indices also alters dramatically during development, which is probably due to both endoreduplication and changes in the relative durations of the DNA synthesis and mitotic phases. This ratio reaches stability at 5 weeks of age. The adult labelling and mitotic indices were 0.11 and 0.019% respectively, indicating a very slow turnover.