A method for the harvest,culture, and characterization of human adult atrial myocardial cells: Correlation with age of donor

Summary Myocardial cell culture methods are now well established for animal and fetal human tissue. We present here a method for harvesting and culturing adult human atrial myocardiocytes. Cells are obtained from fresh atrial tissue normally discarded after being removed to cannulate the right atrium during open heart surgery. The atrial tissue is minced and then digested using collagenase. The single cell suspension is initially cultured in serum-containing growth medium, then transferred to defined medium, selective for myocardial cell growth. The cells are characterized by immunoperoxidase stains and transmission electron microscopy. The cultured cells stain positive for myoglobin, whereas control cultured fibroblasts and endothelial cells do not. Electron microscopy shows the presence of numerous myofibrils, Z-bodies, pleomorphic mitochondria, and secretory granules. The chronological age of the donor was an important factor in culturing the adult tissue, the younger tissue correlated with a higher success rate. This method provides a means for in vitro study of human adult myocardial cells and provides guidelines for appropriate atrial tissue to use.     

Continuous bioprocessing: The real thing this time?: 10th Annual bioProcessUK Conference,December 3–4, 2013, London,UK

The Annual bioProcessUK Conference has acted as the key networking event for bioprocess scientists and engineers in the UK for the past 10 years. The following article is a report from the sessions that focused on continuous bioprocessing during the 10^th Annual bioProcessUK Conference (London, December 2013). These sessions were organized by the ‘EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Emergent Macromolecular Therapies’ hosted at University College London. A plenary lecture and workshop provided a forum for participants to debate topical issues in roundtable discussions with industry and academic experts from institutions such as Genzyme, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Merck, GE Healthcare and University College London. The aim of these particular sessions was to understand better the challenges and opportunities for continuous bioprocessing in the bioprocessing sector.     

Adaptation to salinity at the plant cell level

Summary Various mechanisms of adaptation of plant cells to salinity are reviewed: (1) protection of enzymes and maintenance of turgor by organic solutes; (2) prevention of ion toxicity by compartmentation; and (3) energization of solute transport by the proton pump. All these mechanisms seem to play a role in adaptation. The particular advantages of using salt-adapted cells in suspension culture to identify mechanisms of adaptation are pointed out.     

The effects of culture medium rigidity on adventitious bud production and tissue vitrification in needle cultures of Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.]

Adventitious bud formation on Sitka spruce [ Picca sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] needle explants was strongly dependent upon the rigidity of the culture medium. In general, of organogenesis was greatest on weak gels and poorest on more rigid gels resulting from increased medium pH or agar strength. There was a significant interaction between agar strength and pH, with the optimum pH for organogenesis declining with increasing agar strength. Poor organogenesis at high agar concentrations was not due to toxic impurities since increased adventitious bud production could be stimulated by decreasing the medium pH whilst maintaining a high agar strength and an agar washing treatment had no significant effect. Although high levels of organogenesis could be sustained on weak gels the resultant adventitious shoots often showed severe vitrification. The frequency of shoots showing vitrification could be reduced by growing the tissues on harder media but this resulted in reduced shoot elongation. Vitrification of needle tissues did not stimulate the formation of adventitious buds in the absence of cytokinins.     

Continuity and Creativity in Iroquois Beadwork

This review essay of Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life focuses on the display of beadwork as a cultural practice that has evolved significantly throughout its history while remaining central to Iroquois identity. The exhibition draws on historical documentation, objects, and imagery that depict the varied uses of beadwork as ritual objects, sources of income, markers of identity, and as works of art. The content and narrative for the display was developed through a broad collaboration between curators, scholars, artists, and members of two Iroquois communities. The changing and continued importance of beadwork is reflected in the adaptation of materials and styles for different forms of production and use. Across Borders places Iroquois beadwork in a broad context while concentrating on specific forms and meanings that are attached to beadwork, whether created in community gatherings or by individual artists.     

Stress-induced changes in the root architecture of white lupin (Lupinus albus) in response to pH, bicarbonate, and calcium in liquid culture

Current agronomic cultivars of white lupin (Lupinus albus) are intolerant of calcareous or limed soils. In these soils, high pH, bicarbonate (HCO₃^?), and calcium (Ca) concentrations are the major chemical stresses to the root system. To determine the responses of the root system to these factors, evaluate root architecture, and compare genotypes for tolerance, a series of liquid culture experiments was completed using root chambers that allowed the study of the root system in two dimensions. Each stress condition caused changes in different parts of the root system and there was no generalised stress response. HCO₃^? (5 mM) had the greatest effect on cultivars intolerant of calcareous soil; it decreased the dry weight of the shoot and caused the highest percentage of tap root deaths. HCO₃^? also discriminated between short (determinate) and long (indeterminate) roots, as it decreased the number and density of the determinate roots only. Calcium (3 mM) affected all parts of the root system. The tap root was shortened and showed an increased tortuousness in its path compared with 1 mM Ca, although no plants suffered tap root death. The numbers and densities of the two lateral root forms were also decreased, as were the lengths of the indeterminate roots. Stress from alkaline pH (7.5) media caused a lower number and density of determinate lateral roots to be produced than at pH 6.5. The experiments demonstrated that each culture condition elicited a definable stress response. Stress conditions altered the root architecture of genotypes reported to be tolerant of calcareous soil less than in intolerant genotypes. Although soil is more complex than liquid culture, it is possible that in a calcareous or limed soil each stress condition examined may affect the overall stress of the plant, and increased tolerance may result from tolerance to a single stress.     

LIFE HISTORY AND GROWTH OF LAURENCIA BRACHYCLADOS (RHODOPHYTA,CERAMIALES)1

Laurencia brachyclados Pilger from Hawai'i completed a “Polysiphonia-type” tri-phasic life history in 21 weeks in laboratory culture. Tetraspores developed into gametophytes in a nearly 1:1:1 ratio of females: males: non-reproductive. Carpospores were released as early as 21 days after mixing virgin female and male gametophytes. Cultured thalli showed a “guerilla type” growth form. Other Hawaiian Laurencia species in culture had longer maturation times or remained non-reproductive. Variation in life history schedules may influence Laurencia species coexistence and algal community structure.     

Plant regeneration from protoplasts of the monocotyledonous Haworthia magnifica v. Poelln.

Calli were initiated from flower buds, gynoecia and inflorescence segments of Haworthia magnifica v. Poelln. and subcultured on solid medium. Two liquid culture steps were necessary to prepare the calli for the isolation of protoplasts capable of sustained cell divisions. Plants were regenerated from protoplast-derived calli. The influence of both the osmolality of the culture media and exudates on the viability of protoplasts and protoplast-derived cell colonies is briefly discussed.     

In vitro reactions of sugarcane (Saccharum SP.) plantlets inoculated with 2 strains of Xanthomonas albilineans (Ashby) Dowson

The symptoms of the leaf scald disease can be reproduced in vitro through the inoculation of sugarcane tissue culture plantlets. The pathogen is detected in the inoculated plantlet and is maintained at the surface of the base of the plantlets grown in vitro. Two strains of X. albilineans belonging to different serovars and lysovars reacted like pathotypes. The importance of the plant incubation temperature is clearly demonstrated. Further, in vitro the disease goes through the same phase of latency as in the field.