肌细胞发育过程中间隙连接的变化

用石蜡切片、超薄切片和冰冻蚀刻技术研究了东方蝾螈胚胎肌细胞发育过程中间隙连接的变化。间隙连接最初出现于原肠后期的体节中胚层细胞中,到原肠末期,体节中胚层细胞间的间隙连接数量骤增,从神经板期到鼻窝出现期,间隙连接数量保持在一个相当高的水平,肌效应期后,其数量明显下降,直到肌细胞发育成熟,神经-肌肉连接充分发育,间隙连接才消失。间隙连接大小的变化与数量的变化表现为平行的现象。此外,细胞融合之前,正是间隙连接的数量和大小达到最高峰的时间。这些结果说明细胞通讯与胚胎肌细胞发育密切相关。对细胞通讯在细胞决定和分化以及细胞融合中的可能作用进行了讨论。     

蒜鳞片休眠进程中胞间联络的变化及类外连丝结构与功能的研究

利用电子显微镜术,对蒜休眠进程中鳞片薄壁细胞间胞间联络的特征进行了实验观察,发现不同时期胞间联络具有随细胞间生理关系密切程度而呈现相应结构变化的特点。并观察到萌芽期鳞片中衰败细胞与存活细胞之间有类外连丝型胞间连丝的存在;以激光共聚焦荧光显微镜结合荧光标记物示踪检测,发现不透膜荧光物质分子量为457Da 的萤黄(Lucifer yellow,LYCH),可以共质体运输方式进入存活细胞内,论证了类外连丝这一胞间连丝特定修饰态的存在,并可在一段时间内继续保持生理活性,起到进行物质共质运输的功能。     

THE FINE STRUCTURE OF NORMAL AND NEOPLASTIC MELANOCYTES IN THE SYRIAN HAMSTER, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO CARCINOGEN-INDUCED MELANOTIC TUMORS

The dermal melanocyte system of the Syrian hamster is particularly responsive to the melanogenetic and tumor-inducing effects of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA). The melanocytes of the hair follicles appear to be susceptible to the melanogenetic effect of DMBA but not to its tumor-inducing effect. The epidermal melanocytes are non-pigmented and are unresponsive to both melanogenetic and carcinogenic effects of DMBA. The pigmented granules of the dermal melanocytes of both the golden and the white hamster have an identical substructure and pattern of melanization which occurs in an orderly fashion on a delicate fibrillar component. The hair melanocytes have larger pigment granules with a more complicated fibrillar substructure. The epidermal melanocytes do not possess pigment granules but are recognized by their dendritic shape, the absence of desmosomes and tonofilaments, and the presence of racket-shaped or rod-shaped organelles. The melanin granules in neoplastic melanocytes of the golden hamster differ from corresponding normal melanocytes only in their larger size. In the white hamster, however, the melanin granules in tumors produced under identical experimental conditions are so bizarre and atypical that consideration was given to the possibility that a genetic difference in the melanization pattern between the two varieties becomes apparent in carcinogen-induced melanotic tumors. No definite conclusions could be reached as to the precise origin of the melanin granules in either normal or neoplastic melanocytes.     

MEMBRANES OF MESOPHYLL CELLS OF NICOTIANA RUSTICA AND PHASEOLUS VULGARIS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE CHLOROPLAST

Weier , T. E., and W. W. Thomson . (U. California, Davis.) Membranes of mesophyll cells of Nicotiana rustica and Phaseolus vulgaris with particular reference to the chloroplast. Amer. Jour. Bot. 49(8): 807–820. Illus. 1962.—The endoplasmic reticulum in mesophyll cells is represented by short lengths of irregularly disposed, paired membranes. It is occasionally associated with a typically double nuclear envelope. Groups of irregularly parallel, paired membranes suggesting disorganized dictyosomes occur infrequently. Mitochondria are unevenly distributed in mesophyll; they are large and have sparse tubular cristae around their periphery. In the great majority of instances the bounding membrane is diffusely stained with KMnO₄. When it is sharp and distinct, it may be double as usually pictured, or it may have well-delineated stretches of a single membrane bounding 25–50% of its circumference. The tonoplast and ectoplast are very fragile, the former appearing as a single dark line. In young leaves the ectoplast is visualized as a continuous single membrane adjacent to the cell wall, but in our micrographs of mature leaves it is always discontinuous. The plastid membrane sometimes is distinctly double, having 2 dark components bounding a light component. In the great majority of cases, however, this membrane is either a solid dark line, or the clear component of the double membrane is crossed by delicate dark lines giving the membrane a braided, or scalariform appearance. The various appearances of the membrane may intergrade with each other. The width of the plastid membrane is variable, ranging from 200 to 400 A. The inner component may invaginate into the stroma, and bodies may form in the clear space between the 2 outer membrane components. Micrographs suggest that these bodies, and others formed by small masses of stroma, may be expelled into the hyaloplasm, where they exist as spherical single-membraned particulates. The reality of the variable structure of the plastid membrane is discussed in light of concepts of membrane activity, molecular structure, and the relation of these factors to possible artifacts.     

THE EXCITABILITY OF FROG MUSCLE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO ITS LATENT ADDITION

With a view to indicating that the α excitatory state in muscle is not of a special nature it is shown that the α strength-duration curves are of the same form as those determined for nerve and other tissues except that in about two-thirds of all cases the rheobase appears to be slightly too low. Also from experiments in latent addition it is found that the α excitatory state following an inadequate stimulus subsides exponentially at a rate which is related to the α excitability in the same way, approximately, as the subsidence rate in nerve is related to the nerve''s excitability. In both tissues the subsidence as measured directly is 2–3 times as fast as it appears to be from the strength-duration curve. The α refractory period is at least as short as that of nerve so the α chronaxie is unusually long compared to the refractory period. There is no reason at present, however, to consider this as having any bearing on the problem at issue. It is concluded therefore, that the α excitability differs from others in the rates of its reactions rather than in its fundamental nature and that any conclusions about excitability drawn from its study will probably be valid quite generally.     

THE SPLITTING OF HEPATOCYTE GAP JUNCTIONS AND ZONULAE OCCLUDENTES WITH HYPERTONIC DISACCHARIDES

Mouse livers were perfused in situ through the portal vein with the disaccharides sucrose, lactose, maltose, and cellobiose in hypertonic concentrations (0.5 M). This treatment resulted in plasmolysis of the hepatocytes and splitting of the gap junctions and zonulae occludentes. The junctions split symmetrically, leaving a half-junction on each of the two separated cells. The process of junction splitting is followed using the freeze-fracture technique, since the junctional membranes are indistinguishable from the nonjunctional membranes in thin sections once the splitting occurs. The split junctions are also studied using the freeze-etch technique, allowing a view of the gap junction extracellular surface normally sequestered within the 2-nm "gap." The monosaccharides sorbitol and mannitol did not split the junctions during the times studied (2 min), but substitution of the chloride ion with propionate in the perfusion mixture did result in junction splitting. An envelope of morphologically distinct particles surrounding freeze-fractured gap junctions is also described.