Morphometric study of the postnatal development of the human adrenal cortex]

Under study was the developmental dynamics of a number of morphometrical parameters of the adrenal cortex of man. The number of glandular cells in the organ was found to considerably decrease at late developmental periods, the size of nuclei in them diminished. These factors are considered to be responsible for the drop of functional activity of the adrenal cortex in elderly and senile age. The increase of the cell size during the growing of the organism is thought to be an important factor of the growth of the adrenal cortex of man.     

The septal organ of the rat during postnatal development

The septal organ of Masera (SO) is a small, isolated patch of olfactory epithelium, located in the ventral part of the nasal septum. We investigated in this systematic study the postnatal development of the SO in histological sections of rats at various ages from the day of birth (P1) to P666. The SO-area increases to a maximum at P66-P105, just as the animals reach sexual maturity, and decreases thereafter, significantly however only in males, indicating a limited neurogenetic capacity for regeneration. In contrast, the main olfactory epithelium area continues to expand beyond P300. The modified respiratory epithelium ('zwischen epithelium') separating the SO and the main olfactory epithelium contains a few olfactory neurons up to age P66. Its length increases postnatally so that the SO becomes more ventral to the OE. Although the position of the SO relative to other anatomical landmarks changes with development it is consistently located just posterior to the opening of the nasopalatine duct (NPAL). Thus, a possible function of the SO is in sensing chemicals in fluids entering the mouth by licking and then delivered to the nasal cavity via the NPAL; therefore the SO may be involved in social/sexual behavior as is the vomeronasal organ (VNO). We suggest that the SO is a separate accessory olfactory organ with properties somewhat different from both OE and VNO and may exist only in species where the NPAL does not open into the VNO.     

Morphometric and fine-structural studies of rat pancreatic acinar cells during early postnatal life

Summary Pancreatic acinar cells of rats obtained at 1,2, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days of age were examined using fine structural and morphometric techniques. From 5 days of age onwards, the acinar cells were analysed twice per day, at 20.00 h and 08.00 h.The present study demonstrates changes in the average volume of the cell, nucleus and cytoplasm, and volume densities of various cytoplasmic organelles during the first two weeks after birth. During early postnatal life, the volume density of rER increases, whereas that of zymogen granules decreases. From 5 days of age onwards, the volume densities of these two organelles differ significantly at 20.00 h and 08.00 h. During the first 2–3 days after birth, inclusion body-like structures appear in the cytoplasm of acinar cells; they contain aggregated zymogen granules and, sometimes, amorphous structures or cytoplasmic organelles. These structures also occur in interstitial cells and cells located in the intercalated region between acinar and ductal epithelial cells. Serum level of -amylase activity is high at birth, compared with other stages during the first three weeks. Degenerating acinar cells and cell debris can be seen in the acinar and ductal lumina during these stages, a feature suggesting holocrine secretion. Cellular polarity appears to be incomplete during the first two or three days after birth.     

Morphometric variation of the skull during postnatal development in the Lowland European bisonBison bonasus bonasus

We studied the variation of linear measurements and skull capacity in Lowland European bisonBison bonasus bonasus (Linnaeus, 1758) during postnatal development, and the dependencies of the parameters in relation to sex, age, and body mass of the animals. Material consisted of 599 bison skulls (310 males and 289 females), within the age range of 1 month to 21 years (males) and to 27 years (females). In the group of calves to 1 year old, no sex connected differences in skull measurements were observed, whereas the skull capacity in older calves was significantly larger (0.01>p>0.001) in males than in females. From the third year of life, most skull measurements display characteristics of sexual dimorphism. Skull development in both sexes is most intensive during the first three years of life, and slows from the age of 5. In older individuals of both sexes (≥ 6 years), orbital breadth continues growing and, in females, breadth of splanchnocranium continues increasing. Growth in a bison’s skull capacity is most intensive up to the third year of life and slows from the age of 5. During postnatal development, a bison skull grows proportionally except the neurocranium, which grows slightly slower in comparison with basal length and its development finishes earlier than that of splanchnocranium. In ontogenesis, a bison skull grows much slower compared to body mass. In relation to body mass, skull capacity and the height of neurocranium grow most slowly while orbital breadth grows most intensively. The results obtained were compared with data on skull sizes of bison born in 1930–1950 and bred in captivity and with skulls of the American bisonBison bison. Inbreeding is probably responsible for some types of phenotypic abnormalities in the skull which appear in modern European bison.     

Histological and histochemical study of rat salivary glands during their postnatal development

The postnatal development of the three major salivary glands (parotid, submaxillary and sublingual) was comparatively followed up from the histological viewpoint and in relation with some histochemical reactions. The sublingual gland presented a well developed cytomorphological structure at birth, whereas the parotid and the submaxillary one, immature at birth, gradually reached the overall appearance of adult glands, the former at 5 - 6 weeks, the latter at 8 weeks. In relation with the product secreted, it is already from birth that the parotid and the submaxillary glands presented negative reactions for mucosubstances and positive ones for revealing the protein-bound groups. The sublingual gland exhibited from the first postnatal 24 hrs positive reactions for revealing mucosubstances at the level of glandular secretory glands.     

Polysomes during early postnatal development of brain in the rat

We have attempted to show eventual modifications in the brain protein synthesis apparatus of rat during the first three weeks after birth. Through this time we noted a steady decrease (about 60%) in the free polysomes, when expressed relative to tissue weight. This decrease does not correlate with changes in the polysome profile, indicating that no loss in the efficiency of protein synthesis was involved. Translation in a reticulocyte lysate also failed to reveal differences.     

Morphometric studies on rat epididymis in the course of postnatal development (computerised image analysis)

The studies were aimed at histological and morphometric analysis of postnatal development of epididymis in rats aged 1, 5, 10, 20, 28, 35, 45 and 59 days. Diameter of ductuli efferentes and of ductus epididymidis, height of epithelium, section area fractions occupied by the epithelium and by the sublayer were estimated (using MultiScan software) and serum testosterone levels were measured. The results documented a stepwise development of the epididymis, in three distinguishable stages.     

A study of lactate dehydrogenase levels and turnover rates during postnatal development in the rat

Specific radioimmunoassays for lactate dehydrogenase A and B subunits have been employed to quantify cellular contents of these proteins more precisely than hitherto possible and to monitor changes during postnatal development. Liver, skeletal muscle, heart muscle and kidney cortex all demonstrated alterations in cellular levels of lactate dehydrogenase subunits over the first 56 days of life, the particular pattern being specific to each tissue. Studies on the turnover of lactate dehydrogenase in vivo and in vitro indicated that the developmental changes in total lactate dehydrogenase content in liver and kidney were regulated at some point(s) during both the biosynthesis and the degradation of the proteins.     

New aspects of the histology of the mandibular condyle in the rat

The function of the multipotential mesenchymal cells in the mandibular condyle was studied histochemically and histologically in 27 Long Evans/Turku rats. Sagittal sections from the temporomandibular joint were stained with haematoxylin and eosin, toluidine blue, or van Gieson's stain. A weakly orthochromatically stained fibrous layer was followed in the upper region by a weakly metachromatically stained mesenchymal cell layer. Deep within this was a strongly metachromatically stained layer of immature chondroblasts. The metachromasia of the matrix of these layers disappeared abruptly in an anterior direction and gradually in a posterior direction. The changes in the staining reactions are explained by the fact that mesenchymal cells can differentiate into chondrogenic or osteogenic cells depending on the environmental conditions. A new hypothesis is presented according to which regulation of the direction of condylar growth is achieved by choosing the cells for chondrogenesis more posteriorly or anteriorly from among the mesenchymal cells covering the whole condylar cartilage.     

Morphometric evaluation of the number of exocrine pancreatic cells during early postnatal growth in the rat.

The number of the various cell categories of the exocrine pancreas of the rat was evaluated by morphometric methods in paraffin sections of glands from rats aged 2, 5, 15, 20 and 33 days. The evolution of these cell types could be properly expressed by equations of the type y = aoek.x, where y = cell number, and x = age in days. The time necessary for each cell type to duplicate was thus obtained. The percentages (y') of acinar, intercalated duct and connective tissue cells also proved to be age-dependent and could be expressed by second-degree equations.     

Growth patterns of rat hepatocytes during postnatal development.

During postnatal growth in the liver of the rat, a characteristic shift towards binuclear cells and cells of higher ploidy class occurs. When the protein content of individual isolated hepatocytes of different ploidy classes is analysed cytophotometrically using the specific protein stain Naphthol Yellow S, it appears that the growth in mass in the period 30-99 days is due mainly to increase of protein content of binuclear diploid (BD) and mononuclear tetraploid (MT) cells. The mononuclear diploid (MD) cells play a quickly diminishing role in the parenchymal population after the initial growth phase and cells of highest ploidy degree remain unimportant quantitatively. The quickly growing BD and MT cells only reach a Naphthol Yellow S protein value twice that of MD cells after a certain period of growth, whereas changes in protein content are slight or absent from 99 days onwards in all cell types investigated.     

Insulin-regulated protein kinases during postnatal development of rat heart

The control of glucose uptake and glycogen metabolism by insulin in target organs is in part mediated through the regulation of protein-serine/ threonine kinases. In this study, the expression and phosphotransferase activity levels of some of these kinases in rat heart ventricle were measured to investigate whether they might mediate the shift in the energy dependency of the developing heart from glycogen to fatty acids. Following tail-vein injection of overnight fasted adult rats with 2 U of insulin per kg body weight, protein kinase B (PKB), the 70-kDa ribosomal S6 kinase (S6K), and casein kinase 2 (CK2) were activated (30–600%), whereas the MAP/ extracellular regulated kinases (ERK)1 and ERK2 were not stimulated under these conditions. When the expression levels of the insulin-activated kinases were probed with specific antibodies in ventricular extracts from 1-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 365-day-old rats, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), PKB, S6K, and CK2 were downregulated (40–60%) with age. By contrast, ventricular glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) protein levels were maintained during postnatal development. Similar findings were obtained when the expression of these kinases was investigated in freshly isolated ventricular myocytes, where they were detected predominantly in the cytosolic fraction of the myocytes. Compared to other adult rat tissues such as brain and liver, the levels of PI3K, PKB, S6K, and GSK3β were relatively low in the heart. Even though CK2 protein and activity levels were reduced by ∼60% in 365 day as compared to 1-day-old rats, expression of CK2 in the adult heart was as high as detected in any of the other rat tissues. The high basal activities of CK2 in early neonatal heart may be associated with the proliferating state of myocytes. J. Cell. Biochem. 71:328–339, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Weaning and the histology of the mandibular condyle in the rat.

Eighty-eight Long Evans/Turku rats were used in the study. The effect of the articulatory function on the mandibular condyle was observed histologically during normal growth, when the rat is changing its diet from milk to whole pellets as a part of weaning. Six animals each were killed at the age of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 days for histological tissue processing. For further information, 30 animals were fed a soft diet (6 animals each were killed at the age of 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 days), and 10 animals were fed hardened pellets (2 animals each were killed at the ages of 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 days). An even and regular transition from mesenchymal cells via immature chondroblasts into mature chondroblasts and hypertrophied chondrocytes was found at 10, 15 and 20 days during normal growth and also at 25, 30, 35, 40 and 50 days when animals were fed a soft diet. This maturing process appeared to be disturbed at the age of 25, 30, 35 and 40 days in the superior aspect of the condyle in animals fed ordinary pellets. The density of the mesenchymal cell layer was decreased, and the amount of intercellular matrix seemed to be evaluated in mesenchymal and intermediate cell layers. These features were later manifest deeper in the cartilage as acellular regions and as cell clusters. The changes were similar but more severe when the animals were fed hardened pellets.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

In vitro functions of the rat diaphragm during postnatal development.

This study was designed to determine the developmental changes in the functional characteristics of the rat diaphragm. A total of 150 animals were studied at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 weeks of postnatal age. Body and diaphragm muscle weights were measured. Diaphragm strips were studied in an in vitro preparation to assess muscle contractile and endurance properties. Total diaphragm weight increased considerably, by a factor of 23 over the 9 week-period of study and was highly correlated with body weight (r = 0.93, P less than 0.01). However, the ratio of diaphragm-to-body weight decreased progressively with age. In comparison with those from older animals, diaphragms from 1 and 3 weeks old animals: (1) generated similar force normalized for muscle weight but a lower force normalized for fibre cross-sectional area (P less than 0.05), (2) had longer time-to-peak tension and one-half relaxation times (P less than 0.01) and (3) were more resistant to fatigue (P less than 0.01). The mechanisms underlying the diaphragm functional development were discussed.