Fusiform cells in the cambium of Kalopanax pictus are exclusively mononucleate

While it is generally accepted that most plant cells are mononucleate, it has been argued with some vehemence that fusiform cambial cells can be multinucleate. The controversy has not been resolved since to date, studies by conventional microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have failed to confirm unambiguously whether cambial cells are mononucleate or multinucleate. In this study, semi-thin sections of epoxy-embedded specimens and thick slices of cambial tissues from the hardwood Kalopanax pictus were analysed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Tangential sections of cambium, regardless of the thickness of the section, are likely to contain portions of cells in several adjacent layers of cells and, at the lower resolution of conventional microscopy, several adjacent cells can appear to be a single cell with more than one nucleus. The higher resolution in the third dimension of confocal microscopy allowed clearly adjacent layers of cells in the cambium to be distinguished and the number of nuclei per cell to be determined. In this tree, the cambial cells were mononucleate in all cases.     

Cytotoxic triterpene saponins from the stem bark of Kalopanax pictus

Three new compounds, 3β,6β,23-trihydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid 3-O-α-l-arabinopyranoside (1), kalopanaxsaponin L (2), and kalopanaxsaponin M (13), as well as eleven known compounds (3–12 and 14), were isolated from the stem bark of Kalopanax pictus. Their structures were determined on the basis of extentive spectroscopic analyses and acid hydrolysis. The cytotoxicity of the compounds was evaluated in three human carcinoma cell lines, including HL-60, HCT-116, and MCF-7. Compounds 1, 5–8, 10, and 11 exhibited significantly cytotoxic activity toward HL-60 cells, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.1 to 6.9 μM. Compounds 4–7 and 14 showed significant cytotoxicity against HCT-116 cells, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.4 to 9.2 μM. Remarkably, the cytotoxic activities of compounds 5–7 against HCT-116 cells were greater than that of the anticancer chemotherapy drug, mitoxantrone (IC₅₀ = 3.7 μM). Compounds 1, 3, 5, and 14 were cytotoxic toward MCF-7 cells with IC₅₀ values in a range of 7.4–14.5 μM.     

Analysis by Confocal Microscopy of the Structure of Cambium in the Hardwood Kalopanax pictus

An understanding of the morphology and the developmental changesin the shapes and dimensions of cambial cells requires three-dimensional(3-D) analysis of thick slices of tissue. We devised a simpleprotocol using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), withsafranin and acridine orange as fluorescent dyes and glycerolas the clearing and mounting medium, to examine the 3-D structureof the dormant cambium in Kalopanax pictus, a ring-porous hardwood.Optical sections and high contrast images provided clear informationabout the shapes and nuclear status of cambial cells, whichhave previously been difficult to determine using conventionalmicroscopy. The axially-oriented cambial cells were found tovary in shape, in particular around the rays, and were not alwaystypically fusiform. We evaluated the reliability of our methodby comparing results with those of a parallel study of the samematerial by standard analysis of serial sections of epoxy-embeddedspecimens. The images of optical sections obtained by CLSM wereof high quality and similar to images obtained by conventionallight microscopy of semi-thin mechanical sections. Use of theconfocal microscope provided a quick and easy method for visualizationof the structure of the cambium in thick hand-cut sections andfor studies of the developmental changes in cells from the cambiumto the xylem. Copyright 2000 Annals of Botany Company Confocal laser scanning microscopy, Kalopanax pictus, three-dimensional reconstruction, vascular cambium     

Reproductive success and distance to conspecific adults in the sparsely distributed tree Kalopanax pictus

To understand how a sparsely distributed species can maintain viable populations, and with a particular interest in distance-dependent reproductive success, we investigated the ovule survival and the factors that determine the survival for sparsely distributed Kalopanax pictus (Araliaceae) in a temperate forest landscape around the Ogawa Forest Reserve, central Japan. We found 154 potentially mature trees (>20 cm diameter at breast height) in a 600-ha site. The year 2000 was a mass flowering year for K. pictus; 96.8% of the trees examined flowered in that year; however, this was less than half of the trees that flowered in other years. The flowers of K. pictus include protandrous inflorescences, which bloom on individual tress in midsummer when few other tree species bloom. We conducted pollination experiments with out-crossed, self-pollinated, bagged, and control inflorescences. Results suggest that self-pollination is limited, partially by low self-compatibility and partially by protandry. Ovule survival from the flower to the seed stages was not dependent on the temporal flowering density of conspecific adults. The flowering habit and presence of effective pollinators may allow K. pictus to avoid the negative effects of sparse distribution on pollination efficiency. However, ovule survival during the ovary development stage depended on infection by a species-specific fungus, Mycosphaerella acanthopanacis. The fungus damages leaves, and the infection intensity depends on the distance between conspecific K. pictus adults. Thus, an advantage of sparse distribution in K. pictus is disease avoidance, whereas its disadvantages are overcome by pollination efficiency.     

Developmental and Dimensional Changes in the Cambial Fusiform Initials ofHoloptelea integrifolia (Roxb.) Planch.

Divisional activity, intrusive growth of the cell wall and loss of fusiform initials have been studied in Holoptelea integrifolia. The dimensional changes in relation to mean length, length frequency, mean width and length variation in relation to fibre length have also been analysed.     

构树形成层活动中内源IAA的变化及其结合蛋白的研究

构树（Broussonetia papyrifera (L.)Vent.）形成层活动周期中用酶联免疫吸附法测定了形成层区域的内源IAA浓度的变化,并用自行发展的免疫荧光检测方法测定了由此处生活细胞制得的原生质体中IAA结合蛋白的分布。结果表明,形成层旺盛形成未成熟木质部和未成熟韧皮部时期,内源IAA急剧增加,当这些细胞分化成熟时IAA浓度降低,并维持在一定范围内。IAA结合蛋白主要分布于质膜、胞质、核膜及核质中。     

Kalopanax pictus as feed additive controls bacterial and parasitic infections in kelp grouper, Epinephelus bruneus

Feeding kelp grouper, Epinephelus bruneus (26.1 ± 1.4), with 0%, 0.1%, 1.0%, and 2.0% Kalopanax pictus extract-supplementation diets, for 30 days reduced mortality on being challenged intraperitoneally 100 μl with bacterium Vibrio alginolyticus (2.1 × 10(7) cfu ml(-1)) and ciliate parasite Philasterides dicentrarchi (2.3 × 10(7) ciliates ml(-1)). The red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), haemoglobin, haematocrit, lymphocytes, and monocytes levels significantly increased in kelp grouper fed with all doses of K. pictus-supplementation diets and challenged with bacterium and parasite when compared to control. However, the levels of mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), neutrophils, and thrombocytes did not significantly. The phagocytic activity, complement activity, and antiprotease activity did not significantly change in kelp grouper fed with 0.1% K. pictus-supplementation diets and challenged with bacterium and parasite. The respiratory activity, lysozyme activity, bactericidal activity, total protein level, and myeloperoxidase levels significantly increased in kelp grouper fed with all the doses of K. pictus-supplementation diet and challenged with bacterium and parasite. However, α2-macroglobulin level significantly increased with 1.0% diet, but not with 0.1% and 2.0% diets. Therefore this study suggests that 1.0% and 2.0% K. pictus-supplementation diets positively protected and enhanced the immune system in kelp grouper E. bruneus against V. alginolyticus and P. dicentrarchi infection.     

Correlated Variations of Bond Lengths in Pseudorotating Furanose Rings

Abstract

Correlated variations of bond lengths in pseudorotating furanose rings are investigated by a theoretical method. At first, matrix equations are proposed to determine the spatial coordinates of the ring atoms from the bond lengths, the bond angles, and the pseudorotation parameters. Secondly, a necessary functional form of the variations of the bond lengths of five-membered rings is derived from a consideration of symmetry. Finally, demonstrations are performed on a furanose ring whose bond angle variations have been precisely determined by experimental analyses. The resulting bond length variations are:

δR_i = β_iCos(8/5π · (i-2)+2P)

where δR_i is the variation of the bond length between atoms i and i+1, P is the pseudorotation phase, and β_iis a negative constant about ?0.01 Å. These bond length variations are balanced on the apparent strains of the bond lengths and the bond angles.     

Microsatellite loci for a sparsely distributed species,Kalopanax pictus (Araliaceae) in Japanese temperate forests

We identified seven polymorphic microsatellite loci that can be used to evaluate distances of pollen movement and seed dispersal in a sparsely distributed tree species, Kalopanax pictus (Araliaceae), in Japanese temperate forests. The leaves of K. pictus are damaged by a fungal disease, Mycosphaerella acanthopanacis, and the intensity and frequency of the infections are positively correlated with adult tree density. In order to infer the optimal density of K. pictus and the processes of regeneration in the presence of the fungal disease, we developed microsatellite markers. The numbers of alleles per locus ranged from seven to 17 with an average of 10.6. Expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.63 to 0.94 with an average of 0.79. Total exclusion probabilities from the seven loci for the first and second parents of seedlings were 0.9880 and 0.9999, respectively. Our results indicate that these loci will be useful for the analysis of gene flow.     

Fine Structural Details of Tannin Accumulations in Non-Dividing Cambial Cells

The fine structure of autumn cambial cells of Aesculus hippocastanumand Populus x euramericana reveals the presence of electron-densebodies, other than lipids, in both the cytoplasm and vacuoles.These deposits are identified as tannins following a cytochemicaltest with ferrous sulphate. Small tannin bodies associated withthe strands of ER and inside small vesicles are often evidentin the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic tannins are deposited intovacuoles by fusion of the tannin-containing vesicles with thetonoplast. The positive reaction of tannin inclusions with periodicacid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver proteinate suggests their polysaccharidicnature. The observations support the role of ER in tannin synthesisand deposition into the central vacuole. Aesculus hippocastanum, Populus x euramericana, cambial cells, tannin, vacuoles     

Mathematical Modeling of Intrusive Growth of Fusiform Initials in Relation to Radial Growth and Expanding Cambial Circumference in Pinus sylvestris L.

This study on the cambium of Pinus sylvestris L. examines the intrusive growth of fusiform cambial initials and its possible contribution to the tangential and radial expansions of the cambial cylinder. The location and extent of intrusive growth of the fusiform initials were determined by microscopic observations and by mathematical modeling. In order to meet the required circumferential expansion of the cambial cylinder, the fusiform initials grow in groups by means of a symplastic rather than intrusive growth, leaving no room for the assumption that intrusive growth of the initials takes place between radial walls and has a direct role in the increase of the cambial circumference. Therefore, it is postulated that the fusiform initials grow intrusively between the tangential walls of the neighboring initials and their immediate derivatives and not between the radial walls of the adjacent initials as per common belief.     

红腹锦鸡胃肠道内分泌细胞的免疫组织化学定位

应用ABC免疫组织化学方法,对红腹锦鸡(Chrysolophus pictus)胃肠道5-羟色胺(5-hydroxtryptamine,5-HT)、胃泌素(gastfin,GAS)、生长抑素(somatostatin,ss)3种内分泌细胞的分布密度和形态进行了观察.结果显示,5-HT细胞在空肠和直肠分布密度最高,回肠和盲肠次之,十二指肠较少,腺胃和肌胃最少;GAS细胞在十二指肠和直肠分布密度最高,其次是空肠和盲肠,腺胃部最低,肌胃则呈免疫阴性;SS细胞数量较少,在直肠、盲肠处分布密度相对高,其次是十二指肠和空肠,腺胃部最低,肌胃则呈免疫阴性.3种内分泌细胞的形态多样,有圆形、椭圆形、锥体形、杆状和不规则形,其中以圆形、椭圆形为主.细胞分布于固有膜、黏膜上皮细胞基部、黏膜上皮细胞之间、腺泡上皮细胞基部或腺泡上皮细胞之间.红腹锦鸡胃肠道内分泌细胞的形态与其内、外分泌功能是相适应的.     

蜈蚣草导管分子的观察

对蜈蚣草(Pteris vittata)叶轴中导管分子进行了观察。结果表明,其导管分子十分细长,均具长、且十分倾斜的梯状穿孔板,穿孔没有纹孔膜的残余,与侧壁上的梯纹纹孔有着明显的差异。     

红腹锦鸡血细胞的光镜和扫描电镜观察

为了探讨红腹锦鸡(Chrysolophus pictus)血细胞的形态特征,为生理学研究提供生物学基础资料,利用光镜和扫描电镜观察了红腹锦鸡血细胞的形态特征。结果表明,红腹锦鸡红细胞呈椭圆形或扁圆形,表面光滑,具核;白细胞为球形,体大,淋巴细胞表面有绒毛状突起,嗜中性粒细胞核一般分2~5叶,嗜酸性粒细胞核一般分2叶,嗜碱性粒细胞核分2~3叶,单核细胞表面粗糙不平,核大,呈肾形或圆形;凝血细胞呈球形或不规则形。     

The Effect of Applied Growth Hormones on Cambial Division and the Differentiation of the Cambial Derivatives

When indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is applied to woody shoots cambialdivision is stimulated and the cambial derivatives differentiateto produce xylem tissue. When gibberellic acid (GA) is applied,cambial division occurs but the resultant derivatives on thexylem side of the cambium remain undifferentiated. The relativelevels of applied IAA and GA are important in determining whethermainly xylem or phloem tissue is produced. High IAA/low GA concentrationsfavour xylem formation, whereas low IAA/high GA concentrationsfavour phloem production. The new phloem tissue produced asa result of hormone treatment is fully differentiated, containingsieve elements and sieve plates. IAA is important in promotingthe elongation of the cambial derivatives to produce xylem vesseland fibre elements, though in the case of xylem fibres appliedGA causes further elongation. IAA is an important factor indetermining vessel diameter in the ring-porous species Robiniapseudacacia, high levels of applied IAA giving wide springwood-typevessels and low levels giving narrow ‘summerwood’vessels.     

Protoplasmic Changes in Cambial Cells Induced by a Tracheid-Differentiation Factor from Pine Needles

Direct differentiation of ‘dormant’ fusiform cambialcells (fees) into tracheids in stem cuttings of Pinus contortaDougl. was investigated by light and transmission electron microscopy.In cuttings from which all but one pair of needles had beenremoved, differentiation occurred close to the needle tracewithout prior cell division or expansion. The highly osmiophillic,granular cytoplasm of differentiating fees exhibited numerousmitochondria, dictyosomes and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) cisternaeand was enriched with vesicles and polyribosomes. The protoplasmdid not become highly vacuolated, as it normally does, untildifferentiating tracheids were approaching maturation. During differentiation, secondary walls were deposited in feesas ribs of annular and spiralled thickenings and also as borderedpit-likestructures devoid of margo and torus and lacking the typicallamellar structure of secondary-xylem tracheids. The fee plasmamembrane at sites of secondary-wall growth was in dynamic flux,dilated vesicles derived from both ER and dictyosomes apparentlyfusing with it at these locations. In addition, electron-denseblebs were invariably plasma membrane-associated and appearedto be exocytotic; these blebs became rare during autolysis andthey were never seen in non-differentiating cells. Depositionof oriented nascent cellulose microfibrils appeared to occurin the absence of associated cortical microtubules. As secondary-walldeposition neared completion, vacuoles derived from rough ERgrew and fused; concomitantly, the protoplasm disappeared resultingin fully autolysed tracheids. Auxin (indol-3-ylacetic acid, IAA) promoted the gel-like protoplasmof dormant fees to became highly vacuolated, and cell divisionand expansion followed; however, tracheid differentiation didnot occur. Polyribosomes, rough ER, and dictysomes were lessabundant than in differentiating fees and the cytoplasm of auxin-treatedfees was fine grained and less densely stained. The electron-denseexocytotic blebs found at the plasmalemma in differentiatingfees were not induced by IAA treatment. Fees of control cuttingsenlarged somewhat and became more vacuolated but otherwise remaineddormant. Key words: Cambium, exocytosis, Gymnospermae, ultrastructure, xylogenesis     

Spiral Thickenings of Vessel Elements in Magnoliaceae in China

Spiral thickenings in the inner walls of vessels were studied in 10 genera 69 species of Magnoliaceae in China under scanning electron microscopic observation. Spiral thickenings were found in some species. The majority of these species showed complete thickenings of the inner wall, however, in some of which the spiral thickenings were less obvious at both ends. In others, these spiral thickenings existed only in the middle portion, uniformly or irregularly distributed.     

洋蒲桃次生木质部中导管分子的解剖学

运用细胞图像分析系统和显微照相的方法对洋蒲桃(Syzygium samarangense)次生木质部导管分子进行了观察研究。次生木质部导管分子类型有: 两端具尾导管、一端具尾导管和无尾导管。导管分子穿孔板存在着4种类型: 两端均为具2个单穿孔的复穿孔板;一端为1个单穿孔板, 另1端为具2个单穿孔的复穿孔板;两端均为单穿孔板;两单穿孔板位于同一端壁两侧相互对应以及一些过渡类型穿孔板。根据观察结果, 分析了各类型穿孔板之间的演化关系。     

洋蒲桃次生木质部中导管分子的解剖学

运用细胞图像分析系统和显微照相的方法对洋蒲桃（Syzygium samarangense）次生木质部导管分子进行了观察研究。次生木质部导管分子类型有：两端具尾导管、一端具尾导管和无尾导管。导管分子穿孔板存在着4种类型：两端均为具2个单穿孔的复穿孔板;一端为1个单穿孔板,另1端为具2个单穿孔的复穿孔板;两端均为单穿孔板：两单穿孔板位于同一端壁两侧相互对应以及一些过渡类型穿孔板。根据观察结果,分析了各类型穿孔板之间的演化关系。