Distribution of monoamine oxidase in the hippocampal region of the rat

Cell and Tissue Research -     

Studies on the mechanism determining the course of nerve fibers in tissue culture

Cell and Tissue Research -     

Plasma tissue factor in coronary artery disease: further step to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of coronary artery thrombosis

Tissue factor is a cell surface protein that is expressed constitutively by monocytes, macrophages and fibroblasts, but also by some other cells in response to a variety of stimuli. The main function of the tissue factor is to form a complex with factor VII/VIIa that converts factors IX and X to their active forms. Tissue factor is also involved in the pathophysiology of systemic inflammatory disorders, coagulopathies, atherosclerotic disease, tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Increased tissue factor expression either locally in the coronary plaques or systematically on circulating blood elements of patients with acute coronary syndromes may be responsible for increased thrombin generation, thus leading to platelet activation and fibrin formation. Tissue factor therefore plays a pivotal role in the initiation of thrombotic complications in patients with coronary artery disease.     

Studies on the differentiation capacity of neural epithelium cells in chick embryos

Cell and Tissue Research -     

The impact of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program on radiation and tissue banking in India

The banking of tissues such bone and skin began in India in the 1980s and 1990s. Although eye banking started in 1945 there was little progress in this field for the next five decades. As part of the IAEA/RCA program to use ionising radiation for the sterilisation of biological tissues in Asia and the Pacific Region, the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in 1986 decided to set up a tissue bank in Mumbai funded by the Government of India. The TMH Tissue Bank became operational in January 1988, and stands as a pioneering effort in the country to provide safe, clinically useful and cost-effective human allografts for transplantation. It uses the IAEA International Standards on Tissue Banking. All the grafts are sterilised terminally by exposure to a dose of 25 kGy of gamma radiation, which has been validated as recommended by the IAEA Code of Practice for the Radiation Sterilisation of Tissues Allografts: Requirements for Validation and Routine Control. The TMH Tissue Bank is registered with the Maharashtra State Health Authorities, and in May 2004, it became India’s first Tissue Bank to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification of its Quality Management System. From 1989 to September 2007, the TMH Tissue Bank has supplied 11,369 allografts to 310 surgeons operating in 69 hospitals in Mumbai and 56 hospitals in other parts of India. These numbers have been limited by difficulties with the retrieval of tissues from deceased donors due to inadequate resources and tissue donation policies of hospitals. As the Government of India representative in the IAEA program, the TMH Tissue Bank has promoted and co-coordinated these activities in the country and the development of tissue banks using radiation sterilisation of tissue grafts. Towards this end it has been engaged in training personnel, drawing up project proposals, and supporting the establishment of a Tissue Retrieval Centre in Mumbai. Currently it networks with the Zonal Transplant Co-ordination Centre of the Government of Maharashtra, and the newly instituted National Deceased Donor Transplantation Network, which will work with the Government of India to set up rules and regulations for organ and tissue donation and transplantation.     

Virtual microscopy as an enabler of automated/quantitative assessment of protein expression in TMAs

Tissue Microarrays facilitate high-throughput immuohistochemistry; however, there are key bottlenecks apparent in their analysis, particularly when conducting microscope-based manual reviews. Traditionally Tissue Microarray assessments were performed using a microscope where results were either transcribed or dictated and subsequently entered into flat-file spreadsheets. This process is labour intensive, prone to error and negates the advantages of the high-throughput Tissue Microarray format. In addition, human interpretations of staining intensity parameters are highly subjective and therefore prone to inter- and intra-observer variability. The advent of Virtual Slides has permitted the review of tissue slides across the Internet. In addition, this new technology enables the creation of software solutions to assist in the manual and automated review of Tissue Microarrays, through the use of computer aided image analysis. There are numerous academically developed and commercially available applications which assist in Tissue Microarray reviews; functionality of these systems range in complexity and application domains. The review which follows describes these systems and outlines technical considerations to be assessed when deciding on a Tissue Microarray workflow solution.     

The future role of the professional associations in the promotion of tissue banking activities in Asia and the Pacific and in the Latin America regions

There are several important roles that the established professional associations [Asia-Pacific Association of Surgical Tissue Banking (APASTB) and Latin American Association of Tissue Banks (ALABAT)] could play for the promotion of tissue banking activities in Asia and the Pacific and in the Latin American regions in the future. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) could also play an important role in supporting the activities of both professional associations in the field of training, exchange of scientific information, the standardisation of national norms and regulations, the use of the IAEA documents, particularly the “Radiation Sterilisation of Tissue Allografts: Requirements for Validation and Routine Control. A Code of Practice”, with the purpose to improve the quality of the activities carried out by the established tissue banks and the nuclear facilities in charge of the sterilisation of the processed tissues, and to increase tissue donations. The role of APASTB and ALABAT could be relevant and important for the improvement of the work of the established tissue banks in Asia and the Pacific and in the Latin American regions, and could increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their works, the improvement of management good practices and for increasing the awareness of the community on the importance of the activities carried out by the tissue banks, among others.     

Reconstitution of the thymus dependent area in the spleen of lethally irradiated mice

Cell and Tissue Research - To study the submicroscopical morphology of the microenvironment for T-lymphocytes in the spleen, mice were lethally X-irradiated and injected intravenously with...     

Tissue banking in South Africa: a 19-year history

The establishment of a Tissue Bank and the science of Tissue Banking in South Africa started in the 1960s and is still developing. This article describes the development and growth of Tissue Banking in South Africa. The current emphasis is to supply viable bone products that have been produced under the best possible quality controlled circumstances; with the collaboration between different Organ Donation Organisations. Through collaboration, a dramatic increase in the number of donors was noted over the years. Concurrently, there was a dramatic increase in the usage of different allograft products and now necessitates the development of new graft materials for expanding patient options. As an ongoing concern, the Tissue Bank in South Africa experienced an ever increase in costs to enhance quality/safety controls: increase in historical patient information, documentation and serological testing in a population struggling to control HIV. To date, the South African Tissue Bank has not experienced any untoward patient incidence since the 1960s and currently is getting over 500 donors per year.     

Increasing the volume of vascularized tissue formation in engineered constructs: an experimental study in rats

The authors have previously described a model of in vivo tissue generation based on an implanted, microsurgically created vessel loop in a plastic chamber (volume, 0.45 ml) containing a poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffold. Tissue grew spontaneously in association with an intense angiogenic sprouting from the loop and almost filled the chamber, resulting in a mean amount of tissue in chambers of 0.23 g with no added matrix scaffold and 0.33 g of tissue in PLGA-filled chambers after 4 weeks of incubation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a greater volume of tissue could be generated when the same-size vessel loop was inserted into a larger (1.9 ml) chamber. In four groups of five rats, an arteriovenous shunt sandwiched between two disks of PLGA, used as a scaffold for structural support, was placed inside a large polycarbonate growth chamber. Tissue and PLGA weight and volume, as well as histological characteristics of the newly formed tissue, were assessed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. Tissue weight and volume showed a strong linear correlation. Tissue weight increased progressively from 0.13 +/- 0.04 g at 2 weeks to 0.57 +/- 0.06 g at 6 weeks (p < 0.0005). PLGA weight decreased progressively from 0.89 +/- 0.07 g at 2 weeks to 0.20 +/- 0.09 g at 8 weeks (p < 0.0005). Histological examination of the specimens confirmed increased tissue growth and maturation over time. It is concluded that larger quantities of tissue can be grown over a longer period of time by using larger-size growth chambers.     

Gap junctions coupling photoreceptor axons in the first optic ganglion of the fly

Cell and Tissue Research - The first optic ganglion of the fly, the lamina ganglionaris, was investigated with the transmission electron microscope for the purpose of demonstrating possible...     

The Experience in Lectins Application to Assess Changes in the Carbohydrate Composition of Murine Thymocytes Glycocalyx in the Early and Late Apoptotic Stages

Cell and Tissue Biology - The apoptotic process is an important step in the process of T-lymphocytes maturation and differentiation. This work is devoted to the analysis of changes in the...     

Report of the 17th International Congress of the European Association of Tissue Banks (EATB) held jointly with the 17th Annual Congress of the British Association for Tissue Banking (BATB) including EATB/BATB/American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) Cardiovascular Symposium

The 17th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Tissue Banks (EATB) was held in Edinburgh in November 2008 together with the British Association for Tissue Banking (BATB) and received excellent evaluation by its participants. The meeting included, for the first time, a cardiovascular symposium co-organised by EATB and BATB together with the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). This was a first in terms of collaboration for the three associations. The many professionals involved in organising the meeting created an excellent clinical and scientific programme including regulatory issues and featured, also for the first time three interactive workshops about clinical donor cases, quality management and cardiovascular allografts.     

Immunohistochemical demonstration of a CRF-associated neurophysin in the external zone of the rat median eminence

Cell and Tissue Research - In picric acid-formalin fixed, paraplast embedded median eminence sections from normal and bilaterally adrenalectomized rats, the amount of “Gomori-positive”...     

Optimizing culture medium ingredients and micrografting devices can promote in vitro micrografting of cut roses on different rootstocks

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - Tissue culture and micrografting techniques are known as effective procedures to produce healthy rose rootstocks and high quality scions. In order to...     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Homo and heterologous expression of the HpPKS2 gene in Hypericum perforatum and Bacopa monnieri

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) -     

A peculiar myofibrillar pattern in the murine muscletendon junction

Cell and Tissue Research - The muscle-tendon junctions of adult mice show a special arrangement of myofibrils. Essentially, the myofibrils are oriented in an anchor-like manner in the large...     

Transcriptional profiling of the AFL subfamily of B3-type transcription factors during the in vitro induction of somatic embryogenesis in the model legume Medicago truncatula

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - In many legume species, somatic embryogenesis is a limiting step of in vitro regeneration, with profound implications to genetic engineering and plant...     

Evidence for the occurrence of endophytic prokaryotic contaminants in micropropogated plantlets of Prunus Cerasus cv. ‘Montmorency’

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) -     

Strategies in Tissue Engineering

Cover illustration Tissue engineering is an integrative field that combines knowledge from several disciplines such as cell biology, biochemistry, medicine, and material sciences. The cover of this Special Issue on Strategies in Tissue Engineering – showing, an organ, a tissue sample, a bioreactor and a DNA strand, represents the holistic nature of this discipline and the multitude of expertise necessary to drive it forward. Forming the background to the image is the Würzburg Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bavaria, Germany, and the location of the 3^rd International Conferences “Strategies in Tissue Engineering”. © Katja Schenke-Layland.