Portable light transmission measuring system for preserved corneas

Background  

The authors have developed a small portable device for the objective measurement of the transparency of corneas stored in preservative medium, for use by eye banks in evaluation prior to transplantation.     

The nutrition of animal tissues cultivated in vitro. III. Use of a depletion technique for determining specific nutritional requirements

1. Cultivation of freshly explanted chick embryonic heart tissues in Hanks's salt solution for 3 to 4 days has been shown to create a general state of nutritional deficiency in the cultures. Provided the depletion is not prolonged beyond 4 days, the cultures subsequently revive and survive to a normal period in synthetic medium M 150. 2. Paper chromatographic studies on the culture medium have shown that the amino acid metabolism of the depleted cultures is restored to a normal pattern within a few days in medium M 150. 3. By the use of the nutritional deficiency technique, a coenzyme A requirement for this type of culture has been established. 4. The application of these findings to tissue cell nutrition and the possible hazards of using serum, or other uncharacterized additions, either to establish cultures, or as part of the experimental medium, are discussed.     

Phylogenetic analysis of the tenascin gene family: evidence of origin early in the chordate lineage

Background  

Tenascins are a family of glycoproteins found primarily in the extracellular matrix of embryos where they help to regulate cell proliferation, adhesion and migration. In order to learn more about their origins and relationships to each other, as well as to clarify the nomenclature used to describe them, the tenascin genes of the urochordate Ciona intestinalis, the pufferfish Tetraodon nigroviridis and Takifugu rubripes and the frog Xenopus tropicalis were identified and their gene organization and predicted protein products compared with the previously characterized tenascins of amniotes.