Analysis of high-quality pharmaceutical grade water by a direct epifluorescent filter technique microcolony method

A modified direct epifluorescent filter technique (DEFT) was used to assess the microbial quality of water. Sterile, pharmaceutical grade water was inoculated with Pseudomonas cepacia. Microcolonies were grown and counted with a Bio-Foss System 3 DEFT apparatus. In this way it was possible to achieve a sensitivity of 10 cfu per 100 ml. Results were obtained within 1 working day.     

Effects of transformation on the expression of laminin and fibronectin by neural cells

We have studied laminin and fibronectin expression in a collection of rat cerebellar neural cell lines transformed with a mutant of Rous sarcoma virus which is temperature sensitive for transformation. We show that regardless of their neuronal or glial properties the cell lines produce both laminin and fibronectin. Laminin is expressed in similar amounts in cell lines grown at either the permissive or nonpermissive temperature for transformation, while fibronectin is generally expressed at higher levels in cells kept at the nonpermissive temperature. To provide further evidence that neural cells can produce laminin and fibronectin, double label immunofluorescence studies were conducted on primary cerebellar cultures. Both laminin and fibronectin were found to be present in the primary culture, and laminin was found to be associated with a subpopulation of astrocytes.