A possible phagocytic role for folliculo-stellate cells of anterior pituitary following estrogen withdrawal from primed male rats

Summary Ultrastructural changes suggesting a phagocytic role for the nongranular folliculo-stellate cells of the anterior pituitary are investigated in estrogen-primed male rats after withdrawal of estrogen. Morphological changes in mammotropes following the removal of a subcutaneous estradiol-containing Silastic implant include the formation of intracellular lipid bodies. These lipid bodies appear to be associated with enhanced estrogen-dependent prolactin secretion in mammotropes. Seven and 24 h after estrogen withdrawal intracellular lipid within mammotropes seems to be released into the intercellular space. Seventy-two h after estrogen withdrawal, lipid droplets are almost entirely cleared from mammotropes while folliculo-stellate cells become packed with lipid globules. Folliculo-stellate cells also undergo dramatic hypertrophy 7 and 24 h after the removal of E2-containing implants. Extensive intercellular junctions including zonulae adhaerentes, desmosomes, and putative gap junctions are formed. Intercellular junctions delineate extravascular channels into which numerous microvilli project. Folliculo-stellate cells appear capable of accumulating many lipid droplets, presumably related to mammotrope metabolism. What appear to be large secondary lysosomes as well as the lipid droplets are observed within folliculostellate cells; lipid, therefore, may be degraded through a lysosomal pathway in folliculo-stellate cells.     

Monoclonal antibody-directed immunopurification and identification of cytochromes P-450

A 28 amino acid peptide with diuretic and natriuretic activity has been purified from rat atrial muscle. The primary structure of this atrial peptide is H-Ser-Leu-Arg-Arg-Ser-Ser-Cys-Phe-Gly-Gly-Arg-Ile-Asp-Arg-Ile-Gly- (sequence in text) Ala-Gln-Ser-Gly-Leu-Gly-Cys-Asn-Ser-Phe-(Arg)-Tyr-OH. The biological activity of this peptide is identical to that of atrial natriuretic factor and cardionatrin I isolated from rat atria.     

Characterization of the Blood-Brain Barrier: Protein Composition of the Capillary Endothelial Cell Membrane

Microvessels were isolated from canine cerebral cortex, and the composition of the endothelial cell membrane was investigated. Endothelial cell membranes were separated from the surrounding basement membrane, solubilized, and subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 12% gels. Staining with Coomassie Blue revealed a characteristic banding pattern of at least 12 major proteins with apparent molecular weights between 14,000 and 250,000. When proteins from red blood cell ghosts were run simultaneously, no similarities were observed, except for proteins at apparent molecular weights of 43,000 (band 3) and 35,000 (band 4). These two proteins migrated exactly to the positions of the erythrocyte proteins actin and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, respectively. Membrane glycoproteins in gels were also examined by the use of fluorescent lectins. Of the fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated (FITC) lectins tested, only FITC-concanavalin A had an affinity for any membrane components. Diazotized [125I]iodosulfanilic acid, a membrane-impermeable reagent, was used to label the internal (lumen) cell surface and the external (antilumen) cell surface. Autoradiography and determination of radioactivity levels in gel slices showed that several proteins were specifically labeled, and that major differences in radioactivity of proteins existed in internal and external labeling experiments. It is concluded that the protein composition of the luminal membrane is different from that of the antiluminal membrane.     

Precocene causes male determination in the aphid Myzus persicae

When adult apterous viviparous females of Myzus persicae, reared in short night conditions at 21–23°C, are treated with the precocene analogue 6-methoxy-7-ethoxy-2,2-dimethylchromene, they deposit males towards the end of their reproductive lives. The first-born normal daughters of the treated females also deposit some males at various times in their reproductive lives. Karyotypic analysis was used to investigate the sequence of male and female embryos in the ovarioles of precociously metamorphosed aphids. The experiments support the hypothesis (Mittler et al., 1979) that juvenile hormone level controls the sex determination process in aphids. Since male aphids have an XO sex chromosome constitution, this implies that juvenile hormone level influences the behaviour of the X-chromosomes at or before the single maturation division of the egg. At this division one X-chromosome is eliminated from eggs which will develop as males. Aphids provide the first example of a specific endocrine influence on chromosome behaviour in sex determination.     

Structure fine du rein de l'Epinoche (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) au cours de sa transformation muqueuse

Résumé Pendant la période de reproduction, les néphrons du rein de l'Epinoche mâle subissent d'importantes modifications de structure sous l'action des hormones sexuelles. Au niveau de chacun d'entre eux, se différencient deux segments distincts par leur fonction et par leur cytologie. Le segment urinaire, très court, est formé de cellules identiques à celles du jeune, qui remplissent leur fonction d'excrétion. Le segment glandulaire, plus volumineux, subit une transformation muqueuse et élabore une sécrétion qui sert à construire le nid. L'évolution de ces deux segments est étudiée au cours de la période de reproduction et les modifications cytologiques correspondantes sont décrites.

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Fine structure of the kidney of the three-spined-stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeate L.) during its mucous transformation

Summary Under the action of sexual hormones the nephrons of the kidney of the male three-spined-stickleback undergo considerable transformations during the breeding period. They differentiate into two segments which differ from one another in function and cytology. The cells of the urinary segment are identical to those of the young fish. They have an excretory function. The glandular segment undergoes a mucous transformation and synthesizes a secretion which is used for the building of the nest. The cytological transformations occuring at the level of these two segments during the breeding period are described with special attention to the mucous cells.

     

Ultrastructure de l'endomètre humain normal

Résumé L'étude du chorion cytogène de 15 endomètres humains normaux prélevés à divers moments du cycle menstruel a précisé d'importantes variations des vaisseaux et des cellules.Les vaisseaux subissent une maturation progressive: en phase proliferative moyenne, des pointes d'accroissement se forment à partir du réseau vasculaire profond activé; au milieu du cycle, elles se transforment en capillaires typiques; en phases sécrétoires moyenne et avancée, des péricytes migrent dans le chorion cytogène et se différencient en cellules choriales.Ces cellules choriales, dites fixes, ont une évolution biphasique au cours du cycle menstruel. Au milieu de chacune des phases, proliférative et surtout sécrétoire, les cellules choriales fixes, dites alors fibroblastoïdes, montrent une intense activité de synthèse. A ces périodes de synthèse succède une involution cellulaire, peu marquée en fin de phase proliferative, intense en phase sécrétoire avancée.Les cellules dites prédéciduales sont des cellules choriales fixes involuées et hyperhydratées; elles vont, en phase menstruelle, évoluer de plusieurs façons: la plupart d'entre elles régénèrent, certaines se nécrosent focalement ou totalement, d'autres font preuve d'activité macrophagique, en particulier collagénolytique.

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Ultrastructure of the normal human endometriumI. The stroma

Summary 15 human endometria during the normal menstrual cycle have been investigated. Important alterations of the vessels and the stroma cells occur.The vessels are the site of gradual maturation. In the mid proliferative phase, growing capillaries rise from the deep-seated vascular system. In the middle of the cycle, they change into typical capillaries. In the mid and late secretory phases, pericytes leave the walls of the capillaries and differentiate into stroma cells.These stroma cells undergo a biphasic cyclic evolution. The middle of the proliferative and particularly of the secretory phase is marked by an intensive synthetic activity of the stroma cells which are called, at this time, fibroblastoïd stroma cells. These two periods of synthesis are followed by cellular involution, mild in the proliferative, intense in the secretory phase.The so-called predecidual cells are hyperhydrated involuted stroma cells. In the menstrual phase they behave very differently of: the majority regenerates, some predecidual cells are the site of focal or total necrosis, others show a macrophagic activity which is conspicuous in some cells having a collagenolytic activity.

Nous remercions Monsieur le Professeur Gandar, Directeur de la Clinique Gynécologique et Obstétricale 1 de la Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg de nous avoir confié, pour examen ultrastructural, le matériel nécessaire à cette étude.     

Effect of retinoic acid on the proliferation and tumorigenicity of mouse mastocytoma cells

Retinoic acid (RA) inhibited the in vitro growth of the mouse mast cell tumor line P₈₁₅ in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The inhibition was accompanied by an increase in the amount of neutral intracellular mucopolysaccharides. Study of cell cycle kinetics showed that exposure to retinoic acid led to a slowing-down of the cell-cycle progression possibly related to a more differentiated cell population disclosed by microscopy with a lower proliferative capacity. In vivo, delays in both tumor appearance and mouse mortality were observed after injecting RA into mice bearing mastocytomas. These results suggest that RA could be of interest in the treatment of human malignant systemic mastocytosis with proliferation of immature mast cells.     

Effect of Desipramine on a Glycoprotein Sialyltransferase Activity in C6 Cultured Glioma Cells

The tricyclic antidepressant desipramine, when added to culture medium, gave rise in C6 rat glioma cells to a decrease of the activity of the enzyme asialofetuin sialyltransferase. The inhibition was dose and time dependent and was observed in both multiplying cells and cells blocked with 2 mM thymidine or depletion of amino acids. This inhibition was rather specific to the sialyltransferase, as under the conditions where this enzyme was inhibited up to 70%, other enzymes such as dolichol phosphate mannose synthetase, glutamine synthetase, and glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase remained unaffected. This inhibition was not reversed after removal of desipramine from the medium and was not observed by direct addition of desipramine to the sialyltransferase incubation assay. Under the same conditions, W-7 [N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-1-naphthalenesulfonamide], which is known to be a potent calmodulin antagonist and an inhibitor of calmodulin-dependent kinases, gave the same concentration-dependent inhibition profile of sialyltransferase as desipramine, whereas H-7 [1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine], which is an inhibitor of protein kinase C and cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinases, had no effect. So, it is suggested that desipramine inhibits the sialyltransferase activity in C6 glioma cells through a calmodulin-dependent system.     

Interferon inhibits the accumulation of glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA in oligodendrocytes and C6 cells

We investigated the effect of rat interferon-/ (IFN) on the expression of glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (E.C.1.1.1.8; GPDH), in both C6 cells and pure cultures of oligodendrocytes. IFNs are naturally produced inhibitors of cell growth that can also affect differentiated cell functions. GPDH is a biochemical marker for oligodendrocytes and is known to be developmentally regulated and steroid inducible. GPDH activity is induced by hydrocortisone (HC) 3.5 fold in C6 cells and 5 fold in oligodendrocytes compared to untreated cultures. A pretreatment of these cells with 75 U/ml of rat IFN-/ resulted in an inhibition of the HC induction of GPDH enzymatic activity by 50% and 40% in C6 cells and oligodendrocytes respectively. We also found that IFN impaired the accumulation of GPDH mRNA in both cell types. These results demonstrate that IFNs are capable of modifying the cellular response to hormones in cells of neuroepithelial origin, and suggest the possibility that IFNs may be able to influence the development and function of the brain.Special issue dedicated to Dr. Paola S. Timiras