Basic and applied histochemistry最新文献

The amount of extravascular immunoglobulin deposits in the synovial membrane of patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis was studied in comparison with that of patients suffering from non-joint diseases. Immunoglobulin deposits were immunostained using the three-layer immunoperoxidase method. The staining results were quantified with the help of a microscope photometer connected with a scanning stage. Several experiments involving artificial test substrates, diseases with allegedly increased extravascular deposits or diseases not exhibiting extravascular deposits of immunoglobulins are used to validate the described microspectrophotometrical approach for measuring extravascular immunoglobulin deposits. The scanning photometry demonstrates significantly higher amount of extravascular immunoglobulin deposits in rheumatoid arthritis as compared with osteoarthritis and non-joint diseases.

The cellular distribution of prostaglandin-synthetase was studied in the salivary glands of Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis. Only the epithelial cells of the ducts showed discrete prostaglandin-synthetase activity, whereas the acini and the stroma gave completely negative results in all three salivary glands of both sexes. The presence of exogenous substrates was not required for the reaction, since identical results are observed following incubation with and without arachidonic acid. The localization of prostaglandin synthetase in the ductal epithelia of Praomys salivary glands is related to a possible regulatory role of the prostaglandins on the reabsorptive activity of the ductal cells.

The study of neuropeptides represents an appropriate playground for comparative and evolutionary research. Comparative analysis can give insight into the conservative pattern of intercellular transmission molecules, possibly bound both to some evolutionary antiquity and to cellular constraints. In the same time it can teach us how modulation has occurred at molecular, cellular, multicellular levels in order to give the species-specific functional organization. Using some examples from vertebrate central neurons system (CNS) immunocytochemical analyses, the results so far obtained suggest the rise of a new comparative chemical neuroanatomy. The rationale of "what" and "why" we are comparing is, however, needed in order to understand constancy, heterogeneity or else trends toward complexity in the distribution of neuropeptides.

The influence of pregnancy on the density and pattern of the peptidergic innervation of the guinea pig uterine artery was studied. Whole mount stretch preparations of the uterine artery from estrus and late pregnant guinea pigs were processed for the immunohistochemical demonstration of neuropeptide Y (NPY)-, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)- and substance P (SP)- immunoreactive nerve fibres. In late pregnancy the density of NPY- and CGRP- containing nerve fibres was remarkably decreased, while that of VIP- and SP- immunoreactive nerves showed a moderate reduction. The meaning and the possible physiological relevance of the decreased density of peptide-immunoreactive nerves in the uterine artery in late pregnancy are discussed.

Forty-six liver biopsies from HBsAg Delta/anti-Delta serum positive patients with chronic hepatitis were compared with liver specimens from HBsAg positive Delta/antiDelta negative patients. The results indicate more severe histologic damage and inflammation among subjects who are serum-positive to the Delta system. Specific virus antigen was found in liver cell nuclei of almost all the Delta IR patients (93.5%). The rate of diffusion was directly proportional to the severity of histological lesions, which is in linea with the direct cytopathic effect of the Delta virus as ascertained in various other studies.

Knowledge of chemical structure of glycoconjugates (GCs) at precise loci has increased through histochemical use of a battery of horseradish peroxidase-conjugated lectins, each possessing affinity for a specific terminal sugar or internal sugar linkage. Lectin histochemistry has shown tremendous variability among GCs in different histologic sites, reflecting known chemical diversity of these substances. GCs differ in structure among various cell types in an animal and differ at a given histologic site between species or between individuals in outbred but not inbred species. Lectin conjugates react with and detect GCs not otherwise demonstrable histochemically and, because of low concentration in tissue, not identified biochemically. Lectin-HRP conjugates have visualized unique GC with terminal GalNAc in primordial germ cells of rat embryos, with terminal Gal in epithelial basal cells of rodents and nodes of Ranvier in rats and with terminal GalNAc in a cell population in the thymus, Peyer's patches and intestinal lamina propria of some but not other mice.

The permeability of the newt cerebral capillaries to lanthanum ion has been studied after perfusion with mannitol solutions of increasing molarity. In the control specimens lanthanum deposits were limited to the luminal side of the capillaries and tracer did not spread to the pericapillary spaces due to the tight junctions. Treatment with hypertonic solutions of mannitol (0.25M, 0.5M, 1M) caused opening of the blood brain barrier with a progressive increase in lanthanum between the endothelial cell edges, in the basal lamina and in the extracellular spaces of the nervous parenchyma in relation to the molarity of the mannitol solution. The spread of lanthanum is probably due to opening of the tight junctions between the endothelial cells, since pinocytotic vesicles labelled with tracer were not evident.

After a few decad of neglect, the "enteric nervous system" has recently regained the attention of investigators. Indeed, various studies, such as those which led to the isolation from the gut of a number of neuropeptides, subsequently demonstrated throughout the nervous system, have prompted major advancements of modern neuroscience. In spite of a wealth of animal investigations and a number of human studies, however, available information concerning the human "enteric nervous system" is comparatively sparse. In the opinion that such lack of information was largely due to unavailability of appropriate techniques, we have initiated and developed a new comprehensive methodology. This way, a quantitative analysis was made possible of both nerve structure and transmitter status, point-to-point along the gut, as well as within the various, functionally heterogeneous components of the gastrointestinal wall itself. After a general introduction, the present review is intended to summarize such methodology, with the addition of a few illustrative examples of application and a practically-oriented guideline to its use, in the form of technical appendix.

The immunocytochemical detection by a monoclonal antibody of bromodeoxyuridine incorporated into S-phase cells allows the identification of proliferating cells. In this study we demonstrate that the labelling of embryo tissues is achieved by a single administration of BrdUrd to the mother after a 1 hour-labelling period. This simple and rapid technique facilitates the detection of proliferating cells within the embryo for the study of developing tissues and embryo cytokinetics.