Disparity in the effect of morphine on eupnea and gasping in anesthetized spontaneously breathing adult rats.

The goal of this study was to examine the effects of systemic morphine on the pattern and morphology of gasping breathing during respiratory autoresuscitation from transient anoxia. We hypothesized that systemic morphine levels sufficient to cause significant depression of eupnea would also cause depression of gasping breathing. Respiratory and cardiovascular variables were studied in 20 spontaneously breathing pentobarbital-anaesthetized adult male rats.

Intra-Amniotic Hemorrhage Imitating Gastroschisis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND A spontaneous intra-amniotic hemorrhage is rarely encountered during pregnancy. The correct diagnosis and management are problematic because of the infrequency of this condition and the high likelihood of a misdiagnosis. CASE REPORT A primigravida with an uncomplicated pregnancy and a normal targeted ultrasound presented late in the second trimester of pregnancy with antepartum bleeding of unknown origin.

Regulation of classical cadherin membrane expression and F-actin assembly by alpha-catenins, during Xenopus embryogenesis.

Alpha (α)-E-catenin is a component of the cadherin complex, and has long been thought to provide a link between cell surface cadherins and the actin skeleton. More recently, it has also been implicated in mechano-sensing, and in the control of tissue size. Here we use the early Xenopus embryos to explore functional differences between two α-catenin family members, α-E- and α-N-catenin, and their interactions with the different classical cadherins that appear as tissues of the embryo become segregated from each other.

Membrane-bound steel factor maintains a high local concentration for mouse primordial germ cell motility, and defines the region of their migration.

Steel factor, the protein product of the Steel locus in the mouse, is a multifunctional signal for the primordial germ cell population. We have shown previously that its expression accompanies the germ cells during migration to the gonads, forming a "travelling niche" that controls their survival, motility, and proliferation. Here we show that these functions are distributed between the alternatively spliced membrane-bound and soluble forms of Steel factor.

Steel factor controls primordial germ cell survival and motility from the time of their specification in the allantois, and provides a continuous niche throughout their migration.

Steel factor is an essential survival and proliferation factor for primordial germ cells (PGCs) during their migration in the early mouse embryo. PGCs arise during gastrulation, and migrate into the posterior endoderm that becomes the hindgut. Previous reports have suggested that PGCs become dependent on Steel factor when they colonize the hindgut.

The distribution and behavior of extragonadal primordial germ cells in Bax mutant mice suggest a novel origin for sacrococcygeal germ cell tumors.

In the mouse, germ cells that do not reach the genital ridges rapidly die by a wave of apoptosis that requires the pro-apoptotic protein Bax. In Bax-null embryos, large numbers of ectopic (extragonadal) germ cells fail to die. We have studied the fates of these, in an effort to understand the etiology of human extragonadal germ cell tumors, which are thought to arise from ectopic germ cells.