Cell composition of the human pulmonary valve: a comparative study with the aortic valve--the VESALIO Project. Vitalitate Exornatum Succedaneum Aorticum labore Ingegnoso Obtinebitur.

Background: Cell populations present in human semilunar valves have not been investigated thoroughly. The aim of this study was to characterize the cell phenotypes in pulmonary valve leaflets (PVL) in comparison with aortic (AVL) valve leaflets.

Methods: AVL and PVL were dissected from hearts (n = 4) harvested from transplanted patients.

Effects of lonidamine on testicular and epididymal proteins in the rat.

The mechanism responsible for the antispermatogenic activity of lonidamine (LND) [1-(2,4-dichlorobenzyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxylic acid], a drug with low systemic toxicity and lack of significant hormonal effects, is still unclear but may be related to alterations of Sertoli cell proteins. Here, we confirmed that a single oral dose of LND (100 mg/kg b.w.

Solitary tract nuclei in acute heart failure.

Background And Purpose: Symmetrical necrosis of the brain stem nuclei has been described as a consequence of severe transitory cerebral hypoxia mainly in neonates or young adults who experienced an episode of acute ischemia due to transitory acute heart failure. We report selective bilateral lesions of the solitary tract nuclei in 5 adults with short survival intervals after acute heart failure.

Methods: In 5 patients who died due to cardiovascular pathology, histological examination was performed on multiple samples of cerebral hemispheres, on transverse sections of the midbrain and pons, and on transverse serial sections of the medulla stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Klüver-Barrera, and Luxol fast blue.

[Emergency surgery: suppurating urachal cyst producing intestinal occlusion].

Urachal cysts are anomalies related to the persistence of urachal remnants after the birth. They are seldom asymptomatic, but in some cases they mimic acute abdominal disease. We report a case of a 67-year-old man with relapsing episodes of intestinal sub-occlusion caused by the presence of an infected urachal cyst.

Chondrocyte aggregation and reorganization into three-dimensional scaffolds.

Articular cartilage has a very limited self-repairing capacity; thus, chondral lesions normally result in chronic degeneration and, eventually, osteoarthritis development. Currently, tissue engineering offers a new tool for the clinical treatment of osteochondral defects. The present investigation aimed to develop an in vitro engineered cartilage using a new class of semisynthetic scaffolds.

Effects of nitric oxide inhibition on the spread of biotinylated dextran and on extracellular space parameters in the neostriatum of the male rat.

Volume transmission in the brain is mediated by the diffusion of neurotransmitters, modulators and other neuroactive substances in the extracellular space. The effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibition on extracellular space diffusion properties were studied using two different approaches, the histological dextran method and the real-time iontophoretic tetramethylammonium method. The spread of biotinylated dextran (mol.

Morphometric analysis of the fibroadipose tissue of the female pelvis.

Purpose: The structure of the retroperitoneal connective tissue of the female pelvis was evaluated to determine whether its spatial arrangement may have a role in supporting the pelvic viscera.

Materials And Methods: After in situ formalin fixation the pelvic viscera with the surrounding connective tissue were removed together with the pelvic floor from 18 female cadavers 48 to 68 years old. Serial macrosections of the bladder base, cervix, lower rectum and pelvic floor complex, cut in coronal (4 cases) and horizontal (10 cases) planes, were stained with azan-Mallory, and the remaining 4 were cut in the horizontal plane and plastinated using von Hagens E12 technique.

Differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis levels in human leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma.

A comparative analysis of the differentiation pattern, the proliferative behaviour, and the level of apoptosis between human benign and malignant neoplasms of smooth-muscle (SM) tissue is lacking. The clinical, histopathological, immunochemical, and immunocytochemical features of leiomyomas (LM) and leiomyosarcomas (LMS) were investigated by a panel of monoclonal antibodies specific for some differentiation markers of SM tissue (SM myosin and alpha-actin, desmin, and SM22) and for markers of non-muscle tissue (vimentin and non-muscle myosin). Proliferating normal and neoplastic cells were identified by proliferating-cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)/Ki67 immunostainings and the apoptotic cells were revealed by means of the terminal-deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling technique.

Functional and morphological study of the cricopharyngeal muscle in patients with Zenker's diverticulum.

Pharyngo-oesophageal function was investigated in 12 patients with Zenker's diverticulum before and after cricopharyngeal myotomy with or without diverticulectomy using low-compliance, high-frequency oesophageal manometry. Nine healthy volunteers served as controls. The amount of muscle and connective tissue in the cricopharyngeal muscle was also measured by computerized morphometry and compared with findings in cadavers with no history of dysphagia.

The receptor mosaic hypothesis of the engram: possible relevance of Boolean network modeling.

In the past 15 years, several lines of evidence have shown that receptors for chemical signals can interact in domains of the plasma membrane and possibly form molecular circuits encoding logical operators. In this frame, the receptor mosaic hypothesis of the engram was advanced. According to this proposal, aggregates of different receptor species (mosaics) may form in neuronal membranes (typically synapses) and constitute a memory trace (engram) of its activity.

Proliferation of submesothelial mesenchymal cells during early phase of serosal thickening in the rabbit bladder is accompanied by transient keratin 18 expression.

Partial outlet obstruction of the rabbit bladder induces serosal thickening and smooth muscle (SM) hypertrophy. Within thickened serosa, submesothelial (mesenchymal) cells differentiate into SM cells after 30 days of obstruction[S. Buoro et al.

Anatomy of segmental duplication in the human basilar artery. Possible site of aneurysm formation.

Segmental duplications of the basilar artery, previously reported exclusively as anatomical variations, owe their clinical interest to the possible association with aneurysms localized at the junctions of the fenestrated segments. The morphological characteristics of 5 cases of basilar artery segmental duplication without aneurysms, found at autopsy, are reported. In 3 of these the proximal junction of the fenestrated segment was studied with scanning electron microscopy and morphometry.

Ultrastructural analysis of the cavernous and dorsal penile nerves in experimental diabetes.

The present study was designed to investigate whether experimental diabetes determines structural changes in peripheral nerves involved in reflexogenic erection, namely the cavernous and the dorsal nerve of the penis. Myelinated axons were examined in the dorsal nerve of the penis from rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes (3- and 6-month duration). Morphometric analysis disclosed a significant decrease of myelinated fibre size most likely due to a progressive axonal atrophy.

Colocalization of low- and high-affinity NGF receptors on PC12 cells, C6 glioma cells and dorsal root ganglion neurons.

The biological responsiveness of neural cells to nerve growth factor (NGF) appears to require expression and ligand binding to both the low-affinity NGF receptor (LNGFR) and the proto-oncogene product trk, the latter being a receptor tyrosine kinase. Immunolocalization of the LNGFR and the high-affinity component of the NGF receptor, trk (HNGFR) was studied by electron microscopic morphometric analysis on cultured PC12 pheochromocytoma cells, C6 glioma cells and neonatal rat dorsal root ganglia neurons using a double immunogold labeling technique. Two receptor-specific antibodies, anti-LNGFR monoclonal antibody 192-IgG and a polyclonal antibody against the 14 carboxy-terminal amino acids of the Trk protein, were utilized in conjunction with immunoglobulin conjugated to colloidal gold particles of different sizes.

Time course, localization and pharmacological modulation of immediate early inducible genes, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and trkB messenger RNAs in the rat brain following photochemical stroke.

A focal, unilateral thrombotic stroke was produced in the rat sensorimotor cortex. The time course of expression and localization of the immediate early inducible genes: c-fos, c-jun, zif268; nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and the related tyrosine kinase high-affinity receptor (trkB) messenger RNAs were studied by in situ hybridization. The levels of messenger RNAs for c-fos, zif268, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (but not nerve growth factor) and trkB were consistently increased in cortex ipsilaterally to the lesion, while c-jun messenger RNA content was only slightly increased.

Glucocorticoids depress activity-dependent expression of BDNF mRNA in hippocampal neurones.

Glucocorticoid hormones are important regulators of brain development and ageing, and can impair the capacity of hippocampal neurones to survive various neurological insults. Here we show that dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, prevents activity-dependent increases of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA in cultures of rat hippocampal neurones. In situ hybridization was used to evaluate the levels of BDNF mRNA.

Localization and smooth muscle cell composition of atherosclerotic lesions in Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits.

Morphological techniques (histology and electron microscopy), as well as immunofluorescence assays, were applied to the study of the localization and smooth muscle cell (SMC) composition of atherosclerotic lesions in Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits during a 4.5-month period. Vascular segments from different arteries (carotid, coronary, and iliac arteries) or from the same vessel at different levels (aorta) of animals at days 7, 15, 30, 40, 60, 90, and 135 showed that the atherosclerotic lesion first became visible at the level of the aortic arch in 60-day-old WHHL animals.

Neurotrophin-3 upregulates NGF receptors in a central nervous system glial cell line.

The low-affinity nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor (LNGFR) binds the neurotrophins NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) with similar affinities. Here we report on the ability of NT-3 to regulate the expression of the LNGFR in C6 glioma cells. LNGFR-like immunoreactivity (LNGFR-IR) was examined in C6 cells treated for 16 h with NT-3 and exposed to the antibody 192-IgG followed by immunoglobulins conjugated with colloidal gold by means of ultrastructural morphometric analysis.

Rabbit ductus arteriosus during development: anatomical structure and smooth muscle cell composition.

The anatomical structure as well as the smooth muscle cell (SMC1) composition of the ductus arteriosus (DA) were studied in rabbits ranging in age from 29 days of gestation to 20 days after birth. Computer-assisted, three-dimensional reconstructions of hematoxylin-eosin stained serial cryosections from ductus arteriosus-aorta (DA-AO) junctures revealed that DA in animals near term is separated from the aorta by a "septumlike" structure that is continuous with the aortic wall. Two days after birth, obliteration of DA is almost complete, and a small "pocketlike" cavity appears in the pre-existing site in which DA merged into the aorta.

Interaction of ganglioside GM1 with the B subunit of cholera toxin modulates intracellular free calcium in sensory neurons.

The B subunit of cholera toxin, which binds specifically to GM1 ganglioside on cell surfaces, has previously been shown to modulate intracellular calcium levels and growth in several cell types. To explore a role for such changes in calcium in the growth regulatory function of cell-associated GM1 in neurons, dissociated neurons from chicken embryonic day 8 dorsal root ganglia were exposed to the B subunit. To enhance sensitivity to B subunit, some neurons were also enriched with added GM1 (100 microM) and then exposed to B subunit.

Photochemical stroke and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA expression.

In situ hybridization and Northern blotting were used to study the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA in the rat brain following photochemical stroke. A focal thrombotic lesion of the sensorimotor cortex was produced by intravenously injecting the light-sensitive dye rose bengal and exposing the skull to a controlled beam of light. Four hours after the light exposure the level of BDNF mRNA was increased in the hippocampus and cortex ipsilateral and perifocal to the lesion.

Morphometric evaluation of populations of neuronal profiles (cell bodies, dendrites, and nerve terminals) in the central nervous system.

Morphometric techniques have been developed to quantitatively characterize groups of transmitter-identified neuronal profiles, such as cell groups, dendrite and nerve terminal fields. These morphometric techniques will be illustrated by introducing some general tools for image analysis which can be considered as a background for the present specific applications. The following methods have been included: (1) methods to identify and quantitatively characterize, from both numerical and geometrical standpoints, groups of profiles in a two- and three-dimensional frame; (2) methods to evaluate the evenness of a certain distribution of profiles in the plane; (3) methods to identify subgroups of profiles based on their different spatial or optical density; and (4) methods to compare the distributions of two or more groups of profiles.