Evaluation of pectus bar position and osseous bone formation.

Purpose: Minimally invasive repair has become a popular approach for pectus excavatum (PE). The bar is secured to the thoracic wall and left for approximately 2 years. The authors have noticed an intense bone formation (BF) around some of these bars at removal.

Fibroblast growth factor signaling in the developing tracheoesophageal fistula.

Background/purpose: The Adriamycin-induced rat model of esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) provides a reliable system for the study of EA/TEF pathogenesis. The authors previously hypothesized that faulty branching lung morphogenesis pathways were a critical component of its pathogenesis. The authors have found evidence for faulty fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling related to epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in the fistula tract.

A role for sonic hedgehog signaling in the pathogenesis of human tracheoesophageal fistula.

Background/purpose: Many theories of the pathogenesis of esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) have been proposed, but no specific mechanism has been demonstrated. The authors previously reported data suggesting a respiratory origin of the fistula tract in the rat model and in humans. Sonic hedgehog (Shh) "knockout" mice have the VACTERL association, and thus it was hypothesized that defects in Shh signaling may exist in the human neonatal EA/TEF fistula tract.

Organogenesis particularly relevant to fetal surgery.

In utero surgical intervention is an exciting frontier in medicine. Fetal surgeons strive to treat congenital anomalies definitively while organogenesis is still occurring. Many of these anomalies pose such a threat to the viability of the affected fetus that waiting until after the child is born to treat them is frequently not satisfying and too often unsuccessful.

Complete discontinuity of the distal fistula tract from the developing gut: direct histologic evidence for the mechanism of tracheoesophageal fistula formation.

The embryogenesis of tracheoesophageal anomalies remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to better define the embryogenesis of developing esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF), with specific attention to the controversial issue of whether a discontinuity exists in the foregut during its development of EA/TEF. Pregnant outbred rats were injected with adriamycin (2 mg/kg i.

Lectin as a marker for staining and purification of embryonic pancreatic epithelium.

The embryonic pancreatic epithelium, and later the ductal epithelium, is known to give rise to the endocrine and exocrine cells of the developing pancreas, but no specific surface marker for these cells has been identified. Here, we utilized Dolichos Biflorus Agglutinin (DBA) as a specific marker of these epithelial cells in developing mouse pancreas. From the results of an immunofluorescence study using fluorescein-DBA and pancreatic specific cell markers, we found that DBA detects specifically epithelial, but neither differentiating endocrine cells nor acinar cells.