GH3 tumor pituitary cell cytoskeleton and plasma membrane arrangement are determined by extracellular matrix proteins: implications on motility, proliferation and hormone secretion.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) influences different physiological and pathophysiological aspects of the cell. The ECM consists in a complex network of macromolecules with characteristic biochemical properties that allow cells to sense their environments inducing different signals and changing cell behavior. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the participation of different ECM proteins in cell morphology and its implication on motility, proliferation and hormone secretion in GH3 cells, a tumor pituitary cell.

Expression of Eag1 K+ channel and ErbBs in human pituitary adenomas: cytoskeleton arrangement patterns in cultured cells.

Pituitary adenomas can invade surrounded tissue, but the mechanism remains elusive. Ether à go-go-1 (Eag1) potassium channel and epidermal growth factor receptors (ErbB1 and ErbB2) have been associated to invasive phenotypes or poor prognosis in cancer patients. However, cells arrange their cytoskeleton in order to acquire a successful migration pattern.

Prolonged epidural anaesthesia in a patient with Dupuytren's diathesis.

A patient with Dupuytren's diathesis experienced a prolonged sensory and motor block following epidural anaesthesia. It was postulated that this occurred secondary to fibrous changes within the epidural space.

Modulation of rat liver S-adenosylmethionine synthetase activity by glutathione.

Rat liver S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) synthetase appears as high-M(r) (tetramer) and low-M(r) (dimer) forms. Both are inhibited in the presence of GSSG at pH 8. The calculated Ki values are 2.

The impact of phantom CT scanning on surgery for the solitary pulmonary nodule.

A reliable preoperative method to distinguish benign from malignant peripheral solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) would be clinically valuable. New techniques using epoxy resin plastic models of the thorax combined with calcium carbonate (phantom) nodules to determine the density of SPN have been proposed as a partial solution to this problem. During the first 3 years that phantom computed tomography (CT) has been available, 50 consecutive patients in whom SPN was discovered on screening chest x-ray film and who were considered to be candidates for surgery were evaluated by this technique.