Renal cystic disease and ammoniagenesis in Han:SPRD rats.

Cyst formation in conditions associated with increased renal ammoniagenesis (hypokalemia, distal renal tubular acidosis, renal mass reduction) and experimental links between increased ammoniagenesis and interstitial inflammation have suggested a role for ammonia in the pathogenesis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD). To explore this hypothesis, Han:SPRD rats, a PKD model that affects male more severely than female animals, have been used. Heterozygous cystic (Cy/+) and homozygous normal (+/+) male and female offspring of Cy/+ rats were divided at 3 wk of age into control groups drinking water and experimental groups drinking 300 mM NH4Cl, 300 mM KHCO3, 200 mM KHCO3, 200 mM KCl, 200 mM NaHCO3, or 200 mM NaCl.

Monoclonal antibodies to von Willebrand's factor: reactivity with porcine and human antigens.

Monoclonal antibodies to porcine von Willebrand's factor (vWf) were obtained from hybridomas derived from the fusion of NS-1 plasmacytoma cells and spleen cells from immunized BALB/c mice. Twenty hybrids were positive in a radioimmunoassay based on the ability of immobilized hybridoma antibodies to bind porcine vWf as detected by the subsequent binding of 125I-polyclonal rabbit anti-vWf. Growth of the hybridomas as ascitic tumors yielded fluids having titers in this assay ranging from 8 x 10(7) to 8 x 10(11).

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of cranial neural crest migration in chick embryos.

This study describes migrating cranial neural crest cells and the microenvironment through which they migrate in chick embryos. Just prior to and during cell migration, an extensive fibrillar meshwork is observed, particularly on the outer surface of the neural tube and the inner surface of the ectoderm. This meshwork in general had a random orientation.