[Eye connective tissues: cornea and vitreous body].

The authors, ophtalmologist (Y.P.) and basic scientists (J.

[The connective tissues, from the origin of the concept to its "Maturation" to extracellular matrix. Application to ocular tissues. Contribution to the history of medical sciences].

The "Tissue" concept emerged apparently in the medical literature at about the French revolution, during the second half of the 18(th) century. It was found in the texts written by the physicians of Béarn and Montpellier, the Bordeu-s and also by the famous physician, Felix Vicq d'Azyr, the last attending physician of the queen Marie-Antoinette, "Bordeu et al. (1775) et Pouliquen (2009)".

High-throughput insect cell protein expression applications.

The Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS) is one of the most efficient systems for production of recombinant proteins and consequently its application is wide-spread in industry as well as in academia. Since the early 1970s, when the first stable insect cell lines were established and the infectivity of bacu-lovirus in an in vitro culture system was demonstrated (1, 2), virtually thousands of reports have been published on the successful expression of proteins using this system as well as on method improvement. However, despite its popularity the system is labor intensive and time consuming.

A semi-automated large-scale process for the production of recombinant tagged proteins in the Baculovirus expression system.

The efficient preparation of recombinant proteins at the lab-scale level is essential for drug discovery, in particular for structural biology, protein interaction studies and drug screening. The Baculovirus insect-cell expression system is one of the most widely applied and highly successful systems for production of recombinant functional proteins. However, the use of eukaryotic cells as host organisms and the multi-step protocol required for the generation of sufficient virus and protein has limited its adaptation to industrialized high-throughput operation.

H244R VSX1 is associated with selective cone ON bipolar cell dysfunction and macular degeneration in a PPCD family.

Purpose: To elucidate the retinal dysfunction and the molecular basis of posterior polymorphous corneal dystrophy (PPCD) associated with macular dystrophy, both inherited in a dominant manner through a three-generation family.

Methods: Ophthalmologic examinations including slit lamp examination, visual acuity tests, fundus visualization by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, fluorescein angiography, color vision tests, electro-oculography, photopic and scotopic electroretinography (ERG) according to the International Society for Clinical Electrophysiology of Vision (ISCEV) protocols, and oscillatory potential (OP) recordings were conducted on affected family members. Corneal button from one affected patient was examined by transmission electron microscopy.

[Femtosecond laser: a micromachining system for corneal surgery].

Introduction: The authors present the diode-pumped, all-solid state, neodymium:glass femtosecond laser from the Laboratory of Ocular Biotechnology, Hotel-Dieu Hospital.

Materials And Methods: We worked with a 1,065-nm wavelength infrared laser. This laser is composed of an oscillator and amplification glass matrix mixed with neodymium.

Complete 1H and 13C NMR assignments for two new monodesmoside saponins from Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd.) Kuntze.

A detailed NMR study and full assignments of the 1H and 13C spectral data for two novel triterpenoid saponins isolated from the stem bark of Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd.) Kuntze are described. Their structures were established using a combination of 1D and 2D NMR techniques including 1H,1H-COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, gs-HMQC and gs-HMBC, and also electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and chemical methods.

[BIG-H3 protein: mutation of codon 124 and corneal amyloidosis].

In 1997, a group of hereditary corneal dystrophies was related to mutations in the TGFBI (BIGH3) gene. Within this group, some corneal dystrophies present particular biochemical features in that they are characterized by corneal amyloid deposition. Contrary to clinical and genetic knowledge, the biochemical characteristics of the encoded protein (Big-h3) and the mechanisms of its amyloid conversion remain unclear.

Recurrence of keratoconus characteristics: a clinical and histologic follow-up analysis of donor grafts.

Purpose: To report on clinical corneal topography, histopathologic analysis, and fine structure findings in failed grafts after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) for keratoconus (KC).

Design: Retrospective, consecutive, interventional case series with histologic and clinical correlation.

Participants: Twelve corneal buttons were obtained from consecutive patients undergoing repeated PK 10 to 28 years after the initial PK for KC.

[Corneal burns and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and -9): the effects of human amniotic membrane transplantation].

Purpose: Human amniotic membranes have recently been used in ophthalmology to restore deleted ocular surface after burns. Matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 have been implicated in the development of neovascularization. In this study, MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression was analyzed by in situ zymography on rabbit corneal chemical burns with and without human amniotic membrane graft.

Chemical constituents of Simarouba versicolor.

From the roots, stems and fruits of Simarouba versicolor (Simaroubaceae) were isolated quassinoids (3, 5-7), triterpenoids (8-14), a mixture of steroids (15-17), the flavonoid kaempferol (18) and the squalene derivative 11,14-diacetoxy-7,10; 15,18-diepoxy-6,19-dihidroxy-6,7,10,11,14,15,18,19-octahydrosqualene (19). Spectral data were used for structural characterization.

Comment on "The first description of an archaeal hemicellulase: the xylanase from Thermococcus zilligii strain AN1": evidence that the unique N-terminal sequence proposed comes from a maltodextrin phosphorylase.

Uhl and Daniel reported in this journal in 1999 (Extremophiles 3:263-267) the characterization of the first archaeal hemicellulase with a unique N-terminal sequence showing no homology with any xylanase or other protein from the databases. A genomic library of the chromosomal DNA of Thermococcus zilligii strain AN1 was screened by using a degenerate probe deduced from the N-terminal sequence. A positive clone was identified, and an amino acid sequence analysis revealed that the N-terminal sequence from this protein and the N-terminal sequence from the putative xylanase of T.

Nineteen years of penetrating keratoplasty in the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Paris.

Purpose: To identify changing trends in penetrating keratoplasties (PKs) performed at the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Paris between January 1980 and December 1999 and to explain the reasons for the changes.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 3,736 of the 3,836 PKs performed between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1999, and classified them into diagnostic categories.

Results: The most common indications for PK were keratoconus (28.

Mineralocorticoid hormone signaling regulates the 'epithelial sodium channel' in fibroblasts from human cornea.

We investigated the regulation of sodium absorption by steroid hormones in embryologically diverse cells from the human eye. A cell extract from human corneal fibroblasts was positive for both the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MCR) as 82- to 85-kD and 102-kD bands, respectively, by the Western blot technique. In fluorescent, confocal and electron microscopy, the MCR was revealed as a nucleocytoplasmic protein, whereas the ENaC was almost exclusively membrane bound; both appeared aligned along actin filaments of corneal keratocytes, and both were widely colocalized in various cell types of human cornea in situ.

[Avellino dystrophy. Current diagnostic criteria].

We report a French family suffering from an Avellino corneal dystrophy diagnosed by using clinical, histological, ultrastructural and genetics findings. Our results indicate that direct corneal examination and routine histological examinations must always be associated with an assay for BIGH3 gene mutations to establish a modern and unambiguous diagnosis of a corneal dystrophy.

The intrastromal corneal ring in clinical refractive surgery: reference to results in rabbit eyes.

Background: The intrastromal corneal ring (ISR) is a refractive device recently introduced for clinical application that is implanted in the mid-peripheral corneal stroma in order to correct myopia without invasion of the central optical zone. First clinical results of intracorneal ring segment implantation were published recently. These results reveal striking similarities to our own experimental data, only briefly published up to now.

Clinical, histologic, and ultrastructural features of the corneal dystrophy caused by the R124L mutation of the BIGH3 gene.

Objective: This study was designed to describe the clinical, histologic, and ultrastructural features of the corneal dystrophy associated with the R124L mutation of the BIGH3 gene.

Design: Retrospective clinical and histologic review of a new genetic mutation.

Participants: Thirty-four patients from five unrelated French families with corneal dystrophy caused by the R124L mutation of the BIGH3 gene were studied at the clinical, histologic, and ultrastructural levels.