An adult myometrial pluripotential precursor that promotes healing of damaged muscular tissues.

The use of adult stem cells for tissue and organ regeneration constitutes a promising alternative therapy in many human diseases that are currently not treatable. We have isolated a new cell type from mouse adult uterine biopsies (murine adult myometrial precursors or mAMPs) by means of using a simple and non-invasive approach. These cells have been characterized by surface markers, being positive for CD31, CD34, CD44, CD117, Stro-1 and Sca-1.

Notch and NGF/p75NTR control dendrite morphology and the balance of excitatory/inhibitory synaptic input to hippocampal neurones through Neurogenin 3.

We have previously shown that dendrite morphology of cultured hippocampal neurones is controlled by Notch receptor activation or binding of nerve growth factor (NGF) to its low affinity receptor p75NTR, i.e. processes that up-regulate the expression of the Homologue of enhancer of split 1 and 5.

NGF controls dendrite development in hippocampal neurons by binding to p75NTR and modulating the cellular targets of Notch.

Notch and neurotrophins control neuronal shape, but it is not known whether their signaling pathways intersect. Here we report results from hippocampal neuronal cultures that are in support of this possibility. We found that low cell density or blockade of Notch signaling by a soluble Delta-Fc ligand decreased the mRNA levels of the nuclear targets of Notch, the homologues of enhancer-of-split 1 and 5 (Hes1/5).

Determining the role of patterned cell proliferation in the shape and size of the Drosophila wing.

The present work is a detailed analysis of the numerical and positional parameters of cell proliferation in all of the derivatives of the wing disk. We have made use of twin clones resulting from mitotic recombination events at three different ages of development. The interfaces between twin clones indicate the relative position in the anlage of the mother cells.