Morphometric pattern in Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)(Cheloniidae) hatchlings from nests with different embryo development rates.

The geometric morphometric analysis of the shell of Caretta caretta hatchlings revealed that morphological variations may be related to incubation duration. Based on the overlapping of anatomical landmarks of the carapace and the plastron, it was possible to discriminate hatchlings from slow and fast developing clutches. Carapace and plastron of hatchlings from nests where incubation lasted less than 55 days are rounder as compared to the hatchlings from nests where incubation took 67 days.

Altered conjugate formation and altered apoptosis of multidrug-resistant human leukemia cell line affects susceptibility to killing by activated natural killer (NK) cells.

Most leukemias that exhibit P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-associated multidrug resistance (MDR) exhibit reduced susceptibility to immune cytotoxicity mediated by natural killer (NK) cells. To explore this phenomenon we investigated N6/ADR, a doxorubicin-selected, P-gp-positive variant of the human acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cell line NALM6. Each stage of the NK cytolytic pathway, (binding, activation and killing) was evaluated to identify the alterations responsible for the reduced cytotoxicity of the variant relative to its drug-sensitive parental line.

Mouse blastocyst immunosurgery with commercial antiserum to mouse erythrocytes.

Immunosurgery is a useful technique for the isolation of inner cell masses from murine blastocysts. Conventionally, rabbit antisera made ad hoc against murine splenic or fetal cells or fibroblasts have been used as antibody sources. We investigated the feasibility of using commercially available rabbit antiserum to murine erythrocytes (anti-RBC) and compared it with rabbit antiserum generated ad hoc to murine L-cells (anti-L-cell).

Autologous bone marrow transplantation for leukemia: monoclonal antibody-mediated purging of multidrug-resistant leukemia.

Nine drug-resistant variants of human leukemic/lymphoma cell lines were evaluated for the expression of antigens which are commonly targeted in antibody-dependent purging protocols used for autologous bone marrow transplantation. Flow cytometry revealed that most drug-resistant variants differ in antigen expression from parental lines. Both epipodophyllotoxin-selected T-ALL variants tested expressed lower levels of CD5 than parental counterparts.

The relationship between multi-drug resistance and resistance to natural-killer-cell and lymphokine-activated killer-cell lysis in human leukemic cell lines.

Results concerning a possible link between susceptibility to natural-cell-mediated immune cytolysis and the multi-drug resistance (MDR) phenotype are conflicting. We evaluated in human acute lymphocytic leukemia the relationship between acquired drug resistance and susceptibility to cytolysis mediated by endogenous, interferon-activated, and interleukin-2-activated natural cytotoxic cells. Eight human leukemia drug-resistant/sensitive cell line pairs were evaluated; drug-resistant sub-lines included those selected for primary resistance to adriamycin, etoposide, teniposide, vincristine, and vinblastine.