Cytology in cnidaria using Exaiptasia as a model.

A need exists for additional methods to examine cnidaria at the cellular level to aid our understanding of health, anatomy, and physiology of this important group of organisms. This need is particularly acute given that disease is emerging as a major factor in declines of ecologically important functional groups such as corals. Here we describe a simple method to process cnidarian cells for microscopic examination using the model organism Exaiptasia.

Mass mortality of collector urchins Tripneustes gratilla in Hawai`i.

As grazers, sea urchins are keystone species in tropical marine ecosystems, and their loss can have important ecological ramifications. Die-offs of urchins are frequently described, but their causes are often unclear, in part because systematic examinations of animal tissues at gross and microscopic level are not done. In some areas, urchins are being employed to control invasive marine algae.

Biofinder detects biological remains in Green River fish fossils from Eocene epoch at video speed.

The "Search for life", which may be extinct or extant on other planetary bodies is one of the major goals of NASA planetary exploration missions. Finding such evidence of biological residue in a vast planetary landscape is an enormous challenge. We have developed a highly sensitive instrument, the "Compact Color Biofinder", which can locate minute amounts of biological material in a large area at video speed from a standoff distance.

Sea star wasting disease pathology in Pisaster ochraceus shows a basal-to-surface process affecting color phenotypes differently.

Sea star wasting disease (SSWD) refers to a suite of poorly described non-specific clinical signs including abnormal posture, epidermal ulceration, and limb autotomy (sloughing) causing mortalities of over 20 species of sea stars and subsequent ecological shifts throughout the northeastern Pacific. While SSWD is widely assumed to be infectious, with environmental conditions facilitating disease progression, few data exist on cellular changes associated with the disease. This is unfortunate, because such observations could inform mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and host susceptibility.

Hiding in plain sight - platelets, the silent carriers of HIV-1.

There are approximately 38 million people globally living with Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) and given the tremendous success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) this has dramatically reduced mortality and morbidity with prevention benefits. However, HIV-1 persists during cART within the human body and re-appears upon cART interruption. This HIV-1 reservoir remains a barrier to cure with cellular sites of viral persistence not fully understood.

Cytology reveals diverse cell morphotypes and cellin-cell interactions in normal collector sea urchins Tripneustes gratilla.

Echinoderms such as sea urchins are important in marine ecosystems, particularly as grazers, and unhealthy sea urchins can have important ecological implications. For instance, unexplained mortalities of Diadema antillarum in the Caribbean were followed by algal overgrowth and subsequent collapse of coral reef ecosystems. Unfortunately, few tools exist to evaluate echinoderm health, making management of mortalities or other health issues problematic.

Ultramorphological analysis of plaque advancement and cholesterol crystal formation in Ldlr knockout mouse atherosclerosis.

Backgound And Aims: The low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient (Ldlr) mouse has been utilized by cardiovascular researchers for more than two decades to study atherosclerosis. However, there has not yet been a systematic effort to document the ultrastructural changes that accompany the progression of atherosclerotic plaque in this model.

Methods: Employing several different staining and microscopic techniques, including immunohistochemistry, as well as electron and polarized microscopy, we analyzed atherosclerotic lesion development in Ldlr mice fed an atherogenic diet over time.

Hyperlipidemia-induced cholesterol crystal production by endothelial cells promotes atherogenesis.

Endothelial cells (EC) play a key role in atherosclerosis. Although EC are in constant contact with low density lipoproteins (LDL), how EC process LDL and whether this influences atherogenesis, is unclear. Here we show that EC take up and metabolize LDL, and when overburdened with intracellular cholesterol, generate cholesterol crystals (CC).

Replication of Chelonid Herpesvirus 5 in Organotypic Skin Cultures from Hawaiian Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas).

Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a tumor disease of marine turtles associated with chelonid herpesvirus 5 (ChHV5), which has historically been refractory to growth in tissue culture. Here we show, for the first time, formation of ChHV5-positive intranuclear inclusions in cultured green turtle cells, which is indicative of active lytic replication of the virus. The minimal requirements to achieve lytic replication in cultured cells included (i) either cultures of ChHV5-positive tumor biopsy specimens (plugs) or organotypic cultures (rafts) consisting of ChHV5-positive turtle fibroblasts in collagen rafts seeded with turtle keratinocytes and (ii) keratinocyte maturation induced by raising raft or biopsy cultures to the air-liquid interface.

Meningeal-like organization of neural tissues in calanoid copepods (Crustacea).

Meninges, the connective tissue of the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS), have not been recognized in invertebrates. We describe the ultrastructure of the adult brain, antennules, and cord in five marine copepods: Calanus finmarchicus, Gaussia princeps, Bestiolina similis, Labidocera madurae, and Euchaeta rimana. In all of these locations we identified cell types with characteristics of the typical cells of vertebrate meninges and of their peripheral nervous system (PNS) connective tissue counterpart: fibroblasts, having flattened twisting processes with labyrinthine cavities communicating with the extracellular space, and macrophages, containing prominent lysosomes, well-developed endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, and indented heterochromatin.

Burr erosion in rotational ablation of metallic coronary stent: an electron microscopic study.

Background: Rotational atherectomy is used to penetrate resistant coronary lesions from standard balloon dilatation. These lesions may contain heavy calcification or metallic components from previously implanted stents. When the rotablator device is utilized to ablate an undilatable lesion containing metallic stent component, what happens to the rotablator burr after grinding through metal? Are there additional technical considerations of rotational atherectomy when used in metallic "ablation"?

Methods: A challenging case of rotational ablation of a freshly placed coronary stent is presented requiring 2 burrs to penetrate the undilatable lesion overlaid by the stent.

Methane oxidation by an extremely acidophilic bacterium of the phylum Verrucomicrobia.

Aerobic methanotrophic bacteria consume methane as it diffuses away from methanogenic zones of soil and sediment. They act as a biofilter to reduce methane emissions to the atmosphere, and they are therefore targets in strategies to combat global climate change. No cultured methanotroph grows optimally below pH 5, but some environments with active methane cycles are very acidic.

Heterogeneity of the calcium-induced permeability transition in isolated non-synaptic brain mitochondria.

Calcium overload of neural cell mitochondria plays a key role in excitotoxic and ischemic brain injury. This study tested the hypothesis that brain mitochondria consist of subpopulations with differential sensitivity to calcium-induced inner membrane permeability transition, and that this sensitivity is greatly reduced by physiological levels of adenine nucleotides. Isolated non-synaptosomal rat brain mitochondria were incubated in a potassium-based medium in the absence or presence of ATP or ADP.