High-saturated-fat diet induces gestational diabetes and placental vasculopathy in C57BL/6 mice.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a commonly encountered disorder of mid to late pregnancy that is characterized by hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and impaired glucose tolerance. Gestational diabetes mellitus is thought to be multifactorial in origin and derives from both genetic and environmental factors. However, the mechanisms underlying GDM are incompletely understood; and current GDM animal models do not appear to closely mimic the clinical situation in humans.

Intermixing of resident Golgi membrane proteins in rat-hamster polykaryons appears to depend on organelle coalescence.

We have used the synchronized formation of a mixed cytoplasm upon heterokaryon formation as a model for investigating the cisternal-specific transport of resident proteins between neighboring Golgi apparatus. Rat NRK and hamster 15B cells were fused by UV-inactivated Sindbis virus and then incubated for various time periods in the presence of cycloheximide. The resident Golgi apparatus proteins, rat GIMPc and Golgp 125, were localized with species-specific monoclonal antibodies.

Osmotic swelling of endocytic compartments induced by internalized sucrose is restricted to mature lysosomes in cultured mammalian cells.

To determine which endocytic compartments are sensitive to sucrose-induced osmotic swelling, CHO and Vero cells were cultured for 1-3 days in media containing 0.03 to 0.05 M sucrose.