Microglia cyclooxygenase-2 activity in experimental gliomas: possible role in cerebral edema formation.

Purpose: Cerebral edema is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in patients harboring malignant gliomas. To examine the role of inflammatory cells in brain edema formation, we studied the expression cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, a key enzyme in arachidonic acid metabolism, by microglia in the C6 rodent glioma model.

Experimental Design: The expression of COX-2 in primary microglia cultures obtained from intracranial rat C6 gliomas was examined using reverse transcription-PCR, Western analysis, and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) enzyme immunoassay.

Expression of Fas ligand by microglia: possible role in glioma immune evasion.

The immune-privileged status of the central nervous system is thought to limit the application of immunotherapy for treatment of malignant brain tumors. Because the Fas pathway has been proposed to play a role in immune evasion, we examined the effect of tumor environment on the expression of Fas ligand (FasL) in a mouse glioma model. Immunoblotting revealed the expression of membrane-bound FasL to nearly double when murine G26 gliomas were propagated intracranially (IC) as compared to subcutaneously (SC).

Dexamethasone-induced abolition of the inflammatory response in an experimental glioma model: a flow cytometry study.

Object: Commonly used for management of cerebral edema in patients with brain tumors, steroid medications also have immunosuppressive functions. To characterize the effects of steroids on the central nervous system's response to tumors more clearly, flow cytometry was used to quantify the extent of inflammatory cell infiltration in an immunogenic rat glioma model.

Methods: Freshly prepared 11-day-old intracranial C6 tumors that had been excised from dexamethasone-treated and untreated rats were labeled ex vivo with monoclonal antibodies against CD 11b/c, CD45, and CD8a antigens.

Interferon-gamma induces apoptosis and augments the expression of Fas and Fas ligand by microglia in vitro.

Activation of microglia by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) has been implicated in a number of central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory disease processes. Because IFN-gamma has also been shown to play a role in programmed cell death, we investigated its cytotoxicity and its effect on the Fas apoptotic pathway in microglia. Flow cytometry was used to quantify the IFN-gamma-mediated apoptotic response and Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) expression in two well-characterized murine microglia cell lines (BV-2 and N9).

In vitro modulation of microglia motility by glioma cells is mediated by hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor.

Objective: Considered as immune effector cells of the central nervous system, microglia represent a major component of the inflammatory cells found in malignant gliomas. Although their role in brain tumor biology is unclear, accumulation of microglia in malignant brain tumors may be mediated through active secretion of cytokines by glioma cells. Because hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) has been shown to modulate glioma motility through an autocrine mechanism, and because microglia have been reported to express the HGF/SF receptor Met, we hypothesized that microglia recruitment by gliomas may also occur through the secretion of HGF/SF.

A non-flow cytometric system for detecting antibodies and cellular antigens in blood.

The system described here can distinguish between single and agglutinated erythrocytes by use of a non-flow fiber optic fluorometer. The method is capable of detecting cell-surface antigens and antibodies to cell-surface antigens present in blood. Significant features include high-efficiency fluorescent dyes that intercalate into cell membranes, a stretching membrane for transport and mixing of samples, charged colloidal magnetite for magnetic separation of erythrocytes, and an immersible fiber optic probe for measuring fluorescence associated with cells in a 1-nL volume of a bulk solution.

Heat sensitivity and membrane properties of metastasizing and non-metastasizing rat mammary tumors.

Paired lines of metastasizing and non-metastasizing transplantable rat mammary tumors were studied for their sensitivity to hyperthermia. The metastasizing TMT-081 and SMT-2A tumors were markedly more sensitive to heat injury as measured by tumor growth delay than were their non-metastatic counterparts MT-100 and MT-W9B. The metastasizing MT-081 tumor was also significantly more sensitive than the SMT-2A tumor.

The effects of membrane modification and hyperthermia on the survival of P-388 and V-79 cells.

Cells with greater membrane microviscosities are reportedly less sensitive to being killed by mild hyperthermia. To further study this phenomenon, membrane microviscosity of ascites P-388 tumor cells was increased by adding cholesteryl hemisuccinate (CHS). Unexpectedly, when modified cells were heated for 60 min at 43 degrees C in vitro and analyzed in vivo in CDF1 mice they showed an increased thermal sensitivity.

Biological optimization of hyperthermia: modification of tumor membrane lipids.

The sensitivity of the solid mammary adenocarcinomas CA755 and MtGB, grown in the medial aspect of the hind legs of host mice, to local hyperthermia (43.5 +/- 0.1 degrees C for 1 hr) was increased by feeding the host mice a diet enriched in linoleic acid.

Cholesteryl hemisuccinate alters membrane fluidity, angiotensin receptors, and responses in adrenal glomerulosa cells.

We examined the effects of cholesteryl hemisuccinate on membrane fluidity and angiotensin II (AII) actions in bovine adrenal glomerulosa cells. Incubating cells with cholesteryl hemisuccinate decreased membrane fluidity and markedly inhibited AII binding. The effect on binding was characterized by a decrease in AII receptor number.

Structural changes in murine cancer associated with hyperthermia and lidocaine.

Hyperthermia alone and hyperthermia with lidocaine cause changes in the fine structure of the CA755 tumor cell as well as the breakdown of the tumor vasculature. The first structural change, observed immediately after termination of hyperthermia of 43.5 degrees for 1 hr, is the vesiculation of the Golgi apparatus.

Differential response to heat of metastatic and non-metastatic rat mammary tumors.

Metastasizing and non-metastasizing transplantable mammary tumors were implanted into female W/Fu rats. A pair of tumors were employed, the SMT-2A and MT-W9B. When these tumors were exposed to water bath heating at 43.

Satellite observations of lightning.

Analysis of the positions of nighttime thunderstorms as determined from the detection of optical radiation by satellite OSO-B reveals that ten times as many lightning storms occur over land areas as over the sea.