Oxidative damage and repair in the developing nervous system.

Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a recognized cause of cell injury. In contrast to such well recognized cell injury, oxidative stress plays a role in cell proliferation, differentiation and tumor promotion. This review examines the role of oxidative stress in initiating and promoting the establishment of normal or abnormal neuronal patterns and subsequent neurogenesis within the central and peripheral nervous system.

Oxidative mechanisms underlying methyl mercury neurotoxicity.

Cerebellar granule cells from 5-12-day-old rats can be incubated in suspension at 37 degrees C for up to 3 hr with minimal decline in viability. Methyl mercury was found to produce time- and concentration-dependent cell killing with greater than 85% cell death after 3 hr exposure to a concentration of 20 microM. Previously characterized inhibition of protein and RNA synthesis as well as known methyl mercury-induced defects in cellular ATP production have been shown to be incapable of causing this degree of cell death.

Diagnosis of salivary gland tumors by fine-needle aspiration cytology: a review of clinical utility and pitfalls.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology has become a frequently used technique for the diagnosis of neoplasms of the head and neck. While the method has a high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of salivary gland lesions, important pitfalls for the cytologic diagnosis of these lesions exist. This paper discusses the diagnostic pitfalls and investigates strategies for the evaluation of salivary gland masses.

Rapid cell death induced by methyl mercury in suspension of cerebellar granule neurons.

We have further investigated the cytotoxicity of methyl mercury (MeHg) in cerebellar granule neurons isolated from 5-12-day-old rats. At 20 microM MeHg adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels were reduced to 30% of control within 15 minutes and 1% of control at three hours (h), while cell viability assayed by trypan blue exclusion was reduced to approximately 80% and 20% of control, respectively. When potassium cyanide (KCN) was used to reduce ATP levels greater than 95%, virtually no change in cell viability was observed during three h incubation.