Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Nicotra.
In mitochondria of P. lividus eggs the transition from the condensed to the orthodox form is accomplished in about 45 min after fertilization. Similar ultrastructural transformations are induced by exposure to ammonia that is known to cause a partial egg activation.
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A case of Holoacardius is reported by the authors. The literature is reviewed, and a pathogenetic sequence responsible for the syndrome is proposed on the basis of the pathologic data.
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MPTP-induced neurotoxicity is one of the experimental models most commonly used to study the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). MPTP administered in vivo to mice causes selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), as in this disease. Cell death may be induced in vitro by MPP(+), the active metabolite of MPTP, when neuronal cell cultures are used. Biochemical mechanisms underlying cell death induced by MPTP/MPP(+) still remain to be clarified completely. This article reviews some recent findings linking the effects of MPTP/MPP(+) with molecules typically involved in apoptotic pathways. This type of research has made extensive use of genetically manipulated systems such as transgenic mice and transfected cell lines. Evidence has emerged to suggest that Bcl-2, Bax, JNK, and caspases are implicated in neurotoxic effects due to in vivo MPTP administration to mice. Different neuronal cell lines such as MN9D cells, SH-SY5Y cells, cerebellar granule neurons, cortical neurons, and GH3 cells were also tested to investigate the possible involvement of Bcl-2, Bax, and caspases in in vitro MPP(+)-induced neurotoxicity.
The incidence of rare malignant tumors of the thyroid is about 4 cases/100,000 people and represent only 1.8% of all the thyroid cancers. When we talk about "rare" tumors, obviously, we do not refer to the most frequent cancers (papillary, follicular), or less frequent tumors (medullary, anaplastic), but to some types of thyroid tumors that have been almost always sporadically observed. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma and squamous carcinoma have been described in the literature. They present occasional papillary formation so that, according to some authors, could be considered as variants of the papillary carcinoma. Teratoma is another rare tumor which in the paediatric age is benign, but its prognosis could be unfavourable because it causes an important respiratory distress, while in the adult it presents a very aggressive clinical course like the anaplastic carcinoma. Lymphoma is the most frequent of the "rare" tumors of the thyroid (1-5% of all the thyroid cancers). It arises often in a setting of a long history of goitre and Hashimoto thyroiditis. Fine-needle aspirate is important to make diagnosis and to start a correct treatment which allows a 5-year survival up to 85% in the favourable cases.
Unlike mammals, some fish, including carp and trout, have a continuously growing brain. The glial architecture of teleost brain has been intensively studied in the carp and few data exist on trout brain. In this study, using immunoblotting we characterized the topographic distribution of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in larval and adult rainbow trout brain and studied by immunohistochemistry the distribution and morphology of GFAP-immunoreactive cell systems in the rainbow trout hindbrain and spinal cord. Immunoblotting yielded a double band with an apparent molecular weight of 50-52 kDa in the spinal cord homogenate in the trout larval and adult stages. In the adult hindbrain and forebrain, our antibody cross reacted also with a second band at a higher molecular weight (90 kDa). Because the forebrain contained this band alone the two brain regions might contain two distinct isoforms. Conversely, the larval total brain homogenate contained the heavy 90 kDa band alone. Hence the heavy band might be a GFAP protein dimer or vimentin/GFAP copolymer reflecting nerve fiber growth and elongation, or the two isoforms might indicate two distinct astroglial cell types as recently proposed in the zebrafish. In sections from trout hindbrain and spinal cord the antibody detected a GFAP-immunoreactive glial fiber system observed in the raphe and in the glial septa separating the nerve tracts. These radial glia fibers thickened toward the pial surface, where they formed glial end feet. The antibody also labeled perivascular glia around blood vessels in the white matter, and the ependymoglial plexus surrounding the ventricular surface in the grey matter. Last, it labeled round astrocytes. The GFAP-immunoreactive glial systems had similar distribution patterns in the adult and larval spinal cord suggesting early differentiation.
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