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Biomedical subjects

C B Basbaum

Publications and source records attributed to C B Basbaum.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Localization and release of lysozyme from ferret trachea: effects of adrenergic and cholinergic drugs.

Lysozyme is a bacteriolytic enzyme found in respiratory tract fluid. In this study, immunocytochemistry was used to determine the cells of origin of tracheal lysozyme in the ferret. Lysozyme was found in secretory granules of serous but not mucous cells in the submucosal glands, and was absent from the surface epithelium, cartilage, and connective tissue. The exclusive presence of lysozyme in serous gland cells renders it useful as a biochemical marker of that cell type. Measurements of lysozyme assayed from the incubating medium indicated that bethanechol stimulated lysozyme release by 260 +/- 80.9% (mean +/- SE), phenylephrine by 80 +/- 16.4%, and terbutaline by 25 +/- 10.2%. Electron-microscopic and immunocytochemical analysis of incubated tissues revealed loss of serous granules and lysozyme immunoreactivity in response to the drugs. Atropine, propranolol, and phentolamine blocked the stimulatory effects of bethanechol, terbutaline, and phenylephrine, respectively. These findings establish the usefulness of lysozyme as a serous-cell marker and demonstrate that secretory responses of different magnitude are evoked by equimolar concentrations of alpha- and beta-adrenergic and cholinergic drugs.

Animals

Morphological studies of stimulated adrenergic axon varicosities in the mouse vas deferens.

The postganglionic axons of sympathetic neurons innervating the mouse vas deferens were stimulated transmurally in vitro by passing square pulses between two platinum electrodes. The ultrastructural appearance of the adrenergic nerve terminals was compared to samples fixed immediately after 30 min of stimulation and in samples allowed to recover for 2 h before fixation. The contralateral vasa deferentia served as controls, and these were incubated in Krebs solution for the same period as stimulated muscles. For each of four experiments, the mean number of large and small dense-core vesicles per square micrometer was calculated, as were the mean area and perimeter of the axon varicosities in each group. It was found that the number of small vesicles per square micrometer decreased by 60% during the stimulation period, but returned almost to control levels 2 h later. Large vesicles did not change in number during the stimulation or recovery periods. The proportion of vesicles containing cores was also determined for each group and found to decline just after stimulation in the small vesicle population, but to remain constant in the large vesicle population. The core depletion was partly reversed after 2 h. The vesicle recovery process was studied by use of the extracellular tracer horseradish peroxidase (HRP). When HRP was present in the extracellular space during stimulation, large numbers of vesicles contained the marker after recovery from stimulation. Thus, it is proposed that adrenergic axon varicosities recycle vesicle membrane through the plasma membrane in a manner similar to that already described for cholinergic nerve terminals.

Animals

Localization of Na pumps in the tracheal epithelium of the dog.

Binding of [3H]ouabain by the dog's tracheal epithelium shows a nonspecific component depending linearly on ouabain concentration, and a specific saturable component with a Km of 10(-7) M. Control experiments showed that the tracer taken up was not trapped within the extracellular space nor bound to tissue collagen. Inhibition of the saturable uptake by high K, metabolic inhibition, low Na, and low temperature indicated that binding was to Na/K ATPase. One-sided exposures of tissue sheets to tracer showed that the submucosal side took up 10 X as much tracer as the luminal. Autoradiography localized tracer uptake under all conditions to the cells' basolateral membranes.

Animals