Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Chaouat.
A 51-year-old chemical engineer sustained phosphorous pentachloride partial skin thickness burns over 20 per cent of his body surface area. Although macroscopically and microscopically the wound seemed to be superficial, the course of clinical healing of this injury was very slow and painful. Retrospectively this burn should have been treated by early excision and grafting.
Structural and functional aspects of modifications in the composite skin graft consisting of cultured keratinocytes and cryopreserved dermis were determined. Cryopreserved human cadaveric dermis separated from skin by short and mild trypsinization was compared with dermis obtained by prolonged incubation in medium and with fresh dermis obtained by the same methods. All types of dermis were shown to retain normal ultrastructure and topographic organization, as detected by scanning and transmission electron microscope and immunofluorescence analysis. However, in fresh skin, the layers were more firmly attached, mechanical separation was more difficult, and residual epidermis often remained attached to the dermis. Keratinocytes attached better, began replication earlier, and generally reached higher cell numbers when cultured on trypsinized dermis than on medium-treated dermis. The performance of several modifications in the reconstitution and grafting procedures of the composite skin graft after transplantation to athymic mice was examined. Cultured epidermis combined onto trypsinized or medium-treated whole and meshed dermis, dermis pregrafted and allowed to take before transplanting epidermis on top, and keratinocytes grown into multiple epithelia on top of trypsinized meshed or whole dermis prior to grafting. The best grafting results were obtained with an "instant" reconstituted skin model: multiple epithelia grown in vitro combined immediately before grafting onto meshed trypsinized dermis. The transplantation results of this modification were significantly better than those of all the other modifications, including initial growth of keratinocytes into multiple epithelia on top of trypsinized dermis prior to grafting.
Primary cultures of skeletal muscle cells secrete plasminogen activator (PA) activity to the conditioning medium and display membrane-bound PA. Growth of these cells in culture in presence of 10(-7) M dexamethasone resulted in a marked reduction of the membranal and secreted PA activity. The hormone also reduced cytosolic creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activity and cytosolic protein content. However, cell viability and their ability to undergo fusion were uneffected. The extent of hormone-induced reduction in PA activity depended on the time and extend of exposure. Maximal suppression was obtained by exposing the cells to dexamethasone during the first 4 days of culture. The medium conditioned with dexamethasone-treated cells did not inhibit plasmin, endogenous PA or exogenous PA. Exposure of the conditioned medium from hormone-treated cells to sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) or trypsin restored the activity to values observed in media from cells not exposed to the hormone. Acidification of the medium failed to reactivate the enzyme. The myogenic cell line L-8 also displayed membrane-bound PA activity, which was of a comparable magnitude in both fusing and non-fusing L-8 cells. However, in contrast to the primary cultures, exposure of L-8 cells to dexamethasone had no effect on their PA activity whether studied under conditions which allowed or prohibited fusion. The present findings imply that PA has no conducive role in the process of fusion associated with maturation of skeletal muscle cells.
Cardiac rat myocytes in primary culture exhibit a membrane-bound and a secreted form of plasminogen activator (PA). Growth of the cells in presence of 2 X 10(-8) M or 10(-7) M dexamethasone markedly reduced both the membrane-bound and the secreted activities of PA. The extent of reduction depended on the time of addition as well as on the length of exposure to the hormone. A similar concentration of estradiol had no effect on PA activity of the myocytes. Cardiac rat fibroblasts in primary culture showed only the particulate form of the enzyme. Exposure of the fibroblasts to 10(-7) M dexamethasone produced a marked inhibition of this activity. The inhibition of PA activity in medium conditioned by dexamethasone-treated myocytes could be relieved by treatment of the medium with 1% (v/v) sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). Digestion with 3.3 micrograms/ml bovine trypsin caused an increase in PA activity of media conditioned with control or dexamethasone-treated cells. The present results indicate that cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts produce PA, and that the modulation of PA by glucocorticoid either involves formation of an inactive PA-protein complex or production of an inactive proenzyme. Since glucocorticoids are often administered in conjunction with fibrinolytic enzymes to re-establish cardial perfusion after thrombosis, the present findings indicate further research to assess potential clinical effects of glucocorticoids through suppression of endogenous PA activity in the heart.
Proteinase activity was determined in myofibrils from intact rat skeletal muscle and from skeletal muscle myocytes grown in culture. In vivo administration of the mast cell degranulator compound 48/80 abolished the alkaline proteinase activity in myofibrils obtained from normal or streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Exposure of myocytes to compound 48/80 in cell cultures had no effect on their myofibrillar proteinase activity, nor did it affect the rate of overall protein degradation in these cells. Co-incubation of cultured mast cells (line P815Y) with myocytes followed by sonication of the cell mixture resulted in a marked reduction of the proteinase activity in the pellet fraction, suggesting that the mast cells contain inhibitor(s) of myofibrillar proteinase activity. It is suggested that the myofibril-bound alkaline proteinase activity is not a mast cell-derived enzyme but a genuine component of muscle cells. The in vivo 48/80-induced reduction of muscle myofibrillar proteinase activity appears to be due to release of a soluble inhibitory activity rather than removal of mast cell proteinase from the tissue by degranulation.
Dexamethasone or prednisolone, added in vitro to bilirubin-containing amniotic fluid, produces a time-dependent decrease in the 450-nm absorbance of the pigment. Neither the chemical determination of bilirubin in amniotic fluid nor the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio as determined by thin-layer chromatography is affected by these glucocorticoids. The effect probably is not a result of displacement of bilirubin from its binding sites on albumin, because the absorbance of a solution of crystalline bilirubin at 450 nm is unaffected by added bovine serum albumin. Light scattering of amniotic fluid increases slightly when dexamethasone is added, whether or not low concentrations of bilirubin (less than 1.6 mumol/L) are present. Thus the effect on absorbance evidently is not ascribable to supersaturation and formation of a colloidal sol of bilirubin particles. This direct interference of glucocorticoids with the spectrophotometry of bilirubin in amniotic fluid prompts cautious interpretation of such data as an index to the severity of hemolytic disease of the fetus, specifically in cases of Rhesus-isoimmunization that are being treated with glucocorticoids.
The effect of exposure to dexamethasone and serum-deprivation on myofibrillar protease activity was determined by following cleavage of [14C]globin by isolated myofibrils obtained from rat skeletal muscle in culture. Dexamethasone [10(-7) M] produced a 46% increase in protease activity, and serum-deprivation caused a 50% increase in activity over that of the enzyme in control cultures. The increases in proteolysis occurred concurrently with increased rate of overall protein degradation in these cells and were not associated with changes in cell viability. In cultured rat cardiac muscle cells dexamethasone failed to enhance myofibrillar protease activity, while serum-deprivation produced a 52% increase in the enzyme activity. Addition of insulin (50 mU/ml) to the cultures did not affect proteolysis or myofibrillar protease activity, but completely prevented the dexamethasone-induced increase of these activities. This effect of insulin suggests that the increase of muscle proteolysis in insulin-deficient diabetic animals reflects an enhanced response of the muscle to circulating glucocorticoids rather than a direct effect of insulin-deprivation on muscle proteolysis. Taken together, the present observations indicate that muscle cells in culture retain the ability to respond to catabolic stimuli by adaptive changes in the myofibrillar protease activity in a manner analogous to that of their parent tissue in the intact animal.
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A two-stage surgical occlusion of the portal vein was employed to produce hyperammonaemia in the rat. The procedure resulted in a significant rise of arterial blood ammonia level from 70 . 5 +/- 6 . 5 mumol/l (mean +/- SEM, n = 10) to 214 . 0 +/- 37 . 7 mumol/l and in a rise of venous blood ammonia from 65 . 0 +/- 9 . 4 mumol/l to 122 . 2 +/- 7 . 4 mumol/l during the first day following the complete vein occlusion. A marked increase of the arteriovenous difference of ammonia concentration from virtually zero in sham-operated controls to 72 +/- 9 (n = 8) mumol/l in rats 1 day after the surgical manipulation suggested uptake of ammonia by skeletal muscle. Rat muscle glutamine synthetase activity increased from 0 . 46 +/- 0 . 06 u/mg (n = 7) in controls to 2 . 7 +/- 0 . 3 u/mg (n = 7) on the fourth day following portal vein ligation, and muscle branched chain amino acids aminotransferase increased from 0 . 2 +/- 0 . 05 u/mg in controls to 0 . 96 +/- 0 . 1 u/mg (n = 7) during the first day of ligation. Glutamine dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase activities were not affected by the surgical procedure. These observations suggest that ammonia trapping in skeletal muscle is coupled to glutamine formation via amination of glutamic acid. This conclusion was further supported by the finding that ammonia uptake correlated (r = 0 . 92) with enhanced release of glutamine from muscle and that treatment with methionine sulfoximine, a potent inhibitor of glutamine synthetase, changed the arteriovenous difference of glutamine from -0 . 92 +/- 0 . 01 mmol/l in ligated animals (net release) to +0 . 12 +/- 0 . 01 mmol/l (net uptake) in ligated and inhibitor-treated animals. Similarly, the inhibitor also abolished the arterio-venous difference of ammonia. Thus, the animal model of hyperammonaemia and the muscle enzyme assays reveal that skeletal muscle is involved in the regulation of blood ammonia level by conversion of ammonia, via glutamic acid, to glutamine.
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The concentration of transcobalamin II (TCII), the vitamin B12 binding protein which delivers vitamin B12 to the tissues, was determined in stimulated and non stimulated mouse peritoneal exudate cells (PEC). Following a single intraperitoneal thioglycollate injection there was a marked increase in TCII which was shown to be produced by the adherent cells of the PEC i.e. the macrophages. It has been concluded that the PEC macrophages synthesize TCII.
The exposure of murine peritoneal cells to anti-H-2 sera results in a diminished expression of H-2 antigen on the cell surface. Concomitant with this "H-2 modulation" the capacity of macrophages to bind sheep red blood cells coated with antibody and complement (EAC) was markedly diminished. In contrast, there was no change in the capacity of modulated macrophages to bind sheep red blood cells coated with antibody alone (EA). Antibodies to K end H-2 specificities were more effective in reducing the binding of EAC than antibodies to D end H-2 specificities. Exposure of peritoneal cells to O or Ly antisera had no effect on the formation of EAC rosettes. Exposure of peritoneal cells to anti-H-2 sera, under conditions which would not allow modulation of H-2 antigens, also prevented the reduction of EAC binding. Thus, the EAC receptors and H-2 antigenic specificities seem to be closely related on the surface of peritoneal cells, but constitute distinct cell surface structures. Preliminary evidence indicates that vinblastine, a microtubule depolymerizing agent, may disrupt the close association of EAC receptors and H-2 antigens. It is suggested that the association of EAC receptors and K end H-2 determinants on the membrane of macrophages may have implications for the regulation of the immune response by H-2-linked Ir genes.
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Few studies have referred to the implication of apoptotic processes following hormonal treatment. No data are available on the effects of progesterone in breast cells. In order to gain insights on the effects of the gonadal steroids and antiestrogens in breast cells, we have carried out studies on apoptosis in different breast materials. We have developed a model of normal breast cells in cultures that remain hormone-dependent. On these cells and in some hormone-dependent breast cancer cell lines (T-47-D, ZR75-1, MCF-7) we have observed an antiapoptotic effect of estradiol (E(2)) and a potent proapoptotic effect of some antiestrogens. Progestins were also proapoptotic in normal as well as in hormone-dependent breast cancer cells. In order to understand the mechanisms of these hormones on apoptosis, we studied the bcl-2 family proteins. We demonstrated that E(2) increased the antiapoptotic proteins, bcl-2 and bclx(L), whereas, the progestins drastically decreased bcl-2 expression and weakly bclx(L) levels. We investigated the mechanisms by which E(2) increased bcl-2 expression. Our results using quantitative RT-PCR showed that E(2) increased bcl-2 mRNA levels at 48 h of treatment via a transcriptional mechanism. None of the hormone treatments altered the proapoptotic protein levels, bax and bak. We also studied the in vivo expression of bcl-2 and other members of its family in biopsies of normal breast tissues according to the menstrual cycle. Bcl-2 displayed a strong cyclical variation and seemed to be the most hormone-dependent member of the family.
Partial thickness burns (PTB) usually heal within 3 weeks. Prevention of infection and desiccation of the wounds are crucial for optimal healing. Early tangential excision of the burn eschar and allografting prevent deepening of the burns, and are therefore advocated for treatment with the best functional and aesthetic results. For superficial partial thickness burns (SPTB) conservative use of topical antimicrobial agents with frequent dressing changes are implemented. We compared the conservative treatment for PTBs and SPTBs to grafting cryopreserved cadaveric allografts with no prior excision. Twelve patients with flame PTB areas were allografted after mechanical debridement without excision of the burn wounds. The allografts were cadaveric skin cryopreserved by programmed freezing and stored at -180 degrees C for 30-48 months. Matching burns for depth and area were treated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD) one to two times daily until healing or debridement and grafting were required. It was found that 80 per cent of the cryopreserved allografts adhered well and 76 per cent of the treated areas healed within 21 days, whereas only 40 per cent of the SSD-treated burns healed within 21 days. Partial thickness burns can be treated successfully with viable human allografts (cryopreserved cadaveric skin) with no prior surgical excision. The burn wounds heal well within 3 weeks. For deep partial thickness burns (DPTB) treatment with allografts has no advantage if they have not been previously excised.