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Biomedical subjects

M Prunieras

Publications and source records attributed to M Prunieras.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Unscheduled DNA synthesis: a quantitative indicator of residual immunodetectable pyrimidine dimers in human fibroblasts after ultraviolet-B irradiation.

We have addressed the question whether the level of UV-B induced DNA damage can be accurately assessed by the measurement of the rate of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS). Cultured human fibroblasts were irradiated with UV radiation at 290, 313 or 365 nm. The LD50 was 85 J/m2 at 290 nm, 4500 J/m2 at 313 nm, and 70 kJ/m2 at 365 nm. The analysis of UDS measurements indicate complete arrest of repair processes within 24 h after irradiation, irrespective of the dose (in the range 10-60 J/m2 at 290 nm, and 250-1000 J/m2 at 313 nm). Irradiation at 365 nm failed to yield detectable evidence of UDS. Incubation of irradiated cells with an antiserum directed against both 6-4 type and cyclobutane-type pyrimidine dimers shows a clear parallelism between the disappearance of the antibody-binding determinants and the variation of the rate of UDS vs time after the end of the irradiation. Thus it is concluded that in UV-B irradiated normal cultured human fibroblasts, the lack of UDS reflects the absence of immunodetectable pyrimidine dimers.

Cell Survival

[General process of aging].

Genetic instability is considered to be a fundamental factor in the ageing process. This instability results from the accumulation of damage caused to DNA, and this is demonstrated by the relationship between longevity and DNA repair. However, the accumulation of simple somatic mutations does not explain all the experimental findings. We are forced to take into account, not only the instability of the genes, but also the instability of the expression of the genes. Knowing that the expression of genes depends on interactions between DNA and proteins, we can see that genetic instability is based, at least in part, on protein synthesis. Attention has recently been drawn to the mechanism of transcription and notably of messenger DNA division. At the level of translation, the rate at which messenger DNA is degraded and various elongation factors necessary for ribosome activity have also been implicated. Post-translational changes of proteins by glycosylation or oxidation may be involved in the progressive accumulation of errors, which finally leads to cell death.

Aging

Evidence for an age-correlated change in glutathione metabolism enzyme activities in human hair follicle.

In this investigation, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), glutathione reductase (GSSG-RD), glutathione-S-transferase (GSH-S-T), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GT) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) were measured in human hair follicle obtained by plucking as source of keratinized cells. This non-invasive method was used on 27 men and women volunteers ranging from 19 to 102 years. Our results show that GSSG-RD, GSH-S-T, gamma-GT and G6PDH activities decrease as a function of age, whereas GSH-PX activity does not vary. We discriminated 2 groups: a first one from 19 to 60 years with a large dispersion of the enzymatic activities and a second one corresponding to elderly people (up to 70) with a smaller dispersion of the values. This study suggests the keratinocytes possess an age-correlated enzymatic detoxification response potential.

Adult

An immunohistological study of the revascularization process in human skin transplanted onto the nude mouse.

The revascularization of human skin transplanted onto the nude mouse was studied by performing double-labeling immunofluorescence microscopy on human skin before transplantation and at different stages, ranging from one week to six months after grafting. With a crossreacting anti-factor-VIII antigen antibody used to identify the endothelial cells, and with human-specific monoclonal antibodies directed against vimentin or HLA-DR antigen, it appeared that the original human endothelial cells of transplanted skin progressively disappear, while murine endothelial cells invade the graft. Moreover, in double-labeling experiments with a crossreacting anti-factor-VIII antibody and a human-specific anti-type-IV-collagen antibody, anastomosis between host and graft vessels and a constant codistribution of graft endothelial cells with human type IV collagen were observed. Finally, double staining with species-specific antibodies directed against murine or human type IV collagen showed that mouse type IV collagen appeared progressively in the graft and was constantly colocalized with human type IV collagen. From these observations, it was concluded that revascularization of human skin transplanted onto the nude mouse proceeds as follows: inoculation; disappearance of human endothelial cells and migration of mouse endothelial cells into the graft over the basement membrane of preexisting human vessels; and production of a new vascular basement membrane by mouse endothelial cells on the original basement membrane of human graft vessels.

Animals

Wound healing of human skin transplanted onto the nude mouse. I. An immunohistological study of the reepithelialization process.

Two months after transplantation of human skin onto the nude mouse, excisional wounds were made through the entire thickness of the skin, at the center of the graft, using a 2-mm punch. At various time intervals thereafter, ranging from 2 days to 9 weeks, the graft sites were harvested and processed for an immunohistological study. With a monoclonal antibody directed against HLA-ABC antigens, it was demonstrated that the healing epidermis is of human origin. Moreover, with three different monoclonal antibodies directed against human keratins, named respectively AE1, AE3, and KL1 and with an anti-involucrin antiserum, it is reported that the keratinization and involucrin distribution patterns observed in normal human epidermis are reconstituted, 2 months after transplantation, in the major part of the grafted epidermis, undergo changes during the reepithelialization process, and are restored in the healed epidermis 9 weeks after injury. This study indicates that the nude mouse/human skin model could be a valuable tool to study a major aspect of regeneration such as the reepidermization of human skin without recourse to human volunteers.

Animals

Expression of high molecular weight (67K) keratin in human keratinocytes cultured on dead de-epidermized dermis.

The influence of living dermal tissue upon epidermal differentiation during embryonic development as well as in vitro culture has been documented. Living dermal tissue contains both cellular and matricial elements. In the present study, third-passage subcultured adult human keratinocytes were either seeded on plastic dishes or recombined with dead de-epidermized dermis and further cultured for 3 weeks. After this time, keratins were extracted and analysed by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The 67K keratin subunit, which is thought to be involved in the process of in vivo type skin differentiation, was absent in ordinary cultures; however, it was expressed in air-exposed cultures on dead de-epidermized dermis. Quantitatively, however, it did not reach the in vivo level. This suggests that in principle, the induction of the expression of this protein does not require the presence of living dermal cells.

Adult

Adult human keratinocytes migrating over nonviable dermal collagen produce collagenolytic enzymes that degrade type I and type IV collagen.

Human adult keratinocytes migrating on a nonviable dermal substrate in cultures without fibroblasts induce thinning and degradation of the collagen substrate beneath the migrating epithelium. Further, unconcentrated conditioned medium from the cultures exhibit collagenolytic activity against both type I and type IV collagen which is inhibited by EDTA but not by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride or N-ethylmaleimide. Since the migrating epithelium and dermal substrate do not contain fibroblasts, this study shows that migratory keratinocytes in contact with interstitial collagen are capable of producing collagenases against type I and type IV collagen. Moreover, migratory keratinocytes appear to be similar to highly metastatic cells in their ability to degrade basement membrane collagen.

Adult

Eye-derived growth factor isolated from bovine retina and used for epidermal wound healing in vivo.

Eye-derived growth factor (EDGF) has been found in several ocular tissues and shown to be able to stimulate the in vitro proliferation of cells from various tissues and organisms. It had already been shown that EDGF differs biochemically and biologically from other growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor in that it is the only one that can stimulate the in vitro growth of human adult keratinocytes. Moreover EDGF stimulates reepithelialization and neovascularization. In this paper we report data concerning the effect on the rate of epidermal wound healing in guinea pigs of different extracts obtained from adult bovine retina. Our results show that EDGF can significantly increase the rate of reepithelialization when epidermis is detached from dermis and removed after induction of a blister. The doses used were comparable to the ones used to obtain maximal increase of cell proliferation in vitro. However no attempt was made to further investigate the mechanism accounting for the observed wound healing. At 24 h, control wounds maintained under occlusive dressing had only about 50% of their surface covered with cells as opposed to EDGF-treated wounds which were covered up to about 80% (p = 0.05). On the other hand, EGF does not increase the rate of wound healing in this model even at 1000-fold higher doses than those used in in vitro bioassays. Although EDGF is still not purified to homogeneity and another 10- to 100-fold purification might be necessary to achieve homogeneity, our results suggest that EDGF may find therapeutic applications as a potent in vivo epidermal wound healing agent.

Animals

Detection of distinct subpopulations of Langerhans cells by flow cytometry and sorting.

Flow cytometry was found to be a very appropriate tool for the study of Langerhans cells (LC), which represent a minor cell population (2-3%) of human epidermis, and allowed us to obtain new phenotypic, functional, and cell cycle data on these rare cells. The phenotypic analysis of cell surface antigens demonstrates the existence of two subpopulations of LC: the former is HLA-DR+ and OKT 6+ (about 90% of total HLA-DR+ cells) and the latter is HLA-DR+ and OKT 6- (about 10% of total HLA-DR+ cells). These subpopulations of LC are both able to stimulate the proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) in the presence of keratinocytes i.e., in mixed skin lymphocyte reaction (MSLR). Analysis of the cell cycle could be performed on OKT 6+ LC. Results show that they can be found in the various phases of the cell cycle, suggesting that the large majority of Langerhans cells are able to proliferate in situ in normal human epidermis.

Antibodies, Monoclonal

Cutaneous wound healing: a model for cell-matrix interactions.

Molecules of the extracellular matrix may influence the biologic behavior of basal cell keratinocytes. In the unwounded situation, basal cells are in contact with the basement membrane of the dermo-epidermal junction and eventually detach from this structure, move vertically, and differentiate. During wound healing these cells are in contact with an entirely different set of matrix molecules (including elastin, fibronectin, and interstitial collagen). The cells migrate laterally to cover the wound and remain in a proliferative, undifferentiated state. When 25-day-old epidermal cultures were compared, adult human keratinocyte migration across an interstitial collagen matrix was found to be approximately double that across a basement membrane matrix. This finding suggests that adult human keratinocyte migration is influenced by the matrix in contact with the cells. This type of cell-matrix interaction may be important to the understanding of cutaneous wound healing.

Basement Membrane

Localization of bullous pemphigoid antigen (BPA) in isolated human keratinocytes.

In early studies, the bullous pemphigoid antigen (BPA) has been localized extracellularly in the lamina lucida in the basement membrane zone. However, trypsin-dissociated basal cells can be tagged with bullous pemphigoid sera (BPS). By immunofluorescence, BPA appears located at the dermal pole of basal cells (BC). This may indicate that when BC are separated from the underlying matrix molecules, chunks of BPA remain attached to them. In the present study, fresh crude initial suspensions (CIS) of epidermal cells were prepared by trypsin-EDTA dissociation. The cells were smeared and air-dried. Polar fluorescent cells (i.e., BC) amounted to 42% +/- 7%. CIS were then passed through a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). In the fluorescent-positive fractions selected by FACS, 34% +/- 7% only of the BC were present. FACS-negative cell fractions were smeared on glass slides, air-dried, and restained with BPS + fluorescein isothiocyanate; 66% +/- 10% of BC were present in these fractions. This is evidence that trypsin-isolated BC comprise two subpopulations: one with BPA directly accessible, the other not. Viability tests and tissue culture studies indicated that the FACS-positive cell fractions were not viable. BPA was extracted from CIS, FACS-positive, and FACS-negative fractions and immunoblotted against BPS. Identical blots were found. FACS-negative cell fractions were treated with heparitinase, nitrous acid, methanol-chloroform, or EDTA without modifying the number of reacting cells. When BC were treated with Triton X-100 or permeabilized by successive freezings and thawings, the number of positive cells became comparable to those obtained by air-drying smears. Finally, BPA was localized on the intracellular part of hemidesmosomes of BC by immunoelectron microscopy. To see whether BPA was also present extracellularly, suction blisters were raised in minipigs and BPS injected into the blister cavity. BPA was found attached to all cells of the cellular roof but not to the dermal base of the blisters. When pieces of skin kept overnight in cold trypsin were reacted with BPS, BPA was found on both sides (epidermal and dermal) of the split. It is concluded that BPA has two localizations: one extracellular, essentially labile which accumulates at the dermal-epidermal junction; the other essentially stable which remains on the intracellular part of basal cell hemidesmosomes and which can be detected after permeabilization of the cells.

Antigens

Biology of human epidermal Langerhans cells: cell cycle studies.

Langerhans cells (LC) are considered to play an important role in the initiation of the immune response in the skin. This study was performed to analyse the kinetics of LC in normal human epidermis. Using flow cytometry (FCM), we have applied three methods to estimate LC DNA distribution: FCM DNA measurement in LC-enriched suspensions (70-90% purity), FCM-correlated analysis of DNA and OKT6-positive cells in original epidermal cell suspensions, and staining of LC-enriched suspensions by the Feulgen technique on microscopic slides and counter labelling of contaminating keratinocytes with anti-keratin antiserum to eliminate them from the LC DNA estimation. All three methods clearly showed that human LC are a cycling cell population, and it was suggested that LC may represent a stable, self-reproducing cell population in normal epidermis.

Antibodies, Monoclonal