PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Jansons

Publications and source records attributed to R Jansons.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Role of vacuolation in the death of gastric epithelial cells.

The effect of vacuolation on survival of gastric epithelial cells was studied in rabbit gastric glands (RGG) incubated with ammonia and bafilomycin A1, a potent inhibitor of vacuolar ATPase activity. In ammonia, large vacuoles formed and cell survival was reduced to 47.2 +/- 3.4% at 6 h (59.5 +/- 3.8%, buffer). Bafilomycin A1 added at the start to RGG incubated with ammonia inhibited vacuole formation but did not improve cell survival (48.7 +/- 2.8% at 6 h). Bafilomycin A1 added 1-2 h after addition of ammonia reduced the size of vacuoles but did not alter cell survival. Cell survival was not affected by inhibiting protein synthesis. When incubated with ammonia, parietal cells dissociated from the gland and ruptured. After this, chief cells condensed and formed expensive blebs that contained fragmented nuclei. We conclude that 1)ammonia-induced vacuolation of gastric epithelial cells does not influence cell survival, 2) ammonia facilitates necrosis in parietal cells and apoptosis in chief cells, and 3) chief cell survival, in some manner, may be dependent on parietal cells.

Ammonia↗

Localization of brush border cytoskeletal proteins in gastric oxynticopeptic cells from the bullfrog Rana catesbeiana.

The contribution of brush border cytoskeletal proteins (actin, villin, fimbrin, and brush border myosin-1) to organization of the cytoskeletal network underlying apical plications of oxynticopeptic cells was examined by immunohistochemical techniques in frozen sections of gastric mucosa from the bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana. Apical localization of F-actin with phalloidin in oxynticopeptic cells inhibited with cimetidine revealed small, punctate domains within the apical cytoplasm that were consistent with the presence of short microvilli revealed by electron microscopy. Localization of F-actin in cells stimulated with forskolin was limited to a wide continuous band of cytoplasm corresponding to the location of numerous long surface folds. Inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide did not prevent acid secretion or formation of actin filaments within surface folds in stimulated oxynticopeptic cells, suggesting that the formation of filaments does not require actin synthesis. Staining of gastric mucosae with fluorescent DNase-1 demonstrated that oxynticopeptic cells possess an unusually large pool of non-filamentous actin. Taken together, these results suggest that actin-filament formation in stimulated cells occurs by polymerization of an existing pool of non-filamentous actin. Localization of antibodies specific for villin and fimbrin revealed that these proteins were present within intestinal absorptive cells and gastric surface and neck cells but were not present within inhibited or stimulated oxynticopeptic cells. Brush border myosin-1, present in intestinal absorptive cells, was not present in gastric epithelium. Thus, we propose that actin-containing projections in oxynticopeptic cells are not organized like intestinal microvilli and that filament formation occurs after stimulation by modulating intracellular pools of filamentous and non-filamentous actin.

Actins↗

Spontaneous pulsatile growth hormone release in male and female premature infants.

Although premature infants have high umbilical cord GH levels, little is known about spontaneous GH release in these individuals. The purpose of our study was to investigate spontaneous 12-h GH release in appropriate for gestational age male and female premature infants. We studied 22 premature infants (15 males and 7 females) of appropriate length and weight for age. Gestational ages, birth weights, birth lengths, and ages at the time of study were similar in male or female infants. All infants were biochemically euthyroid. Blood was taken every 30 min over a 12-h period from an indwelling umbilical catheter; no stress occurred during the blood withdrawal. GH was determined by a double antibody RIA, using 0.01 mL plasma. GH pulse detection was undertaken using Cluster, a computerized pulse detection algorithm. Total insulin-like growth factor-I and -II (IGF-I and -II) levels were measured after separation of the IGFs from the serum binding proteins. Spontaneous pulsatile GH release was observed in all infants studied. No differences were found between males and females in the pulse characteristics of frequency, maximal amplitude, incremental amplitude, width, or area. The GH pulse frequency per 12 h was 3.2 +/- 0.3 (mean +/- SE) in males and 3.0 +/- 0.7 in females. The maximal pulse amplitude was 50.7 +/- 6.2 micrograms/L in males and 44.7 +/- 9.0 micrograms/L in females. The incremental pulse amplitude was 24.3 +/- 3.2 micrograms/L in males and 20.2 +/- 3.9 micrograms/L in females. The mean 12-h GH level was 37.1 +/- 4.8 micrograms/L in males and 35.8 +/- 8.5 micrograms/L in females; the average GH nadir was 26.1 +/- 4.0 micrograms/L in males and 24.4 +/- 8.3 micrograms/L in females. Both IGF-I and IGF-II concentrations were similar in males and females. The mean IGF-I levels were 10.7 +/- 1.5 ng/mL in males and 7.5 +/- 1.1 ng/mL in females; IGF-II levels were 96.0 +/- 12.0 ng/mL in males and 115.4 +/- 17.1 ng/mL in females. These results demonstrate similar pulsatile GH release in male and female premature infants at a mean age of 32-33 weeks. Compared with previously reported values for mean GH concentration and average GH nadir in older children, the values in these premature infants were much higher. We speculate that the higher GH levels in premature infants may result from decreased negative feedback associated with low IGF-I levels. The premature infant's somatotrophs may also not fully respond to the GH inhibitory action of somatostatin.

Blood Glucose↗

The effects of different steroids on costal and epiphyseal cartilage of fetal and adult rats.

The effects of different doses of various steroids on growth, and on costal and epiphyseal chondrocytes, have been studied in prenatal, immature, and adult Long-Evans rats using histochemical techniques, and both light and electron microscopy. Both prenatal and postnatal treatments have been employed. The steroids used were cortisone (CA), betamethasome (BM), and, in the prenatal group only, dexamethasone (DM). Body weight is reduced in all treated rats (except the low dose of CA) by day 17 of gestation, with greater weight reductions occurring in rats receiving the higher dose level of each steroid. In rats treated prenatally or neonatally, and sacrificed postnatally on days 39-43 or days 116-127, body weights, and tibial and tail lengths, are less than in correspondingly aged controls, thus showing a persistence of the effects of treatment. Costal and epiphyseal cartilages in prenatal rats show cellular, synthetic, and ultrastructural alterations induced by treatment with glucocorticoids but the responses are not necessarily comparable. Except for the low dose of DM, the higher doses of each steroid are more effective in inhibiting, or altering, growth and cellular differentiation in the developing fetuses. Surprisingly, a low dose of DM has a more devastating effect on the cells and extracellular matrix of both costal and epiphyseal cartilage, than do higher dose-levels of the various steroids. Low doses of CA and BM are also effective in inhibiting or altering growth and cellular differentiation, but their effectiveness is largely limited to 17 days of gestation. The order of effect of the various doses of the different steroids on fetal cartilage, listed in decreasing order of severity, is as follows: 0.12 DM, 0.24 DM, 0.42 BM, 50 CA, with 25 CA and 0.18 BM being approximately equal and only slightly different from control cartilages. The effect of prenatal or neonatal glucocorticoid treatment on chondrocytes is minimal in the 30-43 days, or 116-127 day, postnatal groups. In immature and adult rats, cortisone affects the chondrocytes more deleteriously than does betamethasone, and a 5.0 mg dose of CA seems to affect chondrocytes, body weight, and tibial and tail lengths more than 0.2 or 7.5 mg doses.

Animals↗