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R Vatti

Publications and source records attributed to R Vatti.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Reduction of pinocytotic vesicle surface density in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells. A quantitative ultrastructural freeze-etching study.

The development of culture techniques for endothelium of the large vessels has stimulated many studies to understand endothelial functions in normal and pathological conditions. In this report we describe that in primary cultures the mean surface density of pinocytotic vesicles, evaluated by computerized morphometric analysis of endothelial cell plasma-membrane, dramatically decreases with respect to that of the cells immediately detached from the arterial wall (6.7 +/- 1.1 microns2 against 19.5 +/- 2.2 microns2, p less than 0.001). The results are unchanged if the cells are enzymatically or mechanically detached from the vessel wall or from the culture flask. After the first passage, the mean surface density of pinocytotic vesicles decreases further (2.5 +/- 1.3 microns2 p less than 0.01). After the 2nd and the 3rd passages, the morphometrical values of endothelial cell plasma-membrane remain low (1.5 +/- 0.2 microns2; 2.5 +/- 0.2 microns2). When endothelial cultures are employed to study pathological aspects of disease, not only the aging process but also the possible occurrence of early changes have to be taken into consideration.

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PubMed1986

Co-cultivation of endothelial and smooth muscle cells on opposite sides of a porous membrane.

A co-culture system is here proposed that mimics the topographical situation of the vessel wall in which endothelial cells are separated by a fenestrated elastic lamina from smooth muscle cells. Bovine aortic endothelial cells were grown on one side of a thin microporous membrane and smooth muscle cells were cultivated on the other side. The microporous membrane was inserted in a special frame so that a two-compartment system was created. The membrane may act like the fenestrated internal elastic lamina of arteries in allowing interactions and fluid exchanges between the two cell types through its pores. Membranes were examined both by transmission and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate the morphology of both cell types.

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PubMed1984

Morphological aspects in phase-contrast and transmission electron microscopy of senescent cultures of bovine aortic endothelial cells.

Some cultures of bovine aortic endothelial cells underwent an early senescence process, which may have been favoured by a special differential attachment trypsinization procedure. In order to better characterize this phenomenon, the cultures were observed at phase-contrast and electron microscopy at various passages. In phase-contrast microscopy, senescent cells were always larger than "younger" cells, and giant cells were very frequent. A great heterogeneity both of shape and size was present and the cells appeared shrunken, rigid and unable to cover the whole surface of the flask. In many senescent cells long fibres, running from one to the other side of the cytoplasm and often bridging over the nucleus were found. At transmission electron microscopy, together with a great abundance of rough endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and lysosomes, and the occasional presence of Weibel-Palade bodies, peripheric bundles of filaments, probably referable to actin or acto-myosin were found. These fibres may be interpreted as "stress fibres" and, as they are expression of a tension not accompanied by an effective cell motility, it seems of interest that they appear in senescent cells, which are often unable to cover the whole surface of flasks by migrating and subsequently proliferating in empty areas.

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PubMed1979

Circulating endothelial-like cells in arterial peripheral blood of hypercholesterolemic rabbits.

In blood smears obtained from the central ear artery of rabbits after 7 days of cholesterol-rich diet, a high number of well staining cells, morphologically very similar to endothelial cells may be found. After 15 days, macrophage-like cells are found in the smears together with degenerated (endothelial or macrophagic) cells. The presence of circulating endothelial cells is in agreement with the findings of de-endothelialized areas of aortic intima observed at scanning and transmission electron microscopy in short term hypercholesterolemic rabbits.

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