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T NAKAI

Publications and source records attributed to T NAKAI.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A STUDY OF THE ULTRASTRUCTURAL LOCALIZATION OF HAIR KERATIN SYNTHESIS UTILIZING ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC AUTORADIOGRAPHY IN A MAGNETIC FIELD.

The sites of the incorporation of labeled cystine into keratinizing structures were studied in electron microscopic autoradiographs. The tracer used was cystine labeled with S(35) emitting long-range ionizing particles. During exposure for 1 to 2 months, according to our method of electron microscopic autoradiography, emulsion-coated specimens were exposed to a static magnetic field which appeared to result in a marked increase in the number of reacted silver grains. In young Swiss mice receiving intraperitoneal injections at 1, 3, and 6 hours before biopsy, conventional autoradiography demonstrated that S(35)-cystine was intensely localized in the keratogenous zone of anagen hair follicles, and that the radioactivity there increased in intensity progressively with time while the radioactivity in the hair bulb always remained very low. Our observations with electron microscopic autoradiography in a magnetic field appeared to indicate that at 3 and 6 hours after injection the S(35)-cystine was directly and specifically incorporated into tonofibrils in the hair cortex and into amorphous keratin granules of the hair cuticle layer, possibly without any particular concentration of this substance in the other cellular components. There seemed to be an appreciable concentration of cystine in tonofibrils of the cuticle of the inner root sheath. However, trichohyalin granules in the hair medulla and inner root sheath failed to show any evidence of cystine concentration. The improved sensitivity of the electron microscopic autoradiography with S(35)-cystine appeared to be partly due to the application of a static magnetic field. However, the reason for this could not be explained theoretically.

Animals↗

The fine structure of normal and neoplastic melanocytes in the Syrian hamster, with particular reference to carcinogen-induced melanotic tumors.

The dermal melanocyte system of the Syrian hamster is particularly responsive to the melanogenetic and tumor-inducing effects of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA). The melanocytes of the hair follicles appear to be susceptible to the melanogenetic effect of DMBA but not to its tumor-inducing effect. The epidermal melanocytes are non-pigmented and are unresponsive to both melanogenetic and carcinogenic effects of DMBA. The pigmented granules of the dermal melanocytes of both the golden and the white hamster have an identical substructure and pattern of melanization which occurs in an orderly fashion on a delicate fibrillar component. The hair melanocytes have larger pigment granules with a more complicated fibrillar substructure. The epidermal melanocytes do not possess pigment granules but are recognized by their dendritic shape, the absence of desmosomes and tonofilaments, and the presence of racket-shaped or rod-shaped organelles. The melanin granules in neoplastic melanocytes of the golden hamster differ from corresponding normal melanocytes only in their larger size. In the white hamster, however, the melanin granules in tumors produced under identical experimental conditions are so bizarre and atypical that consideration was given to the possibility that a genetic difference in the melanization pattern between the two varieties becomes apparent in carcinogen-induced melanotic tumors. No definite conclusions could be reached as to the precise origin of the melanin granules in either normal or neoplastic melanocytes.

Animals↗