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W J Armitage

Publications and source records attributed to W J Armitage.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Propane-1,2-diol as a potential component of a vitrification solution for corneas.

Any method of cryopreservation of the cornea must maintain integrity of the corneal endothelium, a monolayer of cells on the inner surface of the cornea that controls corneal hydration and keeps the cornea thin and transparent. During freezing, the formation of ice damages the endothelium, and vitrification has been suggested as a means of achieving ice-free cryopreservation of the cornea. To achieve vitrification at practicable cooling rates, tissues must be equilibrated with high concentrations of cryoprotectants. In this study, the effects of propane-1,2-diol on the structure and function of rabbit corneal endothelium were studied. Corneas were exposed to concentrations of propane-1,2-diol ranging from 10 to 30% v/v in a Hepes-buffered Ringer's solution containing glutathione, adenosine, 5 mmol/liter sodium bicarbonate, and 6% w/v bovine serum albumin. Endothelial function was assessed by monitoring corneal thickness during perfusion of the endothelial surface at 34 degrees C for 6 hr. Exposure to 10-15% v/v propane-1,2-diol was well tolerated for 20 min at 4 degrees C when the cryoprotectant was removed in steps or by sucrose dilution. However, exposure to 25% v/v propane-1,2-diol for 20 min at 0 or -5 degrees C was consistently tolerated only when 2.5% w/v chondroitin sulfate was included in the vehicle solution. Exposure to 30% v/v propane-1,2-diol was harmful at -5 and -10 degrees C. The endothelial damage following exposure to 30% v/v propane-1,2-diol was probably the result of a toxic effect rather than osmotic stress. Although 25% v/v propane-1,2-diol does not vitrify at cooling rates that are practicable for corneas, it could at this concentration form a major component of a vitrification solution comprising a mixture of cryoprotectants.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Survival of corneal endothelium following exposure to a vitrification solution.

Corneal endothelium, a monolayer of cells lining the inner surface of the cornea, is particularly susceptible to freezing injury. Ice formation damages the structural and functional integrity of the endothelium, and this results in a loss of corneal transparency. Instead of freezing, an alternative method of cryopreservation is vitrification, which avoids damage associated with ice formation. Vitrification at practicable cooling rates, however, requires exposure of tissues to very high concentrations of cryoprotectants, and this can cause damage through chemical toxicity and osmotic stress. The effects of a vitrification solution (VS1) containing 2.62 mol/liter (20.5%, w/v) dimethyl sulfoxide, 2.62 mol/liter (15.5%, w/v) acetamide, 1.32 mol/liter (10%, w/v) propane-1,2-diol, and 6% (w/v) polyethylene glycol were studied on corneal endothelium. Endothelial function was assessed by monitoring corneal thickness during 6 hr of perfusion at 35 degrees C with a Ringer solution supplemented with glutathione and adenosine. Various dilutions of the vitrification solution were introduced and removed in a stepwise manner to mitigate osmotic stress. Survival of endothelium after exposure to VS1 or a solution containing 90% of the cryoprotectant concentrations in VS1 (90% VS1) was dependent on the duration of exposure, the temperature of exposure, and the dilution protocol. The basic dilution protocol was performed at 25 degrees C: corneas were transferred from 90% VS1 or VS1 into 50% VS1 for 15 min, followed by 25% VS1 for 15 min and finally into isosmotic Ringer solution. Using this protocol, corneal endothelium survived exposure to 90% VS1 for 15 min at -5 degrees C, but 5 min in VS1 at -5 degrees C was harmful and resulted in some very large and misshapen endothelial cells. This damage was not ameliorated by using a sucrose dilution technique; but endothelial function was improved when the temperature of exposure to VS1 was reduced from -5 to -10 degrees C. Exposure to VS1 for 5 min at -5 degrees C was well tolerated, however, when the temperature of the first dilution step into 50% VS1 was reduced from 25 to 0 degree C. The large, misshapen cells were not observed under these conditions nor after exposure to VS1 at -10 degrees C. These results suggested that damage was the result of cryoprotectant toxicity rather than osmotic stress. Thus, corneal endothelium survived exposure to two solutions of cryoprotectants, namely, 90% VS1 and VS1, that were sufficiently concentrated to vitrify. Whether corneas can be cooled fast enough in these solutions to achieve vitrification and warmed fast enough to avoid devitrification remains to be determined.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Effects of osmotic stress on rabbit corneal endothelium.

The effects of osmotic stress on corneal endothelium were investigated by exposing rabbit corneas to anisosmotic conditions, and then perfusing the corneas with isosmotic glutathione bicarbonate Ringer solution for 4 hr at 35 degrees C. During the perfusion, endothelial function was assessed by measuring corneal thickness with a specular microscope. After perfusion, the corneas were prepared for scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Endothelial ultrastructure and function were well maintained after exposure to a wide range of osmolality (0.12-2.7 osmol/kg), but this tolerance of osmotic stress was dependent both on the duration and the temperature of exposure to the anisosmotic conditions. Exposure to an osmolality of 2.7 osmol/kg for 15 min at 23 or 37 degrees C resulted in gross damage to the endothelium when the hyperosmotic agent was sodium chloride. This damage was not the result of increased osmolality per se nor cellular shrinkage because the endothelium tolerated exposure to a sucrose solution of the same osmolality for 15 min at 37 degrees C. The detrimental effect of sodium chloride, however, was mitigated by reducing the temperature of exposure to 0 degrees C or reducing the duration of exposure to 5 min. These results suggest that endothelial cells become more tolerant of high electrolyte concentrations with reducing temperature, and this could be an important factor in the survival of the endothelium in corneal cryopreservation. The results also help to define the limits of osmotic shrinkage and swelling tolerated by endothelial cells. This will be of value in overcoming the detrimental osmotic effects associated with the addition and, in particular, the removal of cryoprotectants.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Cryopreservation of animal cells.

A wide range of cells of biological, medical and agricultural importance can be cryopreserved at -196 degrees C for many years in a stable state. The survival after freezing and thawing of different types of cell varies markedly, and depends on the ability of the cells to withstand a variety of stresses imposed by the physical and physico-chemical changes occurring in the bathing medium during cooling to and warming from the storage temperature. In most instances, cells will survive freezing only when a cryoprotectant (an additive such as glycerol or dimethyl sulphoxide that can protect cells against freezing injury) is included in the bathing medium: moreover, survival is dependent on the rates at which cells are cooled and warmed. Each cell type has an optimum cooling rate at which survival is maximal. This optimum cooling rate is determined to a large extent by the water permeability of the cell; but it is also influenced by the presence of cyroprotectants, and the warming rate. Therefore, when devising a method of cryopreservation for a particular cell type, the most important variables are the rates of cooling and warming, and the type and concentration of cryoprotectant. In general, as the concentration of cryoprotectant is increased, cell survival improves cryoprotectants can have detrimental toxic and osmotic effects on cells. Therefore, the way in which cryoprotectants are added to the bathing medium before freezing and, in particular, the procedure used to return the cells to a medium without cryoprotectants after thawing, can be crucial to the survival of the cells. Vitrification could be a way to avoid the mechanisms of injury associated with the formation of ice. When an aqueous solution contains a sufficiently high concentration of solute (e.g. greater than 40% w/w of the cyroprotectant propane-1,2-diol), the large increase in viscosity that occurs during cooling inhibits ice formation, and the solution eventually becomes an amorphous, glassy solid. There is no formation of a crystalline solid, nor is there a progressive rise in solute concentration, both of which occur as a result of ice formation during cooling. Vitrification could, therefore, prove to be a useful alternative method of cryopreservation, particularly for organized tissues and organs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Permeability of human blood platelets to glycerol.

The permeability of human platelets to glycerol was determined at 37 degrees C, 25 degrees C, and 0 degrees C from the rate of change of cell volume after abrupt addition of 0.5 mol/liter glycerol in phosphate-buffered saline. Intracellular water volume was measured employing both tritiated water and a photometric method. Intracellular glycerol was measured employing tritiated glycerol. The glycerol permeability coefficient derived from the tracer cell volume data was 4.0 +/- 0.7 X 10(-7) cm/s at 37 degrees C, and 1.1 +/- 0.4 X 10(-7) cm/s at 25 degrees C, and the photometric data gave a permeability coefficient of 5.4 +/- 0.4 X 10(-7) cm/s at 37 degrees C. The activation energy between 23 degrees C and 37 degrees C for glycerol permeation was 19.8 kcal/mol. The cells were virtually impermeable to glycerol at 0 degrees C. The minimum intracellular water volume attained after the addition of 0.5 mol/liter glycerol at 37 degrees C determined by the photometric method was 47.8% of normal water volume, whereas the minimum water volume calculated assuming that glycerol exerted its full osmotic effect (i.e., sigma = 1) was 45.6%. The reflexion coefficient was therefore assumed to be unity. Neither method of cell volume determination could be used with 1 or 2 mol/liter glycerol: adequate separation of the cells from the labeled medium could not be achieved in the tracer method; in the photometric method, it was apparent that transmittance (660 nm) was influenced by one or more variables in addition to cell volume.

Blood Platelets↗
PubMed1986

Osmotic stress as a factor in the detrimental effect of glycerol on human platelets.

The aim of this work was to determine the importance of osmotic stress as a damaging factor in the detrimental effect of glycerol on human platelets. The severity of osmotic stress was mitigated by reducing the rate of change of glycerol concentration in the suspending medium. The classical permeability equations were used to predict cell volume changes in response to step changes in extracellular glycerol concentration. Protocols were devised that limited cellular shrinkage during glycerol addition and cellular swelling during glycerol dilution. When glycerol was added and diluted rapidly, the recovery of the hypotonic stress response with respect to untreated controls was unaffected by 0.25 mol/liter glycerol, but was reduced to ca. 65% after exposure to 0.5 mol/liter glycerol and to ca. 25% after exposure to 1 mol/liter glycerol. When 1 mol/liter glycerol was added and removed slowly such that cell volume remained within the range of 60-130% of normal volume, recovery of the hypotonic stress response was improved to ca. 50%, and the aggregation response was undiminished. Osmotic stress was therefore at least partly responsible for the damage caused by glycerol. However, platelets were damaged more after slow dilution from 1 mol/liter glycerol, when cellular swelling was limited to 116% of normal volume, than after rapid dilution from 0.25 or 0.5 mol/liter glycerol, which resulted in cellular swelling to 123% and 146% of normal volume, respectively. Thus, a possible toxic effect of glycerol cannot as yet be discounted.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗
PubMed1986

Effect of solute concentration on intracellular water volume and hydraulic conductivity of human blood platelets.

The intracellular water volume of human blood platelets was determined using tritiated water. The cells responded as osmometers over an observed range of solute concentration from 0.292 to 2.180 osmol kg-1. Only 87% of intracellular water was apparently osmotically active (i.e. Ponder's R was 0.87). Changes in cell volume induced by small step changes in external osmolality were followed photometrically and the time constant for the exponential approach of cell volume to its new equilibrium value was determined. Hydraulic conductivity (LP) was calculated from the time constant and was 1.41 X 10(-6) cm atm-1 s-1 under isotonic conditions at 37 degrees C. LP was inversely dependent on extracellular solute concentration, but it was independent of the direction of movement of water across the plasma membrane.

Blood Platelets↗
PubMed1985

The effects of osmotic stress on human platelets.

The effect of osmotic stress on human platelets was investigated at 0, 25, and 37 degrees C. The osmolality of the suspending plasma was decreased by adding water or increased by adding sodium chloride or sucrose. After 5 min, isotonicity was restored by dilution with an excess of isotonic phosphate-buffered saline. After centrifugation, the platelets were resuspended in autologous plasma and then incubated for 1 hr at 37 degrees C before assaying the active transport of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and the hypotonic stress response. Anisosmotic conditions had a greater effect on the extent of volume reversal in the hypotonic stress test than on 5-HT uptake. At 25 degrees C, only moderate degrees of hypotonicity (0.25 osmol/kg) or hypertonicity (0.59 osmol/kg) were sufficient to depress the hypotonic stress response. In general, platelets tolerated departures from isotonic conditions better at 0 degree C than at the higher temperatures. Furthermore, at 0 and 25 degrees C approximately equiosmolal concentrations of sucrose and sodium chloride depressed the hypotonic stress response to similar extents, but at 37 degrees C high osmolalities (greater than 2 osmol/kg) were tolerated better when the additive was sucrose than when it was sodium chloride. Platelets shrank when subjected to hyperosmotic conditions, but their discoid shape and the peripheral band of microtubules were maintained.

Biological Transport, Active↗
PubMed1985

Platelet cryopreservation with glycerol, dextran, and mannitol: recovery of 5-hydroxytryptamine uptake and hypotonic stress response.

Human platelets were frozen in 0.5 M glycerol, 0.5 M glycerol + 3% Dextran T40, or 0.5 M glycerol + 5% mannitol. The recovery of active transport of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and the hypotonic stress response after freezing were dependent on the rate of cooling: the optimum range of rates was between 12 and 23 degrees C/min. The numerical recovery of cells was independent of cooling rate, but freezing altered the cell-size distribution. The combination of dextran and glycerol was no better than glycerol alone at protecting platelets against freezing damage. Mannitol, however, adversely affected platelet 5-HT uptake, and this was reflected in a low recovery of that activity after freezing platelets in glycerol supplemented with mannitol.

Biological Transport, Active↗
PubMed1985

Seleno-DL-methionine and the protection of human platelets against freezing injury.

The effect of seleno-DL-methionine, which has antioxidative properties, on the recovery of human platelets after freezing with 0.5 mol/liter glycerol or 0.7 mol/liter (5% v/v) dimethyl sulfoxide was investigated. Incubation of platelets with 2 mumol/liter seleno-DL-methionine for 30 min at room temperature before equilibration with the protective additives improved the post-thaw uptake of 5-hydroxytryptamine and the percentage reversal in the hypotonic stress test. The effect was small, but in view of the ability of seleno-DL-methionine to inhibit lipid peroxidation in membranes, the results suggest that oxidative damage is implicated in freezing injury. The dimethyl sulfoxide protocol apparently afforded greater protection to the platelets than the glycerol protocol. But, if the platelets were incubated for 24 hr at 37 degrees C after thawing, there was a marked improvement in the response of cells in the hypotonic stress test, particularly in the samples frozen with glycerol, and there was no longer any difference between the two additives. There was, however, a concomitant loss of almost half the number of cells in the thawed suspensions during the prolonged incubation at 37 degrees C.

Biological Transport, Active↗
PubMed1985

Solutions for preservation of the heart at 0 degrees C.

Solutions developed for cardioplegia and myocardial protection during elective ischemic cardiac arrest have also been used for the storage of heart grafts at 0 degrees C. In this study we show that a solution based upon the principles established in renal preservation experiments gives superior preservation of rabbit hearts at 0 degrees C. The solution contained K+ 25 mmol/L, Mg++ 10 mmol/L, sufficient glucose to prevent fluid uptake during storage (30 mmol/L), and a low concentration of calcium (0.1 mmol/L). The complete omission of calcium was detrimental to function after prolonged storage.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Osmotic tolerance of human granulocytes.

Human granulocytes are injured when returned to isotonic conditions after exposure at 0 degree C to hyperosmotic solutions of NaCl or sucrose with osmolalities above 0.6 osmolal. The damage was expressed as a loss of membrane integrity [fluorescein diacetate (FDA) assay] only after 60-90 min incubation at 37 degrees C. Survival after exposure to a 1.4-osmolal solution at 0 degree C was dependent on the extent of subsequent dilution. Dilution to below 0.6 osmolal was damaging, but cells could be returned to near-osmotic conditions provided that the solute concentration was increased again to 0.64 osmolal before the cells were incubated at 37 degrees C. Granulocyte cell volumes were measured under various osmotic conditions by computer-assisted micrometry. The cells did not display a minimum volume but behaved as osmometers over the observed range of 0.2-1.4 osmolal. Granulocyte volume at a given osmolality was independent of whether the cells had first been exposed to a strongly hyperosmotic medium, indicating that no solute loading occurred in hyperosmotic sucrose solutions. Even though the cells did not survive sequential exposure to greater than 0.6 osmolal solutions, subsequent return to isotonicity, and incubation at 37 degrees C, neither cell lysis nor loss in FDA-positive cells occurred after the first two steps. This finding is not consistent with the critical-surface area-increment theory of freezing injury. The mechanism of cell injury in hyperosmotic solutions is thus not known. However, the results show that osmotic stress is potentially a major damaging factor both in the equilibration of cells with protective additives and during freezing and thawing.

Blood Preservation↗
PubMed1984

Toxic and osmotic effects of glycerol on human granulocytes.

Human granulocytes are damaged by exposure to concentrations of glycerol as low as 0.5 M. We therefore investigated the addition of glycerol to granulocytes and its subsequent dilution under various conditions to try to distinguish between toxic and harmful osmotic effects of glycerol. The lesion caused by glycerol at 0 degree C was expressed as a loss of plasma membrane integrity (as visualized by fluorescein diacetate) only after incubation (greater than or equal to 1 h) at 37 degrees C. This damage was not ameliorated when osmotic stress was lessened by reducing the rates of addition and dilution of glycerol to keep the computed cell volume within 80-170% of isotonic cell volume. However, when osmotic stress was reduced further by increasing the temperature of addition and dilution of glycerol from 0 degree C to 22 degrees C, the tolerance of the cells to 1 M glycerol increased somewhat. Reducing exposure to glycerol to 3 min or less at 0 degree C greatly increased survival, but this time was too short to allow glycerol to equilibrate intracellularly. Finally, the presence of extra impermeant solute (NaCl or sucrose) in the medium to reduce the equilibrium cell volume to 60% of isotonic cell volume enabled granulocytes to survive 30-min exposure to 1 M glycerol at 0 degree C, but cells had to remain shrunken during the 37 degrees C incubation to prevent the loss of membrane integrity. Suspensions that contained damaged granulocytes formed aggregates when incubated at 37 degrees C, and these aggregates were responsible for a major fraction of the observed loss in viability.

Blood Preservation↗