Signal transduction of mucous secretion by bronchial gland cells

The distribution of immunoreactive surfactant-associated protein B (IR-SP-B) was studied immunohistochemically in 120 subjects from 10 weeks of gestation to 7 postnatal months with a polyclonal antibody against human SP-B. Electron microscopy (EM) was done in 72 subjects to document the presence of Type II cells containing lamellar bodies. Fetuses of less than 18 weeks' gestation showed no immunostaining. Beginning at 18 weeks, non-mucous cells of tracheal glands immunostained in a few instances. Fetuses of 19 through 23 weeks showed progressive immunostaining of cells lining terminal airways. Infants 26-40 weeks who died with or without pulmonary pathology showed immunostaining of Type II cells and bronchioloalveolar (BA) portal cells of the respiratory bronchioles. In infants with hyaline membrane disease (HMD) who died less than 12 days after birth, occasional tracheal gland cells, BA portal cells, and mature and relining Type II cells immunostained. In bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), BA portal cells, relining Type II cells, macrophages, and luminal material immunostained. Occasional tracheal and bronchial gland cells and Clara cells immunostained. The appearance of IR-SP-B at mid-gestation correlated with differentiation of Type II cells. There was good correlation of immunostaining with the presence of lamellar bodies on EM. Accelerated maturation of the lung was often associated with premature rupture of membranes (PROM).

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Ultrastructural aspects of olfactory signal transduction and its development

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010016844x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 142-143

Author(s):

Bert Ph. M. Menco

Keyword(s):

Signal Transduction ◽

Olfactory Receptor ◽

Receptor Cell ◽

Freeze Substitution ◽

Luminal Surface ◽

Tissue Sections ◽

Olfactory Receptor Cells ◽

Receptor Cells ◽

Olfactory Signal ◽

Odor Molecule

Vertebrate olfactory receptor cells are specialized neurons that have numerous long tapering cilia. The distal parts of these cilia line the interface between the external odorous environment and the luminal surface of the olfactory epithelium. The length and number of these cilia results in a large surface area that presumably increases the chance that an odor molecule will meet a receptor cell. Advanced methods of cryoprepration and immuno-gold labeling were particularly useful to preserve the delicate ultrastructural and immunocytochemical features of olfactory cilia required for localization of molecules involved in olfactory signal-transduction. We subjected olfactory tissues to freeze-substitution in acetone (unfixed tissues) or methanol (fixed tissues) followed by low temperature embedding in Lowicryl K11M for that purpose. Tissue sections were immunoreacted with several antibodies against proteins that are presumably important in olfactory signal-transduction.

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Signal-regulated oxidation of proteins via MICAL

Biochemical Society Transactions ◽

10.1042/bst20190866 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 613-620

Author(s):

Clara Ortegón Salas ◽

Katharina Schneider ◽

Christopher Horst Lillig ◽

Manuela Gellert

Keyword(s):

Signal Transduction ◽

Hydrogen Peroxide ◽

Cell Death ◽

Redox Regulation ◽

Signal Transduction Pathways ◽

Cellular Functions ◽

Intracellular Signals ◽

Amino Acid Side Chains ◽

Specific Receptors ◽

Sulfur Containing

Processing of and responding to various signals is an essential cellular function that influences survival, homeostasis, development, and cell death. Extra- or intracellular signals are perceived via specific receptors and transduced in a particular signalling pathway that results in a precise response. Reversible post-translational redox modifications of cysteinyl and methionyl residues have been characterised in countless signal transduction pathways. Due to the low reactivity of most sulfur-containing amino acid side chains with hydrogen peroxide, for instance, and also to ensure specificity, redox signalling requires catalysis, just like phosphorylation signalling requires kinases and phosphatases. While reducing enzymes of both cysteinyl- and methionyl-derivates have been characterised in great detail before, the discovery and characterisation of MICAL proteins evinced the first examples of specific oxidases in signal transduction. This article provides an overview of the functions of MICAL proteins in the redox regulation of cellular functions.

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