The Fine Structure of Irradiated Mouse Heart

Author(s):  
Vivian V. Yang ◽  
S. Phyllis Stearner

The heart is generally considered a radioresistant organ, and has received relatively little study after total-body irradiation with doses below the acutely lethal range. Some late damage in the irradiated heart has been described at the light microscopic level. However, since the dimensions of many important structures of the blood vessel wall are submicroscopic, investigators have turned to the electron microscope for adequate visualization of histopathological changes. Our studies are designed to evaluate ultrastructural changes in the mouse heart, particularly in the capillaries and muscle fibers, for 18 months after total-body exposure, and to compare the effects of 240 rad fission neutrons and 788 rad 60Co γ-rays.Three animals from each irradiated group and three control mice were sacrificed by ether inhalation at 4 days, and at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months after irradiation. The thorax was opened and the heart was fixed briefly in situwith Karnofsky's fixative.

Author(s):  
S. Phyllis Steamer ◽  
Rosemarie L. Devine

The importance of radiation damage to the skin and its vasculature was recognized by the early radiologists. In more recent studies, vascular effects were shown to involve the endothelium as well as the surrounding connective tissue. Microvascular changes in the mouse pinna were studied in vivo and recorded photographically over a period of 12-18 months. Radiation treatment at 110 days of age was total body exposure to either 240 rad fission neutrons or 855 rad 60Co gamma rays. After in vivo observations in control and irradiated mice, animals were sacrificed for examination of changes in vascular fine structure. Vessels were selected from regions of specific interest that had been identified on photomicrographs. Prominent ultrastructural changes can be attributed to aging as well as to radiation treatment. Of principal concern were determinations of ultrastructural changes associated with venous dilatations, segmental arterial stenosis and tortuosities of both veins and arteries, effects that had been identified on the basis of light microscopic observations. Tortuosities and irregularly dilated vein segments were related to both aging and radiation changes but arterial stenosis was observed only in irradiated animals.


1991 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 1009-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
H M Schipper ◽  
A Mateescu-Cantuniari

A subpopulation of astrocytes in the vertebrate brain and in cysteamine-treated brain cell cultures contain cytoplasmic granules which exhibit an affinity for Gomori stains, orange-red autofluorescence, and non-enzymatic endogenous peroxidase activity. Visualization of these cells at the light microscopic level is confounded by the nonspecificity of the various histochemical methods routinely employed. In an attempt to circumvent this problem, we assayed for peroxidase-positive astrocytes using various combinations of diaminobenzidine (DAB) histochemistry and immunolabeling for the astrocyte-specific marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). We determined that (a) DAB histochemistry in conjunction with avidin-biotin-immunoperoxidase labeling for GFAP specifically detects peroxidase-positive astrocytes in situ and (b) DAB histochemistry combined with indirect immunofluorescence for GFAP effectively demonstrates these cells in cysteamine-treated brain cell cultures.


Author(s):  
D. J. McComb ◽  
J. Beri ◽  
F. Zak ◽  
K. Kovacs

Investigation of the spontaneous pituitary adenomas in rat have been limited mainly to light microscopic study. Furth et al. (1973) described them as chromophobic, secreting prolactin. Kovacs et al. (1977) in an ul trastructural investigation of adenomas of old female Long-Evans rats, found that they were composed of prolactin cells. Berkvens et al. (1980) using immunocytochemistry at the light microscopic level, demonstrated that some spontaneous tumors of old Wistar rats could contain GH, TSH or ACTH as well as PRL.


Author(s):  
D.F. Clapin ◽  
V.J.A. Montpetit

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal filamentous proteins. The most important of these are amyloid fibrils and paired helical filaments (PHF). PHF are located intraneuronally forming bundles called neurofibrillary tangles. The designation of these structures as "tangles" is appropriate at the light microscopic level. However, localized domains within individual tangles appear to demonstrate a regular spacing which may indicate a liquid crystalline phase. The purpose of this paper is to present a statistical geometric analysis of PHF packing.


Author(s):  
Rick L. Vaughn ◽  
Shailendra K. Saxena ◽  
John G. Sharp

We have developed an intestinal wound model that includes surgical construction of an ileo-cecal patch to study the complex process of intestinal wound healing. This allows approximation of ileal mucosa to the cecal serosa and facilitates regeneration of ileal mucosa onto the serosal surface of the cecum. The regeneration of ileal mucosa can then be evaluated at different times. The wound model also allows us to determine the rate of intestinal regeneration for a known size of intestinal wound and can be compared in different situations (e.g. with and without EGF and Peyer’s patches).At the light microscopic level it appeared that epithelial cells involved in regeneration of ileal mucosa originated from the enlarged crypts adjacent to the intestinal wound and migrated in an orderly fashion onto the serosal surface of the cecum. The migrating epithelial cells later formed crypts and villi by the process of invagination and evagination respectively. There were also signs of proliferation of smooth muscles underneath the migratory epithelial cells.


Author(s):  
R.V.W. Dimlich ◽  
M.H. Biros

In severe cerebral ischemia, Purkinje cells of the cerebellum are one of the cell types most vulnerable to anoxic damage. In the partial (forebrain) global ischemic (PGI) model of the rat, Paljärvi noted at the light microscopic level that cerebellar damage is inconsistant and when present, milder than in the telencephalon, diencephalon and rostral brain stem. Cerebellar injury was observed in 3 of 4 PGI rats following 5 minutes of reperfusion but in none of the rats after 90 min of reperfusion. To evaluate a time between these two extremes (5 and 90 min), the present investigation used the PGI model to study the effects of ischemia on the ultrastructure of cerebellar Purkinje cells in rats that were sacrificed after 30 min of reperfusion. This time also was chosen because lactic acid that is thought to contribute to ischemic cell changes in PGI is at a maximum after 30 min of reperfusion.


Author(s):  
Masako Yamada ◽  
Yutaka Tanuma

Although many fine structural studies on the vertebrate liver have been reported on mammals, avians, reptiles, amphibians, teleosts and cyclostomes, there are no studies on elasmobranchii liver except one by T. Ito etal. (1962) who studied it on light microscopic level. The purpose of the present study was to as certain the ultrastructural details and cytochemical characteristics of normal elasmobranchii liver and was to compare with the other higher vertebrate ones.Seventeen Scyliorhinus torazame, one kind of elasmobranchii, were obtained from the fish stock of the Ueno Zoo aquarium, Ueno, Tokyo. The sharks weighing about 300-600g were anesthetized with MS-222 (Sigma), and the livers were fixed by perfusion fixation via the portal vein according to the procedure of Y. Saito et al. (1980) for 10 min. Then the liver tissues were immersed in the same fixative for 2 hours and postfixed with 1% OsO4-solution in 0.1 Mc acodylate buffer for one hour. In order to make sure a phagocytic activity of Kupffer cells, latex particles (0.8 μm in diameter, 0.05mg/100 g b.w.) were injected through the portal vein for one min before fixation. For preservation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm, a series of these procedure were performed under ice cold temperature until the end of dehydration.


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