scholarly journals Human erythrocytes adhering to schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni lyse and fail to transfer membrane components to the parasite.

1985 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Caulfield ◽  
C M Cianci

We studied the adherence of human erythrocytes to larvae of the intravascular parasite Schistosoma mansoni by transmission microscopy, freeze fracture, and fluorescence techniques. In addition, we used the adherent cells to investigate the problem of host antigen acquisition. Schistosomula were cultured for from 24 to 48 h after transformation in order to clear the remnants of the cercarial glycocalyx. In some cases, the worms were preincubated with wheat germ agglutinin to promote adherence of the erythrocytes. The results were similar with and without the lectin except that more cells attached to the lectin-coated parasites. Erythrocytes adhered within a few hours and, unlike neutrophils, did not fuse with the parasite. A layer of 10-20-nm electron dense material separated the outer leaflets of the tegumental and plasma membranes. In addition, many deformed and lysed cells were seen on the parasite surface. The ability of the worm to acquire erythrocyte membrane constituents was tested with carbocyanine dyes, fluorescein covalently conjugated to glycophorin, monoclonal antibodies against B and H blood group glycolipids, and rabbit alpha-human erythrocyte IgG. In summary, glycophorin, erythrocyte proteins, and glycolipids were not transferred to the parasite membrane within 48 h. Carbocyanine dyes were rapidly transferred to the parasite with or without lectin preincubation. Thus, the dye in the worm membrane came from both adherent and nonadherent cells. These studies suggest that, in the absence of membrane fusion, the parasite may acquire some lipid molecules similar in structure to host membrane glycolipids by simple transfer through the medium but that B and H glycolipids and erythrocyte membrane proteins are not transferred from adhering cells to the worm.

1980 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Caulfield ◽  
G Korman ◽  
A E Butterworth ◽  
M Hogan ◽  
J R David

Neutrophils and eosinophils adhering to the surface of schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni have been partially or completely detached with hypertonic sucrose or by pipetting. The sucrose-treated neutrophils are attached only in areas where there are pentalaminar fusions between the neutrophil and tegumental membranes, suggesting that these fusions attach the cells to the parasites. Pipetting breaks many of the attached cells. In thin section, the tegumental membrane underlying these cells is seen to be pentalaminar. By freeze-fracture techniques, modified attachment areas are found. The edge zone often appears as a single strand of intramembrane particles (IMPs) on the P2 face and as a groove on the E2 face. The edge zone may also have large discontinuities, in which case it no longer separates membrane faces of unequal IMP density from one another. In addition, the IMPs on the IMP-rich areas become aggregated and surrounded by craters in the membrane. These experiments suggest that the fusions may be the mechanism by which the parasite acquires some host membrane components on its surface. On the other hand, eosinophil plasma membranes are seen adhering to a layer of electron-dense material on the parasite after the cells have been disrupted by pipetting. This suggests that eosinophils adhere to the parasite surface through their discharged granule material and not by membrane fusions.


Blood ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
RJ Elin ◽  
HK Tan

Abstract This study investigated the anemia of dietary magnesium deficiency in inbred Fisher white rats using freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The plasma membranes of erythrocytes from animals receiving two different magnesium-deficient and control diets were observed at weekly or biweekly intervals for 6 wk. The earliest changes were small plaques on the external surface (ES) and fracture face (PF) of erythrocyte plasma membranes, which occurred after 2 wk of either magnesium-deficient diet. These plaques persisted and increased in size with progressive magnesium deficiency. When fully developed, the plaques consisted of round or oval elevations approximately 30–50 nm in diameter outlined by a narrow raised border. The surface of the plaques was smooth and devoid of intramembranous particles. Incubation of erythrocytes from magnesium-deficient rats in a physiologic solution containing 2 meq/liter magnesium for 1 hr at 37degrees C did not alter the appearance of the plaques. Erythrocytes from control rats, obtained during the same time periods, showed no plaques. Thus, a deficiency of magnesium in rats altered erythrocyte membrane structure.


Blood ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-664
Author(s):  
RJ Elin ◽  
HK Tan

This study investigated the anemia of dietary magnesium deficiency in inbred Fisher white rats using freeze-fracture electron microscopy. The plasma membranes of erythrocytes from animals receiving two different magnesium-deficient and control diets were observed at weekly or biweekly intervals for 6 wk. The earliest changes were small plaques on the external surface (ES) and fracture face (PF) of erythrocyte plasma membranes, which occurred after 2 wk of either magnesium-deficient diet. These plaques persisted and increased in size with progressive magnesium deficiency. When fully developed, the plaques consisted of round or oval elevations approximately 30–50 nm in diameter outlined by a narrow raised border. The surface of the plaques was smooth and devoid of intramembranous particles. Incubation of erythrocytes from magnesium-deficient rats in a physiologic solution containing 2 meq/liter magnesium for 1 hr at 37degrees C did not alter the appearance of the plaques. Erythrocytes from control rats, obtained during the same time periods, showed no plaques. Thus, a deficiency of magnesium in rats altered erythrocyte membrane structure.


1980 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 419-432
Author(s):  
P.P. da Silva ◽  
K. Shimizu ◽  
C. Parkison

Analysis of the freeze-fracture morphology of human erythrocytes during Sendai virus-induced fusion indicates that it occurs in several spots, with the formation of membrane-bound cytoplasmic connexions. Radial expansion of these connexions causes the formation of a polymorphic network of membrane tubules with a lumen continuous with the external space. Our results are best explained assuming that the viral envelopes do not necessarily participate directly in inter-membrane fusion but, instead, indirectly through conditioning and modification of the erythrocyte membranes by viral membrane components.


1973 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
pp. 1597-1601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis H. Miller ◽  
James A. Dvorak ◽  
Tsugiye Shiroishi ◽  
John R. Durocher

Chymotrypsin- and Pronase-treated human erythrocytes were refractory to invasion by P. knowlesi merozoites; invasion was not inhibited by trypsin or neurammidase treatment. These data implicate a surface protein other than sialoglycoprotein as the receptor site for merozoites. Invasion of rhesus erythrocytes was unaffected by pretreatment with these enzymes. Differences in membrane structure of erythrocytes from various species may explain the absence of an enzyme effect on rhesus erythrocytes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (11) ◽  
pp. 7077-7086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica L. Brown ◽  
Douglas S. Lyles

ABSTRACT Many plasma membrane components are organized into detergent-resistant membrane microdomains referred to as lipid rafts. However, there is much less information about the organization of membrane components into microdomains outside of lipid rafts. Furthermore, there are few approaches to determine whether different membrane components are colocalized in microdomains as small as lipid rafts. We have previously described a new method of determining the extent of organization of proteins into membrane microdomains by analyzing the distribution of pairwise distances between immunogold particles in immunoelectron micrographs. We used this method to analyze the microdomains involved in the incorporation of the T-cell antigen CD4 into the envelope of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). In cells infected with a recombinant virus that expresses CD4 from the viral genome, both CD4 and the VSV envelope glycoprotein (G protein) were found in detergent-soluble (nonraft) membrane fractions. However, analysis of the distribution of CD4 and G protein in plasma membranes by immunoelectron microscopy showed that both were organized into membrane microdomains of similar sizes, approximately 100 to 150 nm. In regions of plasma membrane outside of virus budding sites, CD4 and G protein were present in separate membrane microdomains, as shown by double-label immunoelectron microscopy data. However, virus budding occurred from membrane microdomains that contained both G protein and CD4, and extended to approximately 300 nm, indicating that VSV pseudotype formation with CD4 occurs by clustering of G protein- and CD4-containing microdomains.


1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (10) ◽  
pp. 2453-2460 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Fujimoto ◽  
M. Umeda ◽  
T. Fujimoto

We propose the use of membrane splitting by freeze-fracture for differential phospholipid analysis of protoplasmic and exoplasmic membrane leaflets (halves). Unfixed cells or tissues are quick-frozen, freeze-fractured, and platinum-carbon (Pt/C) shadowed. The Pt/C replicas are then treated with 2.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to solubilize unfractured membranes and to release cytoplasm or contents. While the detergent dissolves unfractured membranes, it would not extract lipids from split membranes, as their apolar domains are stabilized by their Pt/C replicas. After washing, the Pt/C replicas, along with attached protoplasmic and exoplasmic membrane halves, are processed for immunocytochemical labeling of phospholipids with antibody, followed by electron microscopic observation. Here, we present the application of the SDS-digested freeze-fracture replica labeling (SDS-FRL) technique to the transmembrane distribution of a major membrane phospholipid, phosphatidylcholine (PC), in various cell and intracellular membranes. Immunogold labeling revealed that PC is exclusively localized on the exoplasmic membrane halves of the plasma membranes, and the intracellular membranes of various organelles, e.g. nuclei, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, secretory granules, and disc membranes of photoreceptor cells. One exception to this general scheme was the plasma membrane forming the myelin sheath of neurons and the Ca(2+)-treated erythrocyte membranes. In these cell membranes, roughly equal amounts of immunogold particles for PC were seen on each outer and inner membrane half, implying a symmetrical transmembrane distribution of PC. Initial screening suggests that the SDS-FRL technique allows in situ analysis of the transmembrane distribution of membrane lipids, and at the same time opens up the possibility of labeling membranes such as intracellular membranes not normally accessible to cytochemical labels without the distortion potentially associated with membrane isolation procedures.


1979 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Torpier ◽  
M.A. Ouaissi ◽  
A. Capron

1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-741
Author(s):  
B.J. Cottrell ◽  
C. Pye ◽  
A.M. Glauert ◽  
A.E. Butterworth

Human monocytes were purified from peripheral blood and cultured in vitro on hydrophobic membranes. Such cells developed into mature tissue-type macrophages after approximately 1 week in culture. During this maturation period the macrophages developed a potent cytotoxic mechanism whereby they could kill the schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni in standard in vitro cytotoxicity assays. Cytological and ultrastructural studies of the cells grown in vitro indicated that macrophages developed many of the classical histological and ultrastructural features of ‘activated’ cells with ruffled plasma membranes and significant increases in rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi vesicles. Effective cytotoxicity depended upon contact of the effector cells and their parasite target. Further, experiments using metabolic inhibitors indicated that cytotoxicity was dependent upon protein synthesis. Initial results point to the macrophage factor being distinct from some of the better-characterised macrophage secretory products such as tumour necrosis factor, proteases and products of oxygen metabolism.


1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (13) ◽  
pp. 3079-3087 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Grimson ◽  
C.H. Haigler ◽  
R.L. Blanton

Prestalk cells of Dictyostelium discoideum contribute cellulose to two distinct structures, the stalk tube and the stalk cell wall, during culmination. This paper demonstrates by freeze fracture electron microscopy that two distinct types of intramembrane particle aggregates, which can be characterized as cellulose microfibril terminal complexes, occur in the plasma membranes of cells synthesizing these different forms of cellulose. The same terminal complexes were observed in situ in developing culminants and in vitro in monolayer cells induced to synthesize the two types of cellulose. We propose that cessation of cell motility is associated with a change in packing and intramembrane mobility of the particle aggregates, which cause a change in the nature of the cellulose synthesized. The terminal complexes are compared to those described in other organisms and related to the previous hypothesis of two modes of cellulose synthesis in Dictyostelium.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document