Ultrastructural Studies of the Interaction of Bacteria with Intestinal Cell Surfaces

Author(s):  
Marian R. Neutra
Author(s):  
T. G. Sarphie ◽  
C. R. Comer ◽  
D. J. Allen

Previous ultrastructural studies have characterized surface morphology during norma cell cycles in an attempt to associate specific changes with specific metabolic processes occurring within the cell. It is now known that during the synthetic ("S") stage of the cycle, when DNA and other nuclear components are synthesized, a cel undergoes a doubling in volume that is accompanied by an increase in surface area whereby its plasma membrane is elaborated into a variety of processes originally referred to as microvilli. In addition, changes in the normal distribution of glycoproteins and polysaccharides derived from cell surfaces have been reported as depreciating after cellular transformation by RNA or DNA viruses and have been associated with the state of growth, irregardless of the rate of proliferation. More specifically, examination of the surface carbohydrate content of synchronous KB cells were shown to be markedly reduced as the cell population approached division Comparison of hamster kidney fibroblasts inhibited by vinblastin sulfate while in metaphase with those not in metaphase demonstrated an appreciable decrease in surface carbohydrate in the former.


1976 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-596
Author(s):  
H. Fujisawa ◽  
H. Morioka ◽  
K. Watanabe ◽  
H. Nakamura

Ultrastructural studies of thin-sectioned and freeze-cleaved materials were performed on developing retinal tissues of 3- to 9-day-old chick embryos to clarify the junctional structures between neural retinal cells and between neural retinal cells and cells of the pigmented epithelium. Frequency, size and position of gap junctions in developing neural retina are different at each stage of development. In 3-day-old embryos, some cells adhere to each other by gap junctions immediately below the outer limiting membrane of neural retinae. The size and number of gap junctions increase remarkably during 5–6 days of incubation. In this period of development, well developed gap junctions consisting of subcompartments of intramembrane particles are found between cell surfaces at both the outer limiting membrane region and the deeper portion of the neural retina. Gap junctions disappear thereafter, and at 7-5 days of incubation, small gap junctions are predominant between cell surfaces at the outer limiting membrane region, while the frequency of gap junctions in the deeper portion is very low. At 9 days of incubation, gap junctions are rarely found. Typical gap junctions are always found between neural retinal cells and those of the pigmented epithelium in embryos up to 7-5 days of incubation. Tight junctions are not found in the neural retina or between neural retina and pigmented epithelium throughout the stages examined.


1999 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 5447-5454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia M. Kirov ◽  
Lisa A. O’Donovan ◽  
Kevin Sanderson

ABSTRACT Our past work has shown that long, flexible type IV pili (single or in bundles) are the predominant pili expressed on fecal isolates of diarrhea-associated species of Aeromonas (Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria and A. caviae). They represent a family of type IV pili which we have designated Bfp (for bundle-forming pili). Reports from Japan suggest that Bfp are intestinal colonization factors. This study presents compelling evidence to support this conclusion. Aeromonas bacteria and/or Bfp purified from a strain of A. veronii biovar sobria were shown to adhere to epithelial and intestinal cell lines, freshly isolated human enterocytes, and fresh and fixed human and rabbit intestinal tissues, as determined by light and electron microscopy and immunohistochemical detection. Removal of Bfp by mechanical means decreased adhesion to cell lines by up to 80%. Purified Bfp blocked adhesion of the test strain to intestinal cells in a dose-dependent manner. Adhesion was also blocked by the Fab fraction of anti-Bfp immunoglobulin G. Moreover, ultrastructural studies (ruthenium red staining and transmission and scanning electron microscopy) demonstrated for the first time that Aeromonasadhesion to human enterocytes is pilus mediated and suggested that Bfp may also promote colonization by forming bacterium-to-bacterium linkages. Bfp-positive isolates examined for type IV pilus-mediated twitching motility in agar and slide culture assays developed forPseudomonas aeruginosa did not, however, exhibit this function.


Author(s):  
Richard S. Demaree ◽  
Donald M. Wootton

Cercariae (juvenile trematodes with tails) emerge from mollusk intermediate hosts and swim toward definitive hosts or encystment objects. The locomotor power is furnished by the tail. Upon reaching a suitable host or encystment object, the tail is cast off and the cercariae penetrate and/or encyst. Ultrastructural studies of cercariae are sparse. There is even lessUltrastructural studies of cercariae are sparse. There is even less information about the tail structure; and body-to-tail morphology has been documented only for Acanthatrium oregonense and Schistosoma japonicum.


Author(s):  
A. Gonzalez Angulo ◽  
R. Berlioz ◽  
R. Aznar

Recent ultrastructural studies on endometrial tissues from women wearing copper, wire intrauterine devices have disclosed morphological evidence of impaired glycogen degradation and secretion resulting in interference with the viability of blastocysts. Reduced microapocrine secretion observed with the scanning electron microscope supports this (1). In addition, organelle modifications have been observed in the epithelial cells of these women. The changes are seen in biopsies taken in the proliferative phase of the cycle and consist of mitochondrial vacuolation and myelin figure formation. These modifications disappear in the secretory phase and therefore have been regarded as reversible (2).The aim of the present studies was to investigate surface epithelial changes as well as organelle modifications in relation to the site of contact with an IUD that releases greater amounts of copper. Endometrial tissue was obtained from the uterine cavity of four young women wearing TCu-380-A intrauterine contraceptive devices for 4-6 weeks.


Author(s):  
T. M. Murad ◽  
H. A. I. Newman ◽  
K. F. Kern

The origin of lipid containing cells in atheromatous lesion has been disputed. Geer in his study on atheromatous lesions of rabbit aorta, suggested that the early lesion is composed mainly of lipid-laden macrophages and the later lesion has a mixed population of macrophages and smooth muscle cells. Parker on the other hand, was able to show evidence that the rabbit lesion is primarily composed of lipid-laden cells of smooth muscle origin. The above studies and many others were done on an intact lesion without any attempt of cellular isolation previous to their ultrastructural studies. Cell isolation procedures have been established for atherosclerotic lesions through collagenase and elastase digestion Therefore this procedure can be utilized to identify the cells involved in rabbit atheroma.


Author(s):  
K.S. McCarty ◽  
N.R. Wallace ◽  
W. Litaker ◽  
S. Wells ◽  
G. Eisenbarth

The production of adrenocorticotropic hormone by non-pituitary carcinomas has been documented in several tumors, most frequently small cell carcinoma of the lung, islet cell carcinomas of the pancreas, thymomas and carcinoids. Electron microscopy of these tumors reveals typical membrane-limited "neurosecretory" granules. Confirmation of the granules as adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) requires the use of OsO4 as a primary fixative to give the characteristic cored granule appearance in conjunction with immunohistochemical demonstration of the hormone peptide. Because of the rarity of ectopic ACTH production by mammary carcinomas and the absence of appropriate ultrastructural studies in the two examples of such ectopic hormone production in the literature of which we are aware (1,2), we present biochemical and ultrastructural data from a carcinoma of the breast with apparent ACTH production.The patient had her primary tumor in the right breast in 1969. The tumor recurred as visceral and subcutaneous metastases in 1976 and again in 1977.


Author(s):  
P. Hernández-Jáuregui ◽  
A. Sosa ◽  
A. González Angulo

Glycocalyx is the name given by Bennett to the extracellular glycoprotein coat present in some cell surfaces. It appears to play an important role in cell properties such as antigenicity, cell adhesivity, specific permeability, and ATP ase activity. In the sperm this coat can be directly related to such important phenomena as capacitation and fertilization. The presence of glycocalyx in invertebrate spermatozoa has already been demonstrated. Recently Yanagimachi et al. has determined the negative charges on sperm surfaces of mammalian spermatozoa including man, using colloidal iron hydroxide. No mention was made however of the outer surface coat as composed of substances other than those confering a negative charge. The purpose of this work was therefore to determine the presence of a glycocalyx in human spermatozoa using alcian blue and lanthanum staining.


Author(s):  
James K. Koehler ◽  
Steven G. Reed ◽  
Joao S. Silva

As part of a larger study involving the co-infection of human monocyte cultures with HIV and protozoan parasites, electron microscopic observations were made on the course of HIV replication and infection in these cells. Although several ultrastructural studies of the cytopathology associated with HIV infection have appeared, few studies have shown the details of virus production in “normal,” human monocytes/macrophages, one of the natural targets of the virus, and suspected of being a locus of quiescent virus during its long latent period. In this report, we detail some of the interactions of developing virons with the membranes and organelles of the monocyte host.Peripheral blood monocytes were prepared from buffy coats (Portland Red Cross) by Percoll gradient centrifugation, followed by adherence to cover slips. 90-95% pure monocytes were cultured in RPMI with 5% non-activated human AB serum for four days and infected with 100 TCID50/ml of HIV-1 for four hours, washed and incubated in fresh medium for 14 days.


Author(s):  
Corazon D. Bucana

In the circulating blood of man and guinea pigs, glycogen occurs primarily in polymorphonuclear neutrophils and platelets. The amount of glycogen in neutrophils increases with time after the cells leave the bone marrow, and the distribution of glycogen in neutrophils changes from an apparently random distribution to large clumps when these cells move out of the circulation to the site of inflammation in the peritoneal cavity. The objective of this study was to further investigate changes in glycogen content and distribution in neutrophils. I chose an intradermal site because it allows study of neutrophils at various stages of extravasation.Initially, osmium ferrocyanide and osmium ferricyanide were used to fix glycogen in the neutrophils for ultrastructural studies. My findings confirmed previous reports that showed that glycogen is well preserved by both these fixatives and that osmium ferricyanide protects glycogen from solubilization by uranyl acetate.I found that osmium ferrocyanide similarly protected glycogen. My studies showed, however, that the electron density of mitochondria and other cytoplasmic organelles was lower in samples fixed with osmium ferrocyanide than in samples fixed with osmium ferricyanide.


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