Regulation of interstitial cell differentiation in Hydra attenuata. I. Homeostatic control of interstitial cell population size

1976 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.R. Bode ◽  
K.M. Flick ◽  
G.S. Smith

Mechanisms regulating the population size of the multipotent interstitial cell (i-cell) in Hydra attenuata were investigated. Treatment of animals with 3 cycles of a regime of 24 h in 10-2 M hydroxyurea (HU) alternated with 12 h in culture medium selectively killed 95–99% of the i-cells, but had little effect on the epithelial cells. The i-cell population recovered to the normal i-cell:epithelial cell ratio of I:I within 35 days. Continuous labelling experiments with [3H]thymidine indicate that the recovery of the i-cell population is not due to a change in the length of the cell cycle of either the epithelial cells or the interstitial cells. In control animals 60% of the i-cell population undergo division daily while 40% undergo differentiation. Quantification of the cell types of HU-treated animals indicates that a greater fraction of the i-cells were dividing and fewer differentiating into nematocytes during the first 2 weeks of the recovery after HU treatment. Therefore, the mechanism for recovery involves a shift of the 60:40 division:differentiation ratio of i-cells towards a higher fraction in division until the normal population size of the i-cells is regained. This homeostatic mechanism represents one of the influences affecting i-cell differentiation.

1978 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.A. Marcum ◽  
R.D. Campbell

Hydra attenuata were rendered free of interstitial cells (I cells) and interstitial cell derivatives by colchicine treatment. These hydra were then cloned and cultivated for 18 months and their developmental capacities were studied. Some experimental hydra possessed a few (about 1% of the normal numbers) interstitial cells and retained this low level during prolonged culture and active growth without the differentiation of I-cells into specialized cells. Other hydra were completely freed of interstitial cells by the colchicine treatment. Maceration and histological analyses showed that once a hydra is freed of all interstitial cells it does not recover them, nor do its buds contain interstitial cells. I cell-free hydra also lack nerve cells, nematocytes, gametes and endodermal gland cells, and the tissue consists only of ectodermal and endodermal epithelial cells. Hydra completely lacking interstitial cells grow, bud, exhibit tissue renewal patterns, regenerate and preserve polarity generally typical of normal hydra. I cell-free hypostomal tissue has inductive capacity, as does normal hypostomal tissue, when implanted in I cell-free or normal gastric tissue. Regenerating I cell-free tissue undergoes precocious determination as does normal tissue. Only in some quantitative aspects do I cell-free hydra develop abnormally. We conclude that hydra consisting only of epithelial cells are capable of essentially normal development.


1981 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
S. Heimfeld ◽  
H.R. Bode

The interstitial cell of hydra is a multipotent stem cell, which produces nerve cells as one of its differentiated cell types. The amount of interstitial cell commitment to nerve differentiation varies in an axially dependent pattern along the body column. The distribution of nerve cell density has the same equivalent axial pattern. These facts have led to speculation that the regulation of nerve cell commitment is dictated by the nerve cell density. We examined this question by assaying interstitial cell commitment behaviour in 2 cases where the normal nerve cell density of the tissue had been perturbed: (1) in epithelial hydra in which no nerve cells were present; and (2) in hydra derived from regenerating-tip isolates in which the nerve density was increased nearly 4-fold. We found no evidence of regulation of nerve cell commitment in response to the abnormal nerve cell densities. However, the typical axial pattern of nerve commitment was still obtained in both sets of experiments, which suggests that interstitial cell commitment to nerve differentiation is dependent on some parameter of axial location that is not associated directly with the local nerve cell density.


1978 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
M.S. Yaross ◽  
H.R. Bode

The interstitial cell (i-cell) of hydra, a multipotent stem cell, produces two classes of differentiated cell types, nerve cells and nematocytes, throughout asexual growth. Using a new assay, the regulation of i-cell commitment to either nerve cell or nematocyte differentiation was investigated. This assay was used to determine the fractions of i-cells differentiating into nerve cells and nematocyte precursors in a variety of in vivo cellular milieus produced by hydroxyurea treatment, differential feeding, and reaggregation of dissociated cells. Nematocyte commitment was found to be positively correlated with the size of the i-cell population and independent of the axial position of the i-cells along the body column. This indicates that i-cell commitment to nematocyte differentiation may be regulated by feedback from the i-cell population. Nerve cell commitment was found to be correlated with regions of high nerve cell density. This suggests that nerve cell commitment is regulated by feedback from the nerve cell population or is dependent on axial position. Implications of such mechanisms for the regulation of i-cell population size and distribution are discussed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 204 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Liston ◽  
Andrew G. Farr ◽  
Zhibin Chen ◽  
Christophe Benoist ◽  
Diane Mathis ◽  
...  

Foxp3 is essential for the commitment of differentiating thymocytes to the regulatory CD4+ T (T reg) cell lineage. In humans and mice with a genetic Foxp3 deficiency, absence of this critical T reg cell population was suggested to be responsible for the severe autoimmune lesions. Recently, it has been proposed that in addition to T reg cells, Foxp3 is also expressed in thymic epithelial cells where it is involved in regulation of early thymocyte differentiation and is required to prevent autoimmunity. Here, we used genetic tools to demonstrate that the thymic epithelium does not express Foxp3. Furthermore, we formally showed that genetic abatement of Foxp3 in the hematopoietic compartment, i.e. in T cells, is both necessary and sufficient to induce the autoimmune lesions associated with Foxp3 loss. In contrast, deletion of a conditional Foxp3 allele in thymic epithelial cells did not result in detectable changes in thymocyte differentiation or pathology. Therefore, in mice the only known role for Foxp3 remains promotion of T reg cell differentiation within the T cell lineage, whereas there is no role for Foxp3 in thymic epithelial cells.


1978 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
M.S. Yaross ◽  
H.R. Bode

Nematocyte differentiation was examined during head regeneration in Hydra attenuata. Nematocyte precursors were found to decrease in head-regenerating tissue. This decrease could not be attributed to decreased stem cell commitment or to altered cellular kinetics. The nematocyte precursors could be ‘rescued’ by regrafting a head onto the initially regenerating tissue only prior to the time at which head determination occurred. These results suggest that concurrent with head determination an irreversible change occurs in the tissue environment, resulting in decreased survival of cells committed to nematocyte differentiation.


Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Tepass ◽  
V. Hartenstein

The Drosophila endoderm segregates into three non-neural cell types, the principle midgut epithelial cells, the adult midgut precursors, and the interstitial cell precursors, early in development. We show that this process occurs in the absence of mesoderm and requires proneural and neurogenic genes. In neurogenic mutants the principle midgut epithelial cells are missing and the other two cell types develop in great excess. Consequently, the midgut epithelium does not form. In achaete-scute complex and daughterless mutants the interstitial cell precursors do not develop and the number of adult midgut precursors is strongly reduced. Development of the principle midgut epithelial cells and formation of the midgut epithelium is restored in neurogenic proneural double mutants. The neurogenic/proneural genes are, in contrast to the neuroectoderm, not expressed in small clusters of cells but initially homogeneously in the endoderm suggesting that no prepattern exists which determines the position of the segregating cells. Hence, the segregation pattern solely depends on neurogenic/proneural gene interaction. Proneural genes are required but not sufficient to determine specific cell fates because they are required for cell type specification in both ectoderm and endoderm. Our data also suggest that the neurogenic/proneural genes are involved in the choice between epithelial versus mesenchymal cell morphologies.


1978 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
M.S. Yaross ◽  
H.R. Bode

In hydra, nerve cells are a differentiation product of the interstitial cell, a multipotent stem cell. Nerve cell commitment was examined during head regeneration in Hydra attenuata. Within 3 h of head removal there is a 10- to 20-fold increase in nerve cell commitment in the tissue which subsequently forms the new head. Nerve cell commitment is unaltered in the remainder of the gastric region. This local increase in nerve cell commitment is responsible for about one half the new nerve cells formed during head regeneration, while one half differentiate from interstitial cells that migrate into the regenerating tip.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. B. Gelberg ◽  
K. McEntee

Interstitial cell tumors from nine stallions were described. In all but one horse the tumors were found in undescended testes. Five animals had bilateral tumors. Two animals showed increased aggression. Tumors contained two cell types. The first type were large distinctly bordered eosinophilic cells interpreted to be hyperplastic and hypertrophic interstitial cells. They blended with pleomorphic often spindloid neoplastic cells which had fibrillar, vacuolated cytoplasm and indistinct cell borders. This latter cell population was arranged in nodules or broad sheets as endocrine-like packets or interweaving fascicles. Biologic behavior of the neoplasms could not be ascertained from histologic examination.


Author(s):  
W.T. Gunning ◽  
M.R. Marino ◽  
M.S. Babcock ◽  
G.D. Stoner

The role of calcium in modulating cellular replication and differentiation has been described for various cell types. In the present study, the effects of Ca++ on the growth and differentiation of cultured rat esophageal epithelial cells was investigated.Epithelial cells were isolated from esophagi taken from 8 week-old male CDF rats by the enzymatic dissociation method of Kaighn. The cells were cultured in PFMR-4 medium supplemented with 0.25 mg/ml dialyzed fetal bovine serum, 5 ng/ml epidermal growth factor, 10-6 M hydrocortisone 10-6 M phosphoethanolamine, 10-6 M ethanolamine, 5 pg/ml insulin, 5 ng/ml transferrin, 10 ng/ml cholera toxin and 50 ng/ml garamycin at 36.5°C in a humidified atmosphere of 3% CO2 in air. At weekly intervals, the cells were subcultured with a solution containing 1% polyvinylpyrrolidone, 0.01% EGTA, and 0.05% trypsin. After various passages, the replication rate of the cells in PFMR-4 medium containing from 10-6 M to 10-3 M Ca++ was determined using a clonal growth assay.


Author(s):  
J.M. Robinson ◽  
J.M Oliver

Specialized regions of plasma membranes displaying lateral heterogeneity are the focus of this Symposium. Specialized membrane domains are known for certain cell types such as differentiated epithelial cells where lateral heterogeneity in lipids and proteins exists between the apical and basolateral portions of the plasma membrane. Lateral heterogeneity and the presence of microdomains in membranes that are uniform in appearance have been more difficult to establish. Nonetheless a number of studies have provided evidence for membrane microdomains and indicated a functional importance for these structures.This symposium will focus on the use of various imaging modalities and related approaches to define membrane microdomains in a number of cell types. The importance of existing as well as emerging imaging technologies for use in the elucidation of membrane microdomains will be highlighted. The organization of membrane microdomains in terms of dimensions and spatial distribution is of considerable interest and will be addressed in this Symposium.


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