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B A Nichols

Publications and source records attributed to B A Nichols.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Cytochemical localization of glucose-6-phosphatase in rabbit mononuclear phagocytes during differentiation.

Cytochemical and biochemical investigations have revealed glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) activity in Kupffer cells of the liver. To determine whether other mononuclear phagocytes are also reactive for G-6-Pase, rabbit bone marrow, blood, and alveolar macrophages were tested for G-6-Pase by a modified Wachstein-Meisel method and prepared for electron microscopy. Some mononuclear phagocytes from all three tissues were intensely reactive; others were unreactive. In promonocytes, monocytes, and alveolar macrophages, reaction product for the enzyme was localized throughout all cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the perinuclear cisternae, but it was absent from the Golgi complex, lysosomes, and occasional smooth tubular channels. These results indicate that mononuclear phagocytes at all stages of development contain cytochemically demonstrable G-6-Pase and that the distribution of the enzyme is not altered during their differentiation from immature cells in the bone marrow to mature macrophages in the lung.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Differences in peroxidase localization of rabbit peritoneal macrophages after surface adherence.

Unlike resident peritoneal macrophages, which contain peroxidase in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and perinuclear cisternae (PN), macrophages elicited into the rabbit peritoneal cavity by various stimulants lack the enzyme. Since we had previously found that such peroxidase reactivity rapidly appears in the RER and PN of blood monocytes after surface adherence in vitro, we wondered whether the enzyme could be similarly produced in elicited macrophages by adherence. Cells from peritoneal exudates (96 hours after endotoxin injection) were harvested, suspended in culture medium, and allowed to adhere to fibrin-coated or plastic surfaces. Following culture for various intervals, they were fixed, incubated for peroxidase, and examined by electron microscopy. We observed that these elicited cells, which initially contained no cytochemically detectable peroxidase, acquired peroxidatic activity in the RER and PN within 2 hours after adherence in culture. Thus macrophages, like blood monocytes, may rapidly acquire peroxidase reactivity as a consequence of plasma membrane: external surface interaction. In view of this finding, it would seem unwise to use peroxidase localization as the basis for advocating the existence of two separate lines of peritoneal macrophages, as has been proposed by previous investigators.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Appearance of peroxidase reactivity within the rough endoplasmic reticulum of blood monocytes after surface adherence.

Rabbit blood monocytes, which contain no cytochemically demonstrable peroxidase, develop peroxidatic activity in the RER and perinuclear cisternae within 2 h after adherence to serum- or fibrin-coated surfaces. A similar reactivity appears in surface-adherent human and rat blood monocytes. In both localization and characteristics, this enzyme reactivity in monocytes resembles that normally seen in the resident peritoneal macrophages of the rabbit, as well as in several types of tissue macrophages in other species. Thus this observation supports the concept, presently based on the kinetic data of other investigators, that blood monocytes are the precursors of such cells. Moreover, the appearance of new enzyme activity after adherence may reflect alterations in cellular metabolism resulting from plasma membrane:surface interactions.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Ultrastructural localization of peroxidase in leukocytes of rat bone marrow and blood.

The differentiation of leukocytes in the bone marrow and blood of normal adult male rats was studied by electron microscopy and peroxidase cytochemistry. Tissue samples were fixed in glutaraldehyde, or paraformaldehyde-glutaraldehyde, and incubated in a peroxidase medium containing 3,3'-diaminobenzidine and H2O2 ad pH 7.6. Mature cells of blood were identified, and then the earlier stages of maturation in bone marrow were analyzed. In immature cells of four cell lines, neutrophils, monocytes, basophils, and eosinophils, peroxidase is synthesized and could be demonstrated in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER), Golgi complex, and in cytoplasmic granules. Later in maturation, reaction product for peroxidase could not be found in RER or Golgi complex, indicating that peroxidase synthesis had ceased. In two cell lines, neutrophils and monocytes, peroxidase-negative granules were formed, and the mature cells contained two populations of cytochemically distinct granules. All granules of mature eosinophils were peroxidase-positive. In mature basophils, some granules were clearly peroxidase-positive; others displayed variable density, making interpretation uncertain. Mast cells were never seen in blood, but were abundant in bone marrow; peroxidase was never found in their granules by either electron microscopic cytochemistry or a variety of light microscopic methods. Hence, these cells differ from basophils, not only in morphology but also in the enzyme content of their granules.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Normal rabbit alveolar macrophages. I. The phagocytosis of tubular myelin.

Normal rabbit alveolar macrophages are engorged with large, dense inclusions which contain whorls of myelin figures, suggesting an exogenous source of polar lipids in their diet. One contributory source of such lipids is surfactant, since macrophages were seen ingesting tubular myelin and vacuoles containing remnants of it were found in the cytoplasm. Thus, as indicated previously in kinetic studies, it appears that alveolar macrophages participate in the turnover of surfactant. However, the relative importance of the macrophage in comparison to other pathways of surfactant removal remains to be determined. It is also noteworthy that although tubular myelin and myelin figures were abundant in the fixative used to wash out the lungs, bacteria were not found in it or in the macrophages. Thus, removal of obsolete surfactant may prove to be one of the mojor endocytic functions of alveolar macrophages.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Normal rabbit alveolar macrophages. II. Their primary and secondary lysosomes as revealed by electron microscopy and cytochemistry.

In this investigation, vacuoles containing tubular myelin proved to be digestive compartments with cytochemical reactivity for acid phosphatase and arylsulfatase. These cytochemical markers identify the secondary lysosomes, known to contain enzymes capable of hydrolyzing phospholipids like surfactant. Therefore, it appears that alveolar macrophages possess the enzymatic machinery for the degradation of the tubular myelin found in their digestive vacuoles. Although it thus appears evident that alveolar macrophages participate in the turnover of surfactant, the quantitative significance of this route of disposal is undetermined. This investigation has also established that acid hydrolases, so prominently displayed in the secondary lysosomes, are also localized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum and in Golgi-endoplasmic reticulum-lysosomes (GERL). Moreover, small vesicles which are produced from GERL serve as primary lysosomes in transporting digestive enzymes to the vacuoles.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1971

Differentiation of monocytes. Origin, nature, and fate of their azurophil granules.

The origin, content, and fate of azurophil granules of blood monocytes were investigated in several species (rabbit, guinea pig, human) by electron microscopy and cytochemistry. The life cycle of monocytes consists of maturation in bone marrow, transit in blood, and migration into tissues where they function as macrophages. Cells were examined from all three phases. It was found that: azurophil granules originate in the Golgi complex of the developing monocyte of bone marrow and blood, and ultimately fuse with phagosomes during phagocytosis upon arrival of monocytes in the tissues. They contain lysosomal enzymes in all species studied and peroxidase in the guinea pig and human. These enzymes are produced by the same pathway as other secretory products (i.e., they are segregated in the rough ER and packaged into granules in the Golgi complex). The findings demonstrate that the azurophil granules of monocytes are primary lysosomes or storage granules comparable to the azurophils of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and the specific granules of eosinophils. Macrophages from peritoneal exudates (72-96 hr after endotoxin injection) contain large quantities of lysosomal enzymes throughout the secretory apparatus (rough ER and Golgi complex), in digestive vacuoles, and in numerous coated vesicles; however, they lack forming or mature azurophil granules. Hence it appears that the monocyte produces two types of primary lysosomes during different phases of its life cycle-azurophil granules made by developing monocytes in bone marrow or blood, and coated vesicles made by macrophages in tissues and body cavities.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Transesophageal echocardiography: a sonographer's perspective.

Clinical transesophageal echocardiography is increasingly being applied for the evaluation of numerous functional and anatomic cardiac abnormalities. This new technology has opened an area of invasive ultrasonography that has changed and expanded the role of the cardiac sonographer. The sonographer is essential for the implementation and performance of this recent advance in echocardiography.

Echocardiography↗