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Biomedical subjects

G Cossu

Publications and source records attributed to G Cossu.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Detection of electrophoretically silent mutations by immobilized pH gradients.

The detection of neutral amino acid mutants, by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients (IPGs), is exemplified by the separation of hemoglobin (Hb) Beirut (126 beta Val----Ala) from Hb A in a shallow pH 7.2-7.6 IPG gradient with 2% Ampholine pH 6-8. The mechanism of these separations appears to involve minute alterations in the pK values of ionizable groups bordering the mutation site, which are in turn reflected in tiny alterations in the net surface charge, delta pI. The delta pI values are of the order of 0.01 to 0.001 pH units, outside the resolving limits of conventional isoelectric focusing, and correspond to changes of the order of 0.1-0.01 unit charge (a proton or an electron).

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1986

Altered distribution of protein kinase C in dystrophic muscle cells and its modulation by liposome-delivered phospholipids.

The activity and subcellular distribution of the calcium-phospholipid dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) were studied in normal and dystrophic muscle cells in vitro. Clonal strains of satellite cells, isolated from normal and dystrophic (C57BL/6J/dydy) mice, differentiate in vitro at a comparable level (over 80% of fusion). Differentiated myotubes were homogenized and separated into a soluble and a particulate fraction. The activity of protein kinase C was assayed in both fractions, and was found to be mainly in the cytosol of normal cells, whereas it was mainly associated to the membrane fraction of dystrophic cells. This altered distribution of the enzyme was likely consequent to alterations in the phospholipid composition of the dystrophic cell membrane, since it was possible to partially revert the situation by modifying the membranes with liposome-delivered phospholipids. Splenic lymphocytes from dystrophic mice showed an altered distribution of protein kinase C similar to that observed in muscle cells. The possible biochemical basis and the functional consequences of this altered distribution of the enzyme in the dystrophic cells are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Liposome-delivered phosphatidylcholine enhances the acetylcholine sensitivity of dystrophic mouse myotubes.

Myotubes were obtained in vitro from satellite cells of normal and dystrophic C57BL/6J/dydy mice. The acetylcholine sensitivity (mV/nC) of dystrophic myotubes determined with conventional electrophysiological techniques, was lower than that of normal myotubes. Incubation of dystrophic myotubes with liposomes containing phosphatidylcholine (a lipid present in higher amounts in normal adult muscle) significantly increased their acetylcholine sensitivity.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1986

Antenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassemia by isoelectric focusing in immobilized ph gradients.

A new method for antenatal diagnosis of thalassemias is reported based on the analysis of the major Hb components of fetal cord blood, sampled at week 18 of pregnancy under ultrasonic guidance, by isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients (IPG). In an IPG gel encompassing a pH 6.7-7.6 span, HbA and HbFac are separated by a distance nine times greater than in a conventional carrier ampholyte pH 6-8 gel and three times greater than in an ampholine gel with separators (an equimolar mixture of beta-alanine and 6-amino caproic acid). Band evenness (in terms of uniform protein concentration within a zone) and straightness (in terms of parallel alignment of the bands to the electrodes), because of insensitivity of IPG gels to salt distortions, allows for accurate and reproducible quantitation of HbF, -A, and -Fac levels. The possibility of greatly overloading IPG matrices in total Hbs increases the sensitivity of the technique to the detection of only 0.5% HbA in the total Hb mixture, the lower limit of conventional IEF being only 2.5% HbA. Of 15 fetuses from couples at risk analyzed in the region of Ozieri, three were found to be homozygous beta-thalassemic, eight heterozygous, and four normal with no false-positives or -negatives.

Female↗
PubMed1986

Effect of phorbol esters and liposome-delivered phospholipids on the differentiation program of normal and dystrophic satellite cells.

Satellite cells, isolated from hind limb of normal C57BL/6J mice, differentiate in culture in the presence of concentrations of phorbol esters which inhibit differentiation of embryonic myoblasts. However, if phosphatidylserine containing liposomes were added to the culture medium together with TPA, differentiation of satellite cells was reversibly inhibited. Under these conditions, the withdrawal of these cells from the cell cycle still occurred as in untreated cells. Phosphatidylserine liposomes alone or liposomes containing phosphatidylcholine (either alone or in combination with TPA) had no effect on satellite cell differentiation. In the case of satellite cells from dystrophic C57BL/6J/dydy mice, TPA addition (0.1 microM) to the culture medium partially (about 70%) inhibited morphological and biochemical differentiation. This effect could be prevented by preincubating dystrophic satellite cells with liposomes containing phosphatidylcholine but not other phospholipids. These data indicate that it is possible to change the sensitivity to TPA of satellite cells by modifying the phospholipid composition of their plasma membrane. Possible relationships of these phenomena with activation of protein kinase C or phosphatidylinositol breakdown have been investigated. The results obtained are discussed with regard to possible modulation of the intracellular response to agonist binding.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Neural control of early myogenic differentiation in cultures of mouse somites.

Neural tubes, with flanking somite streaks, were isolated from mouse embryos ranging in age from 8 to 11 days post coitus (dpc). The somites were further dissected along the neural tube to obtain one somite streak associated with the neural tube and the other free of nerve cells. The two groups of somites (with and without neural tubes) were dissociated to single cell suspension by a brief incubation with EDTA. High-density micro-mass cultures were established from these two groups of cells and the extent of cell differentiation was assayed by staining the cultures with an anti-myosin antibody. The results obtained indicated that during early somitogenesis (8.5 dpc) the presence of cells from neural tube is necessary for the emergence of myosin-positive cells in culture. At later stages (10.5 dpc), however, the total number of myosin-positive cells appearing in culture is largely independent from the presence of nerve cells. At these later stages, the presence of nerve cells inhibited the occurrence of fusion in myogenic cells. Many multinucleated myotubes appeared in cultures of somitic cells in the absence of nerve cells, but very few in their presence. The possible relationship of these data with the appearance of mononucleated differentiated cells in myotomes in vivo and the possible neural control of this stage of myogenesis are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Theoretical implications of the hyperlexia syndrome: two new Italian cases.

Two Italian girls (ages 12.5 and 18.6) are reported in whom excellent reading and writing skills have developed against a background of severe mental retardation. The cases have poor short-term memory, very low verbal and performance IQs, and fail many traditional Piagetian tasks at the operational stage. They similarly fail many "metalinguistic" tasks that have been regarded as prerequisites for the development of adequate reading and writing skills. Despite these failures, the girls can accurately read aloud words, non-words, sentences, and texts. However, their comprehension of such material was poor, and consistent with the overall low level of cognitive functioning. What the cases do show, very clearly, is that reading and writing qua visual-to-auditory and auditory-to-visual transcoding tasks can develop independently of many other basic cognitive systems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

A muscle cell line from dystrophic mice expressing an altered phenotype in vitro.

The isolation and characterization of a myogenic cell line from C57BL/6J/dydy mice is described. This line (DyA4) maintains the morphological, biochemical and electrophysiological characteristics of the primary cultured cells, at least for 20 passages. The cells actively divide as long as they are subcultured in media supplemented with horse serum and embryo extract. If the cells are not subcultured for a few days, they fuse into multinucleated contracting myotubes, which readily synthesize specific muscle products such as acetylcholinesterase and acetylcholine receptor. This dystrophic cell line expresses in vitro the same altered phenotype that is characteristic of dystrophic muscle cells in primary cultures, namely reduced acetylcholine sensitivity and reduced acetylcholine receptor expression. Because they can be grown in large amounts, and represent a pure muscle cell population which express an altered phenotype in an in vitro aneural avascular environment, DyA4 cells provide a very useful model system for investigating the pathogenesis of murine muscular dystrophy.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1985

Increased endocytosis of acetylcholine receptors by dystrophic mouse myotubes in vitro.

Multinucleated myotubes, grown in vitro from satellite cells of dystrophic mice (C57BL/6J/dydy) exhibit a reduced sensitivity to ACh. This reduction correlates with a reduced density of 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin (125I-BTX) binding sites on the surface of dystrophic myotubes. Denervated adult muscle fibers from dystrophic mice respond to Ach similarly to denervated normal muscle fibers. Furthermore, cultured dystrophic myotubes, treated with a brain extract which induces AChR clusterization, still show an impaired response to ACh and reduced 125I-BTX binding. Thus AChR function appears altered in dystrophic muscle cells in culture while it appears normal in dystrophic adult muscle, regardless of whether the receptors are dispersed on the membrane or clustered at the junctional site. Metabolic studies on the reduced AChR level in dystrophic myotubes revealed a dramatically reduced half-life (2 vs 10 hr) while the rate of synthesis was unchanged. An increased rate of internalization of AChR was observed in dystrophic myotubes with a corresponding relative increase of the "hidden AChR pool," which could be partially reduced by agents which disrupt the cytoskeleton. No structural alterations could be detected on the AChR molecule as its sedimentation coefficient and subunit composition appeared identical between normal and dystrophic myotubes. Thus the increased turnover of AChR in dystrophic myotubes either reflects subtle alterations of the molecule or a more generalized increase of endocytosis in this form of myopathy.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Synthesis of glycoconjugates in mouse primordial germ cells.

The synthesis of protein-bound carbohydrates has been studied in primordial germ cells (PGCs) and in somatic cells of 12.5 to 13.5-days-postcoitum (dpc) fetal mouse gonads. Both cell types were shown to synthesize asparagine-linked glycopeptides and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). In addition, PGCs also synthesize lactosaminoglycans (LAGs) although in different proportions in female and male germ cells. Female PGCs, which at 13.5 dpc are entering meiosis, synthesize mainly LAGs, and minor amounts of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS). Male germ cells, on the other hand, synthesize mainly CS. Furthermore, somatic cells of fetal gonads synthesize HA as the major class of GAGs. It is suggested that the activation of LAG synthesis in developing germ cells might be related to the beginning of meiosis. Moreover, we propose that HA synthesis might be developmentally regulated in somatic cells of the gonad, in order to regulate the establishment of specific interactions with germ cells.

Amino Sugars↗
PubMed1985

Emergence of TPA-resistant 'satellite' cells during muscle histogenesis of human limb.

Human satellite cells, obtained by surgical biopsies of traumatized legs of healthy individuals, were grown in culture in the presence of different concentrations of the phorbol ester tetradecanoyl-phorbol 12 acetate (TPA). Satellite cells, after an initial duplicative period, fused into large multinucleated myotubes which readily synthesized myosin and acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The presence of TPA at concentrations up to 10(-7) M did not affect the differentiation pattern, while higher concentrations were toxic. Thus human satellite cells are capable of differentiating in the presence of phorbol esters which block differentiation of embryonic myoblasts [1]. We then examined the appearance of TPA-resistant cells during human muscle histogenesis, since we had observed that differentiation of human myoblasts from a 6-week-old limb was completely and reversibly inhibited by 10(-7) M TPA. Differentiation of myoblasts from 6-, 7- and 8-week-old fetuses was completely inhibited by TPA. Myoblasts from 10-week-old limbs did not form myotubes in the presence of TPA; however, immunohistochemical staining with an antimyosin antibody revealed the presence of a few mononucleated myosin-positive cells which escaped the TPA-induced block of differentiation. At 12 weeks of development, a few oligonucleated, myosin-positive myotubes developed in cultures treated with TPA, and the level of AChR expressed (measured as [125I] alpha-bungarotoxin bound) reached 20% of controls. At 14 weeks of development, about half of the cells in culture were TPA-resistant and by 16 weeks of development no major differences could be detected between control and treated cells. We conclude from these data that a population of TPA-resistant myogenic cells emerges between the 10th and 14th week of human limb development and suggest that this population represents satellite cells.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Increased sialylation of complex glycopeptides during differentiation of mouse embryonal carcinoma cells.

High-molecular-weight, asparagine-linked glycopeptides--the lactosaminoglycans--are the major class of protein-bound carbohydrates synthesized by F9 cells; these cells synthesize only minor amounts of smaller glycopeptides. In contrast, F9ACC19, an endodermal cell line derived from F9 cells, synthesizes only minor amounts of lactosaminoglycans and a high proportion of smaller glycopeptides. Biochemical analysis of the small glycopeptides from F9ACC19 cells revealed that they are larger, bind less efficiently to concanavalin-A Sepharose and contain more sialic acid than their counterparts from F9 cells. Both cell types contain a small proportion of high-mannose glycopeptides. When synthesized by F9ACC19 cells, the glycopeptides of vesicular stomatitis virus show a high level of sialylation as compared to those synthesized by F9 cells, where few or no sialic-acid residues are present; this shows that the differences observed in total glycopeptides reflect differences in the glycosylation machinery of the cells. Consistent with this observation, sialyltransferase activity in vitro using a variety of acceptors was found to be markedly higher in F9ACC19 than in F9 cells, while galactosyltransferase activity was reduced several fold in F9ACC19 cells. These data support the hypothesis that the increased sialyltransferase activity in endodermal differentiated F9ACC19 cells may block the terminal galactose residue of glycopeptides, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of lactosaminoglycans in these cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and blood groups in northern Sardinia.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, A1A2BO, Rhesus and Kell systems were investigated in a sample of 28,439 blood donors native of northern Sardinia. The frequency of deficient male individuals was 6.56%. Higher values of r, D, and CDe compared to the averages for continental Italy were observed. Variations within the island were found in the A1A2BO and Rhesus blood group systems.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1985

A study of structure-activity relationships in 4-deoxypyrido[1',2'-1,2]imidazo[5,4-c]rifamycin SV derivatives by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis and 1H NMR.

A new class of rifamycins, 4-deoxypyrido[1',2'-1,2]imidazo[5,4-c]rifamycin SV derivatives, has been synthesized. They are potent antibacterial agents and are not absorbed at the gastrointestinal level and can therefore probably be used as antibacterial intestinal disinfectants. From the present X-ray, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, and 1H NMR study, it appears that this peculiar pharmacokinetic behavior is mainly to be attributed to the fact that the pyridoimidazo system exists in these compounds in a mesomeric betaine form, bearing one positively and one negatively charged nitrogen. If it is assumed that rifamycins are generally absorbed by passive diffusion, the presence of the two oppositely charged nitrogens, together with the presence of the phenolic hydroxyls, means that these molecules are ionized at all pH values encountered along the gastrointestinal tract, which thus prevents their absorption. These molecules also display a strong tendency to self-associate both in solution and in the solid state, and the increase in molecular size may also play a role in preventing their absorption.

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy↗
PubMed1984

Determination of glycosylated haemoglobin by isoelectric focusing in non-linear pH gradients.

A new isoelectric focusing technique for the separation and quantitation of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is described. By using an equimolar mixture of two separators (0.2 M beta-alanine + 0.2 M 6-aminocaproic acid) a 2-pH unit Ampholine range (pH 6-8) is transformed in a shallow, 0.6-pH unit span (pH 6.7-7.3). This brings about an increment of resolution between HbA and HbA1c by a factor of about three, thus allowing proper densitometric evaluation of the trichloroacetic acid-fixed MetHb bands by conventional gel scanners. Excellent agreement is found among microchromatography, isoelectric focusing followed by densitometry in situ, and isoelectric focusing followed by band excision, elution and spectrophotometric determination. The present method also allows full resolution between HbA1c and fetal haemoglobins (F and Fac bands).

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Reduced acetylcholine sensitivity in dystrophic mouse myotubes in vitro.

Acetylcholine (ACh) sensitivity in cultured myotubes from normal or dystrophic mice was investigated using conventional techniques. Dystrophic multinucleate myotubes were found to be less responsive to the ACh with respect to the control preparation. Such a reduced sensitivity to ACh in dystrophic myotubes was accompanied by a reduced binding to 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin. The possible biological significance of these results on the muscle disease is discussed.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1984

Lactosaminoglycans synthesized by mouse male germ cells are fucosylated by an epididymal fucosyltransferase.

We have studied the synthesis of protein-bound carbohydrates in differentiating male germ cells in the mouse. Spermatocytes and spermatids synthesize asparagine-linked and high-molecular-weight glycopeptides as the major classes of protein bound carbohydrates. Asparagine-linked glycopeptides were found to be mainly composed of the complex bi-antennary type as shown by affinity chromatography on concanavalin-A Sepharose; high-molecular-weight glycopeptides were represented by nonfucosylated lactosaminoglycans since they were metabolically labeled with [14C]glucosamine but not with [3H]fucose, did not bind to DEAE-cellulose, and were susceptible to endo-beta-galactosidase. Labeling with galactose oxidase/Na B3H4 technique demonstrated that lactosaminoglycans were present on the surface of differentiating germ cells and of testicular and epididymal spermatozoa. Since lactosaminoglycans from germ cells and testicular spermatozoa were not retained on a column of fucose-binding lectin, it was concluded that these molecules do not contain fucose. On the other hand, epididymal spermatozoa lactosaminoglycans bound to the lectin and therefore contained fucose. A soluble fucosyltransferase, capable of transferring fucose to germ cell lactosaminoglycans, was found to be present in the epididymis but not in the testis. These data show that developing germ cells synthesize nonfucosylated lactosaminoglycans which are probably preserved throughout spermiogenesis. We suggest that these molecules are fucosylated in vivo by a fucosyltransferase secreted by the epididymal epithelium.

Amino Sugars↗