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H Holtzer

Publications and source records attributed to H Holtzer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Polygons and adhesion plaques and the disassembly and assembly of myofibrils in cardiac myocytes.

Successive stages in the disassembly of myofibrils and the subsequent assembly of new myofibrils have been studied in cultures of dissociated chick cardiac myocytes. The myofibrils in trypsinized and dispersed myocytes are sequentially disassembled during the first 3 d of culture. They split longitudinally and then assemble into transitory polygons. Multiples of single sarcomeres, the cardiac polygons, are analogous to the transitory polygonal configurations assumed by stress fibers in spreading fibroblasts. They differ from their counterparts in fibroblasts in that they consist of muscle alpha-actinin vertices and muscle myosin heavy chain struts, rather than of the nonmuscle contractile protein isoforms of stress fiber polygons. EM sections reveal the vertices and struts in cardiac polygons to be typical Z and A bands. Most cardiac polygons are eliminated by day 5 of culture. Concurrent with the disassembly and elimination of the original myofibrils new myofibrils are rapidly assembled elsewhere in the same myocyte. Without exception both distal tips of each nascent myofibril terminate in adhesion plaques. The morphology and composition of the adhesion plaques capping each end of each myofibril are similar to those of the termini of stress fibers in fibroblasts. However, whereas the adhesion complexes involving stress fibers in fibroblasts consist of vinculin/nonmuscle alpha-actinin/beta- and gamma-actins, the analogous structures in myocytes involving myofibrils consist of vinculin/muscle alpha-actinin/alpha-actin. The addition of 1.7-2.0 microns sarcomeres to the distal tips of an elongating myofibril, irrespective of whether the myofibril consists of 1, 10, or several hundred tandem sarcomeres, occurs while the myofibril appears to remain linked to its respective adhesion plaques. The adhesion plaques in vitro are the equivalent of the in vivo intercalated discs, both in terms of their molecular composition and with respect to their functioning as initiating sites for the assembly of new sarcomeres. How 1.7-2.0 microns nascent sarcomeres can be added distally during elongation while the tips of the myofibrils remain inserted into submembranous adhesion plaques is unknown.

Actinin↗
PubMed1987

Sequential disassembly of myofibrils induced by myristate acetate in cultured myotubes.

The phorbol ester TPA induces the sequential disassembly of myofibrils. First the alpha-actin thin filaments are disrupted and then, hours later, the myosin heavy chain (MHC) thick filaments. TPA does not induce the disassembly of the beta- and gamma-actin thin filaments of stress fibers in presumptive myoblasts or fibroblasts, nor does it block the reemergence of stress fibers in 72-h myosacs that have been depleted of all myofibrillar molecules. There are differences in where, when, and how myofibrillar alpha-actin and MHC are degraded and eliminated from TPA-myosacs. Though the anisodiametric myotubes have begun to retract into isodiametric myosacs after 5 h in TPA, staining with anti-MHC reveals normal tandem A bands. In contrast, staining with mAb to muscle actin fails to reveal tandem I bands. Instead, both mAb to muscle actin and rhophalloidin brilliantly stain numerous disk-like bodies approximately 3.0 micron in diameter. These muscle actin bodies do not fuse with one another, nor do they costain with anti-MHC. All muscle actin bodies and/or molecules disappear in 36-h myosacs. The collapse of A bands is first initiated in 10-h myosacs. Their loss correlates with the appearance of immense, amorphous MHC patches. MHC patches range from a few micrometers to over 60 micron in size. They do not costain with antimuscle actin or rho-phalloidin. While diminishing in number and fluorescence intensity, MHC aggregates are present in 30% of the 72-h myosacs. Myosacs removed from TPA rapidly elongate, and after 48 h display normal newly assembled myofibrils. TPA reversibly blocks incorporation of [35S]methionine into myofibrillar alpha-actin, MHC, myosin light chains 1 and 2, the tropomyosins, and troponin C. It does not block the synthesis of beta- or gamma-actins, the nonmyofibrillar MHC or light chains, tubulin, vimentin, desmin, or most household molecules.

Actins↗
PubMed1986

Effects of colcemid and taxol on microtubules and intermediate filaments in chick embryo fibroblasts.

Reports on how changes in microtubule (MT) distribution or polymerization affect the distribution of intermediate filaments (IFs) differ. Therefore, we have used cytoimmunofluorescence techniques and electron microscopy to systematically examine and compare the arrangements of MTs and IFs in cultures of chick embryo fibroblasts under the following conditions: at different times during the cell cycle, in the presence of Colcemid or of taxol, in the presence of both drugs in succession or simultaneously in varying ratios, and during recovery from treatment with Colcemid or taxol. We have found that depolymerization of MTs by 1 microM Colcemid resulted in the rapid formation of massive IF-cables, structures distinct from "collapsed IFs" or "juxtanuclear coils." Neither the rapid formation of IF-cables nor their dispersion during recovery required protein synthesis. Cells treated with 10 microM taxol rapidly formed MT-bundles, as well as aggregates of intertwining IFs, termed "IF-skeins." MT-bundles and IF-skeins displayed strikingly complementary distributions. This reciprocal distribution of packed MTs and IFs was also obvious in untreated anaphase and telophase cells. When 10 microM taxol and 1 microM Colcemid were applied simultaneously, the complementary distributions of MT-bundles and IF-skeins mimicked those in taxol alone. This ability of taxol to block Colcemid's effects was concentration dependent. Decreasing the taxol: Colcemid ratio allowed the depolymerization of MTs, which correlated with the formation of IF-cables.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1986

Role of stress fiber-like structures in assembling nascent myofibrils in myosheets recovering from exposure to ethyl methanesulfonate.

When day 1 cultures of chick myogenic cells were exposed to the mutagenic alkylating agent ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) for 3 d, 80% of the replicating cells were killed, but postmitotic myoblasts survived. The myoblasts fused to form unusual multinucleated "myosheets": extraordinarily wide, flattened structures that were devoid of myofibrils but displayed extensive, submembranous stress fiber-like structures (SFLS). Immunoblots of the myosheets indicated that the carcinogen blocked the synthesis and accumulation of the myofibrillar myosin isoforms but not that of the cytoplasmic myosin isoform. When removed from EMS, widely spaced nascent myofibrils gradually emerged in the myosheets after 3 d. Striking co-localization of fluorescent reagents that stained SFLS and those that specifically stained myofibrils was observed for the next 2 d. By both immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, individual nascent myofibrils appeared to be part of, or juxtaposed to, preexisting individual SFLS. By day 6, all SFLS had disappeared, and the definitive myofibrils were displaced from their submembranous site into the interior of the myosheet. Immunoblots from recovering myosheets demonstrated a temporal correlation between the appearance of the myofibrillar myosin isoforms and the assembly of thick filaments. The assembly of definitive myofibrils did not appear to involve desmin intermediate filaments, but a striking aggregation of sarcoplasmic reticulum elements was seen at the level of each I-Z-band. Our findings suggest that SFLS in the EMS myosheets function as early, transitory assembly sites for nascent myofibrils.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Titin and myosin, but not desmin, are linked during myofibrillogenesis in postmitotic mononucleated myoblasts.

Monoclonal antibodies specific for the muscle protein titin have been used in conjunction with muscle-specific antibodies against myofibrillar myosin heavy chains (MHCs) and desmin to study myogenesis in cultured cells. Desmin synthesis is initiated in replicating presumptive myoblasts, whereas the synthesis of titin and MHC is initiated simultaneously in their progeny, the postmitotic, mononucleated myoblasts. Both titin and MHC are briefly localized to nonstriated and thereafter to definitively striated myofibrils. At no stage during myofibrillogenesis is either protein observed as part of a sequence of mini-sarcomeres. Titin antibodies bind to the A-I junction, MHC antibodies to the A bands in nascent, maturing, and mature myofibrils. In contrast, desmin remains distributed as longitudinal filaments until well after the definitive myofibrils have aligned laterally. This tight temporal and topographical linkage between titin and myosin is also observed in postmitotic, mononucleated myoblasts and multinucleated myotubes when myofibrillogenesis is perturbed with Colcemid or taxol. Colcemid induces elongating postmitotic mononucleated myoblasts and multinucleated myotubes to round up and form Colcemid myosacs. The myofibrils that emerge in these rounded cells are deployed in convoluted circles. The time required for their nonstriated myofibrils to transform into striated myofibrils is greatly protracted. Furthermore, as Colcemid induces immense desmin intermediate filament cables, the normal spatial relationships between emerging individual myofibrils is distorted. Despite these disturbances at all stages, the characteristic temporal and spatial relationship observed in normal myofibrils between titin and MHC is observed in myofibrils assembling in Colcemid-treated cells. Newly born postmitotic mononucleated myoblasts, or maturing myotubes, reared in taxol acquire a star-shaped configuration and are induced to assemble "pseudo-striated myofibrils." Pseudo-striated myofibrils consist of laterally aggregated 1.6-micron long, thick filaments that interdigitate, not with thin filaments, but with long microtubules. These atypical myofibrils lack Z bands. Despite the absence of thin filaments and Z bands, titin localizes with its characteristics sarcomeric periodicity in pseudo-striated myofibrils. We conclude that the initiation and subsequent regulation of titin and myosin synthesis, and their spatial deployment within developing sarcomeres are tightly coupled events. These findings are discussed in terms of a model that proposes interaction between two relatively autonomous "organizing centers" in the assembly of each sarcomere.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Differential survival of cartilage and muscle cells in chick limb-bud cell cultures maintained in chemically defined and serum-containing media.

Chick limb buds at stages 22-23 largely consist of replicating presumptive chondroblasts and presumptive myoblasts. To study the influence that different medium compositions may have on the survival, replication, and terminal differentiation of these dissociated cells in vitro, micromass cultures were reared in either standard Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing fetal calf serum (SC-DMEM) or in serum-free DMEM. By day 4, approximately 80% and 50% of the original cell inoculum had been lost in DMEM and SC-DMEM cultures, respectively, as estimated from the recovery of incorporated 3H-thymidine. Between days 1 and 4, the total-DNA content remained virtually constant in DMEM cultures, while it increased five- to sixfold in SC-DMEM cultures. In both media, definitive myoblasts and chondroblasts first emerged on day 1 and day 2, respectively, as determined by immunofluorescence staining using antibodies against muscle light meromyosin (LMM) or the major cartilage proteoglycan. In both media, the chondroblasts increased in number and, by day 4, had formed sizable chondroblast nodules. The number of chondroblasts in SC-DMEM cultures exceeded that observed in DMEM cultures. In DMEM, the LMM-positive myoblasts had an atypical morphology and failed to fuse into elongated myotubes; these cells began to degenerate on about day 4, being undetectable by day 8. In SC-DMEM, the numerous LMM-positive myoblasts located in the center of the micromasses also had an atypical morphology, failed to form multinucleated myotubes, and were absent by day 8.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Immunological analysis of chick notochord and cartilage matrix development with antisera to cartilage matrix macromolecules.

Transverse frozen sections from the postcephalic region of stage 9-16 chick embryos and from the wing bud region of stage 17-31 embryos were stained with antibodies to the major extracellular matrix components of cartilage. These probes included unfractionated A1 and A2 antisera to the major cartilage proteoglycan, affinity-purified purified antibodies to the proteoglycan core protein and to Type II collagen, and a monoclonal antibody to keratan sulfate. In embryos as early as stage 10, notochord stained specifically with the keratan sulfate monoclonal antibody. At this stage the notochord, as well as surrounding tissues, were negative to cartilage proteoglycan and collagen antibodies. Positive staining with the latter probes was coordinately acquired by notochord cells and their accompanying sheath around stage 15, while surrounding tissues remained negative. At this stage, the ventral region of the perispinal cord sheath exhibited light staining with the proteoglycan and keratan sulfate antibodies though failing to react to Type II collagen antibodies. Positive staining of notochord and ventral spinal cord persisted through later developmental stages. As revealed by immunofluorescence, definitive vertebral chondroblasts first emerged at approximately stage 23 and definitive limb chondroblasts at stage 25. The results are discussed in terms of the possible multiple roles of notochord in early embryogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Induction-dependent and lineage-dependent models for cell diversification are mutually exclusive.

The purpose of this brief review is to put into perspective just how little is known about the mechanisms that control the assembly of the differentiation program of any cell type. Any number of "trivial" changes in the microenvironment of a Friend erythroleukemic or of a neuroblastoma cell induces both covertly differentiated cells to reveal their lineage affiliations. Demethylating molecules, BudR, retinoic acid, cAMP, butyrate or other "inducing molecules" do not, however, transform the descendents of the neuroblastoma cell into a Hb- synthesizing cell or vice versa. For thousands of generations both of these immortialized lines transmit to their daughters their unique, lineage-dependent differentiation programs with great fidelity. The stability of the inherited transcription complex that is ultimately responsible for this covert differentiation program of these cell lines--or of normal precursor cells--is awesome. Clearly, with these immortalized cells as with normal chick blastodisc cells, the cell's microenvironment plays a major role in permitting or blocking the expression of the cell's inherited differentiation program. But the program itself must be generated by intracellular mechanisms and must be inherited; its assembly is not dependent upon inductive events initiated by exogenous molecules.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Differential binding of antibodies against the neurofilament triplet proteins in different avian neurons.

Using monospecific antisera against each of the three chicken neurofilament (NF) proteins, NF70, NF160 and NF180, the distribution of each of these proteins in several types of neurons was examined by immunohistochemistry. Striking differences were observed in the relative staining by the three antibodies when the soma of different types of neurons were compared, and also when the soma of some neurons were compared with their axons. Both the soma and axons of dorsal root sensory neurons were brightly stained by each of the antisera. The soma of spinal cord ventral horn neurons, however, were stained only by A-NF70 and A-NF180, not by A-NF160. The axons of these neurons were uniformly stained by A-NF70 and A-NF180, while only gradually becoming NF160-positive over the first several hundred microns. The lack of staining by A-NF160 was also observed in many neuronal soma in cultures of dissociated spinal cord cells. The soma and dendrites of adult cerebellar Purkinje cells were weakly stained by A-NF70 and A-NF180 and not at all by A-NF160, but both A-NF70 and A-NF180 yielded prominent staining of immature Purkinje cells and dendrites. These results suggest that the three NF proteins may be unequally distributed within the soma and processes of different types of neurons and/or may be subject to regionally selective modification.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Age-dependent changes in myogenic precursor cell compartment sizes. Evidence for the existence of a stem cell.

Individual myogenic cells were isolated from the pectoralis muscles of chick embryos from days 8-14 of embryogenesis. When separately cloned, these cells produced three types of colonies in culture: (1) Positive: all cells in the clone were terminally differentiated muscle cells; (2) negative: no cells in the clone were terminally differentiated muscle; (3) mixed: some cells in the clone were terminally differentiated muscle. Positive clones from all ages tended to contain 2n cells (n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). Negative clones were found in all sizes and did not cluster around powers of 2 in cell number. Mixed clones were, by far, the most common type among those clones larger than 24 in cell number. Estimates of cell numbers in embryonic muscle tissue revealed that, while the numbers of cells in all myogenic compartments increased steadily with embryonic age, the number and percentage of precursor cells that produced large mixed clones increased dramatically. Subclones, prepared from populations of cells equivalent to large mixed clones, yielded both small positive and large mixed colonies. This indicated that the precursors to the large mixed clones were also precursors to the smaller positive clones. These observations suggest a model for the myogenic lineage in which there exists a stem cell that can generate, by a series of asymmetric divisions, cohorts of terminally differentiated muscle cells. The model can explain the asynchrony of production of terminally differentiated muscle cells both in vitro and in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Separation of precursor myogenic and chondrogenic cells in early limb bud mesenchyme by a monoclonal antibody.

We have addressed the problem of the segregation of cell lineages during the development of cartilage and muscle in the chick limb bud. The following experiments demonstrate that early limb buds consist of at least two independent subpopulations of committed precursor cells--those in (a) the myogenic and (b) the chondrogenic lineage--which can be physically separated. Cells obtained from stage 20, 21, and 22 limb buds were cultured for 5 h in the presence of a monoclonal antibody that was originally isolated for its ability to detach preferentially myogenic cells from extracellular matrices. The detached limb bud cells were collected and replated in normal medium. Within 2 d nearly all of the replated cells had differentiated into myoblasts and myotubes; no chondroblasts differentiated in these cultures. In contrast, the original adherent population that remained after the antibody-induced detachment of the myogenic cells differentiated largely into cartilage and was devoid of muscle. Rearing the antibody-detached cells (i.e., replicating myogenic precursors and postmitotic myoblasts) in medium known to promote chondrogenesis did not induce these cells to chondrify. Conversely, rearing the attached precursor cells (i.e., chondrogenic precursors) in medium known to promote myogenesis did not induce these cells to undergo myogenesis. The definitive mononucleated myoblasts and multinucleated myotubes were identified by muscle-specific antibodies against light meromyosin or desmin, whereas the definitive chondroblasts were identified by a monoclonal antibody against the keratan sulfate chains of the cartilage-specific sulfated proteoglycan. These findings are interpreted as supporting the lineage hypothesis in which the differentiation program of a cell is determined by means of transit through compartments of a lineage.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

The relationship between stress fiber-like structures and nascent myofibrils in cultured cardiac myocytes.

The topographical relationship between stress fiber-like structures (SFLS) and nascent myofibrils was examined in cultured chick cardiac myocytes by immunofluorescence microscopy. Antibodies against muscle-specific light meromyosin (anti-LMM) and desmin were used to distinguish cardiac myocytes from fibroblastic cells. By various combinations of staining with rhodamine-labeled phalloidin, anti-LMM, and antibodies against chick brain myosin and smooth muscle alpha-actinin, we observed the following relationships between transitory SFLS and nascent and mature myofibrils: (a) more SFLS were present in immature than mature myocytes; (b) in immature myocytes a single fluorescent fiber would stain as a SFLS distally and as a striated myofibril proximally, towards the center of the cell; (c) in regions of a myocyte not yet penetrated by the elongating myofibrils, SFLS were abundant; and (d) in regions of a myocyte with numerous mature myofibrils, SFLS had totally disappeared. Spontaneously contracting striated myofibrils with definitive Z-band regions were present long before anti-desmin localized in the I-Z-band region and long before morphologically recognizable structures periodically link Z-bands to the sarcolemma. These results suggest a transient one-on-one relationship between individual SFLS and newly emerging individual nascent myofibrils. Based on these and other relevant data, a complex, multistage molecular model is presented for myofibrillar assembly and maturation. Lastly, it is of considerable theoretical interest to note that mature cardiac myocytes, like mature skeletal myotubes, lack readily detectable stress fibers.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Transformation by Rous sarcoma virus induces similar patterns of glycosaminoglycan synthesis in chick embryo skin fibroblasts and vertebral chondroblasts.

Chick embryo skin fibroblasts and vertebral chondroblasts were infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus, LA24A, and were grown at permissive (36 degrees C) and nonpermissive (41 degrees C) temperatures. During exponential growth, infected and parallel uninfected cultures were labeled with D-[3H]glucosamine, and newly synthesized glycosaminoglycans were identified by anion exchange chromatography and by selective enzymatic and chemical degradations. Control fibroblasts synthesized low levels of hyaluronic acid (HA), and dermatan sulfate (DS), moderate levels of heparan sulfate (HS), and high levels of chondroitin sulfate (CS). In contrast, control chondroblasts synthesized very low levels of HA and DS, no HS, and very high levels of CS. Following transformation and growth at 36 degrees C, both cell types showed a dramatic increase in HA synthesis and a significant decrease in CS synthesis. In addition, transformed chondroblasts initiated the synthesis of HS and increased their synthesis of DS to levels that matched those of transformed fibroblasts. The CS chains synthesized by control chondroblasts were partially undersulfated, while those synthesized by both normal and transformed fibroblasts were fully sulfated. Upon transformation, chondroblasts grown at 36 degrees C initiated the synthesis of fully sulfated CS chains. Most of the above biosynthetic alterations were completely reversed when infected cells were grown at 41 degrees C, indicating that they were dependent on the transforming gene product of LA24A. Clearly, the profound differences that distinguish normal fibroblasts from normal chondroblasts are lost upon transformation, and these two types of terminally differentiated cells converge toward a common, though not identical, biosynthetic program for glycosaminoglycans.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Immunological characterization of the major chick cartilage proteoglycan and its intracellular localization in cultured chondroblasts: a comparison with Type II procollagen.

Polyclonal antibodies were raised in a rabbit against the major proteoglycan of chick sternal cartilage. A total of six antisera was obtained, three after the first booster injection (A1, A2, and A3) and three after the second booster injection (A4, A5, and A6). The A1 antiserum, which was characterized in most detail, immunoprecipitated native as well as chondroitinase ABC-digested or chondroitinase ABC/keratanase-digested cartilage proteoglycan synthesized by cultured chick chondroblasts, but failed to immunoprecipitate the major proteoglycan synthesized by chick skin fibroblasts. This antiserum was also able to immunoprecipitate the cartilage proteoglycan core protein newly synthesized by cultured chondroblasts, but no other major cell protein. However, the late bleed antisera obtained from the same rabbit after a second booster injection reacted with a new chondroblast-specific polypeptide(s) of approximately 60,000 mol wt in addition to the cartilage proteoglycan. By immunofluorescence procedures, the A1 antiserum stained the extracellular proteoglycan matrix of cultured chondroblasts but not that of skin fibroblasts. Following enzymatic removal of the extracellular matrix and cell membrane permeabilization, this antiserum stained primarily a large, juxtanuclear structure. Additional radioautographic evidence suggests that this structure represents the Golgi complex. Similar immunofluorescent staining with antibodies to the cartilage-characteristic Type II collagen revealed that type II procollagen was localized in numerous cytoplasmic, vacuole-like structures which were scattered throughout most of the chondroblast cytoplasm but were notably scanty in the Golgi complex area. In conclusion, our data suggest the transit of the major cartilage proteoglycan through the Golgi complex of cultured chondroblasts and possible differences in the intracellular distribution of newly synthesized cartilage proteoglycan and Type II procollagen.

Animals↗