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H J Kuhn

Publications and source records attributed to H J Kuhn.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Embryological development of the arterial system of the forelimb in Tupaia.

BACKGROUND: The arterial system of the upper extremities in man shows drastic developmental changes and many individual variations related to interspecific variations in primates. The ontogenetic development in Tupaia was examined from the viewpoint of comparative embryology. METHODS: Histological specimens of 39 embryos were observed and reconstructed in three dimensions using a computer program. Four adult animals were dissected and examined with angiography to ascertain the end stage of development. RESULTS: At the proximal end of the upper arm the deep brachial artery appears first as a concomitant vessel with the radial nerve. It becomes reduced in size and is succeeded by the posterior circumflex humeral artery, which is accompanied initially by the axillary nerve and finally by the radial nerve. The main arterial passageway to the fingers consists of the brachial and interosseous arteries during early development. The superficial brachial artery and median artery are formed later, and their connection becomes the main route of blood supply for the finger arteries up to the adult stage. The ulnar artery is formed at the end of arterial development to form the ulnar end of the superficial palmar arch. The superficial antebrachial arteries are also recognized. CONCLUSIONS: All the arterial elements of the forelimb in Tupaia are observed in a variety of primates, including man, and the characteristics of Tupaia are thought to represent the primitive conditions of the common ancestor of tree shrews and primates.

Angiography↗
PubMed1994

The vomeronasal organ of the New World monkey Saguinus fuscicollis (Callitrichidae). A light and transmission electron microscopic study.

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) of the New World monkey Saguinus fuscicollis (Callitrichidae) is located at the base of the most distal portion of the nasal septum opening into the nasal portion of the ductus nasopalatinus which also communicates with the oral cavity. The lumen of the VNO is limited medially and laterally by a neuroepithelium which is devoid of intraepithelially located blood vessels and composed of receptor, supporting and basal cells. Ultrastructural analysis of the VNO of Saguinus fuscicollis reveals morphological features which lead one to postulate the functional capacity of this organ in these primates. A possible mechanism through which scent marks may be incorporated into the VNO is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Postpartum erythrophagocytosis, iron storage and iron secretion in the endometrium of the tree shrew (Tupaia) during pregnancy.

Tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) develop a bidiscoid endotheliochorial placenta. In addition, histiotrophe secreted by uterine glands is absorbed by the paraplacental trophoblast. Histiotrophe which is rich in iron is necessary for erythropoiesis in the young embryo. This report is part of a study of the accumulation and metabolism of iron in the endometrium of precisely dated pregnant Tupaia belangeri by application of electron spectroscopy and histochemistry. In the endometrium of tree shrews which had been pregnant at least once, iron-laden granules were present in macrophages and secreting cells of uterine glands. Iron accumulated in the endometrium shortly after parturition, when macrophages phagocytosed erythrocytes at small haematomas 0.2-0.5 mm in diameter. These haematomas arose during parturition after bleeding into the uterine stroma when the placental discs were detached. At 24 h after parturition the following structural consequences of the erythrolysosomal breakdown of phagocytosed erythrocytes could be observed: free cytosolic siderin granules, membrane-bound siderosomes, telolysosomes (some of which contained myelin figures or lipid droplets) and mixed telolysosomes (containing membranous stacks and siderin granules). During the lysosomal degradation of phagocytosed erythrocytes, iron was transferred from haemoglobin into a different macromolecular compound. Electron energy loss spectra detected from inside siderosomes indicated an iron-oxygen compound, and high-power bright field electron micrographs of siderosomes demonstrated the ultrastructural pattern characteristic of ferritin. At about d 12 of a new pregnancy, macrophages containing siderosomes closely approached the bases of secreting cells of endometrial glands. This strongly suggests that iron is transferred from the macrophages to the glandular cells. Within the glandular cells, iron-rich histiotrophe was synthesised and released into the glandular lumen. Within the uterine cavity this histiotrophe was absorbed by the omphalopleure. We suggest that among eutherians, postpartum erythrophagocytosis, the transfer of iron from macrophages to uterine glands, and the paraplacental uptake of iron, represent an ancestral mechanism of iron supply to the embryo.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Effect of Ca2+ on weak cross-bridge interaction with actin in the presence of adenosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate).

In the presence of the nucleotide analog adenosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (ATP[gamma S]), effects of Ca2+ on stiffness and equatorial x-ray diffraction patterns of single skinned fibers of the rabbit psoas muscle were studied. It is shown that cross-bridges in the presence of ATP[gamma S] have properties of the weak-binding states of the ATP hydrolysis cycle. Raising the Ca2+ concentration up to pCa 4.5 has little effect on actin affinity of cross-bridges in the presence of ATP[gamma S]. However, the rate constants for cross-bridge dissociation and reassociation from and to actin are reduced by about 2 orders of magnitude. In addition, nucleotide affinity of the cross-bridge is much smaller at high Ca2+ concentrations. Implications for interpretation of fiber stiffness recorded during isotonic shortening and the rising phase of a tetanus are discussed.

Actins↗
PubMed1990

Stretch-induced increase in the Ca2+ sensitivity of myofibrillar ATPase activity in skinned fibres from pig ventricles.

The increase in force development in the heart with increase in end-diastolic pressure (Frank-Starling mechanism) has been ascribed to an increase in contractile responsiveness of the myofibrils to calcium. We now show that this calcium sensitization is also associated with an increase in calcium responsiveness of the myofibrillar ATPase. Thus, at submaximal Ca activation (pCa 6.0), the ATPase activity of skinned fibres from pig right ventricles is increased from 57.9 +/- 4.4% to 70.6 +/- 4.4% of the maximal Ca2+ activation of ATPase by stretching (by 15% lo). At maximal Ca2+ activation, ATPase was barely altered by stretching. The relationship between ATPase activity of skinned trabecula of pig right ventricle and ATPase-Ca2+ concentrations is shifted (by 0.1 pCa unit) to higher pCa values after a stretch-induced increase of the sarcomere length from 2.1 microns to 2.4 microns. The relationship between force and pCa was affected in a similar way by extension. This increased calcium sensitivity is, however, not associated with an alteration in the relationship between ATPase activity and force development (tension cost). In accordance with Brenner's hypothesis, we propose therefore that stretch activation of ATPase is associated with an increase in the apparent rate constant of crossbridge attachment rather than with a decrease in the apparent rate constant of crossbridge detachment.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1988

The early development of the epicardium in Tupaia belangeri.

Development of the epicardium was studied in embryos of Tupaia belangeri from the 13th to 15th day of ontogeny. The greater part of the epithelium of the epicardium does not differentiate locally from the myoepicardium (cardiac splanchnopleure, splanchnic mesoderm), but rather from the coelomic epithelium of the septum transversum. The myoepicardium of the future atria and ventricles differentiates into myocardial cells only. On ontogenetic day 13, bulbar protrusions (the "villi" of Kurkiewicz 1909) are formed on the surface of the septum transversum and extend into the pericardial cavity, primarily between the sinoatrial and the ventricular regions of the embryonic heart. These protrusions are covered by flattened interdigitating cells, and they are filled with intercellular fluid of the mesenchyme of the septum transversum. Many mitoses are found among the cells. From these protrusions free vesicles are formed which are discharged into the pericardial cavity. The vesicles attach to the surface of the myoepicardium, i.e. to the developing myocardial cells. The vesicles open, and their cells spread out onto the surface of the heart to form the primary epicardium. This process begins on the dorsal surface of the heart, close to the protrusions of the septum transversum, there are, however, further isolated patches of primary epicardium in other regions of the surface of the heart. After the epicardial cells have settled onto the myocardium, mitoses become rare among them. On day 15, most of the myocardium is coated by the primary epicardium and the protrusions on the septum transversum disappear. A "bare" myocardium, as found on ontogenetic days 12 and 13 in Tupaia, might be a primitive (plesiomorphic) condition among chordates. In adult Branchiostoma, the coelomic epithelium which coats the contractile blood vessels had been found to differentiate into muscle cells that remain uncoated on the side facing the coelomic cavity (Franz 1933; Joseph 1914, 1928).

Animals↗
PubMed1988

The dependence of isometric tension, isometric ATPase activity, and shortening velocity of limulus muscle on the MgATP concentration.

The dependence of the isometric tension, the velocity of unloaded shortening, and the steady-state rate of MgATP hydrolysis on the MgATP concentration (range 0.01-5 mM MgATP) was studied in Ca-activated skinned Limulus muscle fibers. With increasing MgATP concentration the isometric tension increased to a peak at approximately 0.1 mM, and slightly decreased in the range up to 5 mM MgATP. The velocity of unloaded shortening depended on the MgATP concentration roughly according to the Michaelis-Menten law of saturation kinetics with a Michaelis-Menten constant Kv = 95 microM and a maximum shortening velocity of 0.07 muscle lengths s-1; the detachment rate of the cross-bridges during unloaded shortening was 24 s-1. The rate of MgATP splitting also depended hyperbolically on the MgATP concentration with a Michaelis-Menten constant Ka = 129 microM and a maximum turnover frequency of 0.5-1 s-1. The results are discussed in terms of a cross-bridge model based on a biochemical scheme of ATP hydrolysis by actin and myosin in solution.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1987

The early development of the heart of Tupaia belangeri, with reference to other mammals.

The development of the heart of Tupaia belangeri from the first endothelial-lined lumina to the cardiac loop is described in 20 embryos with 2 to 14 somites, from ontogenetic days 11 and 12. Bilateral endocardial tubes transporting blood are found in the 8-somite embryo; in the middle cardiac plate, angioblasts and angiocysts are located between them. In the 9-somite embryo, formation of the cardiac loop has started, the endocardial tubes approach each other closely, most of the angiocysts have been incorporated by the expanding endocardial tubes, and fusion of the endocardial lumina has started in the cono-truncal area. Apparently, much of the endocardial cardiac loop found in the 9-somite embryo has been produced by the disproportionate lengthening of a segment of the endocardial tubes, which is very short in the 8-somite embryo. In the 13-somite embryo the endocardial tubes have largely fused, but tube-like strands of endothelia, remnants of the original endothelial walls separating them, form a "palisade" and mark the original boundary between them. Myoepicardial differentiations of the splanchnopleure begin separately on both sides of the embryo and gradually spread craniad until they coalesce in the midline, in front of the anterior intestinal portal. The caudal portions of the endocardial tubes with initial myoepicardial and cardiac jelly differentiations do not contribute to the definitive heart. The anterior intestinal portal is very broad in Tupaia. Contradictions in the literature as to the bilaterality of cardiac primordia of eutherian mammals are discussed. The hypothesis is developed that bilateral endocardial tubes and bilateral myoepicardial differentiations of the splanchnopleure develop in species with a large yolk-sac, relatively late closure of the foregut, and a broad anterior intestinal portal (e.g., Tupaia, ferret, and cat, etc.). This is probably the primitive condition in eutherian mammals. In species with a small yolk-sac and/or reversal of germ layers (man, rodents), the foregut and anterior intestinal portal are formed earlier, the heart primordium reaches its median position ventral to the foregut in the angiocyst-stage, and the first endocardial lumina appear close to the midline. In these species, the primordium of the endocardium seems to be plexiform and without clear evidence for bilaterality.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

[Clarification of basic factors of the morphology of the skull, especially ontogenesis of the skull of Cavia aperea f. porcellus L].

Skull morphology cannot be understood without consideration of its ontogenetic morphogenesis. Meaningful comparisons of vertebrate crania must include these developmental processes. The criteria and methods for descriptions and comparisons were originally established by Ernst Gaupp and others around the beginning of this century. Nevertheless, the complete course of cranial morphogenesis from the first precartilaginous blastemata to the adult cranium has never been described in any vertebrate species, so far. Dierbach (1985a, b) intended to contribute to the knowledge of morphogenesis of the cranium of Cavia. His paper is based on a deficient reconstruction of the cranium of an embryo of 36 mm crown-rump-length. As the description follows Zimmerman's (1976) description of an 55 mm CRL-stage, the characteristics of the 36 mm stage are missed. New findings are not reported. The paper does not include reconstruction of the process of morphogenesis of the cranium or of any of its structures. A new morphological interpretation of the Foramen infraorbitale of Cavia is not substantiated. Literature is cited unreliably. For comparisons with other species or for the reconstruction of cranial morphogenesis of Cavia on the basis of the results of several previous authors Dierbach's papers cannot be used, because of many inconsistencies in terminology and definitions. Frick (1954) and Zeller (1983), both cited by Dierbach, partially differ in their respective interpretation of the morphogenesis of the Fenestra rotunda of mammals. Dierbach's discussion does not proceed beyond Voit (1909). Morphology of the Ala temporalis is discussed controversially in recent papers. Dierbach remains at the state of knowledge of Gaupp (1902). Authors such as Broom (1908), Fuchs (1915), and Gregory (1913) already have shown that the palatoquadrate participates in the formation of the Ala temporalis of mammals. The alisphenoid can be recognized in fig. 3 of Dierbach (1985 a). However, it is not mentioned in the caption or in the text. Therefore, the problem of the secondary lateral wall of the braincase of mammals in the orbitotemporal region of the skull cannot be discussed by Dierbach. No problems of cranial morphology are raised or discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The effect of MgATP on forming and breaking actin-myosin linkages in contracted skinned insect flight muscle fibres.

At neutral pH, fully Ca2+ -activated glycerinated dorsal longitudinal fibre bundles from Lethocerus indicus contract under isometric conditions and respond to release by deactivation, i.e. quick release causes a delayed tension fall. At slightly alkaline pH, the release-induced deactivation becomes a transient phenomenon, i.e. a delayed tension fall is followed by a slow tension recovery. This enabled us to study the effect of MgATP concentration on the phases of deactivation and slow recovery. Reduction of the MgATP concentration slows down the tension response to a quick length change and increases the time constants of the delayed deactivation phase and of the slow recovery phase. The rate constants depend on the ATP concentration according to the Michaelis-Menten law yielding apparent dissociation constants (Km) of 2 mM and 0.09 mM and maximal rate constants of 700 s-1 and 20 s-1 for the deactivation phase (crossbridge detachment) and slow recovery phase (crossbridge reattachment) respectively. The rate of MgATP hydrolysis is also hyperbolically related to the MgATP concentration (Km = 0.14 mM, maximal MgATP turnover rate 1.2 s-1. It is concluded that the effect of MgATP on the deactivation phase, in which crossbridges dissociate strain dependent from the actin, is controlled by at least two mechanisms: (1) fast equilibrium transitions within attached crossbridge states which augment MgATP dissociation from crossbridges with discharged elastic elements; and (2) a crossbridge strain-dependent isomerization of the ternary actin-myosin-MgATP complex which determines crossbridge detachment from the actin.

Actins↗
PubMed1984

Tension transients in skinned muscle fibres of insect flight muscle and mammalian cardiac muscle: effect of substrate concentration and treatment with myosin light chain kinase.

Glycerinated single fibres from the dorsal longitudinal muscle of Lethocerus maximus were isometrically contracted in MgATP-salines (10 microM Ca2+; 1.5 mM Mg2+; pH 6.7; 22 degrees C and 20 mM PEP; 100 U/ml pyruvate kinase). The ratio of ATPase activity to tension decreased by a factor of 2 after reducing the ATP-concentration from 15 to 0.5 mM. At all ATP-concentrations (0.5-15 mM), the fibres showed tension adjustments in response to small step changes in length characteristic to an actively contracting muscle: i) an elastic phase which did not depend on ATP-concentration ii) a quick phase of stress relaxation with at least two exponential components; iii) a phase of delayed tension generation. An increase in size of the length step and/or a decrease of ATP-concentration slowed the quick phase and the delayed phase. Similar results have been obtained with skinned cardiac muscle (pig right ventricle). To see, how the isolated contractile system is affected by an increase in the light chain phosphorylation, tension transients were studied in skinned right ventricular muscle fibres before and after incubation with ATP gamma S (2 mM), pure myosin light chain kinase (9 micrograms/ml), Calmodulin (1 microM) and Ca2+ (0.8 microM). While isometric tension development elicited by 20 microM Ca2+ in the ATP salt solution was barely affected in presence of the enzyme, the ATPase activity was decreased by about 25% of the control. There was also a marked decrease (about 50%) in the contraction velocity as determined by the recovery of tension following a quick release. Quick stretches cause an immediate increase in tension followed by a rapid fall and a subsequent rise in tension. The velocity of this tension rise decreased by approximately 30% after incubation with myosin light chain kinase.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1982

Decrease in stiffness during shortening in calcium activated skinned muscle fibers.

Single fibers from frog sartorius or semitendinosus muscle were mechanically skinned and activated in ATP salt solution containing 10 micro M Ca2+ (7 degrees C). After development of an isometric contraction, fibers were released at constant speed (0.03-2.4 s-1). During ramp shortening, stiffness was determined from the slope of the tension-length diagram obtained during superimposed quick stretches. Both force and stiffness decreased, as the ramp shortening proceeded and approached a steady value after about 60 ms. An increase in speed of shortening caused a decrease in fiber tension and stiffness and an increase in the ratio of stiffness to tension, suggesting a decrease in both the number of attached crossbridges and in the average force per crossbridge.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Cross bridge slippage in skinned frog muscle fibres.

Mechanically skinned single fibres of the semitendinosus muscles of Rana esculenta were investigated at ca. 4 degrees C. The fibres were activated by a Ca2+ jump technique, which allowed the development of a steady isometric tension within several seconds of entering a calcium rich solution at 4 degrees C. Sequences of length changes of different duration and amplitude were applied to the fibre. It could be demonstrated that the fibre behaved as a Hookean spring in the case of small amplitude length changes (up to 0.5% L0, ramp duration 0.5 ms) and that a sequence of length changes induced reversible changes in fibre state. In contrast, large stretches (greater than 1% L0) induced a muscle "give" if the stretch were not immediately preceded by a release. The data was interpreted on the basis of a strain induced detachment of cross bridges in combination with a rapid reattachment of presumably the same cross bridges in a discharged position. The rates of strain induced detachment and reattachment depended on the stretch amplitude. At amplitudes exceeding 2% L0 the rates were estimated to be at least several thousands per second.

Actomyosin↗
PubMed1980

ATPase activity in rapidly activated skinned muscle fibres.

The ATPase activity of single mechanically skinned fibres from semitendinosus muscle of Rana esculenta was measured. The method was based on the fluorimetrically detected consumption of NADH inside the fibre. NADH breakdown is caused by the reaction of an ATP regenerating system coupled to an NADH oxidising system. The time resolution was about 5 s. The initial rise in ATPase activity was delayed when a fibre was activated by Ca, and ATPase activity reached its plateau at the same time as fibre tension. An activated fibre that was isolated from the incubation solution by immersing it into oil showed a temporary decrease in tension without corresponding decrease in the ATPase activity.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗