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Biomedical subjects

H Sternberg

Publications and source records attributed to H Sternberg.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Family of human neuronal external surface epitopes defined by Torpedo monoclonal antibodies.

We are employing a library of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that were made to Torpedo cholinergic synaptosomes to identify conserved, physiologically vital epitopes of the neuronal surface. Our particular interest is in those epitopes that are present on some but not all neurons. In the present study we screened this library on different cell lines, the neuronal cell lines PC12, NG108, MC-IXC, and SY5Y, and the endocrine cell lines GH-3 and HIT. Of these cell lines, only SY5Y cells bind MAbs that define neuronal surface subsets. Utilizing its parent cell line, SK-N-SH, we verified that six MAbs, Tor 25, Tor 103, Tor 190, Tor 201, Tor 219, and Tor 233, bind the external neuronal surface. The cytolocalization of all six MAbs is very similar: the membrane of the cell body and its processes are finely outlined in a punctate distribution. Western blot analyses of Torpedo electric organ homogenates, a highly enriched source of antigenic material, revealed that each MAb identifies multiple polypeptides, two of which have the relative mobilities of 180 kD and 67 kD. In a screen of peripheral nerves from cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we found that all these MAbs revealed surface alterations; some displayed a decrease in binding, while others displayed an increase. The combined data provide evidence that these epitopes belong to an important, complex family of polypeptides of the external neuronal surface.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Cellular replication and aging.

Controversy exists concerning the effect of aging on replicating cell systems. This review summarizes a number of studies which indicate that both in vivo and in vitro, cell replication is significantly altered during aging. In vitro, studies of both human lymphocytes and fibroblasts indicated that a number of replication kinetic parameters are influenced by the age of the cell donor. In vivo, the application of the bromodeoxyuridine-(BrdU)-differential chromatid staining techniques to the analysis of cellular replication kinetics has permitted us to demonstrate that cellular replication is also significantly diminished with aging in mouse and rat cell populations. Therefore, both in vivo and in vitro in human as well as rodent cell populations, the rates of cellular replication are significantly decreased with cellular aging.

Aging

In vivo analysis of cellular replication.

The number of previous cell replications that a metaphase cell has undergone in the presence of BrdUrd can be determined by the differential fluorescent patterns of metaphse chromosomes stained with Hoechst dye 33258. To examine if this technique could be applied to analyzing cell cycle kinetics in vivo, we infused Wistar rats with BrdUrd for 7.5-33 hr at concentrations of the nucleotide analog that did not inhibit cellular replication. Examination of the frequency of one, two, and three or more replication cycle cells as a function of BrdUrd infusion time indicates that cell replication times for rat bone marrow cells are relatively homogeneous. Analysis of this data with a computer simulation model produced a mean cell cycle duration of 9.2 hr, which is compatible with the fastest times obtained with radioisotope studies. These results support the potential of nonradioisotope analysis of cell replication in vivo.

Animals

The coupling effects of some thiol and other sulfur-containing compounds on the circadian rhythm of cell division in photosynthetic mutants of Euglena.

Previous work has demonstrated a persisting, free-running, circadian rhythm of cell division in the P4ZUL photosynthetic mutant of the alga Euglena gracilis Klebs (Strain Z) Pringsheim grown organotrophically in continuous light or darkness at 19 degrees C following prior synchronization by a repetitive LD:10,14 light cycle. A similar circadian rhythmicity has been recently discovered in the W6ZHL heat-bleached and the Y9ZNalL naladixic acid-induced mutants of Euglena grown under comparable conditions. Over extended timespans, however, these mutants appear to gradually lose first their ability to display persisting overt rhythms, and then even their capability of being entrained by imposed LD cycles. These properties can be restored by the addition of certain sulfur-containing compounds to the medium including cysteine, methionine, dithiothreital, sodium monosulfide, sodium sulfite, and sodium thiosulfate, as well as thioglycolic [mercaptoacetic] acid. The implications of these findings toward biological clock mechanisms are discussed: It appears that some sort of coupling process is operating as opposed to the initiation of an underlying oscillation.

Amino Acids, Sulfur

Corneal endothelial damage associated with phacoemulsification.

Twenty-one cats underwent standard Kelman phacoemulsification procedures in their right eyes. The left eyes of the same amimals underwent a planned extracapsular cataract extraction or irrigation and aspiration for 15 minutes using the Kelman phacoemulsification unit. The corneal endothelium was evaluated at various times postoperatively using a stain for endothelial cell viability and scanning electron microscopy. The results suggested that the irrigation procedure alone is deleterious to the cat endothelium as is the rubbing of nuclear material against the endothelial cells. These two procedures caused additonal damage when combined in a routine phacoemulsification procedure.

Animals