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Biomedical subjects

M Ravazzola

Publications and source records attributed to M Ravazzola.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Insulin immunoreactive sites demonstrated in the Golgi apparatus of pancreatic B cells.

Insulin immunoreactive sites were localized in the Golgi apparatus of pancreatic B cells by light and electron microscopy. Identification of the Golgi apparatus by immunofluorescence required the prior degranulation of B cells with glibenclamide to reduce the insulin immunostaining due to secretory granules. In such cells, insulin immunofluorescence revealed brightly stained, crescent-shaped strands with form and location super-imposable on that of Golgi complexes seen in thin sections of the same cells. With the electron microscope, the insulin immunoreactive sites revealed by the protein A/gold technique were localized in the cisternae and vesicles of the Golgi apparatus of glibenclamide-treated and control B cells and over maturing and mature secretory granules. The quantitative evaluation of the intensity of the insulin immunoreactive sites in the Golgi apparatus revealed a density of sites 4 times more than cellular background values. The demonstration of insulin immunoreactivity in the Golgi apparatus provides direct evidence for the involvement of this compartment in the transport and maturation of proinsulin into insulin.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Application of the protein A-gold technique for electron microscopic demonstration of polypeptide hormones.

The protein A-gold (pAg) technique enables the electron microscopic detection of antigenic material on thin sections of aldehyde-fixed and Epon-embedded tissue. Application of this technique to the endocrine pancreas and gastrointestinal mucosa using antisera against insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, and neurotensin allowed these polypeptides to be localized in the secretory granules of the corresponding specific cell types. The small size of marker gold particles permitting the precise identification of the labeled organelles coupled to the high specificity of the binding represent further evidence that the protein A-gold technique can be used as a general cytochemical reagent for the visualization of antigen-bound antibodies on thin sections.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Immunochemical characterization and distribution of calcitonin in the lizard.

Immunological and chromatographic methods were used to investigate the distribution of calcitonin (CT) in various tissues of Lacerta muralis, a common wall lizard. Salmon CT-like immunoreactivity was found in high concentration in extracts of ultimobranchial gland (UBG) and in significant amounts in lung and brain extracts, but not in other tissues (oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, liver, skin, muscle and thyroid). Serial dilution of UBG, lung and brain extracts gave parallel displacement curves to that of synthetic salmon CT (sCT), but no reactivity was found in the human CT assay. On Sephadex G-50, UBG, lung and brain extracts contained an sCT-like immunoreactive peak which co-eluted with synthetic sCT. However, on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) the sCT-like peak in UB, lung and brain extracts eluted 2 ml later than synthetic sCT. This paper describes the first immunochemical characterization of CT in the UBG of the lizard, demonstrates the distribution of extra-ultimobranchial CT and throws some light on the evolution of the calcitonins.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Demonstration of glucagon in the stomach of human fetuses.

Electron microscopy using antiglucagon or antiglicentin antisera and the protein A-gold (pAg) technique revealed a population of immunoreactive cells in the gastric mucosa of human fetuses. The secretory granules of these cells showed the same ultrastructural characteristics and the same labeling pattern as pancreatic alpha-granules. These data demonstrate that the stomach of human fetuses contains cells with secretory granules indistinguishable by morphologic and immunocytochemical criteria from the pancreatic A-cells.

Cytoplasmic Granules↗
PubMed1981

Primitive islets contain two populations of cells with differing glucagon immunoreactivity.

Immunofluorescence staining with insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin antisera revealed different immunoreactive cell types in the pancreatic islets of the ratfish. In particular, one cell type was present that reacted with C- and N-terminal anti-glucagon sera, while another type was only detected by N-terminal anti-glucagon sera. The latter cell, however, became reactive to C-terminal anti-glucagon after proteolytic treatment of the section. A similar cell type was found in the epithelium of the pancreatic duct and of the gastrointestinal mucosa. The data indicate that among glucagon immunoreactive cells, some cells situated exclusively in the pancreas possess both C- and N-terminal glucagon immunoreactants, while in other pancreatic as well as intestinal cells, the sequence that binds C-terminal anti-glucagon serum appears masked and becomes accessible to the antibody only after proteolytic digestion.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Glucagon and glicentin immunoreactivity are topologically segregated in the alpha granule of the human pancreatic A cell.

Glicentin is a 100-amino acid polypeptide purified from the porcine intestine and containing the immunodeterminants of glucagon. We have previously reported the presence of glicentin immunoreactivity in the glucagon-containing, specific secretory granules (alpha granules) of the pancreatic and gastric A cell. With an improved immunocytochemical probe, the protein A-gold (pAg) technique, we are now able to show that glucagon and glicentin-like material are topologically segregated in the alpha granule of the human pancreatic A cell.

Glucagon↗
PubMed1980

Immunoreactive human calcitonin-like molecule in the nervous systems of protochordates and a cyclostome, Myxine.

A molecule very closely resembling human calcitonin immunologically and chromatographically was extracted from the nervous systems of several protochordates and a cyclostome, Myxine. The presence of human calcitonin-like molecules in the nervous systems of primitive chordates suggests that they have some function in the nervous system of these species and that the bone-regulating function of the calcitonins may have arisen much later in the vertebrates.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Transformation of glicentin-containing L-cells into glucagon-containing cells by enzymatic digestion.

Exposure of sections of ileal mucosa to enzymatic digestion with trypsin and carboxypeptidase B reveals a population of immunofluorescent cells after incubation with a specific C-terminally directed antiglucagon serum. These cells, unreactive before enzyme treatment, were identified as L-cells by their immunoreactivity to antiglicentin serum and to cross-reacting (N-terminal) antiglucagon sera. The presence in the L-cells of antigenic sites characteristic of the glucagon-containing cells (A-cells) emphasizes the close relationships between these two cell types, and it further supports the hypothesis of glicentin as a glucagon precursor.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

[Immunocytochemical anatomy of alpha granules in the human endocrine pancreas].

Using the sensitive protein A-gold technique for the demonstration of antigenic sites in thin section for electron microscopy it was found that in the alpha granules of human pancreas, glucagon immunoreactivity (specific, C-terminal) is restricted to the dense granule core while glicentin immunoreactivity predominates on the peripheral halo surrounding the dense core.

Cytoplasmic Granules↗
PubMed1979

Somatostatinoma syndrome. Biochemical, morphologic and clinical features.

Diabetes mellitus, steatorrhea, cholelithiasis and a tumor distorting the duodenum prompted a work-up for somatostatinoma in a 52-year-old man. The responses of pancreatic B-cells but not of A-cells to nutrient stimuli were inhibited, and growth-hormone release was suppressed, suggesting somatostatin resistance in some target tissues. Plasma somatostatin-like immunoreactivity ranged from 9000 to 13,000 pg per milliliter (normal: 88+/-8, mean +/- S.E.M.) and was distributed in four molecular forms, including free somatostatin. The primary tumor contained 5 microgram of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity per milligram of wet tissue, distributed in three of the molecular forms noted in plasma. Plasma calcitonin was also elevated (4650 pg per milliliter; normal: less than 120). Immunocytochemical studies showed that cells of the primary tumor contained somatostatin and calcitonin but no other peptide hormones. Only somatostatin was present in the metastases. Somatostatin was localized electron microscopically in all secretory granules, irrespective of size and shape, whereas calcitonin was present only within a single subpopulation of small granules in the same cells.

C-Peptide↗
PubMed1979

Parathyroid hormone biosynthesis. Correlation of conversion of biosynthetic precursors with intracellular protein migration as determined by electron microscope autoradiography.

The formation of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the parathyroid gland occurs via two successive proteolytic cleavages from larger biosynthetic precursors. The initial product coded for by PTH mRNA is pre-proparathyroid hormone (PreProPTH), a polypeptide of 115 amino acids. Within 1 min of synthesis, the polypeptide, proparathyroid hormone (ProPTH), is formed as a result of the proteolytic removal of the NH2-terminal 25 amino acids from Pre-ProPTH. After a delay of 15-20 min, the NH2-terminal six-amino acid sequence of ProPTH is removed to give PTH of 84 amino acids. To investigate the subcellular sites in the parathyroid cell where the biosynthetic precursors undergo specific proteolytic cleavages, we examined, by electron microscopy autoradiography, the spatiotemporal migration of autoradiographic grains and, by electrophoresis, the kinetics of the disappearance of labeled Pre-ProPTH and the conversion of labeled ProPTH to PTH in bovine parathyroid gland slices incubated with [3H]leucine for 5 min (pulse incubation) followed by incubations with unlabeled leucine for periods up to 85 min (chase incubations). By 5 min, 85% of the autoradiographic grains were confined to the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER). Autoradiographic grains increased rapidly in number in the Golgi region after 15 min of incubation; from 15 to 30 min they migrated within secretory vesicles still in the Golgi region and then migrated to mature secretory granules outside the Golgi area. Electrophoretic analyses showed that Pre-ProPTH disappeared rapidly (by 5 min) and that conversion of ProPTH to PTH was first detectable at 15 min and was completed by 30 min. At later times of incubation (30-90 min), autoradiographic grains within the secretion glanules migrated to the periphery of the cell and to the plasma membrane, in correlation with the release of PTH first detected by 30 min. We conclude that proteolytic conversion of Pre-ProPTH to ProPTH takes place in the RER and that subsequent conversion of ProPTH to PTH occurs in the Golgi complex.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Role of microtubules in the synthesis, conversion, and release of (pro)insulin. A biochemical and radioautographic study in rat islets.

In the pancreatic B cell, microtubules are thought to be involved in the process of insulin release. Their possible participation in the sequence of events leading from the biosynthesis and conversion of proinsulin to the release of newly synthesized insulin was investigated in rat isolated islets exposed to colchicine (0.1 mM). When the islets were preincubated for 30 min with colchicine and [3H]-leucine and, thereafter, incubated for two successive periods of 90 min each, still in the presence of colchicine, the release of preformed insulin was progressively inhibited and that of newly synthesized hormone delayed. When the islets were preincubated for 120 min with colchicine, subsequently pulse-labeled with [3H]leucine, and eventually examined by ultrastructural autoradiography, the export of newly synthesized proinsulin out of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, its transit through the Golgi complex, and its eventual packaging in secretory granules were all retarded. This situation was associated with a delayed conversion of proinsulin to insulin. Under the same experimental conditions, colchicine failed to affect the oxidation of glucose and adenylate charge in the islets. The effect of colchicine upon the release of preformed and newly synthesized insulin was not reproduced by lumicolchicine. It is concluded that colchicine interferes with the system controlling the intracellular transfer of secretory material from site of synthesis to site of release. This interference is likely to be linked to the effect of colchicine on microtubules.

Adenine Nucleotides↗
PubMed1979

Glicentin immunoreactive cells: their relationship to glucagon-producing cells.

The cellular and subcellular localization of one of the gut glucagon-like immunoreactants (GLI-1 or glicentin) and the relative distribution of glicentin- and glucagon-containing cells were investigated by immunocytochemistry. By immunofluorescence, the antiglicentin serum, which does not react with glucagon, revealed positive cells in the islets of Langerhans and in the gut mucosa, particularly in the terminal ileum and colon. In the intestinal mucosa, it was proven ultrastructurally that the glicentin immunoreactive cells correspond to the L cell and that the secretory granules represent the storage compartment of the immunoreactive material. In pancreatic islets, consecutive semithin sections treated with antiglicentin and specific antiglucagon sera showed that the same A cell population reacted with both sera, while immunoperoxidase staining on thin sections revealed that the immunoreactive material was confined to the secretory granules. The same results were obtained on dog oxyntic mucosa, where the glicentin- and glucagon-containing cells were identified as the gastric A cell. The immunocytochemical demonstration of a common glicentin-like material in the A and L cells together with the known presence of a common immunoreactant in glicentin and glucagon strongly support the idea that the A and L cells are ontogenetically related and synthesize their secretory product via a glicentin-like precursor which, by specific cleavage, could yield glucagon and gut glucagon-like immunoreactants.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

A study of glucagonomas by light and electron microscopy and immunofluorescence.

Five tumors associated with the complete glucagonoma syndrome, as well as a series of glucagon-cell adenomas from three patients without this syndrome, were investigated by light and electron microscopy and by immunofluorescence. All tumors associated with the syndrome were large, from 3 to 35 cm along the major axis, and three of them were proved to be malignant. No common histologic arrangement of tumor cells was apparent for the five neoplasms examined. Immunofluorescent staining for glucagon and glicentin was carried out: while most cells were negative, a varying number of scattered cells were positive with both antisera in all tumors except one; three tumors contained more glicentin- than glucagon-immunoreactive cells. Moreover, three tumors were multihormonal, witn cells positive for pancreatic polypeptide and/or insulin. Ultrastructurally, the secretory granules of cells from these tumors were not typical of those found in A-cells from adult human islets. The glucagon-cell tumors from patients without the syndrome were benign, usually multiple, and were small, with diameters from 0.5 mm to 1 cm. In most cases, the cells from these neoplasms arranged in a characteristic pattern (ribbonlike or "gyriform"). In most tumors, the majority of cells showed both glucagon and glicentin immunofluorescence and the ultrastructural appearance of their secretory granules was similar to that of normal islet A-cells. From the morphologic point of view, therefore, cells from tumors not associated with the glucagonoma syndrome resemble normal glucagon cells more closely than those from tumors associated with the syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Endocrine cells in the intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa.

Sections of gastric mucosa removed during surgery for cancer or peptic ulcer and containing regions of intestinal metaplasia were studied by the immunofluorescence technique using several antiserums against intestinal hormones. Endocrine cells such as cells containing somatostatin, glicentin (gut GLI-I), motilin, and probably cholecystokinin were found within metaplastic intestinal epithelium while secretin and neurotensin, which are present in the normal intestinal mucosa, were not detected in metaplastic epithelium. The endocrine-cell population present in the intestinal metaplasia resembles that found in the cryptal region of the normal small intestine, a finding in accordance with the fact that intestinal metaplasia of gastric mucosa usually reproduces structural and histochemical characteristics of small intestinal crypts.

Adult↗