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Biomedical subjects

M Stanisstreet

Publications and source records attributed to M Stanisstreet.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Calcium requirement for neural fold elevation in rat embryos.

To investigate the calcium requirement for the maintenance of the elevation of the neural folds in mammalian embryos 10.4-day-old-rat embryos, at a stage when the cephalic neural folds had elevated but not yet fused, were cultured in salines containing different concentrations of calcium. At 3 x 10(-3) M calcium the neural folds remained intact. As the concentration of calcium was reduced the elevated cephalic neural folds re-opened, flattened and then, at 10(-5) M calcium, collapsed. Replacement of calcium by strontium at 5 x 10(-3) M did not prevent the collapse of the cephalic neural folds, although at higher concentrations strontium partially prevented the collapse of the neural folds. In the cervical region most of the neuroepithelial cells were apically tapered. In intact cephalic neural folds nearly half of the cells were apically tapered. In cephalic neural folds which had been induced to collapse by culture in saline with low calcium there was an increase in the proportion of round cells and a decrease in the proportion of apically tapered cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate on rat embryos grown in culture.

In order to investigate further the relationship between maternal diabetes and fetal malformation, rat embryos were grown in vitro in the presence of beta-hydroxybutyrate, one of the ketone bodies produced by diabetics. At 10 mM, beta-hydroxybutyrate produced minor abnormalities and at 20 mM it produced major abnormalities in rat embryos.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1985

Calcium and neurulation in mammalian embryos.

The role of calcium in neurulation in rat embryos has been studied. Rat embryos at 10 X 4 days of gestation, when the cephalic neural folds have elevated but not fused, have been cultured in various media, and the effects of these media on the morphology of the cephalic neural folds have been observed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Embryos cultured in serum containing EDTA or EGTA, or in saline without divalent cations exhibit opening, then folding back ('collapse') of the cephalic neural folds. The neural cells lose their elongated shape and become rounded. Older embryos in which the cephalic neural folds have already fused do not show collapse of the neural tube. Culture of 10 X 4-day rat embryos with elevated but unfused cephalic neural folds in calcium- and magnesium-free saline to which either calcium or magnesium has been restored shows that calcium is the divalent cation which is essential for the maintenance of the elevated neural folds. In the presence of calcium, lanthanum, which competes for calcium sites, causes opening but not collapse of the elevated cephalic neural folds. Embryos treated with trypsin show dissociation of the lateral (non-neural) ectoderm but the neural folds remain elevated. If embryos in which the cephalic neural folds have been caused to collapse are further cultured in serum the folds re-elevate, although normal neural tube morphology is not completely regained. The possible implications of these observations to the understanding of the cellular mechanisms of normal neurulation, and of neural tube malformations are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effect of the calmodulin inhibitor R24571 (calmidazolium) on rat embryos cultured in vitro.

The possible effects of inhibition of the calcium-binding protein, calmodulin, on mammalian morphogenesis have been investigated by culturing rat embryos in vitro from 9 1/2 to 11 1/2 days of development in the presence of R24571 (calmidazolium), a specific inhibitor of calmodulin. Embryos cultured in 10(-2) mM R24571 for 48 h show inhibited development and exhibit a range of morphogenetic abnormalities including assymetry and neural tube defects. Embryos exposed to R24571 for the first 24 h of a 48 h culture are more severely affected than embryos exposed to R24571 for the last 24 h.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1984

Scanning electron microscopy of wound healing in rat embryos.

Wound healing in rat early embryos has been studied by scanning electron microscopy. Initially the wound gapes slightly and cells peripheral to the wound assume a cobble-stone appearance. Wound closure is quite rapid; some small wounds are almost closed within 10 min of incision. Wound closure is accompanied by the appearance of some elongated cells at the wound edge. These features are similar to, although less pronounced than, those which have been observed to accompany wound closure in amphibian and avian embryos. Healing of wounds made in the amnion is also accompanied by changes in the shapes of cells at the wound margins. Wound healing in embryos cultured in Hank's saline is similar to wound healing in embryos cultured in serum, suggesting that the macromolecular components of serum are not essential to wound healing. Cytochalasin B, which inhibits wound closure in amphibian embryos, does not inhibit wound healing in rat early embryos unless used at a concentration high enough to cause cell dissociation. Similarly chelation of the free calcium in the medium, which also prevents wound closure in amphibian embryos, does not inhibit wound closure unless the embryo is dissociating. Removal of free calcium does however cause collapse of the elevated neural folds. These observations suggest that the cellular mechanisms involved in wound healing are different in mammalian and amphibian embryos.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Calcium, microfilaments and morphogenesis.

Morphogenesis, the generation of tissue form, is important not only in the embryogenesis of a new individual, but also because a change in morphogenesis may be involved in the establishment of differences between individuals during evolution. Morphogenetic movements are effected in part by coordinated changes in the shapes of individual cells and over the past decade the cellular organelles responsible for cell shape have been identified as microfilaments and microtubules. In non-embryonic systems the contraction of microfilaments is controlled by the level of intracellular free calcium, and so calcium is implicated as an intermediate control mechanism in morphogenisis. Through techniques which perturb the calcium balance of cells, or which measure calcium ion concentration directly, evidence is accumulating that calcium is involved in morphogenetic movements such as gastrulation and neurulation, and related phenomena such as wound healing. Thus fundamental questions about the control of morphogenesis in embryogenesis and evolution may now be couched in more precise terms of the control of intracellular calcium ion balance.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Effects of glucose on rat embryos in culture.

To elucidate the role of hyperglycaemia in causing fetal malformation, rat embryos have been grown in vitro from the head-fold stage for 48 h in the presence of excess glucose during different parts of the culture period. Culture of rat embryos for 10 or 21 h in 55 mmol/l exogenous glucose produced abnormalities observable after 48 h in culture. When embryos cultured for 10 or 21 h in excess glucose were observed by scanning electron microscopy at the end of the glucose treatment, abnormalities could be observed which may indicate how later malformations are formed. Thus it is possible that a relatively brief hyperglycaemic episode at a critical stage of embryogenesis may endanger the fetus of a diabetic mother.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1983

Effects of puromycin and cycloheximide on properties of cells from Xenopus laevis early embryos.

The effects have been studied of puromycin and cycloheximide on the reaggregation of ectoderm cells dissociated from Xenopus laevis blastulae. Puromycin or cycloheximide can inhibit reaggregation, suggesting that cell reassociation is dependent upon protein synthesis. If the cells are allowed a 3 h 'recovery' period in culture medium following dissociation, before being exposed to either puromycin or cycloheximide, higher concentrations of the inhibitors are required to prevent cell aggregation, suggesting that significant synthesis of the proteins required for reaggregation occurs in the 3 h immediately following dissociation. Lower concentrations of puromycin permit cell reaggregation but reduce the normal formation of cilia. The effects have also been observed of puromycin on the scanning electron microscopical appearance of Xenopus blastula ectoderm cells cultured singly in vitro. Puromycin reduces the normal formation of pseudopodia, suggesting that puromycin might inhibit reaggregation partly by inhibiting cell movement. Puromycin also produces some elongated cells, possibly by inhibition of cytokinesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Calcium and wound healing in Xenopus early embryos.

The role of calcium in the healing of wounds made in the ectoderm of Xenopus neurulae has been studied. Embryos have been wounded in the presence of calcium inhibitors, and the effects on wound healing observed by scanning electron microscopy. In addition, unwounded embryos have been exposed to a local application of ionophore A23187 to simulate the possible calcium fluxes following wounding. Lanthanum, which competes for calcium channels, inhibits wound healing. EDTA, which binds divalent cations, also inhibits wound healing, but its effect can be reversed by the addition of excess calcium. Local application of ionophore A23187, which promotes transport of calcium across biological membranes, results in a local change in cell shapes. These observations lend support to the hypothesis that wound healing in amphibian early embryos, which is effected by changes in cell shapes similar to those seen in certain examples of normal morphogenesis, is initiated by a local influx of calcium into cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Scanning electron microscopy of cells from hydroxyurea-arrested blastulae of Xenopus laevis.

Cells from Xenopus embryos blocked at the blastula stage by treatment with hydroxyurea have been isolated and cultured in vitro. The morphology of these cells has been compared with that of cells from normal embryos using scanning electron microscopy. Cells from such hydroxyurea-blocked embryos do not show the features, or changes in features, in culture shown by cells from normal embryos.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Scanning electron microscopy of wound healing in Xenopus and chicken embryos.

Wound closure in the ectoderm of Xenopus early neurulae and chick primitive-streak embryos has been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Initial gaping of the wound and a cobble-stone appearance of cells peripheral to the wound in both Xenopus and chick confirm that the ectoderm is under lateral tension at these stages. Healing is rapid: in Xenopus embryos wound closure has started within 5 min of wounding; in chick healing is almost complete within 30 min in some cases. The SEM observations suggest that in Xenopus embryos changes in cell shape are the major mechanism for wound closure. In chick embryos wound healing is also accompanied by changes in the shape of the marginal cells, but evidence is presented that in this system cell proliferation is important. The mechanisms of wound healing in Xenopus and chick embryonic ectoderm are compared with those of wound healing in other tissues.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Scanning electron microscopy of cells isolated from amphibian early embryos.

Cells have been dissociated from Xenopus and Ambystoma late blastulae, allowed to adhere to glass coverslips, and studied by scanning electron microscopy. Xenopus ectoderm cells initially show filopodia; later larger single pseudopodia are formed. Ambystoma ectoderm cells show fewer filopodia than Xenopus ectoderm, but later form pseudopodia. Ectoderm cells of both Xenopus and Ambystoma show links between adjacent cells. Xenopus endoderm cells do not show filopodia initially, but later show large pseudopodia.

Ambystoma↗