Biomedical subjects

M W Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to M W Ferguson.

130 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

PubMed1977

The mechanism of palatal shelf elevation and the pathogenesis of cleft palate.

Both normal Wistar rat fetuses and those with cleft palate induced by 5-Fluoro-2-Desoxyuridine were studied with a view to elucidating the mechanism of palatal shelf elevation and the pathogenesis of cleft palate. It was postulated that normal shelf elevation is brought about rapidly by an intrinsic turgor shelf force generated by binding of water to mucopolysaccharides. Interference with mucopolysaccharide synthesis would seem to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of some types of cleft palate.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Quantitative analysis of wound healing.

In this article, we initially review several problems associated with the design and interpretation of certain types of experiments currently used to study wound healing, drawing attention to the fact that applications for standard statistical techniques in the analysis of the experimental results are often of limited value. We then argue that, because of the special nature of wound healing data, curve fitting of empirical model equations can often provide a convenient way to summarize treatment effects with large data sets. The various ways in which this technique could be used to facilitate the interpretation of experimental wound healing results are then explored. To illustrate this approach, we then took several wound healing experiments and introduced possible models that could be used, paying particular attention to simple equations with the smallest possible number of parameters. For each equation, the way that the parameters of the model could be interpreted with regard to the biologic effects represented is given. Examples are given to show the application of each model discussed theoretically in the interpretation of some typical experimental data sets.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Gas permeability of American alligator eggs and its anatomical basis.

The barrier to gas flux across the eggs of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) consists of a calcareous shell and an underlying shell membrane of two layers, a limiting membrane facing the embryo and a fibrous membrane facing the shell. The limiting membrane is penetrated by an immense population (averaging 341,188 cm-2) of tiny pores (averaging 0.51 micron in diameter) and a small population (averaging 190 cm-2) of large pores (averaging 34.6 microns in diameter). An estimated 6% of these pores are open at the onset of incubation, and 22%-24% are open near hatch. The shell membrane is 2.6-10 times less permeable to O2 than the shell. Its permeability nearly quadruples during incubation, is higher at the equator than elsewhere, increases more rapidly when eggs are incubated at 33 degrees C as opposed to 30 degrees C, and appears to depend primarily on its water content. In contrast, the shell's permeability to O2, as well as its water vapor conductance and the number of open pores in it, does not change significantly during incubation.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Expression of TGF-beta and its receptors in murine fetal and adult dermal wounds.

The transforming growth factor-betas (TGF-betas) are of major importance in wound healing and have been implicated in the scar-less wound repair observed in fetuses. Few studies have characterised the role of TGF-beta in fetal wound repair and to date no studies have characterised the expression of its receptors within non-scarring fetal wounds. We have localised the TGF-beta isoforms beta1, beta2 and beta3 and its two receptors, TGF-betaRI and TGF-betaRII in both adult and fetal dermal murine wounds. We observed low level immunofluorescence of TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta2 in fetal wounds and although TGF-beta3 staining was observed in the epidermis of fetal skin, there was no upregulation in response to injury. By contrast, all three isoforms were strongly expressed in adult wounds. Similar to its ligands, TGF-beta receptor expression was increased post-wounding in the adult wounds. However, in contrast, no mRNA or protein for either of the TGF-beta receptors was observed in response to wounding in the fetal dermis although there was both mRNA and protein expression of both the receptors localised within the fetal alimentary tract, one of the few fetal organs which does scar post-injury. The differences that we observed in the expression of TGF-beta and its receptors in adult and fetal wounds could be important in the absence of scar formation that is observed in the fetus.

Activin Receptors, Type I↗