Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Van Duijn

Publications and source records attributed to P Van Duijn.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1986

A non-radioactive in situ hybridization method based on mercurated nucleic acid probes and sulfhydryl-hapten ligands.

Mercurated nucleic acid probes can be used for non-radioactive in situ hybridization. The principle of the method is based on the reaction of the mercurated pyrimidine residues of the in situ hybridized probe with the sulfhydryl group of a ligand which contains a hapten. Next, the hapten is immunocytochemically detected. Previous experiments showed that stable coupling of the sulfhydryl ligands could only be obtained when positively charged amino groups are present in the ligand. On basis of this finding, ligands were synthesized containing a sulfhydryl group, two lysyl residues and hapten groups such as trinitrophenyl, fluorescyl and biotinyl. The ligands, free or bound to mercurated nucleic acids, were immunochemically characterized in ELISAs. The method was shown to be specific and sensitive in the detection of target DNA in situ on microscopic preparations and in dot-blot hybridization reactions on nitrocellulose.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

False localization of acid phosphatase activity in the nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum of peritoneal macrophages.

Acid phosphatase cytochemistry using lead salt methods was performed on rat peritoneal macrophages obtained by the intraperitoneal injection of dextran five days previously. Lead precipitate was present in the nuclear envelope, the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lysosomes in about 50% of these cells. The formation of reaction product appeared to be substrate-specific and was sensitive to sodium fluoride in all these sites. However, only in the nuclear envelope, the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus could lead salt precipitation be prevented by (a) omission of the washing procedure following the incubation step, (b) postincubation in a medium containing sodium fluoride, or (c) washing in buffer containing lead salt. It is concluded that precipitation of lead salt does not prove the presence of acid phosphatase activity in these organelles. The formation of precipitate in these sites is probably due to a local matrix effect, facilitated by the persistence of acid phosphatase activity in the lysosomes and a suboptimal trapping efficiency of phosphate ions during the washing procedure which follows in the incubation step.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1984

Localization mechanisms in enzyme cytochemistry studied with alkaline phosphatase-loaded erythrocyte ghosts.

Erythrocyte ghosts containing varying amounts of alkaline phosphatase were used to study the localization mechanisms of three metal salt and one azo method for this enzyme. For the azo method, the minimal amount of alkaline phosphatase that can be visualized within the ghosts proved only to be limited by the optical properties of the azo compound. In contrast, for the metal salt methods, a certain threshold activity had to be present in the ghosts in order to obtain correct localization of the final reaction product. The localization properties of both azo and metal salt methods conformed to the theories of cytochemical enzyme localization presented to date. By determining the rate constant of the capture reaction and the diffusion constant of the primary product, the localization properties of the azo method could be predicted. Some remaining discrepancies between theory and practice are discussed.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1983

Studies on the phenazine methosulphate-tetrazolium salt capture reaction in NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenase cytochemistry. I. Localization artefacts caused by the escape of reduced co-enzyme during cytochemical reactions for NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenases.

The correct localization of oxidative enzymes using cytochemical tetrazolium methods, in which low molecular weight electron carriers such as NAD(P)H and reduced phenazine methosulphate (PMSH) are used, can be endangered by the escape of the reduced intermediates before they react to form the insoluble formazan at the true enzyme-containing sites. To investigate this phenomenon, the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase reaction was studied in fixed erythrocytes which, because of their microscopic dimensions, are well-suited for studying the loss of intermediates. A mixture of active and heat-inactivated fixed erythrocytes was incubated in a PMS-supplemented medium for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. The cytophotometric histograms showed that the final formazan precipitate was equally distributed over both active and inactivated cells. When bovine serum albumin was added to the medium, all the formazan was found to be bound to this protein and the erythrocytes remained essentially unstained. The false localization in this system could be explained by an unfavourable balance between the capture of electrons carried by NADPH within the erythrocyte and the diffusion of NADPH out of the erythrocyte. The rate constant of NADPH oxidation was determined, as was also the diffusion constant of NADPH in a protein matrix. Substituting the data obtained into formulae derived from the enzyme cytochemical localization theory of Holt & O'Sullivan (1958), it was calculated that the capture reaction was highly deficient and, theoretically, less than 1% of the total amount of formazan produced was localized within the erythrocyte which explains the false localization observed. The importance of these findings for the cytochemical demonstration of NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenases in cells and electropherograms is briefly discussed.

Coenzymes↗
PubMed1983

Studies on the phenazine methosulphate-tetrazolium capture reaction in NAD(P)+-dependent dehydrogenase cytochemistry. II. A novel hypothesis for the mode of action of PMS and a study of the properties of reduced PMS.

The results in the preceding paper have shown that the PMS-tetrazolium capture reaction as such is not sufficient to guarantee a correct localization of formazan in microscopically small dehydrogenase sites. For cytochemical reactions where the application of PMS leads to increased formazan formation, it is proposed that PMS functions not on its own, but as an efficient acceptor of NAD(P)H-oxidizing flavoproteins and thus increases the local NAD(P)H tetrazolium oxidoreductase activity. For the redox mediator vitamin K3 this type of mechanism could be proven with rat liver fractions. The relatively rapid NADPH oxidation precluded such simple experiments with PMS. An indication of such a stimulation by PMS was, however, obtained with soluble rat liver fraction. As escape of reducing equivalents from the site might also occur at the level of reduced PMS (PMSH) the solubility properties of PMSH were studied. It was found that PMSH has a low solubility in aqueous media and is hydrophobic. On basis of these findings a 'post-tetrazolium reduction' method seemed possible and could be experimentally confirmed.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Rapid and high resolution detection of in situ hybridisation to polytene chromosomes using fluorochrome-labeled RNA.

Fluorochrome-labeled RNA allows the rapid detection of in situ hybrids without the need for long exposure times as in the autoradiographical hybridisation methods. Resolution is high because of the high resolving power of fluorescence microscopy. The application of a previously reported method for the hybrido-cytochemical detection of DNA sequences to polytene chromosomes of Drosophilia is described. The specificity and sensitivity of the method are demonstrated by the hybridisation with polytene chromosomes of 1) rhodamine-labeled 5S RNA, to the 5S rRNA sites of D. melanogaster (56F) and D. hydei (23B), 2) rhodamine-labeled RNA complementary to a plasmid containing histone genes, to the 39DE region of D. melanogaster, 3) rhodamine-labeled D. melanogaster tRNA species (Gly-3 and Arg-2), to their respective loci in D. melanogaster, 4) rhodamine-labeled RNA complementary to the insert of plasmid 232.1 containing part of a D. melanogaster heat shock gene from locus 87C, to D. hydei heat shock locus 2-32A. In the latter instance it was possible to demonstrate the labeling of a double band which escaped unambiguous detection by autoradiography in the radioactive cytochemical hybridisation procedure because of the low topological resolution of autoradiograms. The sensitivity of the fluorochrome-labeled RNA method is compared with the radioactive methods which use 3H- or 125 I-labeled RNAs. The factors governing the sensitivity and the number of bound fluorochrome molecules to be expected are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Enzyme-incorporated erythrocyte ghosts: a new model system for quantitative enzyme cytochemistry.

The preparation and properties of a new microscopic model system for quantitative enzyme cytochemistry are described. The enzyme to be studied is entrapped in human erythrocyte ghosts by a simple hypotonic procedure. After fixation in suspension the ghosts can be analyzed both biochemically and cytochemically. The system has been tested with alkaline phosphatase. It is demonstrated that an azo method that uses naphthol AS-MX phosphate as substrate and 4-aminodiphenylamine diazonium salt as coupling agent can detect very low levels of enzymic activity. The biochemical activity determinations of alkaline phosphatase loaded erythrocyte ghosts were found to correlate linearly with cytophotometric activity determinations. The possible use of the erythrocyte ghost model system for other cytochemical applications is briefly discussed.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1980

Optical errors in scanning stage absorbance cytophotometry. II. Application of correction factors for residual distributional error, glare and diffraction error in practical cytophotometry.

In a preceding article theoretical methods were derived for correcting the integrated absorbance values of microscopic objects determined with a scanning stage cytophotometer for the systematical erros due to residual distributional error, diffraction error, and glare error. For an experimental investigation of these results, the local apparant transmission at the center of an opaque particle was determined and this value used as a measure for the substage glare. By sufficient reduction of the size of the illuminated field, this substage glare could be kept below 1% in our scanning stage cytophotometer. The magnitude of the diffraction error was experimentally approached by comparing the values found for the integrated absorbance of the same amount of chromophore, dispersed over two different areas by crushing or centrifugation. After appropriate correction for the residual distributional error, the remaining difference was ascribed to the diffraction error, caused by diffraction at the edges of the object, and to the glare error, present all over the measured area. The local borderline corrections found necessary to obtain the best matching corrected integrated absorbance values were between 3 and 5%, in good agreement with the value derived theoretically. The importance of these corrections for the determination of the integrated absorbance of common biological objects is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

A new dynamic model system for the study of capture reactions for diffusable compounds in cytochemistry. II. Effect of the composition of the incubation medium on the trapping of phosphate ions in acid phosphatase cytochemistry.

A model system developed for the study of the dynamics of capture reactions for diffusable compounds in cytochemistry served as a basis for the experiments reported in the present paper. The model was used to study the effect of the composition of the cytochemical medium on the trapping of phosphate ions by lead (II) ions in acid phosphatase cytochemistry. In this system a phosphate-containing solution and a lead-containing solution (cytochemical medium) are pumped along opposite sides of a polyacrylamide film. The phosphate concentration at which measurable precipitation starts in the film (critical phosphate concentration) was taken as a measure of the trapping efficiency of the cytochemical medium. The addition of beta-glycerophosphate and cytidine-5'-monophosphate to a buffered lead-containing solution resulted in a higher critical phosphate. The addition of chloride ions and acetone, as well as decreasing the molarity of the acetate buffer of the cytochemical medium, were found to lower the critical phosphate concentration, whereas the addition of fluoride ions, glucose, and sucrose had no effect. From the effect of variations in the composition of the cytochemical medium on the trapping efficiency and the turnover number of acid phosphatase in the medium, it was possible to predict which cytochemical medium would be the most suitable for the demonstration of acid phosphatase activity in guinea-pig peritoneal exudate cells. The results were in accordance with the localization of acid phosphatase activity: the higher the trapping efficiency and the turnover number, the higher the amount of precipitate and the number of positive enzymatic sites. In this way an improved cytochemical medium for acid phosphatase was developed.

Acetone↗
PubMed1977

HIDACSYS: computer programs for interactive scanning cytophotometry.

A description is given of a combination of three programs developed for computer-assisted stage scanning cytophotometry and cytofluorometry of isolated, close-lying, or touching objects in different types of microscopical preparations. The advantages and limitations of the individual programs are discussed, as well as the local specimen conditions determining the optimal application range of each of the programs. The applicability of these programs was investigated by determination of the integrated absorbance values of Feulgen or gallocyanin-chrome alum stained chicken erythrocytes, human leucocytes, and skin biopsy cells in imprint preparations, as well as of guinea pig peritoneal granulocytes which had been submitted to a simultaneous coupling azo dye incubation for alkaline phosphatase activity.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1976

A new method for the cytochemical demonstration of peroxidase for light, fluorescence and electron microscopy.

A new technique for the cytochemical demonstration of peroxidase is presented. Monomeric homovanillic acid is converted by H2O2 and peroxidase into its dimeric form, which is then precipitated as a complex salt of lead and rhodamine 6G or rhodamine B. The reaction product can be visualized by conversion to lead sulphide or viewed directly under the fluorescence microscope, since it emits a red fluorescence when excited with green light. The reaction is rapid and results in good localization at the cytologic level of peroxidase activity in granulocytes. The technique can be applied for the ultrastructural localization of enzymatic activity, but in its present form it does not match the localization sharpness of the diaminobenzidine method. This fluorescent cytochemical technique will also detect horseradish peroxidase activity and may provide a usefull probe in peroxidase immunohistochemistry. The principle of complexing metal salts with fluorescent dyes may find a more general application in enzyme cytochemistry.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Cytochemical model system for microsomal rat liver glucose-6-phosphate.

A method is described for the incorporation of a microsomal rat liver fraction into polyacrylamide films without significant loss of its glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The enzymatic activity was completely lost when the films were prepared with ammonium persulfate as initiator of the polymerization as previously described for alkaline phosphatase, but modification of this method showed that about 90% of the glucose-6-phosphatase activity could be retained. The enzyme in the films prepared with the new method was completely inhibited by alloxan, HgCl2, and preincubation in 0.05 M acetate buffer (pH 5.0) at 37 degrees C, as determined biochemically. Similar results were obtained for the enzyme in films determined histochemically according to the lead method of Wachstein and Meisel. In this respect the behavior of the incorporated enzyme is similar to that in suspension. Films fixed with 1.5% glutaraldehyde showed rapid inactivation of glucose-6-phosphatase. There was good correlation between the biochemical and histochemical activity determined after fixation. A method to embed polyacrylamide films in Epon for electron-microscopical investigation is also described. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used as the dehydrating agent instead of ethanol/acetone.

Acrylamides↗