scholarly journals STEREOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GUINEA PIG PANCREAS

1974 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Bolender

A stereological model which provides detailed quantitative information on the structure of the fasted, nonstimulated gland has been developed for the guinea pig pancreas. The model consists of morphologically defined space and membrane compartments which were used to describe the general composition of the tissue and the specific components of exocrine cells. The results are presented, where appropriate, relative to a cubic centimeter of pancreas, a cubic centimeter of exocrine cell cytoplasm, and to the volume of an average exocrine cell. The exocrine cells, accounting for 82% of the pancreas volume, consisted of 54% cytoplasmic matrix, 22% rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (RER), 8.3% nuclei, 8.1% mitochondria, 6.4% zymogen granules, and 0.7% condensing vacuoles. Their total membrane surface area was distributed as follows: 60% RER, 21% mitochondria, 9.9% Golgi apparatus, 4.8% plasma membranes, 2.6% zymogen granules, 1.8% plasma membrane vesicles, and 0.4% condensing vacuoles. The application of this model to the study of membrane movements associated with the secretory process is discussed within the framework of an analytical approach.

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Meldolesi ◽  
J. D. Jamieson ◽  
G. E. Palade

The subcellular components involved in the synthesis, transport, and discharge of secretory proteins in the guinea pig pancreatic exocrine cell have been isolated from gland homogenates by differential and gradient centrifugation. They include rough and smooth microsomes derived respectively from the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi periphery, a zymogen granule fraction consisting mainly of mature zymogen granules and a smaller population of condensing vacuoles, and a plasmalemmal fraction. Membrane subfractions were obtained from the particulate components by treatment with mild (pH 7.8) alkaline buffers which extract the majority (>95%) of the content of secretory proteins, allowing the membranes to be recovered from the extracting fluid by centrifugation. The purity of the fractions was assessed by electron microscopy and by assaying marker enzymes for cross-contaminants. The rough and smooth microsomes were essentially free of mitochondrial contamination; the smooth microsomes contained <15% rough contaminants. The zymogen granule fraction and its derived membranes were free of rough microsomes and contained <3% contaminant mitochondria. The plasmalemmal fraction was heterogeneous as to origin (deriving from basal, lateral, and apical poles of the cell) and contained varying amounts of adherent fibrillar material arising from the basement membrane and terminal web. The lipid and enzymatic composition of the membrane fractions are described in the following reports.


Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaoling Liu ◽  
Cheng Bi ◽  
Jiangling Li ◽  
Xuejiao Liu ◽  
Ruizi Peng ◽  
...  

Biomimetic giant membrane vesicles, with size and lipid compositions comparable to cells, have been recognized as an attractive experimental alternative to living systems. Due to the similarity of their membrane structure to that of body cells, cell-derived giant plasma membrane vesicles have been used as a membrane model for studying lipid/protein behavior of plasma membranes. However, further application of biomimetic giant membrane vesicles has been hampered by the side-effects of chemical vesiculants and the utilization of osmotic buffer. We herein develop a facile strategy to derive giant membrane vesicles (GMVs) from mammalian cells in biofriendly medium with high yields. These GMVs preserve membrane properties and adaptability for surface modification and encapsulation of exogenous molecules, which would facilitate their potential biological applications. Moreover, by loading GMVs with therapeutic drugs, GMVs could be employed for drug transport to tumor cells, which represents another step forward in the biomedical application of giant membrane vesicles. This study highlights biocompatible GMVs with biomimicking membrane surface properties and adaptability as an ideal platform for drug delivery strategies with potential clinical applications.


1971 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 503-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Jamieson ◽  
George E. Palade

We have examined, in the pancreatic exocrine cell, the metabolic requirements for the conversion of condensing vacuoles into zymogen granules and for the discharge of the contents of zymogen granules. To study condensing vacuole conversion, we pulse labeled guinea pig pancreatic slices for 4 min with leucine-3H and incubated them in chase medium for 20 min to allow labeled proteins to reach condensing vacuoles. Glycolytic and respiratory inhibitors were then added and incubation continued for 60 min to enable labeled proteins to reach granules in control slices. Electron microscope radioautography of cells or of zymogen granule pellets from treated slices showed that a large proportion of prelabeled condensing vacuoles underwent conversion in the presence of the combined inhibitors. Osmotic fragility studies on zymogen granule suspensions suggest that condensation may result from the aggregation of secretory proteins in an osmotically inactive form. Discharge was studied using an in vitro radioassay based on the finding that prelabeled zymogen granules can be induced to release their labeled contents to the incubation medium by carbamylcholine or pancreozymin. Induced discharge is not affected if protein synthesis is blocked by cycloheximide for up to 2 hr, but is strictly dependent on respiration. The data indicate that transport and discharge do not require the pari passu synthesis of secretory or nonsecretory proteins (e.g. membrane proteins), suggesting that the cell may reutilize its membranes during the secretory process. The energy requirements for zymogen discharge may be related to the fusion-fission of the granule membrane with the apical plasmalemma.


1972 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Meldolesi ◽  
Dario Cova

Two methods of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (the acid method of Eytan and Ohad and the Na dodecylsulfate (SDS) disc method of Maizel) have been used for analyzing the proteins of gel fractions isolated from the guinea pig pancreatic exocrine cells and in particular the proteins bound to the membranes involved in the synthesis, intracellular transport, and discharge of secretory enzymes: rough (RM) and smooth microsome (SM) membranes, zymogen granule (ZG) membranes, and plasma membranes (PM). Since in the two systems the electrophoretic mobility of proteins depends on different factors (size, shape, and net charge of molecules in the acid system; size only in the SDS system) a deeper insight into the protein composition of the fractions could be obtained. The gel patterns of RM, SM, and ZG membranes turned out to be accounted for mainly by segregated secretory enzymes (in rough microsomes also by ribosome proteins) and thus were found to share most of the bands. In contrast, with highly purified membrane fractions different patterns were obtained: RM and SM membrane proteins turn out to contain a large number of different proteins with molecular weights varying between ∼150,000 and 15,000 daltons. The pattern of ZG membranes was greatly different in the two systems: only two bands were separated by the acid method and as many as 23 by the SDS method. PM gave a rather complex pattern in either system. Both ZG membranes and PM were found to contain a large proportion of low molecular weight proteins. Nothing appears in common between the proteins of SM membranes (primarily of Golgi origin) and those of ZG membranes, while the latter and PM exhibit a certain degree of similarity. By amino acid analysis we found only slight differences: relative to the other fractions: RM membranes were higher in basic amino acids and ZG membranes contained a larger amount of methionine. Taken together with recent data on lipid composition and enzyme activities of the same fractions, these results indicate that the membranes of the pancreatic exocrine cells are chemically and functionally distinct, and hence do not mix randomly with one another during the transport of secretory products.


Author(s):  
Nikolas K. Teiwes ◽  
Ingo Mey ◽  
Phila C. Baumann ◽  
Lena Strieker ◽  
Ulla Unkelbach ◽  
...  

1962 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Rifkind ◽  
Elliott F. Osserman ◽  
Konrad C. Hsu ◽  
Councilman Morgan

Ferritin- and fluorescein-conjugated antibody staining has been applied to a study of a mouse plasma cell tumor. The presence of myeloma globulin within cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum was observed at a stage of the secretory process when the remainder of the cytoplasm was essentially free of labeled globulin. The distribution of ferritin suggested a functional heterogeneity among units of the endoplasmic reticulum. Apparently, progressive accumulation of globulin results in distension of the endoplasmic reticulum and, occasionally, in the appearance of considerable quantities of this secretory protein in the extracisternal cytoplasmic matrix. Participation of the Golgi apparatus in the packaging and release of small quantitites of globulin seems likely. In addition, however, fragmentation of the peripheral cytoplasm with rupture of distended ergastoplasmic vesicles appeared to be another pathway whereby globulin is secreted.


1994 ◽  
Vol 298 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
E G Lee ◽  
S J Marciniak ◽  
C M MacLean ◽  
J M Edwardson

We have developed a system in which the fusion of pancreatic plasma membranes with zymogen granules can be studied in vitro. We show here that pancreatic plasma membranes fuse not only with pancreatic zymogen granules but also with parotid secretory granules. In contrast, parotid membranes fuse only with parotid granules and not with pancreatic granules. The extent of fusion is insensitive to Ca2+ for all combinations of plasma membranes and granules. Guanosine 5′-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]), on the other hand, stimulates fusion of pancreatic membranes with both pancreatic granules and parotid granules, but inhibits fusion between parotid membranes and parotid granules.


1996 ◽  
Vol 314 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Alexander BLACKWOOD ◽  
James E. SMOLEN ◽  
Ronald J. HESSLER ◽  
Donna M. HARSH ◽  
Amy TRANSUE

Several models have been developed to study neutrophil degranulation. At the most basic level, phospholipid vesicles have been used to investigate the lipid interactions occurring during membrane fusion. The two major forms of assays used to measure phospholipid vesicle fusion are based either on the dilution of tagged phospholipids within the membrane of the two fusing partners or the mixing of the aqueous contents of the vesicles. Although problems exist with both methods, the latter is considered to be more accurate and representative of true fusion. Using 8-aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-trisulphonic acid (ANTS) as a fluorescent marker, we have taken advantage of the quenching properties of p-xylenebispyridinium bromide (‘DPX’) to develop a simple aqueous-space mixing assay that can be used with any sealed vesicle. We compared our new assay with more conventional assays using liposomes composed of phosphatidic acid (PA) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), obtaining comparable results with respect to Ca2+-dependent fusion. We extended our studies to measure the fusion of neutrophil plasma-membrane vesicles as well as azurophil and specific granules with PA/PE (1:3) liposomes. Both specific granules and plasma-membrane vesicles fused with PA/PE liposomes at [Ca2+] as low as 500 μM, while azurophil granules showed no fusion at [Ca2+] as high as 12 mM. These differences in the ability of Ca2+ to induce fusion may be related to differences observed in whole cells with respect to secretion.


Development ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-270
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Gaunt

The rat sperm surface antigen 2D6, located over the entire surface of the spermatozoon, is shown by use of a monoclonal antibody in indirect immunofluorescence experiments to spread laterally over the surface of the egg after fusion of sperm and egg plasma membranes at fertilization. Freshly fertilized eggs, obtained from superovulated rats 14h after hCG injection, showed the 2D6 antigen to have spread in a gradient over a discrete fan-shaped area of the egg surface anterior to the protruding sperm tail. Eggs at a later stage of sperm incorporation, obtained 20 h after hCG injection, snowed that the spread of antigen had extended to cover most or all of their surfaces. By 40 h after hCG injection, the approximate time that fertilized eggs cleaved to form 2-cell embryos, most of the 2D6 antigen had been lost from the cell surface. Fertilized eggs, but not unfertilized eggs or 2-cell embryos, were lysed by 2D6 monoclonal antibody in the presence of guinea pig complement. A model for sperm-egg fusion is presented to account for the observed pattern of spreading shown by the 2D6 antigen. The possible role of sperm antigens on the egg surface is discussed.


1997 ◽  
Vol 272 (5) ◽  
pp. C1552-C1557 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Lee ◽  
D. R. Peterson ◽  
E. J. Sukowski ◽  
R. A. Hawkins

Luminal and abluminal endothelial plasma membrane vesicles were isolated from bovine cerebral microvessels, the site of the blood-brain barrier. Glucose transport across each membrane was measured using a rapid-filtration technique. Glucose transport into luminal vesicles occurred by a stereospecific energy-independent transporter [Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)) = 10.3 +/- 2.8 (SE) mM and maximal velocity (Vmax) = 8.6 +/- 2.0 nmol.mg protein(-1).min-1]. Kinetic analysis of abluminal vesicles also showed a transport system with characteristics similar to the luminal transporter (K(m) = 12.5 +/- 2.3 mM and Vmax = 10.0 +/- 1.0 nmol.mg protein-1.min-1). These functional, facilitative glucose transporters were symmetrically distributed between the luminal and abluminal membrane domains, providing a mechanism for glucose movement between blood and brain. The studies also revealed a Na-dependent transporter on the abluminal membrane with a higher affinity and lower capacity than the facilitative transporters (K(m) = 130 +/- 20 microM and Vmax = 1.59 +/- 0.44 nmol.mg protein-1.min-1. The abluminal Na-dependent glucose transporter is in a position to transport glucose from the brain extracellular fluid into the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier. The functional significance of its presence there remains to be determined.


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