Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.2.1.36 (hyaluronidase)
 4,606 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Methods for the study of axons involve whole nerve preparations, teased preparations of axons that are excised from their proximal and distal connections, and tissue culture models. As a complement to these, it would be advantageous to study separated, isolated axons in vivo, still in continuity with the end organ distally and the spinal cord central nervous system neuron proximally. This would allow the study of axon function, normal or pathological, in a close relationship to its biological environment. To achieve this, we have passed the surgically isolated sciatic nerve of a rat through a chamber specially designed for enzymatic dissociation. This was based on principles derived from a prior in vitro method for dissociating nerve into axons. The chamber has controlled temperature and flow and is on an inverted microscope stage, allowing observation of the process. We perfused the chamber with a calcium-free solution followed by a series of enzymes: collagenase, trypsin, and hyaluronidase. This dissociates that part of the extracellular matrix external to the Schwann cells, leaving free, myelinated axons with their Schwann cells. In this acute preparation, the axons continue to conduct action potentials for at least 8 hours. Furthermore, an in vitro study of the axon after the in vivo dissociation demonstrated that axonal transport was maintained in over 90% of the axons, directly visualized on an AVEC-DIC type of microscope system. Properties of axonal transport or active spike propagation can thus be studied individually in an in vivo axon preparation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Model for the study of individual mammalian axons in vivo, with anatomical continuity and function maintained. 241 87

Decarbazine (DTIC) is reported to exhibit enhanced clinical toxicity and increased antitumor activity in vitro when exposed to light. Since it was unclear whether light exposure enhanced DTIC antitumor activity or local toxic effects in vivo, a series of experiments was performed in mice given DTIC solutions exposed to light for 2 hours at room temperature. Adenocarcinoma 07/A was implanted by trocar in adult female BALB/c mice. DTIC (50 and 100 mg/kg) was given ip three times per week for 2 weeks. Both drug doses significantly inhibited tumor growth. However, there was no significant difference between light-exposed and -protected drug treatments. In vitro clonogenic assays in L1210 leukemia and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells demonstrated that DTIC cytotoxicity was not increased with light exposure (0.8 J/m2/sec). Both cell lines showed a dose-response relationship to DTIC after 1- or 6-hour exposures in the presence or absence of light. Normal dehaired BALB/c mice were given single intradermal injections of 0.5, 1.75, 5.0, or 10 mg of DTIC in 0.05 ml of saline. Dose-dependent skin ulceration was produced at the 1.75-, 5.0-, and 10.0-mg dose levels. Again, there was no consistent statistical difference in skin ulceration between treatments using light-exposed and -protected DTIC vials. However, when mice were exposed to light following intradermal DTIC, increased skin toxicity was produced (P less than 0.05 by Student-Neuman-Keuls multiple range test). A number of potential local antidotes to DTIC skin ulceration were found to be ineffective. These included: L-cysteine, dimethyl sulfoxide, hyaluronidase, hydrocortisone, and 0.9% saline. Sodium thiosulfate (0.3 M) significantly reduced DTIC skin ulcers as did pre-exposure of DTIC to S-9 rat liver enzymes and NADPH. Neither mild skin heating nor cooling reduced DTIC ulcerations. DTIC appears to synergize with light in vivo to produce increased toxicity. Patients receiving DTIC should avoid intense light exposure after drug injection. However, elaborate precautions to prevent light exposure of DTIC solutions during preparation or injection appear to be unnecessary.
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PMID:Experimental dacarbazine antitumor activity and skin toxicity in relation to light exposure and pharmacologic antidotes. 381 94

Although up to several microns thick, the pericellular matrix is an elusive structure due to its invisibility with phase contrast or DIC microscopy. This matrix, which is readily visualized by the exclusion of large particles such as fixed red blood cells is important in embryonic development and in maintenance of cartilage. While it is known that the pericellular matrix which surrounds chondrocytes and a variety of other cells consists primarily of proteoglycans and hyaluronan with the latter binding to cell surface receptors, the macromolecular organization is still speculative. The macromolecular organization previously could not be determined because of the collapse of the cell coat with conventional fixation and dehydration techniques. Until now, there has been no way to study the dynamic arrangement of hyaluronan with its aggregated proteoglycans on living cells. In this study, the arrangement and mobility of hyaluronan-aggrecan complexes were directly observed in the pericellular matrix of living cells isolated from bovine articular cartilage. The complexes were labeled with 30- to 40-nm colloidal gold conjugated to 5-D-4, an antibody to keratan sulfate, and visualized with video-enhanced light microscopy. From our observations of the motion of pericellular matrix macromolecules, we report that the chondrocyte pericellular matrix is a dynamic structure consisting of individual tethered molecular complexes which project outward from the cell surface. These complexes undergo restricted rotation or wobbling. When the cells were cultured with ascorbic acid, which promotes production of matrix components, the size of the cell coat and the position of the gold probes relative to the plasma membrane were not changed. However, the rapidity and extent of the tethered motion were reduced. Treatment with Streptomyces hyaluronidase removed the molecules that displayed the tethered motion. Addition of hyaluronan and aggrecan to hyaluronidase-treated cells yielded the same labeling pattern and tethered motion observed with native cell coats. To determine if aggrecan was responsible for the extended configuration of the complexes, only hyaluronan was added to the hyaluronidase-treated cells. The position and mobility of the hyaluronan was detected using biotinylated hyaluronan binding region (b-HABR) and gold streptavidin. The gold-labeled b-HABR was found only near the cell surface. Based on these observations, the hyaluronan-aggrecan complexes composing the cell coat are proposed to be extended in a brush-like configuration in an analogous manner to that previously described for high density, grafted polymers in good solvents.
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PMID:The dynamic structure of the pericellular matrix on living cells. 827 5

The gametes of an insectivore, the white-toothed shrew, Crocidura russula monacha, present certain idiosyncratic features not seen in most other eutherian mammals. The spermatozoa display an acrosome of giant proportions, and are produced in relatively small numbers. In trans-illuminated oviducts examined with DIC optics, spermatozoa were first sequestered in languid clutches within the isthmus in deep narrow crypts, with some eventually ingested by the crypt epithelium. Then, at ovulation (ca. 15 hr after hCG), many ascended to occupy "bubble-like" ciliated crypts distributed randomly within the ampulla, as active groups of acrosome-intact spermatozoa. However, eggs (3.95; range 2-6) were first retained for several hours and were fertilized in an upper crypt-free infundibulum before moving down to the ampulla. At fertilization, individual spermatozoa penetrate an unusually compact matrix-free cumulus oophorus which is stabilized by intercellular junctions, is insensitive to hyaluronidase, and persists for approximately 13 hr around fertilized and for approximately 24 hr around unfertilized eggs. In contrast to the free ampullary spermatozoa, active spermatozoa accumulating within the cumulus all had shed the acrosome, an observation consistent with evidence from other shrews suggesting that the cumulus may necessarily induce the acrosome reaction in this ancient line. Hypertrophy of the acrosome, isthmic sperm storage crypts, and stable cumulus oophorus that develops a peri-zona space, all may prove to be typically crocidurine characteristics of use where the classification of a shrew is in doubt.
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PMID:Novel sperm crypts and behavior of gametes in the fallopian tube of the white-toothed shrew, Crocidura russula monacha. 906