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Culture Alone (culture + alone)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	66%

Selected Abstracts

Development of a simulated earthworm gut for determining bioaccessible arsenic, copper, and zinc from soil,

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 7 2009
Wai K. Ma
Abstract Soil physicochemical characteristics and contamination levels alter the bioavailability of metals to terrestrialinvertebrates. Current laboratory-derived benchmark concentrations used to estimate risk do not take into account site-specific conditions, such as contaminant sequestration, and site-specific risk assessment requires a battery of time-consuming and costly toxicity tests. The development of an in vitro simulator for earthworm bioaccessibility would significantly shorten analytical time and enable site managers to focus on areas of greatest concern. The simulated earthworm gut (SEG) was developed to measure the bioaccessibility of metals in soil to earthworms by mimicking the gastrointestinal fluid composition of earthworms. Three formulations of the SEG (enzymes, microbial culture, enzymes and microbial culture) were developed and used to digest field soils from a former industrial site with varying physicochemical characteristics and contamination levels. Formulations containing enzymes released between two to 10 times more arsenic, copper, and zinc from contaminated soils compared with control and 0.01 M CaCl2 extractions. Metal concentrations in extracts from SEG formulation with microbial culture alone were not different from values for chemical extractions. The mechanism for greater bioaccessible metal concentrations from enzyme-treated soils is uncertain, but it is postulated that enzymatic digestion of soil organic matter might release sequestered metal. The relevance of these SEG results will need validation through further comparison and correlation with bioaccumulation tests, alternative chemical extraction tests, and a battery of chronic toxicity tests with invertebrates and plants. [source]

Effect of addition of amino acids, treatment with ,-galactosidase and use of heat-shocked cultures on the acetaldehyde level in yoghurt

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DAIRY TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2002
Barbaros Özer
In this study, the biochemical activities of nonviscous and viscous yoghurt starter cultures were investigated. Yoghurt samples produced with nonviscous and viscous cultures, and viscous cultures + methionine (10 and 30 mg/100 mL milk), + threonine (5 and 10 mg/100 mL milk), + ,-galactosidase (1 mg/100 mL milk), and with a heat-shocked culture were analysed. In the experimental yoghurts, the pH, titratable acidity, lactic acid, tyrosine and acetaldehyde contents and the number of total starter organisms were determined. According to the results obtained, the samples produced with the viscous culture had the lowest acetaldehyde levels, whereas the highest acetaldehyde level was found in the samples manufactured with the nonviscous culture. Compared with the samples inoculated with the viscous culture alone, the amino acid supplementation, lactose hydrolysis and heat-shock treatments caused a significant increase in the level of acetaldehyde. [source]

Ethanol Effects on Nitric Oxide Production in Cerebral Pial Cultures

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 4 2001
Chin-Lung Shih
Background: Although alcohol abusers are known to have higher incidences of hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases, it is not known whether these changes are associated with ethanol (EtOH) action on nitric oxide (NO) production in the cerebrovascular cells. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of EtOH treatment on basal and cytokine-induced NO production in cortical pial cultures. Methods: Cell cultures for this study included murine primary pial vascular cells, primary glial cells and cortical neurons. These cells were exposed to cytokines or EtOH for 24 to 48 hr. The culture media were used for measurement of nitrite, as an indication for NO release, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), as an index of cell membrane integrity. In addition, immunocytochemical determinations were carried out to identify cell types and to assess inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Results: Exposure of primary pial vascular cultures to cytokines that consisted of interleukin-1, (IL-1,; 250 pg/mL) and interferon-, (IFN,; 2 ng/mL) or to EtOH (50 to 100 mM) for 24 to 48 hr significantly elevated NO production. NO production could be attenuated by N -nitro-L-arginine (N-arg), a nonspecific NOS inhibitor, or aminoguanidine (AG), an iNOS inhibitor. Increased iNOS immunoreactivity was observed in cytokines- or EtOH-treated pial cells. When pial cells were cocultured with cortical neurons, prolonged EtOH exposure led to a large increase in NO production as well as LDH release. However, this increase was not observed in pial culture alone or in mixed cortical culture. Nevertheless, inhibition of NO production with N-arg or AG did not alter the EtOH-induced LDH release in the pial cells cocultured with cortical neurons. Conclusion: These results show that EtOH exposure led to increased production of NO in primary pial cell culture. In mixed culture that contained cortical neurons and pial cells, EtOH induced increase in NO as well as LDH release, which is an indication of loss of cell membrane integrity. However, EtOH-mediated LDH release in mixed cortical pial cultures was not a consequence of the increase in NO production by these cells. Studies that use mixed cortical-pial cultures may provide a unique in vitro system for examining the interactions among glial cells, neurons, and cerebrovascular cells. [source]

The selective use of rapid aneuploidy screening in prenatal diagnosis

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Jan E. DICKINSON
Aims: To evaluate the diagnostic utility and costing of the selective use of rapid aneuploidy screening (RAS) for chorion villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis specimens. Methods: CVS and amniocenteses performed between 2000 and 2006 were identified. Cases were subdivided into two groups: (i) RAS in addition to long-term culture and (ii) long-term chromosome culture alone. The frequency of RAS, the proportion of abnormal results and the cytogenetic costings were reviewed. Results: A total of 3315 procedures were performed: 730 CVS and 2585 amniocenteses. An abnormal karyotype culture was present in 366 of 3315 (11%). For CVS an abnormal culture was present in 164 (22.5%). RAS (short-term culture/direct preparation) was selectively used in 399 cases (54.6%) with an abnormal result in 128 (32% of RAS). For amniocentesis, 206 chromosome abnormalities were present (8.0% of specimens). RAS (interphase FISH) was selectively used in 580 amniocenteses (22.4%). FISH was requested in 95 (66.4%) of the 143 abnormal cases potentially detectable with standard probes. There was a progressive increase in utilisation of RAS for amniocentesis (8.9% in 2000 to 43.3% of cases in 2006, P < 0.001). CVS RAS was stable. This liberalisation resulted in a fourfold increase in expenditure for FISH and cost/abnormality detected ($A970 per abnormal result in 2000 to $A4015 per abnormal result in 2006). Conclusion: The selective use of prenatal RAS results in a reasonably high detection rate for chromosomal anomalies. Liberalisation of RAS, however, is an expensive cytogenetic model. An approach based on some predictive level of risk combined with resource funding levels may be a more pragmatic approach. [source]

Acellular dermal equivalent derived from fibroblast culture alone

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
D.-Y. Lee
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Enhanced monocyte binding to human cytomegalovirus-infected syncytiotrophoblast results in increased apoptosis via the release of tumour necrosis factor alpha

THE JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
Gary Chan
Abstract We have shown that monocytes bound to intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAM-1) on syncytialized placental trophoblasts (ST) induce trophoblast apoptosis, and that ST infection by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) up-regulates ICAM-1. We hypothesize that the focal loss of trophoblast seen in HCMV-infected placenta is mediated by increased adherence of monocytes at sites of infection. We find that ST cultures (differentiated from primary cytotrophoblasts) increase monocyte binding when infected with HCMV. Monocyte adhesion was inhibited by antibodies to ICAM-1 and its ligand leukocyte function-associated molecule (LFA-1) on monocytes. When co-cultured with adhering monocytes, infected ST cultures had higher levels of apoptosis than infected cultures alone. Although trophoblast apoptosis clustered around adhering monocytes, it occurred only in non-infected cells. Blocking monocyte binding with ICAM-1 and LFA-1 antibodies reduced the rate of apoptosis to that of the infected culture. Co-cultures incubated with TNF, antibody and EGF inhibited both monocyte- and HCMV-induced apoptosis but did not block binding. We conclude that HCMV stimulates ST culture expression of ICAM-1, which binds to LFA-1 on monocytes that release TNF,, thereby inducing apoptosis of neighbouring uninfected trophoblasts. The above data indicates that trophoblast loss associated with HCMV infection can be caused by increased monocyte adhesion to ST. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]