Histology and histopathology Vol.27, nº 1 (2012)

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  • Publication
    Open Access
    Lung CD57+ cell density is increased in very severe COPD
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2012) Olloquequi, Jordi; García Valero, José; Rodríguez, Esther; Montero, M. Ángeles; Ferrer, Jaume; Montes, Juan F.
    Among all inflammatory cells involved in COPD, those with a cytolytic or elastolytic activity are thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease. However, there is no data about the infiltration of cells expressing the CD57 marker in small airways and parenchyma of COPD patients. In this study, surgical specimens from 43 subjects undergoing lung resection due to lung cancer (9 non-smokers, 18 smokers without COPD and 16 smokers with moderate COPD) and 16 patients undergoing double lung transplantation for very severe COPD were examined. CD57+ cells, neutrophils, macrophages and mast cells infiltrating bronchioles (epithelium, smooth muscle and connective tissue) and parenchymal interstitium were localized and quantified by immunohistochemical analysis. Compared to the other groups, the small airways of very severe COPD patients showed a significantly higher density of CD57+ cells, mainly infiltrated in the connective tissue (p=0.001), and a significantly higher density of neutrophils located characteristically in the epithelium (p=0.037). Also, the density of neutrophils was significantly higher in parenchyma of very severe COPD patients compared with the rest of the groups (p=0.001). Finally, there were significant correlations between the bronchiolar density of CD57+ cells and the FEV1 values (R=-0.43, p=0.022), as well as between the parenchymal density of neutrophils and macroscopic emphysema degree (R=0.43, p=0.048) in COPD groups. These results show that CD57+ cells may be involved in COPD pathogenesis, especially in the most severe stages of the disease
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Cell cycle inhibitor p57 expression in normal and diabetic rat placentas during some stages of pregnancy
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2012) Acar, Nuray; Turkay Korgun, Emin; Ustunel, Ismail
    Placentomegaly, an abnormal increase in the size of the placenta, is commonly seen in human diabetic pregnancies and diabetic animal experimental models. Proper placental development depends on the proliferation and differentiation of trophoblasts. However, our knowledge about the mitotic regulators that play key roles in synchronizing these events is limited. p57 is a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor acting in the G1/S transition of the cell cycle. There is no data regarding p57 expression in either rat or human diabetic placentas. The purpose of this study was to investigate p57 expression in control and diabetic rat placentas at different stages of pregnancy. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin on the first day of pregnancy, and placentas were taken on days 11, 13, 17, and 21 of pregnancy. Our results showed that on day 11, p57 immunostaining intensity was stronger in control group placentas compared to the diabetic group. On day 13, p57 immunostaining intensity increased in both groups, but increased more in the diabetic group. On day 17, p57 immunostaining intensity decreased in both the control and diabetic groups compared to day 13, yet the intensity remained higher in control placentas compared to diabetic placentas. On day 21 of pregnancy, p57 immunostaining intensity increased in the control group and it decreased from the day 17 level in the diabetic group. Western blot results showed consistency with immunohistochemistry results. Our study shows different expression patterns of p57 between control and diabetic rat placentas, which indicate p57 may play a role in abnormal placental formation resulting in placentomegaly arising from diabetes
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Age-related changes in myosin-V myenteric neurons, CGRP and VIP immunoreactivity in the ileum of rats supplemented with ascorbic acid
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2012) Tonon Veit, Ana Paula; Nelisis Zanoni, Jacqueline
    We examined the effects of ascorbic acid supplementation on myosin-V, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) immunoractivities in the myenteric neurons in aging rats. Male rats were divided into groups: young 90-day-old rats (E90), 345-day-old control rats (E345), 428-day-old control rats (E428), 90- to 345-day-old rats treated with ascorbic acid (1 g/L) (EA345), and 90- to 428-day-old rats treated with ascorbic acid (1g/L) (EA428). The quantitative results showed that aging reduced the number of myosin-V-immunoreactive neurons compared with young animals (E90). Ascorbic acid supplementation in the EA345 and EA428 groups increased the average area of myosin-V neurons by 24.6% and 24.1% compared with the E345 and E428 groups, respectively. When all groups were compared, we observed significant differences for the CGRP- and VIP-immunoractive varicosities of nerve fibers from myenteric neurons. Ascorbic acid supplementation had a neurotrophic effect on all neurons studied, suggesting a neuroprotective role
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Morphological and molecular characterization of healthy human ascending aorta
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2012) Forte, A.; Della Corte, A.; Grossi, M.; Finicelli, M.; Bancone, C.; Provenzano, R.; Pepino, P.; Nappi, G.A.; De Feo, M.; Galderisi, U.; Cotrufo, M.; Cipollaro, M.
    Knowledge of the characteristics of the normal human aorta has been constrained by lack of data on fresh aortic tissue, especially from healthy individuals. In this study, the gene expression and morphological characteristics of the thoracic ascending aorta (AA) of healthy organ donors have been evaluated, with the aim of providing reference data for the analysis of pathological AAs. We analysed by RT-PCR the differential expression of mRNAs coding for myocardin, smoothelin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and the ED-A isoform of fibronectin (ED-A FN) in AA specimens from donors, integrating the results with immunohistochemical analysis of the same targets. Morphological and morphometric characteristics of the AAs were also evaluated. In order to account for possible regional variations in wall structure, the convexity of the aortic profile was compared to the concavity. No differences in gene expression occurred for any of the target genes between the concavity and the convexity of AAs. Immunohistochemistry revealed a different distribution of total FN and of its ED-A isoform in the media and in the intima. Smoothelin is expressed by the majority of cells in the media, with some positive cells also in the intima. Alpha-SMA is expressed in all the tunicae. Immunohistochemistry also revealed in the convexity of 50% of AAs the presence of discrete areas in the subadventital media with altered structure and cell morphology and with altered gene expression, resulting positive for ED-A FN and alpha-SMA, but not for smoothelin, indicating the occurrence of early lesions also in macroscopically healthy AAs
  • Publication
    Open Access
    HGF/C-MET system pathways in benign and malignant histotypes of thyroid nodules: an immunohistochemical characterization
    (F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2012) Ruggeri, Rosaria Maddalena; Vitarelli, Enrica; Barresi, Gaetano; Trimarchi, Francesco; Benvenga, S.; Trovato, Maria
    Objective. Upon binding with HGF, the thyrosine-kinase receptor c-met induces cell growth, scattering and morphogenic effects via the trasducers STAT3 and phosphorylated-STAT3, PI3K/Akt, Rho. HGF, c-met and STAT3 are expressed with very high frequency in papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC), suggesting a role in PTC. Herein we first investigate the simultaneous expression of HGF, c-met, STAT3, phosphor-STAT3, PI3K, Akt and Rho in thyroid nodules. Design and methods. Using immunohistochemistry, we studied: 30 colloid nodules (CN), 18 hyperplastic nodules (HN), 20 follicular adenomas (FA), 15 oncocytic adenomas (OA), 20 PTC, 16 follicular carcinomas (FTC) and 6 anaplastic carcinomas (ATC). Results. All 7 proteins were expressed in 15% of FA (with HGF, PI3K and Rho stromal reactivity) and 25% of PTC, and the combination HGF/c-met/STAT3/ pSTAT3/PI3K was expressed by all PTC, each protein being expressed by tumor cells. In contrast, 13/16 FTC (81%) exhibited immunoreactivity for PI3K (both epithelial and stromal), and 100% of ATC was PI3K+ (both epithelial and stromal) and Rho+ (epithelial). Epithelial expression of PI3K correlated with the clinical behavior of histotypes and, within FTC, the proportion of PI3K+ cells correlated with both the clinical and pathological stage (r=0.95; p<0.001). As for the shared epithelial expression of PI3K, this concerned approximately one-fourth of tumor cells in FTC and ATC vs one-thirtieth in PTC. Conclusions. Our data may have practical implications for the targeted medical therapy of thyroid cancer arising from the follicular epithelium