In mammalian cells, nontranslating messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are concentrated in different cytoplasmic foci, such as processing bodies (PBs) and stress granules (SGs), where they are either degraded or stored. In the present study, we have thoroughly characterized cytoplasmic foci, hereafter called AGs for ALK granules that form in transformed cells expressing the constitutively active anaplastic ...

The effects of sublethal amounts of the cationic dye, neutral red, upon the structure of pancreatic exocrine cells, and upon the mitochondria of renal distal tubule cells, have been studied with the electron microscope. It was found that neutral red is a cytoplasmic toxin which causes reproducible and characteristic changes in the ergastoplasm, the zymogen granules, the mitochondria, and possib...

Cellular stress leads to a change in distribution of RNA-binding proteins. HuR, a member of the ELAV/Hu family of RNA-binding proteins, is nuclear in distribution and following heat shock is found in large cytoplasmic stress granules where translation is inhibited. HuD, another ELAV/Hu RNA-binding protein, stabilizes the GAP-43 mRNA in response to nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulation in PC12 c...

Human defensins are 29 to 30 amino acid (aa) antimicrobial peptides that are among the principal constituents of the neutrophil's azurophil granules. To determine the tissue specificity of posttranslational processing and subcellular targeting of defensins, the cDNA for a 94 aa human preprodefensin was transduced into murine cell lines (NIH 3T3 embryonic fibroblasts, AtT-20 pituitary adenoma, J...

This case of a Merkel cell carcinoma is unusual due to the occurrence of the tumor on the thigh; most Merkel cell tumors have been found on the sun-exposed region of the head and neck. Histologically, the nodule was composed of sheets of uniform, poorly differentiated cells with a high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio. Electron microscopy revealed perinuclear filaments, scattered dense core granule...

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) associated with active Wegener's granulomatosis are directed against a soluble 29-Kd protein present in human neutrophils and monocytes. Affinity labeling with tritiated diisopropylfluorophosphate (3H-DFP) suggested that ANCA-antigen is a serine protease. We used immunoelectron microscopy to study the in situ localization of the ANCA-antigen in ...

Precursors for most Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are indistinguishable from other RNA polymerase II-transcribed long noncoding RNAs. So, it is currently unclear how they are recognized as substrates by the piRNA processing machinery that resides in cytoplasmic granules called nuage. In this issue, Castaneda et al (2014) reveal a role for the nuage component and nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling pr...

leukemia. The cells were examined daily under the electron micro scope between the 5th and 15th day following inoculation. The tumorous tissue was found to contain a single type of cells. The polygonal cells were loosely arranged, without intercellular at taching structures between them. Pseudopodia projecting into the intercellular space and rows of pinocytotic intracellular vesi cles pointed ...

The iron storage macrophage has been Isolated from the marrow of Imforontreated mice and studied in vitro by morphologic, histochemical, and functional tests and isotope labeling techniques. Those macrophages on stained preparations are large, many times binucleate cells (up to 150 ii), and show Prussian blue reactivity. In Epon-embeddod, stained thick sections they contain elongated narrow bas...

The cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein (CPEB) has been characterized in Xenopus laevis as a translational regulator. During the early development, it behaves first as an inhibitor and later as an activator of translation. In mammals, its closest homologue is CPEB1 for which two isoforms, short and long, have been described. Here we describe an additional isoform with a differen...