Background: Though it is well established that maternal blood-borne signals influence highly the growth of the placenta, the mechanisms are not known. In vitro trophoblast culture models are limited by an inability to reconstruct the polarised bilayer of the human hemochorial placenta. We have used a first trimester villous tissue explant system to investigate how growth factors interact with p...

Leptin has been shown to reduce body fat in vivo. Adipocytes express the leptin receptor; therefore, it is realistic to expect a direct effect of leptin on adipocyte growth and metabolism. In vitro studies examining the effect of leptin on adipocyte metabolism require supraphysiological doses of the protein to see a decrease in lipogenesis or stimulation of lipolysis, implying an indirect actio...

Pathologists use loss of normal tissue architecture as a key criterion to identify and categorize disease states. Epithelia in all glandular structures in vivo have a characteristic organization where they line a central lumen and are involved in absorptive and/or secretory functions. Under some physiological conditions— such as pregnancy, wound healing, and the periodic tissue remodeling that ...

Objective(s):Anodized treated titanium surfaces, have been proposed as potential surfaces with better cell attachment capacities. We have investigated the adhesion and proliferation properties of H9C2 cardiac myoblasts on anodized treated titanium surface.  Materials and Methods: Surface topography and anodized tubules were examined by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Contro...