The two questions posed by Tesarik (1998) and Swann et al. (1998) on the nature of sperm factor are: (i) if glucosamine6-phosphate deaminase is not the ‘so-called oscillogen’, as shown by the recombinant studies of Wolosker et al. (1998), what is the nature of sperm factor?; and (ii) is there a dual mechanism for oocyte activation involving signals from soluble sperm factors together with signa...

A study was undertaken to enumerate and partially characterize soluble factors generated by tumor-bearing animals capable of suppressing PHA-induced splenocyte proliferation. Sprague-Dawley rats were induced to form malignant ascites by the intraperitoneal injection of the Walker 256 carcinoma. Intact ascites suppressed splenocyte proliferation by 96%. Molecular sieving of the ascites by means ...

PURPOSE To investigate the association between soluble apoptosis and adhesion molecules and the development of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) after reattachment surgery for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). METHODS A multiplex immunoassay was used to measure soluble Fas (sFas), sFas ligand (sFasL), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1, and soluble vascular cell adhe...

The development of the nervous system is guided by a balanced action between intrinsic factors represented by the genetic program and epigenetic factors characterized by cell-cell interactions which neural cells might perform throughout nervous system morphogenesis. Highly relevant among them are neuron-glia interactions. Several soluble factors secreted by either glial or neuronal cells have b...

Introduction Glial cells comprise 90% of the human brain.1 Glia are divided into two subtypes, the microglia which function largely as scavengers to engulf apoptotic cell debris and the macroglia comprised of oligodendrocytes that myelinate axons, and astrocytes.2 Here we focus on the astrocyte which has many well-defined functions; astrocytes control ion homeostasis, uptake glutamate at the sy...