AIM To demonstrate that interference microscopy of flat mounted internal limiting membrane specimens clearly delineates cellular proliferations at the vitreomacular interface. METHODS ILM specimens harvested during vitrectomy were fixed in glutaraldehyde 0.05% and paraformaldehyde 2% for 24 h (pH 7.4). In addition to interference microscopy, immunocytochemistry using antibodies against glial ...

Cytogenetic data avalaible for the maize weevil Sitophiluszeamais Motschulsky, 1855 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), one of the most destructive pests of stored cereal grains, are controversial. Earlier studies focused on single populations and emphasized chromosome number and sex determination system. In this paper, the karyotypes of four populations of Sitophiluszeamais were characterized by conv...

Background. The types of embryonic development probably provoke different paths of novel threadlike structure (NTS) development. The authors hypothesized that NTS may be easily observed on the surface of swine intestines by using trypan blue staining method and visualization under an optical microscope. Methods. General anesthesia was administered to 2 Yorkshire pigs. The abdominal walls of the...

Levels of apoptosis induction (4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining, activation of caspase 3) for aminoglycosides were compared by using renal LLC-PK1 cells. Amikacin caused less apoptosis than gentamicin in incubated cells. In electroporated cells, neomycin B and gentamicin caused apoptosis in the 0.03 to 0.1 mM range, isepamicin required larger concentrations (0.2 mM), and amikacin was wit...

METHODS. Porcine corneal myofibroblasts (PCMs) were obtained from subcultured fibroblasts plated at a low density (5 cells/mm). Mouse anti-smooth muscle actin antibody was used to identify the cell phenotype. Immunofluorescence was performed to localize PAF and TNFreceptors in those cells. The reactivity of the antibodies was characterized by Western blot analysis. To induce myofibroblast apopt...

Thimerosal is an organic mercurial compound used as a preservative in biomedical preparations. Little is known about the reactions of human neuronal and skin cells to its micro- and nanomolar concentrations, which can occur after using thimerosal-containing products. A useful combination of fluorescent techniques for the assessment of thimerosal toxicity is introduced. Short-term thimerosal tox...

Uncultured bacteria affiliated with the CL500-11 cluster (phylum Chloroflexi) were first reported from the oxygenated hypolimnion of Crater Lake (USA) as a predominant bacterioplankton, although this dominance has not been reported in other environments. In this study, we showed that CL500-11 is also dominant in the oxygenated hypolimnion of Lake Biwa (Japan) and followed its spatiotemporal suc...

Jejunum digesta samples were taken from weaning pigs in order to evaluate real-time PCR (qPCR) as a method for quantifying pig gut bacteria. Total bacteria, lactobacilli and enterobacteria were quantified by qPCR and the results were compared with those obtained with traditional methods: 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI staining) for total bacteria, selective culture for lactobacilli and ent...