For the regulation of energy balance in various internal organs including gut, pancreas and liver, visceral adipose tissue and brain perform important sensing and signaling roles via neural and endocrine pathway. Among these, adipose tissue has been known as a simple energy-storing organ, which stores excess energy in triglyceride. However, it became apparent that adipocytes have various receptors related to energy homeostasis, and secrete adipocytokines by endocrine, paracrine and autocrine mechanisms. In this review, basic roles of adipocytes in energy homeostasis and the correlation between adipocyte signals and digestive diseases are discussed.
Adipocytes/*metabolism ; Adipokines/*physiology ; Adiponectin/physiology ; Digestive System Diseases/*metabolism ; *Energy Metabolism ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Leptin/physiology ; Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors/physiology ; Resistin/physiology ; Signal Transduction

BACKGROUND: A mummy is a dead body of a human being or an animal that has been preserved artificially or naturally from decaying. Because the natural environment of Korea isn't appropriate for mummification and Korean people haven't artificially made mummies, mummies were rarely studied in Korea. METHODS: On September 6, 2002, a well-preserved female mummy was found in the grave of a family in Kyunggi-do. She was submitted to a thorough autopsy examination along with the review of genealogical documents. RESULTS: The mummy died in winter. She was pregnant and the fetal head was observed at the vaginal orifice. The uterine wall was ruptured, and the peritoneum was discolored, probably by hemorrhage. Histologically, the gastric mucosa was well preserved. On the smear cytology of gastrointestinal material and the fluid from the coffin, pollens and parasitic eggs were observed. The woman seemed to be death from hypovolemic shock due to uterine rupture during the 2nd phase of labor. CONCLUSION: From this case, we concluded the causes of the woman's mummification included the cold and dry circumstance at the time of her death, and the thick mortared wall of the grave that completely isolated the body from the outside.
Animals ; Autopsy ; Eggs ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; Gyeonggi-do ; Head ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Korea ; Mummies ; Ovum ; Paleopathology ; Peritoneum ; Pollen ; Pregnant Women* ; Shock ; Uterine Rupture

Localized cutaneous leishmaniasis is a chronic ulcerative, usually self-limiting skin disease, and one of the major tropical diseases. This disease is caused by an infection of genus Leishmania, transmitted by a sandfly, and there are some cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Koreans after travelling abroad in endemic areas, such as the Middle East and Africa. We report a case of localized cutaneous leishmania in a 70-year-old native Korean man without history of a trip abroad.
Male ; Humans

BACKGROUND: The adhesion of H. pylori to the gastric epithelial cells may be an essential step for the pathophysiology of various H. pylori-induced gastrointestinal diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural relation of H. pylori and gastric epithelial cells in their adhesion. METHODS: Endoscopic biopsy of gastric antrum and body was performed from 15 patients (9 men, 6 women) with chronic gastritis and H. pylori infection. The specimens were processed for electron microscopy and observed with a transmission electron microscope (Hitachi H-600). RESULTS: On the basis of morphological appearances, the adhesions of H. pylori to the gastric epithelial cells were categorized into three types; filamentous connection, adhesion pedestals and membrane fusion. Coccoid and undetermined forms adhered mainly by the filamentous connection, whereas the bacillary forms adhered primarily by the adhesion pedestals and membrane fusion. CONCLUSION: Various types of adhesion were associated with H. pylori and gastric epithelium. Further studies are needed to evaluate the influence of different types of adhesion to the pathophysiology of H. pylori.
*Bacterial Adhesion ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Female ; Gastritis/*microbiology/pathology ; Helicobacter Infections/*microbiology/pathology/physiopathology ; Helicobacter pylori/classification/physiology/*ultrastructure ; Human ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron ; Middle Age ; Stomach/*microbiology/pathology ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PURPOSE: To observe dystrophin formation and histological improvement in dystrophic muscle of mdx mouse after normal myoblast injection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cultured myoblasts from genetically normal rats were injected into the right quadriceps femoris of a 6-week-old mdx mouse (n=9). dPBS was injected into the left quadriceps femoris as a control. One, 2, and 3 months after injection, The control and experimental group were compared histologically and by dystrophin immunostaining. RESULTS: When compared with controls 3 months postoperatively, quadriceps femoris in the experimental group exhibited greater cross-sectional area and total fiber number, and the experimental animals contained more normal-appearing and less abnormalappearing fibers than the control group. Most of the fibers in the experimental group showed positive results in dystrophin immunostaining, whereas immunostaining of mdx muscle fibers in the control group was completely negative. CONCLUSION: This study shows that normal myoblast injection improved the muscle architecture histologically and produced dystrophin protein in dystrophic muscle.
Animals ; Dystrophin ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred mdx ; Muscular Dystrophies ; Myoblasts* ; Quadriceps Muscle ; Rats

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural relation of H. pylori and gastric epithelial cells in their adhesion. METHODS: Endoscopic biopsy of gastric antrum and body was performed from 15 patients (9 men, 6 women) with chronic gastritis. These specimens were processed and observed by transmission electron microscope (Hitachi H-600). RESULTS: On the basis of morphological appearances, the different types of adhesion of the organism with the epithelial cells were categorized as filamentous connection, adhesion pedestals, membrane fusion. Coccoid and intermediate forms were associated with filamentous connection whereas bacillary forms were associated with adhesion pedestals and membrane fusion. CONCLUSION: Various types of adhesion were associated with H. pylori and gastric epithelium. Further studies are needed to investigate biophysiologic influence to epithelial cells by ultrastructural relationship.(Korean J Med 60:16-21, 2001)
Biopsy ; Epithelial Cells* ; Epithelium ; Gastritis ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Male ; Membrane Fusion ; Microscopy, Electron ; Pyloric Antrum

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5) is essential for brain development and p35 and p67 are the regulatory molecules for cdk5. In this study, we have investigated the expression of cdk5, p35, and p67 mRNAs in the developing rat brain with in situ hybridization histochemistry. The expression of cdk5 mRNA was already observed in embryonic day 12 (E12), start point of neurogenesis in rat brain, throughout the brain and gradually increased until postnatal day 3 (P3). At this period, strong expression of cdk5 mRNA was observed in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and inferior colliculus. High level of cdk5 expression was maintained in the postnatal rat brain and prominent expression was observed in the hippocampus, dentate gyrus, cerebellum, and choroid plexus of adult rat brain. Strong expression of p35 mRNA was observed between E16 and E20 in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and inferior colliculus as like as cdk5. After birth, the expression of p35 mRNA was gradually decreased and significant differences in the expression of cdk5 and p35 were observed in the thalamus, hypothalamus, midbrain, and cerebellum. In the embryonic period, the expression pattern of p67 was very similar with that of p35 but expression level was lower than p35. After birth, strong expression of p67 was observed in the areas where the expression of cdk5 was high. From these results, it is suspected that p35 may function in neuronal migration, and p67 in differentiation and maturation, as a major regulator for cdk5 in developing rat brain.
Adult ; Animals ; Brain* ; Cerebellum ; Cerebral Cortex ; Choroid Plexus ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 ; Dentate Gyrus ; Gene Expression ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; In Situ Hybridization ; Inferior Colliculi ; Mesencephalon ; Neurogenesis ; Neurons ; Parturition ; Rats* ; RNA, Messenger* ; Thalamus

Phospholipase D (PLD) catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidic acid and choline. A variety of signal molecules such as hormones, neurotransmitters, extracellular matrix molecules, and growth factors are known to induce the activation of PLD in a wide range of cell types. Hence PLD is implicated in a broad spectrum of physio-logical processes and diseases, including mitogenesis, cell differentiation, metabolic regulation, secretion, neural and cardiac stimulation, inflammation, oncogenesis, and diabetes. The signal-dependent activation of PLD has been observed in a variety of brain and neural-derived cells. In this paper, human chromosomal locations and developmental neural expression patterns in rat of PLD1 and PLD2 were investigated with fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and in situ hybridization histochemistry, respectively. The PLD1 was assigned to human chromosome 3q26 and expressed most strikingly in selected ventricular neural cells lining spinal cord and brain during neuronal differentiation and migration period. The PLD2 was assigned to human chromosome 17p13.1 and expressed in differentiating ventricular neural cells and multiple regions of the postnatal rat brain.
Animals ; Brain ; Carcinogenesis ; Cell Differentiation ; Choline ; Chromosomes, Human* ; Extracellular Matrix ; Humans ; Humans* ; Hydrolysis ; In Situ Hybridization ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Inflammation ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Neurons ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Phosphatidic Acids ; Phosphatidylcholines ; Phospholipase D* ; Phospholipases* ; Rats* ; Spinal Cord

Neuromuscular junction formation is one of the hot research area for understanding synapse formation, and the contact and adhesion between muscle and neurons during this procedure is regarded as one of important steps for synaptogenesis. The changes of neuronal cell adhesion molecules during nerve-muscle contats has not been revealed yet. In this study, we isolated skeletal muscle cells and ventral spinal cord neurons from Sprague-Dawley rats and observed the contact areas with a transmission electron microscpe and studied the presence of NCAM at the contact sites by immunohistochemistry. The ventral spinal cord neuronal processes contact intimately with skeletal muscle cells, some of which were submerged into the muscle surface and had synaptic vesicles. NCAM was expressed on neuronal processes, only sialylated form were associated with acetylcholine receptor aggregates. These results confirmed the significance of adhesion in neuromuscular junction formation and NCAM may participate in this process by preventing the separation of 2 cells at the contact site.
Acetylcholine ; Animals ; Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal ; Coculture Techniques* ; Cytoskeleton ; Immunohistochemistry ; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Myoblasts ; Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules* ; Neuromuscular Junction ; Neurons ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; Synapses ; Synaptic Vesicles

Myoblasts fuse together to form multinucleated myotubes. However, only a few studies have been reported on the cytoskeletal changes during the fusion process. To understand the change of cytoskeleton during the fusion process, isolated myoblasts from embryonic day 21 Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured on formvar-, carbon-, and gelatin-coated gold grids for electron microscopy. The cells were fixed and plasma membrane and cytoplasm were extracted with triton X-100 and observed directly with Hitachi H-600 transmission electron microscope without staining. Fusiform myoblasts have complex cytoskeletal networks at the center of the cells, which were too dense to be resolved, however the margins of myoblasts and myotubes have bundles of cytoskeletons running in the longitudinal direction with reticulated cytoskeletal networks in between. Lamellipodial ruffles at both ends of myoblasts were characterized by a cytoskeletal lattice at the base and a few radiating strands into the filopodia-like processes. Radiating cytoskeletons originated either from the longitudinally oriented cytoskeletal bundles or reticular lattice continuous to them. The fusion areas were characterized by thin filaments connecting adjacent cells and the connection of longitudinal filament bundles from the fusing cells. These results suggest the modification of cytoskeletons during myoblast fusion.
Animals ; Cell Membrane ; Cytoplasm ; Cytoskeleton* ; Microscopy, Electron ; Muscle Cells* ; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal ; Myoblasts ; Octoxynol ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Running