This report presents an electron microscope study of white adipose cells depleted of their lipid inclusion by prolonged low food intake. The tissue was fixed in phosphate-buffered 1% osmium tetroxide, embedded in Vestopal W, and sections were stained with lead hydroxide. Such cells differ in shape and size from signet-ring cells. They are ovoid, diminished in size, and the cell surface has become indented in all planes of the cell. The intercellular space is expanded with concentrations of collagen fibers in close association with the cell surface. These changes are presumed to be mechanical events associated with loss of lipid from the cell. Subcellular changes include the appearance of a n extremely large number of pinocytotic vesicles and cytoplasmic vesicles similar in appearance, membrane-bound dense bodies, five-layered membranous structures, vesiculated bodies, and areas of flocculent material. Mitochondria and nuclei appear to be similar to their counterparts in signet-ring cells. Observations are discussed with relation to ultrastructural changes reported in other studies in which adipose cells were depleted of fat by acute starvation or experimental deprivation of insulin. It is suggested that intracellular structural changes are probably associated with adaptive alterations in the metabolism of the cell.
The question of sugar transport heterogeneity in the human intestinal Caco-2 cell line was addressed using alpha-methyl-D-glucose (AMG) and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (DG) as substrate analogues for D-glucose, the transport inhibitors phlorizin (PZ) and phloretin (PT), and NaCl or choline chloride uptake media. The data are compatible with the existence of three distinct pathways that can be isolated kinetically according to specific characteristics: 1) an "AMG-strict" system, strictly Na+ dependent and specific for AMG [Michaelis-Menten constant value (K(m)) = 2.0 +/- 0.3 mM] but sensitive to both PZ and PT, with PZ being more potent than PT, 2) a "DG-strict" system, strictly Na+ independent and specific for both DG (K(m) = 5.2 +/- 0.5 mM) and PT; and 3) a "DG/AMG-mixed" system, strictly Na+ dependent, with loose specificities for the glucose analogues DG (K(m) = 0.81 +/- 0.07 mM) and AMG (K(m) = 8.1 +/- 0.8 mM), and the inhibitors PZ and PT, but with PT being more potent than PZ. Since SGLT-1 obtained by polymerase chain reaction from either Caco-2 cells or normal human jejunum demonstrated identical transport properties when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, we conclude that the "AMG-strict" system represents the expression of human SGLT-1 activity in this cell line. Moreover, Western blot analysis revealed that SGLT-1 is located exclusively in the apical membrane. In contrast, neither the nature nor the membrane location of both the DG-strict and DG/AMG-mixed pathways could be resolved unambiguously. Still it has been demonstrated that expression of the latter system is constitutive to all Caco-2 cells and that its Na+ dependence is not the consequence of H(+)-dependent transport activity. Aside from the presence of the DG/AMG-mixed system, a salient feature of Caco-2 cells is that the GLUT-3 protein is located exclusively in the brush-border membrane. Due to these limitations, it is concluded that the Caco-2 cell line cannot be considered as equivalent to either fetal colonic cells or normal enterocytes.
Anatomical components of afferent innervation in the rim of the octopus sucker are described. In the sensory epithelium under the smooth cuticle two associated ciliated receptor cell-types (presumably chemosensitive) occur in clusters. A third ciliated receptor cell-type under the toothed cuticle may be a mechanoreceptor. A non-ciliated receptor cell-type of unknown function, under the toothed culticle, is characterized by a microvillus-lined apical canal containing dense granular material. The axons of the latter two receptors go directly into large nerve tracts which run through the infundibular muscle and on to the ganglion of the sucker. The axons of the first cell-types terminated on interneurons either in the base of the epithelium or below the epithelium. All the interneurons of the basal region of the epithelium migrate centripetally and develop into encapsulated interneurons. Within the epithelium, fine fibers provide collateral contact among cluster receptors. Collateral interaction among basal and encapsulated interneurons occur in the infundibular plexus. The microanatomy of the rim of the sucker suggests that chemosensory cues are funneled into the interneurons where they are concentrated into integrated signals, while other sensory input is probably sent directly to the ganglia of the sucker and/or arm.
1. Virgin and lactating C(3)H mice maintained on laboratory chow were transferred to a high-fat (15% corn oil) or a fat-free diet 3 days before being killed. 2. The linoleate content of liver, mammary gland and milk was decreased in lactating mice given the fat-free diet but was increased in those fed on the high-fat diet. Changes in linoleate content and mammary gland followed a similar but much less marked trend in virgin animals. 3. Hepatic fatty acid synthesis in lactating and virgin mice fed on the fat-free diet was higher than in corresponding animals fed on either the chow or the high-fat diet. The lipogenic capacity of livers from mice fed on either the chow or the high-fat diet was greater in lactating than in virgin animals. These changes in hepatic lipogenic capacity were accompanied by alterations in the specific activities of certain enzymes involved in fat synthesis. 4. Mammary gland from virgin and lactating animals showed no such adaptation to dietary fat. Results indicate that fatty acid synthesis in neither mammary-gland parenchymal cells nor mammary-gland adipose cells can be influenced by dietary fat in the same way as in the hepatocyte.
We investigated the kinetics of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (DG) uptake and metabolism in Caco-2 cells, because this human cell line may represent a valid enterocyte model to assess the dynamics between sugar transport and metabolism and hence to obtain insights into the factors involved during the intracellular phase of glucose absorption. When studied in 14-day-old monolayers, DG uptake is characterized by a lag phase with a time course matching the decrease in intracellular glucose concentrations, and no intracellular glucose 6-phosphate (G-6-P) can be detected at any time during incubation. After 1 h of preincubation of Caco-2 cells in substrate-free transport medium, however, steady-state DG uptake matches 2-deoxy-D-glucose 6-phosphate (DG-6-P) accumulation with undetectable levels of free DG. This complex behavior in DG uptake is linked to high hexokinase activity in Caco-2 cells, and the enzyme has a Michaelis-Menten constant K(m) for glucose that is typical of hexokinase type II (0.120 +/- 0.003 mM). Caco-2 cells also contain low-level glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) activity, which may account for the leveling off in DG uptake, and the kinetics of DG transport may be attributed to the existence of a predominant pathway with a K(m) of 1.7 +/- 0.2 mM. Finally, analysis of the growth-related expression of DG transport and hexokinase activity clearly shows that DG uptake is lowest in postconfluent cells when hexokinase is at its highest levels. We thus conclude that 1) transport is the rate-limiting step during DG accumulation, 2) G-6-P is a potent inhibitor of hexokinase activity compared with DG-6-P, so that enzyme inhibition may have physiological relevance in diverting glucose from metabolism during its active reabsorption in the small intestine, and 3) low levels of G-6-Pase activity seem to exclude this enzyme, and hence the endoplasmic reticulum, as important factors during the intracellular phase of glucose transport.
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