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It has been suggested, on a theoretical basis, that a reaction-diffusion (RD) mechanism underlies pigment pattern formation in animals, but as yet, there is no molecular evidence for the putative mechanism. Mutations in the zebrafish gene, leopard, change the pattern from stripes to spots. Interestingly each allele gives a characteristic pattern, which varies in spot size, density and connectivity. That mutations in a single gene can generate such a variety of patterns can be understood using a RD model. All the pattern variations of leopard mutants can be generated in a simulation by changing a parameter value that corresponds to the reaction kinetics in a putative RD system. Substituting an intermediate value of the parameter makes the patterns similar to the heterozygous fish. These results suggest that the leopard gene product is a component of the putative RD mechanism.

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Human periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblasts, cultured from extracted healthy premolars, and a cloned osteogenic cell line (MC3T3-E1) were used in this study to determine the effect of intermittent pressure on bone resorption. Cells (1 x 10(5] were incubated with BGJb medium in the presence or absence of the following factors: intermittent negative (-30 g/cm2) or positive (30 g/cm2) hydrostatic pressure and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta, 1 ng/mL), for 24 h. Conditioned media (CM) generated from cultures of either cell types were used for prostaglandin E (PGE) assay, bone resorption assay, and assessment of osteoclast (OC)-like cell formation. Unstimulated PDL fibroblasts or MC3T3-E1 cells produced measurable amounts of PGE and bone-resorbing activity as measured by 45Ca released from mouse calvaria and OC-like cells. IL-1 beta-treated cells showed significantly elevated levels of PGE, bone resorption, and OC-like cell formation, as compared with unstimulated cells. Intermittent positive pressure (IPP) alone stimulated PGE production, but the resultant CM did not stimulate bone resorption or OC-like cell formation when IPP was applied to either cell type. The application of IPP, together with IL-1 beta in CM, caused a slight increase in the number of alpha-like cells, as compared with that of IL-1 beta-treated CM in both cell types. On the other hand, direct application of IPP on mouse bone-marrow cultures significantly increased the number of OC-like cells. This effect was additive in combination with either CM from unstimulated cells or exogenous addition of PGE2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)