Advanced three-dimensional culture of equine intestinal epithelial stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal epithelial stem cells are critical to epithelial repair following gastrointestinal injury. The culture of intestinal stem cells has quickly become a cornerstone of a vast number of new research endeavours that range from determining tissue viability to testing drug efficacy for humans. This study aims to describe the methods of equine stem cell culture and highlights the future benefits of these techniques for the advancement of equine medicine. OBJECTIVES: To describe the isolation and culture of small intestinal stem cells into three-dimensional (3D) enteroids in horses without clinical gastrointestinal abnormalities. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. METHODS: Intestinal samples were collected by sharp dissection immediately after euthanasia. Intestinal crypts containing intestinal stem cells were dissociated from the underlying tissue layers, plated in a 3D matrix and supplemented with growth factors. After several days, resultant 3D enteroids were prepared for immunofluorescent imaging and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to detect and characterise specific cell types present. Intestinal crypts were cryopreserved immediately following collection and viability assessed. RESULTS: Intestinal crypts were successfully cultured and matured into 3D enteroids containing a lumen and budding structures. Immunofluorescence and PCR were used to confirm the existence of stem cells and all post mitotic, mature cell types, described to exist in the horse intestinal epithelium. Previously frozen crypts were successfully cultured following a freeze-thaw cycle. MAIN LIMITATIONS: Tissues were all derived from normal horses. Application of this technique for the study of specific disease was not performed at this time. CONCLUSIONS: The successful culture of equine intestinal crypts into 3D "mini-guts" allows for in vitro studies of the equine intestine. Additionally, these results have relevance to future development of novel therapies that harness the regenerative potential of equine intestine in horses with gastrointestinal disease (colic).

Inhibition of Ras and related G-proteins as a therapeutic strategy for blocking malignant glioma growth.

OBJECTIVE: Preliminary studies have demonstrated that the Ras family and related guanosine 5'-triphosphate-dependent proteins (G-proteins) are overactivated in malignant gliomas and may function as indirect mediators of glial transformation initiated by deregulated upstream signaling elements. We postulated that inhibiting the activation of such proteins might represent a promising strategy for blocking the aberrant proliferation of these tumors. METHODS AND RESULTS: Accordingly, we examined the therapeutic efficacy against malignant glioma cells in vitro of a series of selective peptidomimetic inhibitors of farnesylation (FTI-277) and geranylgeranylation (GGTI-286 and GGTI-298), which are critical steps in the post-translational processing (prenylation) of these proteins. We first defined concentration-response relationships for each of these agents, using MTS-based cell proliferation assays in the established malignant glioma cell lines U-87 and LN-Z308 and the low-passage malignant glioma cell line SG-388. FTI-277, GGTI-286, and GGTI-298 each produced a striking concentration-dependent antiproliferative effect on the glioma cell lines, with the median effective dose ranging from 2.5 to 15.5 micromol/L. We then assessed the effect of prenylation inhibition on cell viability using clonogenic growth assays. This demonstrated a steady drop in the number of colonies with increasing drug concentrations for all three inhibitors. Third, we examined whether the cytotoxic effects of one of these inhibitors (GGTI-298) were associated with the induction of apoptosis using a terminal transferase-catalyzed in situ end-labeling technique. This approach showed a time-dependent increase in apoptotic cell numbers, which correlated with a progressive decrease in the percentage of cells that were viable as assessed by trypan blue exclusion. CONCLUSION: Our studies demonstrated that FTI-277, GGTI-286, and GGTI-298 each yielded significant antiproliferative effects in human malignant glioma cells in vitro at low micromolar concentrations, which have been achievable in vivo without major systemic toxicity. Extended periods of drug treatment produced cytotoxicity in the tumor cells, which correlated with the induction of apoptosis. We conclude that inhibition of Ras and related G-proteins offers a promising approach for blocking glioma proliferation that justifies further investigation in vivo.

Protein kinase C inhibition by UCN-01 induces apoptosis in human glioma cells in a time-dependent fashion.

Recent studies in our laboratory have shown that UCN-01 (7-hydroxystaurosporine), which is a derivative of the non-selective protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine that exhibits relative selectivity for protein kinase C (PKC), is a potent inhibitor of glioma growth in in vitro and in vivo models. This agent exhibits both cytotoxic and cytostatic effects, depending on the time period of drug exposure. In the present study, we examined whether UCN-01-induced cytotoxicity correlated with the induction of apoptosis, and characterized further the time course of this process as a prelude to application of UCN-01 in clinical trials. We first demonstrated that the cytotoxic effects of UCN-01 were associated with the induction of morphological features of apoptosis. Secondly, we identified electrophoretic features of apoptosis semiquantitatively at a series of time points using field inversion gel electrophoresis. These studies showed a peak in the induction of high-molecular-weight DNA fragmentation after 3-6 days of drug treatment. Thirdly, we measured the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis at various time points using a terminal transferase-catalyzed in situ end-labeling technique, which confirmed a time- and concentration-dependent increase in apoptotic cell numbers. This correlated with a progressive decrease in the percentage of cells that were viable as assessed by trypan blue exclusion. Cell killing peaked within 2-4 days after beginning UCN-01 treatment, but continued at a lower level in the ensuing days. Taken together, these studies demonstrated that extended periods of exposure to UCN-01 are needed for optimal manifestation of cytotoxic effects against glioma cells, a factor that must be taken into consideration in the design of future clinical trials with this agent for malignant gliomas.

Field-effect-transistor self-electro-optic-effect-device (FET-SEED) electrically addressed differential modulator array.

We describe a 6 × 6 array of electrically addressed field-effect-transistor self-electro-optic-effect-device differential modulators in which each element has a single-stage amplifier to permit an input voltage of less than 1 V to control the output modulators, which can operate at as high as 10 V. The variations in the switching voltages across the array are less than ±70 mV, and the individual array elements are operated at as high as 2 Gbits/s. We also measure cross talk between adjacent elements within the array, measure the dependence of the switching time on the input voltage swing, and calculate the dependence of the switching time that is due to the photocurrent of the modulators.