A method for the isolation of human gastric mucous epithelial cells for primary cell culture: A comparison of biopsy vs surgical tissue

We have developed a method for the isolation and growth of normal human gastric mucous epithelial cells using biopsies or surgically resected tissues as the source of the cells. The attachment and growth of cells were dependent upon: (1) cell planting density, ∼50,000 cells/cm 2 ; (2) extracellular matrix (fibronectin); and (3) and the use of a porous filter. In all experiments we found better cells attachment and growth of human gastric mucous cells isolated from surgical specimens compared with those gastric mucous cells isolated from gastric biopsies. The initial cell viability (as measured by Trypan-blue) was the same in both populations of gastric mucous epithelial cells isolated from either gastric biopsies or surgical specimens. After 4–5 days in culture one could detect various amounts of mucin in all the cells using either periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining or a specific anti-mucin antibody. A similar pattern of much straining was also found in primary cultures of guinea pig gastric mucous epithelial cells. Immunohistochemical staining for chief cells (anti-pepsinogen) or parietal cells (anti-H + /K + ATPasc) in the gastric mucous cuboidal-like epithelial cells with tight junctions, desmosomes,short microvilli, a filamentous terminal web, mucous granules, and basal lamina-like structure. We could not detect the presence of fibroblasts during the 7–9 days that the primary cells were in culture. This cell culture method will prove useful in the isolation of normal human gastric mucous epithelial cells for in vitro studies of gastric mucosal injury and repair.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43235/1/11022_2004_Article_BF00127904.pd

Early processing of emotional faces in a Go/NoGo task: lack of N170 right-hemispheric specialisation in children with major depression

Emotionally biased information processing towards sad and away from happy information characterises individuals with major depression. To learn more about the nature of these dysfunctional modulations, developmental and neural aspects of emotional face processing have to be considered. By combining measures of performance (attention control, inhibition) in an emotional Go/NoGo task with an event-related potential (ERP) of early face processing (N170), we obtained a multifaceted picture of emotional face processing in a sample of children and adolescents (11-14 years) with major depression (MDD, n = 26) and healthy controls (CTRL, n = 26). Subjects had to respond to emotional faces (fearful, happy or sad) and withhold their response to calm faces or vice versa. Children of the MDD group displayed shorter N170 latencies than children of the CTRL group. Typical right lateralisation of the N170 was observed for all faces in the CTRL but not for happy and calm faces in the MDD group. However, the MDD group did not differ in their behavioural reaction to emotional faces, and effects of interference by emotional information on the reaction to calm faces in this group were notably mild. Although we could not find a typical pattern of emotional bias, the results suggest that alterations in face processing of children with major depression can be seen at early stages of face perception indexed by the N170. The findings call for longitudinal examinations considering effects of development in children with major depression as well as associations to later stages of processing