Differences in the haematological profile of healthy 70 year old men and women: normal ranges with confirmatory factor analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reference ranges are available for different blood cell counts. These ranges treat each cell type independently and do not consider possible correlations between cell types.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Participants were identified from the Community Health Index as survivors of the 1947 Scottish Mental Survey, all born in 1936, who were resident in Lothian (potential n = 3,810) and invited to participate in the study. Those who consented were invited to attend a Clinical Research Facility where, amongst other assessments, blood was taken for full blood count. First we described cell count data and bivariate correlations. Next we performed principal components analysis to identify common factors. Finally we performed confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate suitable models explaining relationships between cell counts in men and women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We examined blood cell counts in 1027 community-resident people with mean age 69.5 (range 67.6-71.3) years. We determined normal ranges for each cell type using Q-Q plots which showed that these ranges were significantly different between men and women for all cell types except basophils. We identified three principal components explaining around 60% of total variance of cell counts. Varimax rotation indicated that these could be considered as erythropoietic, leukopoietic and thrombopoietic factors. We showed that these factors were distinct for men and women by confirmatory factor analysis: in men neutrophil count was part of a 'thrombopoietic' trait whereas for women it was part of a 'leukopoietic' trait.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>First, normal ranges for haematological indices should be sex-specific; at present this only pertains to those associated with erythrocytes. Second, differences between individuals across a range of blood cell counts can be explained to a considerable extent by three major components, but these components are not the same in men and women.</p

Role and function of matrix metalloproteinases in the differentiation and biological characterization of mesenchymal stem cells

Matrix metalloproteinases, known as matrixins, are Ca/Zn-dependent endoproteinases involved in a wide variety of developmental and disease-associated processes, proving to be crucial protagonists in many physiological and pathological mechanisms. The ability of MMPs to alter, by limited proteolysis and through the fine control of tissue specific inhibitors, the activity or function of numerous proteins, enzymes and receptors suggests their involvement in various important cellular functions also during development. In this review we focus on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (such as the myoblastic, osteoblastic, chondroblastic, neural and apidoblastic lineages) and the possible if unexpected biological significance of MMPs in its regulation. The MMP system has been implicated in several differentiation events suggesting it in mediating the proliferative and pro-differentiating effect of matrixin proteolytic cascade. We summarize these regulatory effects of MMPs on the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and hypothesize on the function of MMPs in stem cell differentiation processes

Acute regulation of glucose transport in a human megakaryocytic cell line: Difference between growth factors and H2O2

The present study was undertaken to: (i) compare the effect of some hematopoietic growth factors, like interleukine-3, thrombopoietin, granulocyte-megakaryocyte colony-stimulating factor, stem cell factor, and reactive oxygen species such as H2O2 on glucose uptake in a human leukemic megakaryocytic cell line, M07; (ii) investigate the changes in kinetic parameters of the transport activity induced by these stimuli; and (iii) evaluate the effect of genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, on the glucose uptake activation by the cited agents. The results are as follows: (i) exposure of M07 cells to thrombopoietin, granulocyte-megakaryocyte colony-stimulating factor, and stem cell factor resulted in a rapid stimulation of glucose transport; interleukine-3-treated cells exhibited no increase in the rate of glucose uptake, although M07 proliferation is interleukine-3 dependent; a rapid glucose transport enhancement was also observed when M07 cells were exposed to low doses of H2O2; (ii) the transport kinetic parameters point out that an important difference exists between the effect of cytokines and that of H2O2: cytokines increased predominantly the affinity for glucose, while H2O2 raised both the V-max and K-m values; (iii) the isoflavone genistein, at a very low concentration, inhibited the stem cell factor- or H2O2-induced stimulation of hexose transport, reversing the variations of K-m and V-max but it did not affect the transport activity of granulocyte-megakaryocyte colony-stimulating factor-treated cells; and (iv) catalase completely abolished the stimulatory action of H2O2 on glucose transport and slightly prevented the effect of stem cell factor, while caffeic acid phenethyl ester was only able to affect the activation due to stem cell factor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc