Antiproliferative properties of papaver rhoeas ovule extracts and derived fractions tested on HL60 leukemia human cells

Papaver rhoeas plant is common in many regions worldwide and contributes to the landscape with its red flower. In the present study we first carried out morphological investigation by optical and scanning electron microscopy of the ovules within the ovary. After ovules’ isolation we prepared extracts to test possible cytotoxic activities on HL60 leukemia human cells and investigated the extracts using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). P. rhoeas ovules showed an elongated, round shape and the presence of ordered sculptures on the ovule surface. The ovule extracts showed cytotoxic activity on HL60 human cells mainly found in some TLC-isolated spots. Compounds consisting of active spots were identified by GC-MS investigations. Our findings on the P. rhoeas ovule compounds open perspectives for further investigations of TLC-isolated spots on other human cancer cell lines

The cell wall of kiwifruit pollen tubes is a target for chromium toxicity: alterations to morphology, callose pattern and arabinogalactan protein distribution

Trivalent chromium has previously been found to effectively inhibit kiwifruit pollen tube emergence and elongation in vitro. In the present study, a photometric measure of increases in tube wall production during germination showed that 25 and 50 mu m CrCl(3) treatment induced a substantial reduction in levels of polysaccharides in walls over those in controls. Moreover, chromium-treated kiwifruit pollen tubes had irregular and indented cell walls. Callose, the major tube wall polysaccharide, was deposited in an anomalous punctuate pattern. Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs), which are integral in maintaining correct tube growth and shape in kiwifruit pollen, were found to be strongly altered in their distribution after CrCl(3) treatment compared to control tube walls. Transmission electron microscopy-immunogold analysis using four monoclonal antibodies (JIM8, JIM13, JIM14 and MAC207) revealed discontinuous AGP distribution within the treated tube walls. Such clearly discernable alterations in the molecular and morphological architecture of pollen tube walls may be detrimental in vivo for the male gametophyte to accomplish its vital role in the fertilisation process

Yolk uptake through the follicle epithelium in the ovary of the stick insect Carausius morosus

The ovarian follicular epithelium in insects is a polarized tissue sustaining vitellogenin uptake in growing oocytes. We studied this tissue in the stick insect Carausius morosus to establish how yolk polypeptides reach the oocyte. By confocal fluorescence analysis, follicle cells were shown to be polarized through differential distribution of cytoskeleton elements along opposite cell poles. Actin filaments were shown to prevail along the apical pole, whereas microtubules are much more numerous along the basal pole. Different labelling patterns were obtained when the follicular epithelium was tested with antibodies against either a vitellogenin polypeptide (mAb 1B12) or another 85 kDa yolk protein (mAb 4G12) on cryostat sections. Follicle cells maintain such a polarization even when isolated or cultured in vitro. Under these latter conditions only the labelling pattern due to the 85 kDa protein was retained in the follicle cell cytoplasm, suggesting that two different pathways are available in the follicular epithelium of stick insects: an intercellular pathway for the vitellogenin polypeptides and an intracellular one for the 85 kDa protein

Effect of Diet on Adult House Fly (Diptera

This is the final paper: Effect of Diet on Adult House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Injected With the Salivary Gland Hypertrophy Virus (MdSGHV),Journal of Insect Science, 2018, Volume 18, Issue 3, May 2018, 2, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey04

The Diverticulated crop of adult <i>Phormia regina</i>

The crop of adult Phormia regina consists of a duct that diverges from the esophagus, just in front of the cardia, and extends ventrally and posteriorly into the thorax and abdomen where it forms a bilobed sac. Flattened epithelial cells produce the cuticular lining of the crop. When empty, or partially full, the epithelial cells and cuticular lining form folds extending into the lumen, thus providing for expansion as the crop sac fills. Covering the sac on the hemolymph side is a layer of anastomosed, intrinsic muscles connected to one another by intercellular cytoplasmic bridges. Mitochondria are located at the periphery of the sarcomere. Also inside the sarcomere are glycogen, sarcoplasmic reticula, and transverse tubular systems (T-system). I, A, and Z-bands are present and the Z-bands are not in register making the muscle-type supercontractile. Important structures, not previously researched and associated with the crop muscles, are the crop nerves. Coming off the corpora cardiaca, and running down each side of the crop duct, is a pair of nerves, each housing several axons. These nerves extend to and branch over the crop sac. Here they penetrate the muscle mass and form neuromuscular junctions where electron-dense droplets of neurosecretion are released. Based on the literature, and research in our laboratory, it has now been shown that these nerves carry adipokinetic hormone, Drosophila insulin-like peptide, and a dromyosuppressin-like neuropeptide