Evaluation of the coulter counter Model Sr

An automatic blood analyser, Coulter Counter Model Sr(CC-SR) was recently introduced in our hospital. This blood analyser is able to provide simultaneous measurements of seven blood parameters, i.e. WBC, REC, Hgb, Hct, MCV, MCH, MCHC, and also produces the results within 40 seconds from aspiration of the sample into the instrument. The performance and precision of this blood analyser have been clitically evaluated by comparing the results obtained from the previous blood cell counter, the Coulter Counter Model Dn (CC-DN), a haemoglobinometer, and a high speed centfugal separator. The results are as follows: 1) The precision and liniarity for readings and dilutions on WBC, RBC, Hgb and Hct by the use of the CC-SR is satisfactory. 2) Good correlation between the measurements by whole blood analysis procedure and micro sample analysis procedure is recognized. 3) The amount of carryover from one sample to the next is negligible for practical purpose. 4) High correlation factors are obtained between the measurements by the CC-SR method and former methods: i. e. 0.99 for WBC, 0.93 for RBC, 0.99 for Hgb and 0.99 for Hct. 5) For these reason, it can be said that CC-SR is more useful successive instrument to measure WBC, RBC, Hgb, Hct than the CC-DN and other above mentioned instruments

Ngn3-Positive Cells Arise from Pancreatic Duct Cells

The production of pancreatic β cells is the most challenging step for curing diabetes using next-generation treatments. Adult pancreatic endocrine cells are thought to be maintained by the self-duplication of differentiated cells, and pancreatic endocrine neogenesis can only be observed when the tissue is severely damaged. Experimentally, this can be performed using a method named partial duct ligation (PDL). As the success rate of PDL surgery is low because of difficulties in identifying the pancreatic duct, we previously proposed a method for fluorescently labeling the duct in live animals. Using this method, we performed PDL on neurogenin3 (Ngn3)-GFP transgenic mice to determine the origin of endocrine precursor cells and evaluate their potential to differentiate into multiple cell types. Ngn3-activated cells, which were marked with GFP, appeared after PDL operation. Because some GFP-positive cells were aligned proximally to the duct, we hypothesized that Ngn3-positive cells arise from the pancreatic duct. Therefore, we next developed an in vitro pancreatic duct culture system using Ngn3-GFP mice and examined whether Ngn3-positive cells emerge from this duct. We observed GFP expressions in ductal organoid cultures. GFP expressions were correlated with Ngn3 expressions and endocrine cell lineage markers. Interestingly, tuft cell markers were also correlated with GFP expressions. Our results demonstrate that in adult mice, Ngn3-positive endocrine precursor cells arise from the pancreatic ducts both in vivo and in vitro experiments indicating that the pancreatic duct could be a potential donor for therapeutic use