Simple smear method for the sampling and culturing of embryonal and fetal tissues

Biochemical characteristics of collagen produced by long term cultivated amniotic fluid cells

The synthesis of the most common type I of collagen was proven in human amniotic fluid cell culture with fibroblast morphology in the cells as well as in the culture medium. Mesenchymal origin of long term cultivated amniotic fluid cells is indicated and the possibility of prenatal investigation of hereditary disorders of connective tissue is pointed out.

Creatinephosphokinase in human diploid cell lines

The activity of CPK was proved in cultivated cells from amniotic fluid cells, thymus, spleen, pericardium, umbilical cord, skin and muscle. The activity in these strains did not significantly differ. The average value is 224 plus or minus 68 i.u. CPK/mg N. No differences of activity were disclosed between embryonal, foetal and children cultures. The activity of CPK in post mortem cultures was not altered. The relationship between collagen synthesis and CPK activity is suggested. The evidence of CPK activity in amniotic fluid cells corresponding to the activity in other foetal cultures and the whole sample under investigation opens the way to the prenatal investigation of pathophysiology and inborn errors of the metabolism of this enzyme.

Lipoproteins and lipid transport

Continued advances in the delineation of pathways of lipid transport in lipoproteins now provide substantial information on all phases of plasma triglyceride transport. Analysis of certain genetic human disorders, together with studies in experimental animals, has begun to show how lipoproteins transport cholesterol as esters of long chain fatty acids. Both triglycerides and cholesterol are esters of long chain fatty acids. Both triglycerides and cholesteryl esters are transported in the "core" of lipoproteins, but the polar lipids and the apoproteins at the aqueous interface critically determine the interactions with enzymes and cellular receptors that control this complex transport system. Differences in pathways as well as in rates of lipid transport appear to underlie the large interspecies variations in lipoprotein concentrations.