Orientation behavior of chick leucocytes in tissue culture and their interactions with fibroblasts

Cell Migration Guided by Cell-Cell Contacts in Innate Immunity

The directed migration of leukocytes to sites of damage or infection is necessary for a productive immune response. There is substantial evidence supporting a key role for chemoattractants in directed migration, however, less is known about how cell-cell contacts affect the migratory behavior of leukocytes in innate immunity. Here, we explore how cell-cell contacts can affect the directed migration of innate immune cells, including their role in attracting, repelling, or stopping cell motility. Further investigation of cell contact dynamics as guidance cues may yield new insights into the regulation of innate immunity.

Mechanisms and in vivo functions of contact inhibition of locomotion

Contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL) is a process whereby a cell ceases motility or changes its trajectory upon collision with another cell. CIL was initially characterized more than half a century ago and became a widely studied model system to understand how cells migrate and dynamically interact. Although CIL fell from interest for several decades, the scientific community has recently rediscovered this process. We are now beginning to understand the precise steps of this complex behaviour and to elucidate its regulatory components, including receptors, polarity proteins and cytoskeletal elements. Furthermore, this process is no longer just in vitro phenomenology; we now know from several different in vivo models that CIL is essential for embryogenesis and in governing behaviours such as cell dispersion, boundary formation and collective cell migration. In addition, changes in CIL responses have been associated with other physiological processes, such as cancer cell dissemination during metastasis.

METABOLIC CONTROLS IN CULTURED MAMMALIAN CELLS

A number of apparently unrelated factors are known to have a profound effect on the metabolism of cultured mammalian cells; and some of these may be operative as metabolic controls in the whole animal as well. The more complete exploration of (i) homotypic and heterotypic cellular interactions, (ii) the spontaneous transformations sometimes observed in cultured cells, (iii) the mode of action of cytotoxic agents, (iv) the multiple metabolic effects of viral infection, and (v) the conditions necessary for the maintenance of specialized function in cultured cells, can be expected to throw light on the basic mechanisms underlying such complex processes as differentiation, senescence, and cancer.

Control of neural crest cell dispersion in the trunk of the avian embryo

Many hypotheses have been advanced to explain the orientation and directional migration of neural crest cells. These include positive and negative chemotaxis, haptotaxis, galvanotaxis, and contact inhibition. To test directly the factors that may control the directional dispersion of the neural crest, I have employed a variety of grafting techniques in living embryos. In addition, time-lapse video microscopy has been used to study neural crest cells in tissue culture. Trunk neural crest cells normally disperse from their origin at the dorsal neural tube along two extracellular pathways. One pathway extends laterally between the ectoderm and somites. When either pigmented neural crest cells or neural crest cells isolated from 24-hr cultures are grafted into the space lateral to the somites, they migrate: (1) medially toward the neural tube in the space between the ectoderm and somites and (2) ventrally along intersomitic blood vessels. Once the grafted cells contact the posterior cardinal vein and dorsal aorta they migrate along both blood vessels for several somite lengths in the anterior-posterior axis. Neural crest cells grafted lateral to the somites do not immediately move laterally into the somatic mesoderm of the body wall or the limb. Dispersion of neural crest cells into the mesoderm occurs only after blood vessels and nerves have first invaded, which the grafted cells then follow. The other neural crest pathway extends ventrally alongside the neural tube in the intersomitic space. When neural crest cells were grafted to a ventral position, between the notochord and dorsal aorta, in this intersomitic pathway at the axial level of the last somite, the grafted cells migrate rapidly within 2 hr in two directions: (1) dorsally, in the intersomitic space, until the grafted cells contact the ventrally moving stream of the host neural crest and (2) laterally, along the dorsal aorta and endoderm. All of the above experiments indicate that neither a preestablished chemotactic nor adhesive (haptotactic) gradient exists in the embryo since the grafted neural crest cells will move in the reverse direction along these pathways toward the dorsal neural tube. For the same reason, these experiments also show that dispersal of the neural crest is not directed passively by other environmental controls, since the cells can clearly move counter to their usual pathway and against such putative passive mechanisms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Negative chemotaxis does not control quail neural crest cell dispersion

Negative chemotaxis has been proposed to direct dispersion of amphibian neural crest cells away from the neural tube (V. C. Twitty, 1949, Growth 13(Suppl. 9), 133-161). We have reexamined this hypothesis using quail neural crest and do not find evidence for it. When pigmented or freshly isolated neural crest cells are covered by glass shards to prevent diffusion of a "putative" chemotactic agent away from the cells and into the medium, we find a decrease in density of cells beneath the coverslip as did Twitty and Niu (1948, J. Exp. Zool. 108, 405-437). Unlike those investigators, however, we find the covered cells move slower than uncovered cells and that the decrease in density can be attributed to cessation of cell division and increased cell death in older cultures, rather than directed migration away from each other. In cell systems where negative chemotaxis has been demonstrated, a "no man's land" forms between two confronted explants (Oldfield, 1963, Exp. Cell Res. 30, 125-138). No such cell-free space forms between confronted neural crest explants, even if the explants are closely covered to prevent diffusion of the negative chemotactic material. If crest cell aggregates are drawn into capillary tubes to allow accumulation of the putative material, the cells disperse farther, the wider the capillary tube bore. This is contrary to what would be expected if dispersion depended on accumulation of this material. Also, no difference in dispersion is noted between cells in the center of the tubes versus cells near the mouth of the tubes where the tube medium is freely exchanging with external fresh medium. Alternative hypotheses for directionality of crest migration in vivo are discussed.

Biology in vitro of corneal epithelium and endothelium

Four main areas were explored: 1) the proper medium for culturing corneal tissue; 2) the effect of serum on tissue growth in vitro; 3) the interrelationships in vitro between corneal epithelium and endothelium, and 4) the biology of cultures of whole corneas (organ cultures). Modified Eagle's minimal essential medium (MEM) proved to be an excellent culture fluid. Corneal tissue could be grown in MEM without serum or clot, thus providing a defined culture medium. The biology in vitro of outgrowths of multilayered corneal epithelium and monolayered corneal endothelium are discussed. Contact inhibition between epithelium and endothelium is demonstrated in whole corneal (organ) cultures.

[Formation of giant cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma during bleomycin treatment: enzymehistochemical, electronmicroscopic and ultrahistochemical investigations (author's transl)]

During treatment of keratinizing squamous cell carcinomas with bleomycin tumor cells are devitalized by keratinization, while simple necrosis plays a minor role. Connected with this process is a marked resorptive granulomatous inflammation with numerous macrophages which is followed by a fibrous organization. In the border region of the keratinized tumor areas many multinucleated giant cells appear. The nature of these giant cells was the subject of controversy. Enzyme histochemical, electronmicroscopic, and ultrahistochemical investigations in three cases of advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity prove that the giant cells which are formed during bleomycin treatment are not multinucleated tumor cells, but multinucleated macrophages. The enzymatic pattern is similar to macrophages with a high content of acid phosphatase and aminopeptidase. The ultrastructure of the giant cells is characterized by lysosomes with acid phosphatase activity, pinocytotic vesicles, and cytoplasmic projections on the cell surface with signs of macroendocytosis. The tumor cells show an epithelial differentiation with desmosomes, tonofibrils, and keratohyaline granula. The giant cells are formed by fusion of mononucleated (monocytogenic) macrophages. The fusions seem to be related to the functional status of the cells. It is possible, that the macrophages and the giant cells have an additional immunologic function. This is suggested by the frequent association of giant cells with lymphocytes. The importance of these facts for the evaluation of the action of bleomycin and the consequences for its therapeutic use are discussed. A combination with methods causing a dedifferentiation of the tumor or suppression of the immunologic defense seems to be problematic.

Studies of intercellular invasion in vitro using rabbit peritoneal neutrophil granulocytes (PMNS). I. Role of contact inhibition of locomotion

Intercellular invasion is the active migration of cells on one type into the interiors of tissues composed of cells of dissimilar cell types. Contact paralysis of locomotion is the cessation of forward extension of the pseudopods of a cell as a result of its collision with another cell. One hypothesis to account for intercellular invasion proposes that a necessary condition for a cell type to be invasive to a given host tissue is that it lack contact paralysis of locomotion during collision with cells of that host tissue. The hypothesis has been tested using rabbit peritoneal neutrophil granulocytes (PMNs) as the invasive cell type and chick embryo fibroblasts as the host tissue. In organ culture, PMNs rapidly invade aggregates of fibroblasts. The behavior of the pseudopods of PMNs during collision with fibroblasts was analyzed for contact paralysis by a study of time-lapse films of cells in mixed monolayer culture. In monolayer culture, PMNs show little sign of paralysis of the pseudopods upon collision with fibroblasts and thus conform in their behavior to that predicted by the hypothesis.

Studies of cellular proliferation in human leukemia. I. Estimation of growth rates of leukemic and normal hematopoietic cells in two adults with acute leukemia given single injections of tritiated thymidine

Two adults with rapidly progressive acute myeloblastic and myelomonoblastic leukemia were given single injections of tritiated thymidine, and measurements were made of the growth rates of their leukemic and normal hematopoietic cells by radioautographic methods. Although almost all leukemic blasts in both marrow and blood were metabolically active as shown by their ability to incorporate tritiated uridine and leucine in vitro, only 5.6% and 6.1% of the blasts in the marrow and even fewer in the blood incorporated tritiated thymidine. The mitotic indexes of the marrow blasts were 0.66% and 0.52%; no circulating blasts were dividing. The mean generation times of the actively proliferating blasts were estimated to be 49 and 83 hours. This cannot be equated with the doubling time of the total leukemic population as there is evidence that many blasts fail to continue dividing and die. The mean durations of the phases of the blasts' mitotic cycles were as follows: DNA synthesis (S) = 22 and 19 hours, premitosis (G(2)) = 3 hours, mitosis (M) = 0.47 and 0.62 hour (minimal estimates), and postmitosis (G(1)) = 24 and 61 hours. In both patients the maximal mean transit time of the blasts in the blood was 36 hours, and the minimal numbers of actively dividing blasts present were 1.6 and 2.6 x 10(9) per kg of body weight.Estimates were also made of the rates of proliferation and maturation of the residual normal erythrocytic and granulocytic cells in these two patients. Although total production was markedly diminished because of reduction in the number of normal elements, the relatively few remaining normal cells appeared to be dividing and maturing at rates that are about the same or only slightly slower than those found in normal subjects. We conclude that main reason leukemic blasts displace normal hematopoietic precursors in acute leukemia is that the blasts largely fail to differentiate. Many die but many others persist in the marrow and elsewhere as primitive cells and continue to proliferate. As the blasts accumulate, they gradually displace the normal hematopoietic cells, most of which continue their normal course of differentiation and leave the marrow as nondividing mature cells. It is not known why the over-all production of normal cells is not adequately increased to compensate for the anemia, granulocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia that develop, but apparently the leukemic cells somehow interfere with the proliferation or differentiation or both of normal stem cells.