Cell-differentiation rules that generate regular mosaic patterns: modelling motivated by cone mosaic formation in fish retina

We study characteristics of cell-differentiation rules that realize stable formation of regularly arranged checker-board patterns, exemplified by cone "mosaic" zebrafish retina, or the regular arrangement of cone photoreceptor cells. We consider the situation in which cells are arranged on a square lattice and are initially undifferentiated. Later each cell becomes one of the two differentiated states, affected by the state of the neighboring cells. The cells that undergo differentiation form a "morphogenetic cell row" which sweeps from one end to the other end of the lattice through time. This models an outward sweep of the margin of expanding mosaic region of the retina which occurs as undifferentiated photoreceptor cells become differentiated in concentric circles, joining the mosaic. We introduce an index to measure the ability of cell-differentiation rules to generate regular checker-board patterns from irregular initial patterns, and attempt to characterize the successful rules. We first show the importance of six "preservation conditions" which guarantee perfectly regular photoreceptor arrangement for all the rows after a regular row. Then we select an additional six "optimizing conditions" for responses to configuration that are consistently shown by the rules of high average scores. We also examine the effect of interaction between responses to different configurations. Finally we examine the concept of morphogenetic row precedence, i.e. that the successful rules generating a high score tend to treat the consistency with neighbors in the newly differentiated cells (those in the morphogenetic cell row) as more important that the consistency with previously differentiated neighbors.

Serum amino acids in hepatic encephalopathy--effects of branched chain amino acid infusion on serum aminogram

Encephalopathic patients with cirrhosis of the liver consistently showed elevated levels of the aromatic amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine and free tryptophan as well as methionine in serum, whereas levels of the branched chain amino acids, valine, leucine and isoleucine, were depressed. Comatose patients with fulminant hepatitis had markedly elevated levels of all amino acids, the results being greatly different from those of cirrhotic patients. Molar ratios of (valine + leucine + isoleucine)/(phenylalanine + tyrosine) decreased both in cirrhotics with and without encephalopathy and in cases with fulminant hepatitis. Infusion of a commercially available L-amino acid solution in a cirrhotic patient induced a strikingly abnormal aminogram documented in hepatic encephalopathy. Therefore, effects of branched chain amino acid infusion on the deranged amino acid pattern were primarily studied for the purpose of improvement in hepatic encephalopathy by normalization of serum amino acid patterns. Elevated levels of the aromatic amino acids and methionine could be apparently depressed in a cirrhotic patient by this type of infusion but not in a case of fulminant hepatitis probably because of the poor utilization of these amino acids in severely impaired liver.

Undifferentiated patterns of key carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes in injured livers. II. Human viral hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver

Activities of key carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes were determined on biopsied liver tissues obtained from patients with acute and chronic viral hepatitis and postnecrotic cirrhosis of the liver. The results indicated that the activities of fetal or prototype enzymes, low-Km hexokinases, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase type M2 increased, while those of adult type liver enzymes, glucokinase, glucose-6-phosphatase, fructose-1, 6-diphosphatase and pyruvate kinase type L decreased in livers of these cases. Phosphofructokinase activity tended to increase only acute hepatitis. Principal component analysis revealed that the enzyme patterns of acute hepatitis and liver cirrhosis were most deviated from the control and closely resembled those of hepatocellular carcinomas.

Differential effects of glucagon on induction of rat liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase by liver injury and dietary change

Glucagon effectively prevented the increase in glucose-6-phosphate dehodrogenase activity of rat liver following the administration of a glucose-casein mixture without altering the amount of the diet consumed. However, the increase of the enzyme level in carbon tetrachloride-injured rat liver was virtually insensitive to glucagon. The results obtained gave further evidence for the difference between these two induction mechanisms of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Undifferentiated patterns of key carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes in injured livers. I. Acute carbon-tetrachloride intoxication of rat

In acute CCL4 intoxication of rats significantly increased activities of hepatic low-Km hexokinases, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, aldolase A and pyruvate kinase M2 with concurrently decreased activities of glucokinase, glucose-6-phosphatase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase, aldolase B and pyruvate kinase L were observed. The resulting enzyme pattern was apparently different from that in dietary induction. Principal component analysis revealed that the degree of enzyme deviation in the injured liver was much greater than that in the regenerating liver after partial hepatectomy and was closer to that in fetal liver or hepatoma tissue.

Prevention of dietary induction of rat liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase by cyclic adenosine 3'.5'-monophosphate and its elimination by glucose prefeeding

Glucagon, epinephrine and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) prevented the induction of liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) by refeeding a glucose-casein mixture to starved rats. The prevention by these agents occurred without any change in the amount of diet consumed. When the injection of cyclic AMP and the refeeding of glucose-casein diet were initiated simultaneously, there was an inhibiton of G6PD induction depending upon the dose and frequency of cyclic AMP administration during the period of refeeding, while when cyclic AMP was given later than 12 h of the refeeding, the lag period for induction of this enzyme, there was no preventive effect. A glucose prefeeding was also found to counteract the inhibitory effect of cyclic AMP on G6PD induction by the subsequent glucose-casein refeeding. The present data together with the elimination of actinomycin D effect by the glucose prefeeding suggest that the inhibitory effect of cyclic AMP on the induction of G6PD dehydrogenase is exerted at the level of transcription.

Undifferentiated patterns of key glycolytic and gluconeogenic enzymes in epithelial cell lines derived from rat liver

Established epithelial cell lines derived from livers of 7-day (B, B-R, B-3-4-7, J-C-1, J-C-13, J-5-2-1, E-C-4 and E-C-7) and adult (AL-2, AL-3, AL-4, AL-5 and AL-6) rats were analyzed for hexokinase (HK), pyruvate kinase (PK), glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD), glucose 6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and fructose 1,6-diphosphatase (FDPase). None of the cell lines showed appreciable activities of adult type liver enzymes (HK Type IVs (glucokinase), PK Type L, G6Pase and FDPase). On the contrary, the activities of fetal type liver enzymes (HK Types I and II, PK Type M2 and G6PD) increased markedly as compared with dispersed cells or tissues of adult liver. 6PGD gave minimum changes in activity, and the 6PGD/G6PD ratio decreased consistently. HK Type III was found only in J-C-13, AL-5 and AL-6, while HK Type IVf (high Km) was present in all the cell lines examined. Possible explanations for the undifferentiated patterns of carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes in the established cell lines, which have several evidence of hepatocyte origin, are presented.