We report that activin profoundly alters epithelial branching morphogenesis of embryonic mouse salivary gland, pancreas and kidney rudiments in culture, indicating that it may play a role as a morphogen during mammalian organogenesis. In developing pancreas and salivary gland rudiments, activin causes severe disruption of normal lobulation patterns of the epithelium whereas follistatin, an acti...

Nodal explants bearing a single axillary bud, from three cultivars of cultivated grape, viz., `Thompson seedless', `Sonaka' and `Tas-e-Ganesh', were used to initiate shoot cultures on G16 medium containing adenine sulphate, monobasic sodium phosphate, BAP and NAA. Each shoot, developed from an axillary bud, produced a tuft of multiple shoots on a medium containing BAP, calcium pantothenate, mon...

In Drosophila, it has been shown that protein kinase A and hedgehog have antagonistic actions during the formation of imaginal disks. In vertebrate skin, sonic hedgehog is expressed specifically in the feather bud epithelia. using an in vitro explant culture model we showed that dibutyryl cAMP, a protein kinase A (PKA) activator, suppresses the expression of Sonic hedgehog, (Shh) and continuous...

The kidney is formed from two tissue populations derived from the intermediate mesoderm, the ureteric bud, and the metanephric mesenchyme. Metanephric mesenchyme is a pluripotent renal stem population, and conversion of renal mesenchyme into epithelia depends on the ureteric bud in vivo and in vitro. Embryonic stem (ES) cells have been induced to differentiate into a broad spectrum of specializ...

Fatty acid esterification of budesonide (BUD) has previously been documented in vitro as well as in large airway tissues after in vivo administration. This reversible esterification has the potential to prolong the anti-inflammatory effect of BUD and improve its airway selectivity. In the present study we characterized the plasma and tissue kinetics of BUD in the rat after inhalation and intrav...