Ebola virus (EBOV) infections are characterized by deficient T lymphocyte responses, T lymphocyte apoptosis, and lymphopenia in the absence of direct infection of T lymphocytes. In contrast, dendritic cells (DC) are infected but fail to mature appropriately, thereby impairing the T cell response. We investigated the contributions of EBOV proteins in modulating DC maturation by generating recomb...

Rodent-based studies have shown that the membrane properties of oligodendrocytes play prominent roles in their physiology and shift markedly during their maturation from the oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) stage. However, the conservation of these properties and maturation processes in human oligodendrocytes remains unknown, despite their dysfunction being implicated in human neurodegenera...

Gap junction-mediated cell-cell interactions are highly conserved and play essential roles in cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and patterning. We report that Connexin 32 (Cx32)-mediated gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is necessary for human embryonic stem cell-derived hepatocytes (hESC-Heps) during step-wise hepatic lineage restriction and maturation. Vitamin K2, ...

A major challenge in the use of HepG2 cell culture models for drug toxicity screening is their lack maturity 2D culture. 3D Matrigel promotes formation spheroids that express liver-relevant markers, yet they still various primary hepatocyte functions. Therefore, alternative matrices where chemical composition and materials properties are controlled to steer maturation remain desired. Herein, a ...

We investigated the immunostimulatory effects of a novel β-glucan purified from Paenibacillus (P.) polymyxa JB115 on bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs), a type of potent antigen-presenting cells. β-glucan isolated from P. polymyxa JB115 enhanced the viability and induced the maturation of DCs. β-glucan markedly increased the cytokine production of DCs and surface expression of DC markers...

Different stages of B lymphoid maturation were identified in normal bone marrow using multiple cell surface markers. The proliferation status of each of these maturational stages was determined by simultaneous quantitative DNA analysis on a flow cytometer. The technique used to quantify these parameters preserved the cell surface immunofluorescence, the light scattering properties and the stoic...

Human lymphocytes can be separated into distinct populations based upon receptors on their cell surface. Thymus-derived (T-cell) lymphocytes can be identified by their ability to form rosetts with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC); bone marrow-derived (B-cell) lymphocytes bear characteristic surface markers for immunoglobulin, complement, and the Fc portion of IgG. Recently, populations of lymphocytes ...

the aim of the study was to compare the parthenogenetic activation and in vitro fertilization (ivf) of in vitro matured caprine oocytes. a total of 881 cumulus-oocyte complexes (coc’s) were collected from 243 ovaries. oocytes were matured in tcm-199 medium containing ecg (20 iu/ml), hcg (20 iuμg/ml), oestradiol-17β (1 μg/ml), bsa embryo tested (3 mg/ml) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum ...

Leprosy presents with a clinical spectrum of skin lesions that span from strong Th1-mediated cellular immunity and control of bacillary growth at one pole to poor Ag-specific T cell immunity with extensive bacillary load and Th2 cytokine-expressing lesions at the other. To understand how the immune response to Mycobacterium leprae is regulated, human dendritic cells (DC), potent inducers of ada...

The prototypic poxvirus, vaccinia virus (VACV), occurs in two infectious forms, mature virions (MVs) and extracellular virions (EVs). Both enter HeLa cells by inducing macropinocytic uptake. Using confocal microscopy, live-cell imaging, targeted RNAi screening and perturbants of endosome maturation, we analyzed the properties and maturation pathway of the macropinocytic vacuoles containing VACV...