The prelytic adhesion of immune cytolytic thymus-derived lymphocytes to specific antigen-bearing ascites tumor target cells has been studied. A new assay was used in which adhesions are permitted to form for 2.5 min; the cells are then dispersed to prevent further adhesion, and the predispersion adhesions are quantitated by subsequent 51Cr release from the tumor cells as a result of cytolytic a...

Acquisition of a cardiac fate by embryonic mesodermal cells is a fundamental step in heart formation. Heart development in frogs and avians requires positive signals from adjacent endoderm, including bone morphogenic proteins, and is antagonized by a second secreted signal, Wnt proteins, from neural tube. By contrast, mechanisms of mesodermal commitment to create heart muscle in mammals are lar...

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) promotes adipogenesis in both birds and mammals, although mechanisms in avians remain unclear. The objective of this study was thus to evaluate effects of NPY on chick preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation. Preadipocytes were treated with 0, 1, 10, or 100 nmol/L NPY and gene expression and cellular proliferation were evaluated at 12, 24, and 48 h. At 12 h posttreat...

Ten-day-old chicks were continuously exposed to pure tones (500, I 500, or 3000 Hz) at 125 dB SPL for 12 hours and sacrificed 10 days after exposure. The basilar papillae were embedded in plastic, sectioned and hair cells were counted at ~OO-!Lm intervals throughout the length of the papilla. The position of hair cell loss along the basilar membrane varied systematically as a log-linear functio...

In vertebrates, early brain development takes place at the expanded anterior end of the neural tube, which is filled with embryonic cerebrospinal fluid (E-CSF). We have recently identified a transient blood–CSF barrier that forms between embryonic days E3 and E4 in chick embryos and that is responsible for the transport of proteins and control of E-CSF homeostasis, including osmolarity. Here we...

At the end of gastrulation in avians and mammals, the endoderm germ layer is an undetermined sheet of cells. Over the next 24-48 h, endoderm forms a primitive tube and becomes regionally specified along the anterior-posterior axis. Fgf4 is expressed in gastrulation and somite stage embryos in the vicinity of posterior endoderm that gives rise to the posterior gut. Moreover, the posterior endode...

The infl uenza is a respiratory disease considered as a zoonosis. Its transmisssion between humans and animals can occur through animal contact, manipulation and consumption of food from contamined animals. Avians and swine are responsible by infl uenza contamination in food. The presence of compounds with antioxidant activity in food is related in the inhibition of free-radicals formation and ...

Postembryonic production of hair cells, the highly specialized receptors for hearing, balance and motion detection, occurs in a precisely controlled manner in select species, including avians. Notch1, Delta1 and Serrate1 mediate cell specification in several tissues and species. We examined expression of the chicken homologs of these genes in the normal and drug-damaged chick inner ear to deter...

Animals store elastic energy in leg and foot tendons during locomotion. In the turkey, much of the locomotive force generated by the gastrocnemius muscle is stored as elastic energy during tendon deformation. Little energy storage occurs within the muscle. During growth of some avians, including the turkey, leg tendons mineralize in the portions distal to the attached muscle and show increased ...

Sialidases are glycohydrolytic enzymes present from virus to mammals that remove sialic acid from oligosaccharide chains. Four different sialidase forms are known in vertebrates: the lysosomal NEU1, the cytosolic NEU2 and the membrane-associated NEU3 and NEU4. These enzymes modulate the cell sialic acid content and are involved in several cellular processes and pathological conditions. Molecula...