Lens damage during phakic intraocular lens implantation is a major complication. A case of a patient who developed lens vacuoles during toric implantable collamer lens (ICL) removal from her right eye and insertion of a new non-toric ICL due to persistent rotation of the former is presented in this work. As this event is very uncommon when implanting phakic intraocular lenses, the performed sur...

Embryogenesis in flowering plants is controlled by a complex interplay of genetic, biochemical, and physiological regulators. LEAFY COTYLEDON2 (LEC2) is among a small number of key transcriptional regulators that are known to play important roles in controlling major events during the maturation stage of embryogenesis, notably, the synthesis and accumulation of storage reserves. LEC2 overexpres...

Plant vacuoles have multiple functions: they can act both as digestive organelles and as receptacles for storage proteins. Different types of vacuoles can coexist in the same cell, which adds complexity to the process of targeting to these compartments. A fuller understanding of this process is of evident value when endeavouring to exploit the plant secretory pathway for heterologous protein pr...

BACKGROUND Spermatozoa with large vacuoles (SLV) may have a negative impact on embryo development. The origin of these vacuoles is unknown. We evaluated acrosome and nucleus alterations in isolated SLV, versus unselected spermatozoa. METHODS We studied 20 patients with teratozoospermia. Spermatozoa from the native semen sample and spermatozoa presenting a vacuole occupying >13.0% total head a...

Following the intestinal absorption of dietary benzo[a]pyrene (BP) by the killifish, this compound becomes incorporated along with dietary triglycerides into membrane-bound fat vacuoles within the intestinal epithelial cell (1985. J. Lipid Res. 26: 428-434). These vacuoles, arising from the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, are important transient structures involved in both the uptake and metaboli...

Nhx1p is a Na(+)(K(+))/H(+) antiporter localized at the vacuolar membrane of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nhx1p regulates the acidification of cytosol and vacuole lumen, and is involved in membrane traffic from late endosomes to the vacuole. Deletion of the gene leads to aberrant vacuolar morphology and defective vacuolar protein sorting. These phenotypes are hallmarks of malfunctioning ...

Vacuoles perform multiple functions in plants, and VCL1 (VACUOLESS1) is essential for biogenesis with loss of expression in the vcl1 mutant leading to lethality. Vacuole biogenesis plays a prominent role in gametophytes, yet is poorly understood. Given the importance of VCL1, we asked if it contributes to vacuole biogenesis during pollen germination. To address this question, it was essential t...

Plant cells cannot live without their vacuoles. The tissues and organs of a plant contain a wide variety of differentiated and specialized vacuoles -- even a single plant cell can possess two or more types of vacuoles. Vacuolar proteins are encoded by nuclear genes and synthesized in the cytoplasm. Their transport into the vacuolar compartment is under cytoplasmic control. Transcription seems t...

We have examined the ameba Dictyostelium discoideum for evidence of a discrete, prelysosomal, acidic receiving compartment in endocytosis. We observed in the cytoplasm abundant round vacuoles with diameters up to 2 microns that concentrated acridine orange by a process inhibited by 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl). They were therefore taken to be acidic. The vacuoles were observ...

Plant cells may contain two functionally distinct vacuolar compartments. Membranes of protein storage vacuoles (PSV) are marked by the presence of alpha-tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP), whereas lytic vacuoles (LV) are marked by the presence of gamma-TIP. Mechanisms for sorting integral membrane proteins to the different vacuoles have not been elucidated. Here we study a chimeric integral memb...