Spermathecae are glandular organs in the insect female reproductive tract that play essential roles in insect reproduction; however, the molecular mechanism involved in their development is largely unknown. Drosophila spermathecae consist of class-III secretory units, in which each secretory cell (SC) discharges its products to the central lumen through an end-apparatus and a canal. Secretory u...

Whey from 17 women (four acutely infected with Toxoplasma gondii, eight chronically infected, and five uninfected) was studied. T. gondii-specific secretory IgA antibodies were demonstrated by ELISA in whey from acutely infected and one of eight chronically infected women. Such antibodies to tachyzoite proteins of < or = 14, 22, 26-28, 30, 46, 60, 70-80, and > 100 kD (eliminated by protease but...

Since secretory component is thought to be a normal glandular epithelial cell product, surgical specimens from patients with mammary carcinoma, an epithelial cancer, were studied with antisera to human free secretory compo nent by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Normal breast tissue (10 cases) showed fluorescent epithelial cells confined to normal ducts. This was in marked contrast to i...

The following interpretations are based on the assumption that the vesicles are presynaptic. Synapses between retinula cells are symmetrical contacts, with cisternae attached to both thickened membranes and the cleft is 8-10 m/t wide. Synapses from retinula terminal bags to the numerous invaginating spines of the ganglion cell axon have presynaptic ribbons and filaments but few vesicles; the cl...

(Morphology and histochemistry of glandular trichomes of Cordia verbenacea DC. (Boraginaceae) leaves). The objective of this work was to study, using light and fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, the morphology and secretory products of glandular trichomes of Cordia verbenacea DC. (Boraginaceae), known as ‘baleeira’, a species used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory, an...

Regulated exocytosis is thought to occur either by “full fusion,” where the secretory vesicle fuses with the plasma membrane (PM) via a fusion pore that then dilates until the secretory vesicle collapses into the PM; or by “kiss-and-run,” where the fusion pore does not dilate and instead rapidly reseals such that the secretory vesicle is retrieved almost fully intact. Here, we describe growing ...

Numerous proteins targeted for the secretory pathway are increasingly implicated in functional or pathological roles at alternative cellular destinations. The parameters that allow secretory or membrane proteins to reside in intracellular locales outside the secretory pathway remain largely unexplored. In this study, we have used an extremely sensitive and quantitative assay to measure the in v...

A variant of the ACTH-secreting pituitary cell line, AtT-20, has been isolated that does not make ACTH, sulfated proteins characteristic of the regulated secretory pathway, or dense-core secretory granules but retains constitutive secretion. Unlike wild type AtT-20 cells, the variant cannot store or release on stimulation, free glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains. In addition, the variant cells cann...

Trichomoniasis caused by the parasitic protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world. Dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells that initiate immune responses by directing the activation and differentiation of naïve T cells. In this study, we analyzed the effect of Trichomonas vaginalis-derived Secretory Products on the differentiation and funct...