An in vitro steroidogenesis assay using H295R human adenocarcinoma cells has been suggested as a possible alternative to gonad explant assays for use as a Tier I screening assay to detect endocrine active chemicals capable of modulating steroid hormone synthesis. This study is one of the first to investigate the utility of the H295R assay for predicting effects and/or understanding mechanisms o...

AIM To determine the immunohistochemical characteristics of putative corneal epithelial stem cells remaining on limbal explants maintained in culture. METHODS Human limbal explant cultures were generated from 25 residual corneoscleral donor rims following penetrating keratoplasty. Serial sections of these explants were studied using immunohistochemical techniques with a panel of antibodies, o...

Purpose: Rauwolfia serpentina (L.) Benth, from the family, Apocynaceae, is an important medicinal plant due to the alkaloid content of its root. The purpose of this study was to obtain roots directly from leaf explant using growth regulators. Methods: The leaf explant was inoculated on MS (Murashige and Skoog) medium supplemented with single and combinations of growth regulators. Root growth wa...

The rheumatoid arthritis (RA) joint is characterized by an inflammatory synovial pannus which mediates tissue destruction. IL-13 is a cytokine that inhibits activated monocytes/macrophages from secreting a variety of proinflammatory molecules. The aim of this study was to examine whether gene therapy-delivered IL-13 could reduce the production of key proinflammatory mediators in RA synovial tis...

During chicken cardiac development the proepicardium (PE) forms the epicardium (Epi), which contributes to several non-myocardial lineages within the heart. In contrast to Epi-explant cultures, PE explants can differentiate into a cardiomyocyte phenotype. By temporal microarray expression profiles of PE-explant cultures and maturing Epi cells, we identified genes specifically associated with di...

Surface sterilization of explant is an important and most sensitive step in plant tissue culture. Inappropriate concentrations of sterilants have lethal effect in cell division and it restricts growth and development of explant. Therefore, suitable concentration, combinations and duration of exposure of sterilant is essential to raise in vitro cultures successfully. This data demonstrates use o...

Wharton's jelly is not only one of the most promising tissue sources for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) but also a source of natural growth factors. To prove that we can get both natural growth factors and MSCs from Wharton's jelly, we compared cellular characteristics and the level of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) from samples using the explant culture method to those derived from the t...

PURPOSE. To validate an established adult organotypic retinal explant culture system for use as an efficient medium-throughput screening tool to investigate novel retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neuroprotective therapies. METHODS. Optimal culture conditions for detecting RGC neuroprotection in rat retinal explants were identified. Retinal explants were treated with various recognized, or purported,...

Six tetraploid Alstroemeria clones were micropropagated by rhizome multiplication, a system whereby the shoots were cut off from the rhizome and discarded. In a three-week subculture interval, the average rhizome multiplication rate for all genotypes was 2.3. In one selected genotype the discarded shoots were used to initiate another micropropagation system: the leafy explant micropropagation s...