Life Sciences Commons^™

The Mechanism Of The Gastric Epithelial Stem Cell Response To Metaplastic Injury, Shradha Sachin Khurana

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Almost nothing is known about the identity of the epithelial stem cell of the gastric corpus, either during normal turnover or in response to injury. Our lab has shown that injection of the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen leads to near complete atrophy of parietal cells by 3 days and induces expansion of an undifferentiated cell population within the normal stem cell niche in the isthmus of the gastric unit. Here we show that CD44 labels the membranes of such undifferentiated isthmal cells, both in the normal gastric epithelium and when those cells expand fourfold upon injury with tamoxifen. Loss …

Mechanism Of Lpa-Induced Lipid Uptake In Macrophages, Kan Xu

Masters Theses

Cardiovascular disease, currently the leading cause of mortality throughout the developed countries, is mainly caused by atherosclerosis, which is recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease. Atherosclerotic plaques are characterized by accumulations of lipid in arterial walls together with infiltration of macrophages. These macrophages differentiate from monocytes which transform into foam cells through phagocytizing various forms of lipid, are believed to be the main component of early atherosclerotic lesions.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a potent bioactive lipid, regulates a broad range of cellular functions in various cell types. In our findings, LPA-induced macrophages may enhance the lipid uptake effect in both J774A.1-mouse …

Use Of Image Cytometry For Quantification Of Pathogenic Fungi In Association With Host Cells, Charlotte A. Berkes, Leo Li-Ying Chan, Alisha Wilkinson, Benjamin Paradis

Biology Faculty Publications

Studies of the cellular pathogenesis mechanisms of pathogenic yeasts such as Candida albicans, Histoplasma capsulatum, and Cryptococcus neoformans commonly employ infection of mammalian hosts or host cells (i.e. macrophages) followed by yeast quantification using colony forming unit analysis or flow cytometry. While colony forming unit enumeration has been the most commonly used method in the field, this technique has disadvantages and limitations, including slow growth of some fungal species on solid media and low and/or variable plating efficiencies, which is of particular concern when comparing growth of wild-type and mutant strains. Flow cytometry can provide rapid quantitative information regarding yeast …

Effect Of Advanced Age On The Innate Immune Response To Cutaneous Wound Infection, Aleah Lin Brubaker

Dissertations

An estimated 25 billion in US health care expenditure is spent on care of chronic, non-healing wounds. The failure to effectively heal wounds is often compounded by co-morbidities, such as diabetes or obesity. Another major patient population afflicted with chronic wounds are the elderly. Advanced age is associated with a decline in immunologic function that contributes to a poor response to vaccination, infection and tissue injury resulting in prolonged hospital stays and age-related morbidity and mortality. Specifically, clinical observations and laboratory studies have suggested an age-related decline in cutaneous wound healing, marked by protracted wound closure, wound dehiscence and chronic …