Inhibitory effect of concanavalin A on the cell-to-cell adheson during early development of the starfish. Asterina pectinifera

Acriflavine-Induced Surface Changes in Three Tumor Cell Types and Differential Sensitivity to Lectins

Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A) were used as probes to detect changes in the cell surface of Dalton's lymphoma, sarcoma-180 and Ehrlich's carcinoma after short in vitro exposure to acriflavine. Dye-treated cells showed enhancement of agglutination both by PHA and Con A, and such enhancement was found to be dependent on the time of exposure and concentration of acriflavine. However, PHA-induced percent agglutination seemed to be much higher than that of Con A among the 3 cell types. There were also marked differences among the 3 cell types in order of their sensitivity to lectin-mediated agglutination. The strength of the response was greater in lymphoma to both PHA and Con A than that of sarcoma-180 and carcinoma cells, which appeared to be most resistant. Acriflavine, which is known as an intercalative agent with DNA, induces cell surface changes by promoting lectin-mediated cellular agglutination.

Spatiotemporal distribution patterns of oligosaccharides during early embryogenesis in the starfish Patiria pectinifera

To examine embryogenic mechanisms in the starfish Patiria (Asterina) pectinifera, we histochemically analyzed several larval stages using Alcian Blue (AB, which stains acidic mucins), Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS, which stains neutral mucins), and 21 types of lectins. Carbohydrate distribution patterns were observed in the cytoplasm, basement membrane, and blastocoel as follows: (1) The first group of lectins showed granular signals in the mesendodermal cells, and these lectins may be useful as mesendoderm markers. (2) The second class of lectins showed diffuse signals across the entire cytoplasm from the hatched blastula until the mid gastrula. These signals became localized to the basal cytoplasm of archenteron cells at the early bipinnaria. (3) Lectin reactivity in the basement membrane peaked at the early-to-mid gastrula and was nearly gone by the early bipinnaria. These results suggest the existence of various substances in the basement membrane and imply the importance of these substances during archenteron elongation and the induction of mesenchyme differentiation. (4) Signal colors with AB-PAS double staining in the blastocoel changed from magenta (by PAS staining) into blue (by AB staining) during these stages, thus, indicating that mucin located in the blastocoel changed from neutral to acidic. The most significant part of this report is the first description regarding temporal changes in the characteristics of intra- and extracellular components with the combination of many different lectins and stains.

Timing of gastrulation in fused double-embryos formed from eggs with different cleavage schedules in the starfish, Asterina pectinifera

The aim of this study is to explore the control mechanism which regulates the timing of gastrulation. We wished to know whether the timing is rigidly determined within the constituting cells of the embryo of whether it is changed by intercellular communication systems. Starfish-fused double-embryos were formed by contact between pairs of denuded eggs with different cleavage schedules, one egg in each pair being distinguished with vital stain. Electron microscopy revealed identical ultrastructural characteristics in every cell contact: Septate junctions were found not only between cells in the contact area between the two counterparts constituting a fused embryo but also between cells within a counterpart. In fused embryos formed from stained eggs and unstained eggs with the former having started the first cleavage 30 min earlier than the latter, the stained counterparts began to invaginate about 30 min earlier than the unstained. When fused embryos were produced by putting stained eggs in contact with unstained eggs which had begun the first cleavage 2 hr later than the stained eggs, gastrulation of the stained counterparts took place about 2 hr earlier than that of the unstained counterparts. These results suggest that the timing of gastrulation is fixed within the cells of an embryo and cannot be altered in spite of the cell-to-cell communication that appears to exist.