Expression of Mash1 in basal cells of rat circumvallate taste buds is dependent upon gustatory innervation. (1/1447)

Mash1, a mammalian homologue of the Drosophila achaete-scute proneural gene complex, plays an essential role in differentiation of subsets of peripheral neurons. In this study, using RT-PCR and in situ RT-PCR, we investigated if Mash1 gene expression occurs in rat taste buds. Further, we examined dynamics of Mash1 expression in the process of degeneration and regeneration in denervated rat taste buds. In rat tongue epithelium, Mash1 gene expression is confined to circumvallate, foliate, and fungiform papilla epithelia that include taste buds. In taste buds, Mash1-expressing cells are round cells in the basal compartment. In contrast, the mature taste bud cells do not express the Mash1 gene. Denervation and regeneration experiments show that the expression of Mash1 requires gustatory innervation. We conclude that Mash1 is expressed in cells of the taste bud lineage, and that the expression of Mash1 in rat taste buds is dependent upon gustatory innervation.  (+info)

Cephalometric abnormalities in non-obese and obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. (2/1447)

The aim of this work was to comprehensively evaluate the cephalometric features in Japanese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and to elucidate the relationship between cephalometric variables and severity of apnoea. Forty-eight cephalometric variables were measured in 37 healthy males and 114 male OSA patients, who were classed into 54 non-obese (body mass index (BMI) <27 kg x m(-2), apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI)=25.3+/-16.1 events x h(-1)) and 60 obese (BMI > or = 27 kg x m(-2), AHI=45.6+/-28.0 events h(-1)) groups. Diagnostic polysomnography was carried out in all of the OSA patients and in 19 of the normal controls. The non-obese OSA patients showed several cephalometric defects compared with their BMI-matched normal controls: 1) decreased facial A-P distance at cranial base, maxilla and mandible levels and decreased bony pharynx width; 2) enlarged tongue and inferior shift of the tongue volume; 3) enlarged soft palate; 4) inferiorly positioned hyoid bone; and 5) decreased upper airway width at four different levels. More extensive and severe soft tissue abnormalities with a few defects in craniofacial bony structures were found in the obese OSA group. For the non-obese OSA group, the stepwise regression model on AHI was significant with two bony structure variables as determinants: anterior cranial base length (S-N) and mandibular length (Me-Go). Although the regression model retained only linear distance between anterior vertebra and hyoid bone (H-VL) as an explainable determinant for AHI in the obese OSA group, H-VL was significantly correlated with soft tissue measurements such as overall tongue area (Ton), inferior tongue area (Ton2) and pharyngeal airway length (PNS-V). In conclusion, Japanese obstructive sleep apnoea patients have a series of cephalometric abnormalities similar to those described in Caucasian patients, and that the aetiology of obstructive sleep apnoea in obese patients may be different from that in non-obese patients. In obese patients, upper airway soft tissue enlargement may play a more important role in the development of obstructive sleep apnoea, whereas in non-obese patients, bony structure discrepancies may be the dominant contributing factors for obstructive sleep apnoea.  (+info)

Morphology and mechanics of tongue movement in the African pig-nosed frog Hemisus marmoratum: a muscular hydrostatic model. (3/1447)

The goal of this study was to investigate morphological adaptations associated with hydrostatic elongation of the tongue during feeding in the African pig-nosed frog Hemisus marmoratum. Whereas previous studies had suggested that the tongue of H. marmoratum elongates hydraulically, the anatomical observations reported here favour a muscular hydrostatic mechanism of tongue elongation. H. marmoratum possesses a previously undescribed compartment of the m. genioglossus (m. genioglossus dorsoventralis), which is intrinsic to the tongue and whose muscle fibres are oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the tongue. On the basis of the arrangement and orientation of muscle fibres in the m. genioglossus and m. hyoglossus, we propose a muscular hydrostatic model of tongue movement in which contraction of the m. genioglossus dorsoventralis, together with unfolding of the intrinsic musculature of the tongue, results in a doubling in tongue length. Electron micrographs of sarcomeres from resting and elongated tongues show that no special adaptations of the sarcomeres are necessary to accommodate the observed doubling in tongue length during feeding. Rather, the sarcomeres of the m. genioglossus longitudinalis are strikingly similar to those of anuran limb muscles. The ability to elongate the tongue hydrostatically, conferred by the presence of the m. genioglossus dorsoventralis, is associated with the appearance of several novel aspects of feeding behaviour in H. marmoratum. These include the ability to protract the tongue slowly, thereby increasing capture success, and the ability to aim the tongue in azimuth and elevation relative to the head. Compared with other frogs, the muscular hydrostatic system of H. marmoratum allows more precise, localized and diverse tongue movements. This may explain why the m. genioglossus of H. marmoratum is composed of a larger number of motor units than that of other frogs.  (+info)

Immunofluorescence detection of ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins with their carboxyl-terminal threonine phosphorylated in cultured cells and tissues. (4/1447)

Ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins are thought to play an important role in organizing cortical actin-based cytoskeletons through cross-linkage of actin filaments with integral membrane proteins. Recent in vitro biochemical studies have revealed that ERM proteins phosphorylated on their COOH-terminal threonine residue (CPERMs) are active in their cross-linking activity, but this has not yet been evaluated in vivo. To immunofluorescently visualize CPERMs in cultured cells as well as tissues using a mAb specific for CPERMs, we developed a new fixation protocol using trichloroacetic acid (TCA) as a fixative. Immunoblotting analyses in combination with immunofluorescence microscopy showed that TCA effectively inactivated soluble phosphatases, which maintained the phosphorylation level of CPERMs during sample processing for immunofluorescence staining. Immunofluorescence microscopy with TCA-fixed samples revealed that CPERMs were exclusively associated with plasma membranes in a variety of cells and tissues, whereas total ERM proteins were distributed in both the cytoplasm and plasma membranes. Furthermore, the amounts of CPERMs were shown to be regulated in a cell and tissue type-dependent manner. These findings favored the notion that phosphorylation of the COOH-terminal threonine plays a key role in the regulation of the cross-linking activity of ERM proteins in vivo.  (+info)

Interarticulator programming in VCV sequences: lip and tongue movements. (5/1447)

This study examined the temporal phasing of tongue and lip movements in vowel-consonant-vowel sequences where the consonant is a bilabial stop consonant /p, b/ and the vowels one of /i, a, u/; only asymmetrical vowel contexts were included in the analysis. Four subjects participated. Articulatory movements were recorded using a magnetometer system. The onset of the tongue movement from the first to the second vowel almost always occurred before the oral closure. Most of the tongue movement trajectory from the first to the second vowel took place during the oral closure for the stop. For all subjects, the onset of the tongue movement occurred earlier with respect to the onset of the lip closing movement as the tongue movement trajectory increased. The influence of consonant voicing and vowel context on interarticulator timing and tongue movement kinematics varied across subjects. Overall, the results are compatible with the hypothesis that there is a temporal window before the oral closure for the stop during which the tongue movement can start. A very early onset of the tongue movement relative to the stop closure together with an extensive movement before the closure would most likely produce an extra vowel sound before the closure.  (+info)

Assessment of the effects of endothelin-1 and magnesium sulphate on regional blood flows in conscious rats, by the coloured microsphere reference technique. (6/1447)

There is evidence to suggest that magnesium (Mg2+) is beneficial in the treatment of a number of conditions, including pre-eclampsia and acute myocardial infarction. The mode of action of Mg2+ in these conditions is not clear, although the vasodilator properties of Mg2+ are well documented both in vitro and in vivo. Previously, we demonstrated that i.v. infusion of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) alone, or in the presence of vasoconstrictors, caused increases in flow and conductance in the common carotid, internal carotid and hindquarters vascular beds, in conscious rats. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the regional and subregional changes in haemodynamics in response to the vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin-1 (ET-1) and MgSO4 in more detail, using the coloured microsphere reference technique. Infusion of ET-1 and MgSO4 had similar effects on heart rate and mean arterial pressure as in our previous study. Infusion of ET-1 caused a rise in mean arterial pressure and a fall in heart rate, and infusion of MgSO4 returned mean arterial pressure to control levels with no effect on heart rate. The responses to MgSO4 in the presence of ET-1 showed considerable regional heterogeneity with blood flow increasing (e.g. skeletal muscle), decreasing (e.g. stomach) or not changing (e.g. kidney). Of particular interest was the finding that MgSO4 caused increases in flow in the cerebral and coronary vascular beds. This, and our previous studies, have shown that MgSO4 can reverse vasoconstriction in a number of vascular beds, and indicate that this compound may have therapeutic benefit in conditions associated with vasospasm.  (+info)

Hypoglossal nerve injury as a complication of anterior surgery to the upper cervical spine. (7/1447)

Injury to the hypoglossal nerve is a recognised complication after soft tissue surgery in the upper part of the anterior aspect of the neck, e.g. branchial cyst or carotid body tumour excision. However, this complication has been rarely reported following surgery of the upper cervical spine. We report the case of a 35-year-old woman with tuberculosis of C2-3. She underwent corpectomy and fusion from C2 to C5 using iliac crest bone graft, through a left anterior oblique incision. She developed hypoglossal nerve palsy in the immediate postoperative period, with dysphagia and dysarthria. It was thought to be due to traction neurapraxia with possible spontaneous recovery. At 18 months' follow-up, she had a solid fusion and tuberculosis was controlled. The hypoglossal palsy persisted, although with minimal functional disability. The only other reported case of hypoglossal lesion after anterior cervical spine surgery in the literature also failed to recover. It is concluded that hypoglossal nerve palsy following anterior cervical spine surgery is unlikely to recover spontaneously and it should be carefully identified.  (+info)

Glossopharyngeal nerve transection eliminates quinine-stimulated fos-like immunoreactivity in the nucleus of the solitary tract: implications for a functional topography of gustatory nerve input in rats. (8/1447)

The relationship between specific gustatory nerve activity and central patterns of taste-evoked neuronal activation is poorly understood. To address this issue within the first central synaptic relay in the gustatory system, we examined the distribution of neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) activated by the intraoral infusion of quinine using Fos immunohistochemistry in rats with bilateral transection of the chorda tympani (CTX), bilateral transection of the glossopharyngeal nerve (GLX), or combined neurotomy (DBLX). Compared with nonstimulated and water-stimulated controls, quinine evoked significantly more Fos-like-immunoreactive (FLI) neurons across the rostrocaudal extent of the gustatory NST (gNST), especially within its dorsomedial portion (subfield 5). Although the somatosensory aspects of fluid stimulation contributed to the observed increase in FLI neurons, the elevated number and spatial distribution of FLI neurons in response to quinine were remarkably distinguishable from those in response to water. GLX and DBLX produced a dramatic attenuation of quinine-evoked FLI neurons and a shift in their spatial distribution such that their number and pattern were indiscernable from those observed in water-stimulated controls. Although CTX had no effect on the number of quinine-evoked FLI neurons within subfield 5 at intermediate levels of the gNST, it produced intermediate effects elsewhere; yet, the spatial distribution of the quinine-evoked FLI neurons was not altered by CTX. These findings suggest that the GL provides input to all FLI neurons responsive to quinine, however, some degree of convergence with CT input apparently occurs in this subpopulation of neurons. Although the role of these FLI neurons in taste-guided behavioral responses to quinine remains speculative, their possible function in oromotor reflex control is considered.  (+info)