Review article--involvement of gastric APUD cells in chronic renal failure.

Uremia leads to a number of metabolic and hormonal disorders induced by renal failure with definite biological and clinical sequels. Most frequently, alimentary disorders are the first to appear, followed by symptoms from other organs and systems. The gastrointestinal tract is a site of synthesis of many compounds that have hormonal or hormonal-like biological activity. These substances are produced by highly-specialised receptor-effector cells, that are dispersed in the gastrointestinal mucosa and classified as APUD cells. The present review is an attempt to make a synthesis of current opinions and views concerning the effect of homeostatic dysfunction of the kidneys on the morphology and action of APUD cells in the stomach.

[Importance of some apudocytes in gastric ulcer bleeding prediction]. / Znachenie nekotorykh apudotsitov v prognozirovanii oslozhneniia iazvennoi bolezni zheludka ostrym krovotecheniem.

In 6 patients with uncomplicated gastric ulcer (GU) and 8 patients with GU complicated by acute bleeding morphohistochemical and ultrastructural analysis of apudocytes of gastric mucous membrane in the ulcer, periulcer and remote zone was carried out with detection of morphofunctional changes predicting ulcer bleeding. It is established that G- and ECL-apudocytes hyperplasia and hyperfunction in these zones have stable, irreversible nature in gastric ulcer bleeding, and are reliable prognostic criteria of this complication.

[Apudocytes in experimental cholera vaccination]. / Sostoianie apudotsitov pri protivokholernoi vaktsinatsii.

The morphofunctional state of apudocytes in the gastrointestinal tract and immunocompetent organs (spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes) of mice immunized with chemical bivalent cholera vaccine was studied. The study revealed that the APUD system of the intestine and the argyrophil elements of the immunocompetent organs of white mice gave a response to the oral administration of commercial cholera vaccine. The reaction of the APUD system of the gastrointestinal tract was manifested by a significant increase in the number of apudocytes and their greater synthesizing activity in the immunized animals during the period of maximum immunological transformation of the macroorganism. The immunization of mice with Vibrio cholerae facilitated the maintenance of homeostasis in the macroorganism and prevented appearance of morphological disturbances in its organs and system after subsequent challenge with V. cholerae.

Nonandrogenic mediators of prostatic growth.

Prostate growth and development are primarily under the control of androgens; however, other factors can also influence prostatic growth through alternative pathways. This article discusses some of the major nonandrogenic mediators of prostate growth. Information on the pathways by which these factors exert their effects is also reviewed.

Preliminary evaluation of neuroendocrine cells in the respiratory tract in rats with experimental uremia.

The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of experimetally induced chronic renal failure on endocrine cells in the respiratory tract in rats. After 30 days of uremia, the fragments of rat lungs were collected. Paraffin sections were stained using H+E, silver impregnation and immunohistochemistry with specific antibodies against calcitonin (CT), synaptophysin (SY), somatostatin (ST), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE). A large number of endocrine cells with a strong calcitonin immunoreactivity were observed in the respiratory tract of rats with experimental uremia, as compared with the control group. Other immunoreactions were weakened.

Preliminary evaluation of gastric endocrine cells in rats with experimental uremia.

Chronic renal failure can be the cause of various disturbances in hormonal and electrolyte metabolism, including calcium and phosphate metabolism. The aim of this study was the evaluation of pyloric endocrine cells in Wistar rats with experimental uremia. Fragments of gastric pylorus were collected 30 days after nephrectomy. Paraffin embedded sections were stained with H+E and by silver impregnation. We also performed immunohistochemical reactions with the use of specific antibodies against calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), synaptophysin (SY), somatostatin (ST), and neuronal specific enolase (NSE). The rats with experimental uremia showed an increase in the number of endocrine cells and in intensity of all the examined reactions.

[APUD- and RAA- regulatory systems in acute radiation injury]. / APUD- i RAA-sistemy reguliatsii pri ostrom radiatsionnom porazhenii.

An experimental morpho-functional assessment of rat APUD and RAA systems status in acute radiation injury (cerebral form) was performed. The named regulatory systems were found to display an actual momentary post-exposure reaction, followed by subsequent functional changes of a distinct phase character. The latter were shown to determine in many respects the clinical picture and in some cases the outcome of the disease.

Gastric endocrine cells in rats with uremia and after thyroparathyroidectomy.

The decrease in active kidney parenchyma amount causes disorders in hormone secretion processes and their inactivation failure. Experimental thyroparathyroidectomy is connected with an abrupt reduction in endocrine cells and hormones produced by them, which can be a stimulating factor as far as the increase and intensity of endocrine gastric cells activity is concerned. The aim of the study was the histomorphological and immunohistochemical evaluation of these cells in the gastric pylorus. Thyroparathyroidectomy was performed in rats 30 days after nephrectomy. Fragments of gastric pylorus were collected 14 days after the operation. Paraffin sections were stained with H+E and silver method. Immunohistochemical reactions were conducted using antibodies against calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), somatostatin (ST), synaptophysin (SPh), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and chromogranin (CgA). The results showed an increase in number of endocrine cells in stomachs of rats in experimental group as compared to controls. Endocrine cells were larger and contained more secretory granules.

[The APUD-system function of the intestines and the morphological changes in the internal organs of adult rabbits infected with toxigenic Vibrio cholerae]. / Sostoianie APUD-sistemy kishechnika i morfologicheskie izmeneniia vo vnutrennikh organakh vzroslykh krolikov, zarazhennykh toksigennymi kholernymi vibrionami.

V. cholerae infection with clearly pronounced diarrhea was reproduced in adult rabbits with the use of the RITARD system. The state of the APUD system of the intestine of the animals and morphological changes in internal organs in experimental cholera were described. As noted in this study, the manifestation of changes in the intestine and other organs, as well as the reaction of apudocytes to V. cholerae infection, were linked with the intensity of diarrhea and the time of the death of the animals.

Divergent neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic carcinoma.

A rich variety of neuroendocrine cells are present in the normal prostate gland. Prostatic carcinoma may show divergent differentiation towards a neuroendocrine phenotype in the form of neuroendocrine small cell carcinoma or carcinoid-like tumors. Much more common is focal neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic adenocarcinoma which may be pronounced in approximately 10% of adenocarcinomas. The prognostic significance of focal neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic carcinoma is controversial but current evidence suggests an influence on prognosis related to hormone resistant tumors and/or a role in the conversion to a hormonal resistant phenotype. Chromogranin A appears to be the best overall tissue and serum marker of neuroendocrine differentiation. Chromogranin A serum levels may be useful in the assessment of the emergence of and/or progression of hormone resistant cancer.

[Changes in the APUD system of the large intestine as a risk factor for colorectal cancer]. / Izmenenie APUD-sistemy tolstoi kishki kak faktor riska razvitiia kolorektal'nogo raka.

A common population of endocrine cells, apudocytes producing serotonin, melatonin, vaso-intestinal peptides and mast cells were examined on unaffected mucous membranes of 27 colorectal cancer patients. Light and electron microscopy, immunohistochemical and morphometric methods were used. A marked decrease in total number of apudocytes, hypoplasia of cells producing serotonin, melatonin, vaso-intestinal peptides were revealed at early stages of cancer irrespective of the tumor structure. Mast cells in premetastatic period outnumbered those after emergence of metastases. The results obtained may serve as additional criteria of early colorectal cancer diagnosis.

El sistema APUD en la oftalmología: II. tumores de la cresta neural. Derivados del sistema pigmentario (melanogénico): nevi y melanomas palpebrales y conjuntivales / APUD System in opthalmology: II. neural crest tumors: Pygmentary system derives (melanogenic): nevi and palpebral and conjunctival melanomas

Los tumores de la cresta neural en la oftalmología inclyen entre otros, los derivados del sistema melanogénico de los que sobresalen los siguientes: Nevi de la piel y de la conjuntiva que se clasifican según su localización en superficiales y profundos; dentro de los primeros están los de unión, intradérmico (subepiteliales), mixtos y como profundos los nevi azul fusocelular y celular. Las formas malignas corresponden a los melanomas cutáneos y conjuntivales. Estas neoplasias son tumores de comportamiento biológico muy variable y morfología compleja, el diangnóstico clínico presuntivo es difícil en algunas variedades histológicas. El tratamiento depende de las variantes clínicas y/o histológicas. El objetivo de este trabajo es proporcionar una revisión actual de estos neurolofomas

[The comparative characteristics of the pathogenic action of Vibrio cholerae of the non-O1 group O139 serovar and of the O1 group on the intestinal APUD system of suckling rabbits]. / Sravnitel'naia kharakteristika patogennogo deistviia kholernykh vibrionov ne O1 gruppy O139 serovara i O1 gruppy na APUD-sistemu kishechnika krol'chat-sosunkov.

The comparative study of the enteropathogenic action of V. cholerae strains of group non-O1, serovar O139, and group O1 with different virulence on the APUD system of the intestine of suckling rabbits after intraenteral infection revealed that V. cholerae of group non-O1 induced inflammatory changes in the intestine and the pronounced toxic lesion of parenchymal organs. This was accompanied by a decrease in the number of apudocytes and an increase in the functional tension of the APUD system. After the infection of the animals with V. cholerae of group O1 changes in the APUD system and internal organs directly depended on the virulence of the microbes and the infective dose.

[Changes in the endocrine apparatus of the gastric mucosa in forms of cancer of varying origin]. / Izmeneniia éndokrinnogo apparata slizistoi obolochki zheludka pri formakh raka razlichnogo geneza.

The authors studied endocrine apparatus of the mucous membrane of 53 stomachs in various forms of carcinoma. Silver impregnation and electron microscopy were used as well as routine histology and histochemistry. All the tumors were divided into endocrine-cell and non-endocrine-cell tumors (ET and NET). Cells of the diffuse endocrine system take an important part in the development of the background and pretumorous processes in the stomach mucous membrane. Endocrinocyte hyperplasia, degree I and II, of the mucous membrane of the antrum and enterolysation foci was the background for all NET. Endocrinocyte hyperplasia was more pronounced (degree II and III) in ET and spread to the fundal glands being combined with endocrinocyte dysplasia and metaplasia. These changes are assessed as precancerous for tumors with high content of endocrinocytes.

Pulmonary endocrine cell hyperplasia and papilloma in rats induced by intratracheal injections of extract from particulate air pollutants.

We investigated the effect of intratracheal injections of an extract of suspended particulate matter (SPM) obtained from the urban ambient air of Tokyo, upon the development of proliferative lesions of pulmonary endocrine cells (PECs) in the rat. We also examined the modification effects of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, or both of them on the PEC lesions. Male F344 rats were divided into six experimental groups of 5 animals each. Twenty animals were treated with intratracheal instillations of SPM admixed with carbon once a week for 4 weeks with or without additional gaseous exposure (6 ppm nitrogen dioxide or 4 ppm sulfur dioxide) 16 hrs a day for 11 months. Five animals were given intratracheal injections of carbon suspended in saline and the other five were untreated. The subcardiac lobes of the right lung were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde, and embedded in paraffin. PEC hyperplasias and papillomas were counted in 200 serial sections, 4 microns thick. The average incidences of PEC hyperplasia in the untreated animals and in those treated with carbon were 194 and 200/cm3, respectively. The average incidences of PEC hyperplasia in the animals exposed to SPM tar only, SPM tar plus nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, SPM tar with nitrogen dioxide and SPM tar with sulfur dioxide were 376, 378, 372 and 349/cm3, respectively. These were significantly higher than the levels of the control animals, and additional gaseous stimuli had no effect on the incidence of PEC hyperplasia. Besides PEC hyperplasia, a few PEC papillomas were found in the animals treated with SPM tar, regardless of gaseous exposure, but in the control animals no papilloma was evident. Thus, compounds in airborne particulates are considered to be responsible for the development of PEC hyperplasias and papillomas.

[The effect of choleragen poisoning on the intestinal apudocytes of gnotobiotic minipigs]. / Vliianie kholerogennoi intoksikatsii na apudotsity kishechnika gnotobioticheskikh mini-porosiat.

Intragastric administration of the cholera toxin to gnotobiotic mini-pigs results in cyclic morphofunctional alterations of intestinal apudocytes followed by their degranulation, a decrease in their number from 1 to 3 hrs and after 18 hrs, while a slight increase in their number occurred from 3 to 12 hrs. The response of APUD-system cells is similar in large and small intestine. Products of apudocyte secretion may be involved in the diarrheogenic effect of the cholera toxin.

Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic malignancy.

BACKGROUND: The prostatic neuroendocrine cell is a regulatory cell that produces serotonin and peptide hormones. This cell is part of a more widely dispersed diffuse neuroendocrine regulatory system known as the APUD system. Focal neuroendocrine differentiation is seen in virtually all prostate carcinomas to one degree or another. Specific malignancies that are purely neuroendocrine include small cell carcinoma and carcinoid/carcinoid-like tumors. A variety of studies suggest a possible prognostic significance of neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate carcinoma. METHODS: The literature on the prostatic neuroendocrine cell and neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate carcinoma is reviewed. RESULTS: Based on analogy with other better studied elements of the diffuse neuroendocrine regulatory system or APUD system, as well as the morphology and specific products produced by neuroendocrine cells, it is likely that they play an important regulatory role in the prostate. Neuroendocrine differentiation may be of prognostic significance in prostate carcinoma. Mechanisms are not well characterized at this point, but the known growth factor activity of the neuroendocrine cell products, an increase in proliferation in cells surrounding neuroendocrine cells, and a lack of androgen receptor expression in neuroendocrine cells, suggest mechanisms by which they may be of prognostic significance. CONCLUSIONS: Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate carcinoma may be of prognostic significance, but better methods to define neuroendocrine, differentiation are necessary. The therapeutic implications of neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate carcinoma may be of significance and need to be explored further.

[Metachronous cancer of the gastro-intestinal tract with signs of endocrine-cell differentiation]. / Metakhronnyi rak zheludochno-kishechnogo trakta s priznakami éndokrinnokletochnoi differentsirovki.

A case of metachronous cancer of gastrointestinal tract is reported. Three poorly differentiated malignant epithelial tumours developed in a 27-year-old patient within three years. They located in the stomach, small and large intestine. Light-microscopically, the tumours were formed mainly of non-differentiated rounded cells with occasional signet ring cells. At electron microscopic examination the presence of mucin granules was confirmed. Moreover, a variable amount of electron-dense endocrine-like granules was found in tumour cells. According to some publications, endocrine differentiation of gastrointestinal cancers is considered to be a poor prognostic feature, hence electron microscopy or special staining when possible can be important in the evaluation of prognosis.

[Changes in the gastric mucosa in endocrine-cell cancer]. / Izmeneniia slizistoi obolochki zheludka pri éndokrinnokletochnykh rakakh.

Mucous membrane from different parts of the stomach has been studied in 53 surgical cases of stomach carcinoma. All the tumours were subdivided into endocrine-cell (EC) and non-endocrine-cell. The background in all cases was chronic gastritis which was most pronounced at the border with tumour and in the pyloro-antral part of the stomach. Hyperplasia of the fundal glands with hyperfunction of the chief and lining cells, hypersecretion of foveal epithelium, pseudo-pyloric metaplasia and helicobacteriosis were more frequent in EC-carcinomas. Dysplastic epithelial changes in EC were found in the lower third of the necks and terminal regions of the intermediar and pseudo-pyloric glands and in some cases in the foveolar epithelium and intestinal crypts. These features of the background and precancerous lesions in EC should be taken into consideration in diagnosis.