Search

Melanocytes are pigment-producing cells generated from neural crest cells ( NCCs) that delaminate from the dorsal neural tube. The widely accepted premise that NCCs migrating along the dorsolateral pathway are the main source of melanocytes in the skin was recently challenged by the finding that Schwann cell precursors are the major cellular source of melanocytes in the skin. Still, in a wide variety of vertebrate embryos, melanocytes are exclusively derived from NCCs. In this study, we show that a NCC population that is not derived from Sox1 + dorsal neuroepithelial cells but are derived from Sox1 − cells differentiate into a significant population of melanocytes in the skin of mice. Later, these Sox1 − cells clearly segregate from cells that originated from Sox1 + dorsal neuroepithelial cell-derived NCCs. The possible derivation of Sox1 − cells from epidermal cells also strengthens their non-neuroepithelial origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proven pluripotency of ES cells is expected to allow their therapeutic use for regenerative medicine. We present here a novel suspension culture method that facilitates the proliferation of pluripotent ES cells without feeder cells. The culture medium contains polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), free of either animal-derived or synthetic serum, and contains very low amounts of peptidic or proteinaceous materials, which are favorable for therapeutic use. ES cells showed sustained proliferation in the suspension culture, and their undifferentiated state and pluripotency were experimentally verified. DNA microarray analyses showed a close relationship between the elevated expression of genes related to cell adhesions. We suggest that this suspension culture condition provides a better alternative to the conventional attached cell culture condition, especially for possible therapeutic use, by limiting the exposure of ES cells to feeder cells and animal products. Developmental Dynamics 237:2129-2138, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embryonic stem (ES) cells from many organisms have the capacity to generate in vitro a wide variety of cell types depending on their environment. Understanding precisely how such toti- or pluripotent cells may be driven towards a specific lineage represents a major challenge if our ambition of using ES cells to generate a ready supply of healthy cells for cell-based therapies for a range of diseases is to be realized. Recent advances have demonstrated that melanocytes and retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells exhibiting the characteristics of their natural counterparts can be induced from undifferentiated ES cells grown on monolayers of specific stromal cell lines or by using a combination of Wnt3a, Endothelin-3 and SCF. The ability to induce pigment cells from ES cells promises to facilitate our understanding of the precise molecular mechanisms underlying this process and moreover enable us to distinguish the program of gene expression that underpins the choice made between generating a nerual crest-type melanocyte versus an RPE cell. Moreover, once the combination of signals required to induce a particular type of pigment cell are characterized, the way may be open for future cell-based therapy for various diseases caused by defective pigment cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the measurement of the excitation amplitude and phase of each element antenna of phased arrays in satellite orbit. In a phased array, the excitation amplitude and the phase of each element antenna deviate from the desired values, due to the nearby satellite structure, the error of attachment to the satellite, and thermal deformation in the orbit. The errors in the amplitude and the phase must be known for beam scanning and the synthesis of various antenna patterns. The rotating element electric field vector method is useful in measuring the amplitude and the phase of phased arrays. In this method, the amplitude and the phase of the element antenna can be determined simply by varying the phase of the element antenna by a phase-shifter and measuring the amplitude change of the electric field as a result of composition by the array. This is suited to the measurement of phased arrays in satellite orbit, where direct measurement of the phase is difficult. In this study, the above method is used to measure the excitation amplitude and phase of the phased array installed on Engineering Test Satellite VI in orbit. Based on the measured phase, the phase is corrected to realize the designed value. The accuracy of the beam directivity is examined and the validity of the measurements is evaluated. © 1998 Scripta Technica. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 81(1): 1–13, 1998 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]