生物化学技术

Xenopus oocyte maturation is a powerful system to study biochemical mechanisms that regulate intracellular signaling and cell-cycle control. Fully grown Xenopus oocytes are arrested at the G2/M boundary of the first meiotic division. The process of maturation can be induced in vitro by i ...

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades (including the extracellular signal-regulated kinases , the c-Jun N-terminal kinases , and the p38 stress-activated protein kinases) are abundant in neurons in the mature central nervous system (1). Originally, the ...

The mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are a family of protein serine/threonine kinases that operate within specific signaling pathways called MAPK cascades (for reviews see Chapter 1 and references therein). Each MAPK cascade is composed of up to six tiers of protein kinases, wh ...

The three major mammalian mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) subfamilies include the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2), the c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), and the p38 kinases. These kinases are differentially activated in response to extracellular st ...

Big mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (BMK1), also known as extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5), is the most recently identified member of the mammalian mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family (1,2). Cellular activation of BMK1 is induced by a variety of stimuli inc ...

The stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs)/c-Jun N2-terminal kinases (JNKs) and the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are two MAPK groups activated predominantly by stresses and proinflammatory stimuli. Table 1 lists some of the stimuli known to recruit both the SAP ...

Small guanosine 5′-triphosphatases (GTPases) of the Ras superfamily switch between a guanosine 5′-diphosphate (GDP)-bound and a guanosine 5′-triphosphate (GTP)-bound conformation. This cycle is regulated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors that release the bound nucleo ...

The degree of activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in response to extracellular stimuli is tightly regulated in vivo in a cell type- and stimulus-dependent manner, as the result of the coordinated function of protein kinases and phosphatases (1). Activation of MAPKs r ...

To survive and execute their functions, cells need to respond to many extracellular signals such as soluble molecules, neighboring cells, and physical changes in the environment. When interacting with the cells, these extracellular signals cause many intracellular changes, which a ...

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are protein-serine/threonine kinases activated by signaling pathways triggered by developmental stages, cell-surface receptors, cell stresses and other environmental cues. The MAPK family includes the extracellular signa ...

Engineered tissues could form the basis for novel therapies for millions of patients who suffer from the loss of tissue or its function (1), and be used for in vitro studies of tissue development and normal and pathological function. One approach to tissue engineering involves seeding of a high den ...

One of the most widely studied bone-tissue engineering approaches involves the seeding and extended in vitro culturing of cells within a biodegradable scaffold prior to implantation. The bioresorbable scaffold must be biocompatible and porous in order to facilitate rapid vascula ...

The chondrocyte is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the complex extracellular matrix (ECM) of articular cartilage. Therefore, chondrocytes directly control the biomechanical properties of the tissue that enable articular cartilage to bear cyclical compressi ...

Examination of engineered tissues is clearly necessary to evaluate their properties and determine how close they are to those of the original tissue being engineered. Microscopy encompasses a group of techniques that allows the assessment of many parameters, including information ...

Tissue engineering is a major focus of biotechnological research today, with the expectation that this type of technique will ultimately transform medical practice (1). The most ambitious tissue-engineering schemes assume that specific tissues and organs will be restored, in a mult ...

Numerous publications have described the histology of tissue-engineered constructs and tissue-biomaterial interfaces observed with the light microscope (1–5). Indeed, this approach has become a routine method for the evaluation of the biological quality of engineered tissu ...

There have been significant advances in cartilage-engineering methodology in recent years, particularly in the production of biodegradable scaffolds and the use of bioreactors to improve the outcome of the engineering process. To date, engineered cartilage studies have mostly r ...

Visualizing and quantifying cellular contact with materials is a critical step in the evaluation of cell-material interaction both in vitro and in vivo. To achieve this, a number of techniques are available. The focus of this chapter is the presentation of staining techniques for use with light ...

Analysis of gene expression at the mRNA level may be used, together with other structural and functional evaluations, to characterize the quality of engineered tissues. In turn, engineered tissues may be used as model systems of developing tissues to investigate how mRNA gene expression is m ...

The exponential growth in basic research and clinical trials involving tissue-engineered materials has generated a corresponding need for the evaluation of the material properties and functional performance of these constructs during development and/or after implantati ...