Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-94).

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Zhu, Cheng; Committee Member: Barry, Bridgette; Committee Member: Boyan, Barbara; Committee Member: McEver, Rodger; Committee Member: McIntire, Larry. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Committee on Human Nutrition and Nutritional Biology, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Interet.

Thesis (M.Sc.) - University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Mathematics, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 56).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-153).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1995. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 8, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Hou Tak Cheung (chair), David W. Borst, Herman E. Brockman, Alan J. Katz, Anthony J. Otsuka. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-110) and abstract. Also available in print.

I. The function, structure and response to environmental factors of a cytoplasmic protrusion found in rat leukemia cells IRC 741 were investigated. A greater rigidity and adhesiveness of the protrusions, as compared to the main cell body, was demonstrated by time-lapse cinematography, and this functional difference was correlated with localized ultrastructural differences in the cytoplasm and on the cell surface, and with higher negative surface-charge density, as shown by cell electrophoresis. The formation or maintenance of the cytoplasmic protrusions depended on adequate nutritional conditions, and was interfered with by diminished intercellular contact, by environmental temperatures below 37°C, by alkaline pH and by calcium-ion depletion. The protrusion appears to represent a type of adhesive organelle not previously described in either cancer cells or normal cells. II. In the course of the above work, a method was developed whereby the differential staining of viable and nonviable unfixed cells, as observed by the dye-exclusion method, can be reproduced in glutaraldehyde-fixed preparations by staining with alcian blue. The results suggest that the differential staining is due, at least in part, to structural differences that are retained following aldehyde-fixation. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

In the mammalian seminiferous epithelium, the cytoplasm of Sertoli cells adjacent to sites of intercellular attachment exhibits unique structural attributes. In each of these regions, a layer of hexagonally packed actin filaments lies situated between a cistern of endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane. The filament layer together with the reticulum and adjacent plasma membrane are collectively termed an "ectoplasmic specialization". Ectoplasmic specializations occur in apical Sertoli cell regions at sites of attachment to spermatids and basally at sites of attachment to adjacent Sertoli cells. Ectoplasmic specializations have been hypothesized to be actin associated intercellular adhesion junctions. If this is true, molecular components that characterize actin associated adhesion junctions in general should be present in ectoplasmic specializations. In this study, I tested this prediction in two ways. First, I investigated whether or not the protein vinculin is co-distributed with actin filament bundles in ectoplasmic specializations of the ground squirrel. Second, I immunologically probed ectoplasmic specializations for three cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) that are commonly found in regions of intercellular adhesion in other tissues. My results indicate that vinculin is co-distributed with actin in Sertoli cell regions attached to spermatids. These data are consistent with the conclusion that vinculin is a component of ectoplasmic specializations and, therefore, with the hypothesis that the latter structures are a form of actin associated adhesion junction. Experiments using probes for the CAMs indicate that E-cadherin, A-CAM and N-CAM are probably not present in ectoplasmic specializations. The adhesion molecule at these sites may be a different member of the known CAMs or an as yet unidentified CAM. Based on data presented here and elsewhere indicating that ectoplasmic specializations are a form of actin associated adhesion junction, I describe the elaborate changes that occur in constituent filament bundles at sites of attachment to spermatids of the ground squirrel and interprete them in the context of the adhesion hypothesis. During the course of the co-localization studies described above, I observed that vinculin and actin are co-distributed at certain sites of intercellular attachment between interstitial cells of Leydig in the ground squirrel testis. Moreover, at the ultrastructural level I found these sites correspond to microfilament rich junction regions. These observations are consistent with the conclusion that actin associated intercellular adhesion junctions exist between interstitial cells of Leydig in the ground squirrel testis. / Medicine, Faculty of / Graduate