Human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSC) are adult stem or progenitor cells, which physiological role is reparation of damaged tissues. This is achieved mostly by secretion of trophic, angiopoietic and immunomodulatory factors. Beside this, hMSC have potential to differentiate in vitro into specialized cells, especially of the mesodermal lineages. Human MSC also significantly support hematopoiesis in hematopoietic niche. This knowledge raised high hopes for therapeutic use of hMSC, especially in regenerative medicine and treatment of autoimmune diseases, including graft versus host disease (GvHD). As a proof of concept served initially crude preparations of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC), which contain small numbers of hMSC. In our hospital, two pilot clinical studies with BMMC were performed: study of treatment of acute myocardial infarction (negative, prematurely terminated) and study of treatment of peripheral leg arthery disease (promising results). Further research was aimed on optimalisation of hMSC cultivation method for clinical use to obtain highest possible yield and get free from animal proteins. Human MSC were traditionally cultivated in research-grade media with fetal calf serum (FCS), which can lead to immunization of patients after repeated application of hMSC. We achieved...

This master’s thesis is focused on digital image analysis of mitotic chromosomes. It deals with the design of the processing of digital images - from image preprocessing to clasification of each chromosomes, including testing on a set of images. This work introduces used cytogenetic methods, that are used to visualize chromosomes. In its practical part describes morphology operations and clasification procedure. Classification of the chomosomes was divided into 5 groups (A-G). All algorithms were created in the MATLAB program.

The development in modern medicine has allowed to study human genome and detect predispositions to several diseases. One of very promising techniques is the analysis of human karyotype, i.e., the number and appearance of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. The most important step in the karyotype analysis is the chromosome detection and categorization. In this work, a new algorithm for detection of chromosomes from an image of microscopic DNA sample and their categorization into seven groups was developed. The algorithm was implemented in Matlab. The accuracy of segmentation and classification was tested on a set of images from two databases with 117 and 38 images, respectively. The sensitivity of the developed segmentation reached 88% while the value of positive predictivity of segmentation reached 92%. The success rate of chromosome pairing achieves 77%.

Squamate reptiles in general possess an unusual variability in karyotype and sex determining mechanisms. However, in these two aspects, iguanas (Pleurodonts) are considered as a relatively conservative group of lizards. So far only genotypic sex determination with male heterogamety has been detected in this lineage. However, the sex chromosomes have not been revealed in many species by classical cytogenetics, probably due to their homomorphy. Significant variability in karyotype was observed only in the species-rich genera Anolis, Sceloporus and Liolaemus. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the genome of available species from the main iguanid lineages using classical and molecular cytogenetic methods. As well as finding the karyotype characteristics, which may represent synapomorphies of main iguanid lineages, the other aim was to try to identify sex chromosomes. This study confirmed previously published karyotypes of 13 species and established new descriptions of karyotype for eight species. The chromosomes of all studied specimens were examined by methods of classical and molecular cytogenetics, 21 species covering eight iguanid families were analysed in this thesis. The majority of studied species shared the apparently ancestral karyotype of the group, with diploid chromosome number...

Paroedura genus includes 17 described species endemic to Madagascar and the Comoros Islands, where they went through a significant adaptive radiation. The genus Paroedura is monophyletic and well supported hypothesis on phylogenetic relationships among its species was published. Species vary considerably in body size and morphology and in preferences for habitat, some species live in sympatry. The genus Paroedura belongs to cytogenetically poorly studied family Gekkonidae which exhibits high variability in modes of sex determination and in comparison with basal gecko lineages, also considerable variability in the chromosome number and morphology. Karyotypes of only two species of the genus (P. picta, P. sp.) have been published. The aim of my thesis was to describe karyotypes of both sexes in all available species of the genus using conventional and molecular cytogenetic methods, to perform the phylogenetic analysis of karyotype evolution and chromosomal rearrangements in the genus, to assess the role of these rearrangements in the speciation of the genus and to detect sex chromosomes. I acquired karyotypes of both sexes in nine species representing the most of major phylogenetic lineages of the genus. According to the results, species can be divided into three groups according to diploid...

Teleost fishes (Teleostei) encompass more than half of the extant vertebrate biodiversity. Their genomes display considerable plasticity and flexibility, going hand in hand with polyploidization events and repetitive DNA dynamics. Teleosts also display a striking diversity in mechanisms of sex determination and differentiation. The aim of the present thesis was to study the mechanisms underlying the karyotype and sex chromosome differentiation through cytogenetic mapping of repetitive DNA (by fluorescence in situ hybridization, FISH) in selected representatives of the African annual killifishes of the genus Nothobranchius (Teleostei: Nothobranchiidae). Nothobranchius spp. evolved a unique adaptation to freshwater temporary water pools whose existence is limited to periods of rainy season in African savannahs. Recent diversification, allopatric speciation in non-overlapping generations and small-sized populations together with known cytogenetics collectively suggest fast dynamics of chromosomal changes in Nothobranchius killifishes. The study took advantage of the availability of i) more populations of several closely related species for analysis and ii) data on specific repetitive DNA composition in selected Nothobranchius genomes as revealed by RepeatExplorer analysis. My work showed considerable...

Due to their phylogenetic position, Psychidae play an important role in the investigation of the W chromosome origin in Lepidoptera. Several species of Psychidae were tested for the presence of sex-chromatin and investigated via comparative genomic hybridization. Furthermore, odd chromosome numbers and a Z univalent were observed in females. Overall, this study brings tangible evidence for the absence of the W chromosome in Psychidae, thus contributes to complex knowledge of the W chromosome evolution. In addition, karyotypes of the given species were analyzed using 18S rDNA and histone H3 probes. The results indicate relative stability of their karyotypes.

Such chromosomal rearrangements, which cannot be detected by using of cytogenetic banding of metaphase chromosomes, i.e. chromosomes smaller than 3 - 5 Mb, and therefore modern molecular genetic methods are used to detect them, are called "cryptic rearrangements". Their important role in human pathology is more and more significant. By using of the multiplex ligation-probe dependent amplification method (MLPA) we examined a group of 50 probands with idiopathic mental retardation. A cryptic rearrangement was found at 8 probands (16 %), at 6 of them it was demonstrably causal. Then we examined a group of 40 probands suspected of gene SHOX pathology. A cryptic rearrangement was found at 17 probands (42.5 %) and at 8 of them it was demonstrably causal. Presence of small deletion founded isolated at 7 probands was verified in a population set, but without a positive result. An analysis of mutations was made too.