No abstract

Cytochemicalanalysis of sulfated glycosaminoglycans was carried out in cytoplasmic granules of mast cells from the bovine aorta and rat peritoneal cavity.The cytochemical staining reactions employed for this analysis were alcian blue pH 1.0, high iron diamine and aldehyde fuchsin with or without Mast cells are known to be a type of free cell in the connective tissues of vertebrates, and to contain a number of basophilic granules in their cytoplasm (7, 19) . Although the chemical compositions of these granules vary with animal species, they are reported to contain heparin, histamine, serotonin, hyaluronic acid, various peptides and enzymes such as platelet activating factor, slow reacting substance of anaphylaxis, different kinds of proteases, decarboxylases and certain hydrolases (5, 7, 13, 19). Of these components, heparin is known to be a sulfated glycosaminoglycan which exhibits anticoagulating activity in its physiological function. Recent biochemical studies on the cytoplasmic granules of mouse mast cells in mouse mast cell-fibroblast monolayers (1) and mouse bone marrow-derived mast cells (16-18) revealed that sulfated glycosaminoglycans contained within the granules were chondroitin sulfates, in addition to heparin. More recently, a biochemical analysis of rat mucosal mast cells clarified that the major polysaccharide produced by the cells is an oversulfated galactosaminoglycan rather than heparin (4). It remains to be determined, however, whether such dual composition of sulfated glycosaminoglycans of mast cell granules can be substantiated by cytochemical means. In the present study, attempts have been made to cytochemically analyze sulfated glycosaminoglycans in the cytoplasmic granules of mast cells from bovines and rats. In keeping with the results of previous biochemical studies (1,4,(16)(17)(18), the results obtained in the present study have substantiated the dual composition of sulfated glycosaminoglycans of the mast cell granules, and this appears to be provocative of further cytophysiological studies on the precise functions of this particular cell type in the connective tissues.

Electron microscopic cytochemical studies have been made on sulfated glycosaminoglycans in mast cell granules from the rat peritoneal cavity by means of combined alcian blue (AB) pH 1.0-phosphotungstic acid (PTA) staining and enzyme (heparinase or chondroitinase ABC) digestion or chemical modification (nitrous acid) procedures. The results obtained revealed that the mast cell populations from the rat peritoneal cavity are grouped into at least three cell types on the basis of the molecular species of sulfated glycosaminoglycans contained in the cytoplasmic granules, the first cell type occupying the majority of the cell population with cytoplasmic granules containing primarily heparin, the second cell type being of an exceedingly small proportion with cytoplasmic granules containing primarily isomeric chondroitin sulfate (D and/or E), and the third cell type (intermediates between the first and second types) constituting a relatively small proportion with cytoplasmic granules containing two kinds of cytoplasmic granules containing heparin and isomeric chondroitin sulfate (D and/or E) respectively. In addition, unique substructures of cytoplasmic granules containing different sulfated glycosaminoglycans were disclosed such as tubular or thin thread-like elements, interstitial vesicles and surface spine-like figures.The present results are taken to represent the first electron microscopic cytochemical evidence that mast cell populations are heterogeneous in terms of molecular species of sulfated glycosaminoglycans contained in the cytoplasmic granules in mammals.

Shock compaction techniques have been developed in order to create new advanced materials with improved and unique properties. The problem in industrializing the technique is the formation of cracks due to the propagation of strong shock wave inside the material to be consolidated and a size limitation for recovered compact. Therefore, we developed a modified apparatus to employ cylindrical configuration. The tungsten carbide is used for a lot of tools by the peculiar mechanical properties. A lot of time is needed for the manufacturing though the solid of the super-hard alloy like the tungsten carbide is manufactured by sintering usually. So we tried shock compaction to make bulk materials of hard-to-consolidate powders using cylindrical configuration. Using the cylindrical configuration, shock compaction experiment was carried out for consolidation of WC-15wt%Co powders. Look of compacted exactly were observed for a sample recovered. High compaction hardness was also measured for the sample. Numerical simulation was carried out using LS-DYNA3D and compared with the experimental result for the WC-15wt%Co compacts.