Projects / Programmes
Uroepitelijske celice - proliferacija in deskvamacija. Celično-molekularnobiološke študije (Slovene)
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 3.03.00 |
Medical sciences |
Neurobiology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B450 |
Biomedical sciences |
Development biology, teratology, ontogeny, embryology (human) |
| B560 |
Biomedical sciences |
Urology, nephrology |
urinary bladder, urothelium, proliferation, desquamation, differentiation, cell-cell contact, uroplakins
Researchers (13)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The mammalian urinary bladder is highly specialised organ, with its so called transitional epithelium - urothelium. Under normal physiological conditions the epithelial cells of the mammary urinary bladder in adult, display a low turnover and the cells are interconnected by specialised junctions and adhesion molecules. This stable state may occasionally be disrupted by an important cellular phenomenon - i.e. a process of cell detachment and desquamation, which is brought about by various specific indications. Desquamation has been shown to take place during gestation, following exposure to moderate stress or may accompany bladder outlet obstruction. It may be elicited in tissue culture, as well. During embryonic and neonatal development or after detachment generated by specific induction epithelium temporarily lacks an effective permeability barrier. The detachment involves interruption of junctions between cells and probably alters the cytoskeleton with the altered surface membrane polarity after desquamation. Thus in development and in repaired epithelia proliferation of transitional urothelium are periodically followed by desquamation. On the other hand hyperplasia, apoptosis and desquamation are opposing cellular processes that mediate the bladder''s response to different stimuli as for example to obstructive stimuli and to the administration of high doses of sodium saccharin or treatment with cyclophosphamide. Cellular proliferation is largely limited to the basal cells which undergo morphological changes resulting in the formation of superficial (umbrella) cells. In order to follow urothelial differentiation during embriogenesis and regeneration the studies of differentiation markers are recommended. However, there are at least two such specific molecular constituents: uroplakins and cytokeratins.
Therefore the basic purpose of our research is to analyse the relationships between proliferation and desquamation in the urothelium of mammals under determinated circumstances.
The role of anchorage dependent survival in physiological normal differentiated epithelium, or during embryogensis, in saccharin or cyclophosphamid hyperplastic epithelia, and outlet obstructed bladder have yet to be determinated.
