Jornal de Citologia e Histologia

Phrynops geoffronus is specie of reptile of the Testudines order, popularly known as Geoffroy’s side-necked turtle. As is the case of other representatives of this order, this turtle is also oviparous, meaning the females lay their eggs in the environment during reproduction. This work describes the morphology of the oviduct of P. geoffroannus, observed through light microscopy, contributing to the understanding of the reproductive biology of this species and of other reptiles. The oviducts of Geoffroy’s side-necked turtle were sectioned and processed according to the routine histological techniques and were submitted to histological and histochemical methods (HE, Mallory’s Trichrome, Ponceau Xylidine, AB pH 2.5, PAS). The oviduct of this turtle is composed of five regions: the infundibulum, which receives the oocytes released at the moment of ovulation; the uterine tube (magnum), a spiral-shaped region that produces albumin; the isthmus, a transition region; the uterus, where the egg shell is produced; and the vagina, the final part of the oviduct, which leads to the cloaca. The structure of the oviduct of P. geoffroannus is similar to that of other species of oviparous reptiles and can be used for phylogenetic morphological comparisons.

Introduction: Mucins implicated in cancers of various organs. The apical epithelial surfaces of mammalian respiratory, gastrointestinal, and reproductive tracts are coated by mucus, a mixture of water, ions, glycoproteins, proteins, and lipids. The purpose of this study was to confirm the presence of mucin production using Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stain as the gold standard and to describe the types of mucins produced in tumors of lung, colon and ovaries using various types of histochemical techniques. Methods: The resection specimens and biopsies from tumours of colon (n=16), ovaries (n=13) and lung (n=5) were included and stained with H&E to determin the histological diagnosis for selecting tissues with mucin production. Slides were stained with PAS, Alcian blue, High iron diamine-Alcian blue, Meyer’s mucicarmine and Alcian blue-PAS to demonstrate the mucin production and to identify types of mucins. Results: In the present study we observed predominance of acid mucins over neutral mucins. In addition in these cases we observed sulphomucin predominating over sialomucin. Conclusion: Mucin histochemistry can effectively determine the types of mucins.

Heart Diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality world wide. Myocardial infarction is the leading cause of congestive heart failure and death in the industrialized world. Current therapy is limited in preventing the progression of ventricular remodeling and congestive heart failure. Recent interest has focused on stem cells, which are undifferentiated and pleuropotent cells that can proliferate, potentially self-renew, and differentiate into cardiomyocytes. The article tries to underline the beneficial effects of the stem cell therapy for use in patients where other modes of therapy are not advisable and the multi purpose effects of such as therapy.