The ACAS 570 interactive laser cytometer requested herein will provide the University of South Alabama College of Medicine with the capacity to perform the following functions not now available: (1) time- and spatially-resolved fluorescence analyses on individual cells, (2) the potential for studying cell-cell interactions at the level of the individual cells and to directly visualize the effects of such interactions using fluorescence image analysis, (3) isolation of anchored cells for enrichment, outgrowth and additional study without subjecting the cells to detachment protocols, (4) fluorescence redistribution after photobleaching to analyze inter- and intracellular translocation of membrane components, cytoplasmic structures and biologically-relevant molecules, (5) confocal imaging of cells and intracellular structures to precisely locate antigen- or other probe-associated fluorescence. The ACAS 570 will be instrumental in providing new capabilities for a variety of analytical and preparative cell techniques in the following NIH-funded projects: (1) endothelial cell (EC) prostacylin synthesis and red cell-EC interactions, (2) lung fibroblast (LF) heterogeneity and type II alveolar cell-LF interaction, (3) pulmonary surfactant recycling by type II epithelial cells, (4) prolactin and secretogranin distribution and associated intracellular parameters in a pituitary tumor-cell model system, (5) regulation of iron absorption at the single cell level, (6) mitochondria translocation in neurites, (7) intracellular biochemical parameters associated with sickling of red blood cells, (8) oxygen radicals in neutrophils, (9) eosinophil peroxidase regulation, (10) the role of the poly(ADP-ribose) system in chemically-induced beta cell damage, (11) calcium transport in diabetic cardiomyopathies, (12) Na-Ca exchange in immature myocardium, (13) epidermal morphogenesis. Three additional projects, not NIH funded, deal with: (1) an analysis of calcium-modulated proteins, S100 and calmodulin in cultured glial cells, (2) the regulation of calcium transients in gastric parietal cells, and (3) the characterization of intracellular spiroplasma infection in a neuroblastoma cell line. Collectively, these projects will be conducted in eight different departments within the College of Medicine and will represent at least 16 different experimental approaches to important biological problems that cannot be pursued without the technological support of the ACAS 570. The instrumentation will enable these and other investigators at this institution to explore frontier arenas of science with the most sophisticated instrumentation available today.
