On Fri, 27 Jan 1995, Marc Brande wrote: > I would be interested in corresponding with anyone who is researching the > biology of Whole Cells of any type. This area studies cells as an > integrated whole system, where cells are studied LIVE, WHOLE, AS > INDIVIDUAL AND IN 3 DIMENSIONS just as they are in vivo. I think we qualify, because we study the living mouse colonic epithelium and have used the confocal microscope to define the synergy between epithelial structure and vectorial ion transport. We have used extracellular SNARF-1 and emission ratioing to study pH in the lumen of the colonic crypt and in the submucosal tissue. We find that compounds which are present physiologically in the gut lumen cause polarized pH regulation (i.e. pH in the lumen goes one way, and the submucosal tissue goes the other way). This is very interesting for us because we had previously heretically suggested that this epithelium had heterogenous pH across the epithelium. That type of statement leads people to think you have either identified something really novel, or you are completely in left field. The confocal proved the hypothesis quite handily. Most important, We would have no chance to see this in other preparations, because results require intact epithelial architecture (i.e. crypts are microscopic invaginations in the wall of the colon which make the crypt lumen a restricted mixing environment) and intact epithelial polarity. This work does not address the function of individual cells, because crypts will average the diverse responses of all cells in the crypt, but I think we have a new slant on cell physiology and its consequences in native tissue. I echo Marc Brande's sentiments about wanting to know the community who do living cell confocal microscopy, especially in complex tissues that do nasty things like scatter light. Chip Montrose Johns Hopkins Univ. 410-955-9681 voice 410-955-9677 fax [log in to unmask]