Possibly during the scraping of the adhered cells and processing for TEM, the basal lamina was mechanically disrupted,

releasing isolated oenocytes. Furthermore, clustered oenocytes were enclosed by a basal lamina and this structure had fractures under SEM, suggesting possible mechanical disruption of this structure. Under SEM oenocytes are large LDK378 research buy ovoid cells with a smooth surface and occasional adherence of cell debris. Generally similar SEM aspects also were detected in vivo in oenocytes from the caterpillar C. ethlius ( Jackson and Locke, 1989), and the ants Atta sexdens rubropilosa and Pachycondyla striata ( Thiele and Camargo-Mathias, 2003 and Rollo and Camargo-Mathias, 2006). The contact of the oenocytes with the coverslip typically triggered the spreading

of the cell over the substrate through small surface projections around the entire basal region. The results obtained using acridine orange indicated that oenocytes can be viably maintained in vitro for a relatively long period of time (at least two months). We did not observe any cellular division indicative of cell proliferation when the oenocytes were maintained in culture. This result was expected since oenocytes are highly differentiated and specialized cells and supported by data suggesting that oenocytes are non-dividing cells ( Gould et al., 2001). Selleck ZVADFMK The development of a successful method to isolate and maintain Ae. aegypti oenocytes in vitro will significantly contribute towards studies aimed at understanding the metabolism of such an important cell type. Moreover, the long-term survival of viable oenocytes in primary culture also provides a useful tool for investigating their interactions with pathogens (e.g. dengue virus) naturally transmitted by the Ae. aegypti. This work was financially supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Programa Nacional de Excelência (PRONEX), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Rho (FIOCRUZ). JMR-O is funded by NIH grants AI074691 and AI083831. We also acknowledge the Núcleo de Microscopia e Microanálise, Universidade Federal de

Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, for technical assistance. “
“Epidemiological studies have been demonstrated that oral mucosa may be affected by several oncogenesis disorders. Alcohol, tobacco, diabetes, dysregulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and mitochondrial mutations implicated in oral squamous cell carcinoma development (Vairaktaris et al., 2007, Bloching et al., 2008 and Nagini, 2009). According with Burzlaff et al. (2007) the exposure to alcohol or tobacco affects the pattern of maturation in oral mucosal cells. Susceptibility to carcinogens and cell proliferation in the mucosa are increased with alcohol ingestion, resulting in genetic changes with the development of dysplasia, leukoplacia and carcinoma (Riedel et al.