Wonder if they can xray frog oocytes in gut?
Had a dream where frogs were jumping around in my gut.
They seemed quite happy, acutally.
So would the frog be my symbiont?
I have always like frogs, this was beige, very minature. was smiling and jumping not fast but, like in slow motion.
I rarely dream, but, this was so real.
It was like looking down into my digestive system and these frogs were present.
Not a lot of them, maybe 5 or 6, in different stages of growth.
Mean anything?
Well, look at this:
Cell Connections
© 2002 WILLIAM LEONARD The human body operates by many of the same molecular mechanisms as a mouse, a frog, or a worm. For example, human and mouse genes are about 86 percent identical. That may be humbling to us, but researchers are thrilled about the similarities because it means they can use these simpler creatures as experimental, "model" organisms to help them understand human health. Often, scientists choose model organisms that will make their experiments easier or more revealing. Some of the most popular model organisms in biology include bacteria, yeast cells, roundworms, fruit flies, frogs, rats, and mice.
Barry Gumbiner of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, performs experiments with frogs to help clarify how body tissues form during development. Gumbiner studies proteins called cadherins that help cells stick together (adhere) and a protein (beta-catenin) that works alongside cadherins.
Scientists know that beta-catenin is critical for establishing the physical structure of a tadpole as it matures from a spherical fertilized egg. Specifically, beta-catenin helps cadherin proteins act as molecular tethers to grip onto cell partners. This function is critical because cell movement and adhesion must be carefully choreographed and controlled for the organism to achieve a proper three-dimensional form.
While cell adhesion is a fundamental aspect of development, the process also can be a double-edged sword. Cell attraction is critical for forming tissues in developing humans and frogs, but improper contacts can lead to disaster.
This last sentence....." Cell attraction is critical for forming tissues in developing humans and frogs, but improper contacts can lead to disaster."Could that disaster be happening in my gut:
Then look at this:
...."Cells on the Move
Although many types of cells move in some way, the most well-traveled ones are blood cells. Every drop of blood contains millions of cells—red blood cells, which carry oxygen to your tissues; platelets, which are cell fragments that control clotting; and a variety of different types of white blood cells. Red blood cells, which get their deep color from rich stores of iron—containing hemoglobin protein, are carried along passively by—and normally retained within—the bloodstream. In contrast, other blood cells can move quickly out of the bloodstream when they're needed to help heal an injury or fight an infection.
Infection Protectors
White blood cells protect us from viruses, bacteria, and other invaders.
IMAGE COURTESY OF JIM EHRMAN, DIGITAL MICROSCOPY FACILITY,
MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITYWhite blood cells serve many functions, but their primary job is protecting the body from infection. Therefore, they need to move quickly to an injury or infection site. These soldiers of the immune system fight infection in many ways: producing antibodies, engulfing bacteria, or waging chemical warfare on invaders. In fact, feeling sick is often the result of chemicals spilt by white blood cells as they are defending you. Likewise, the pain of inflammation, like that caused by sunburn or a sprained ankle, is a consequence of white cells moving into injured tissue.
How do white blood cells rush to heal a wound? Remarkably, they use the same basic process that primitive organisms, such as ameobae, use to move around.
Shape-Shifting Amoebae
Dictyostelia can completely transform themselves from individual cells into a multicellular organism. Studies of these unique creatures are teaching scientists important lessons about development, cell movement, and cell division.
REX L. CHISHOLMIn a remarkable example of cell movement, single-celled organisms called amoebae inch toward a food source in a process called chemotaxis. Because they live, eat, and die so fast, amoebae are excellent model systems for studying cell movement. They are eukaryotic cells like the ones in your body, and they use many of the same message systems your own cells use. Peter Devreotes of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, studies the molecular triggers for chemotaxis using bacteria-eating amoebae named Dictyostelia that undergo dramatic changes over the course of their short lifespans.
Individual Dictyostelia gorge themselves on bacteria, and then, when the food is all eaten up, an amazing thing happens. Tens of thousands of them come together to build a tower called a fruiting body, which looks sort of like a bean sprout stuck in a small mound of clay.
Devreotes and other biologists have learned that Dictyostelia move by first stretching out a piece of themselves, sort of like a little foot. This "pseudopod" then senses its environment for the highest concentration of a local chemical attractant—for the amoebae this is often food, and for the white blood cell, it is the scent of an invader. The pseudopod, followed by the entire cell, moves toward the attractant by alternately sticking and unsticking to the surface along which it moves. The whole process, Devreotes has discovered, relies on the accumulation of very specific lipid molecules in the membrane at the leading edge of a roving cell. Devreotes is hopeful that by clarifying the basics of chemotaxis, he will uncover new ways to design treatments for many diseases in which cell movement is abnormal. Some of these health problems include asthma, arthritis, cancer, and artery-clogging atherosclerosis.
Healing Wounds
The coverings for all your body parts (your skin, the linings of your organs, and your mouth) are made up primarily of epithelial cells. You might think that of all the cell types, these would be the ones staying put. Actually, researchers are learning that epithelial cells are also good at snapping into action when the situation calls for them to get moving.
Say you get a nasty gash on your foot. Blood seeps out, and your flesh is exposed to air, dirt, and bacteria that could cause an infection. Platelets stick together, helping to form a clot that stops the bleeding. At the same time, your skin cells rapidly grow a new layer of healed skin over the wound.
Researchers have learned that epithelial cells have the wondrous ability to move around in clumps. These clumped cells help clean up an injured area quickly by squeezing together and pushing away debris from dead cells.
All organisms get wounds, so some researchers are studying the wound-healing process using model systems. For example, William Bement of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, examines wounded membranes of frog oocytes. He chose these cells because they are large, easy to see into, and readily available. Looking through a specialized microscope, Bement watches what happens when wounds of different shapes and sizes start to heal.
Bement learned that just as with human epithelial cells, the wounds in frog oocytes gradually heal by forming structures called contractile rings, which surround the wound hole, coaxing it into a specific shape before gradually shrinking it. He is now identifying which molecules regulate this process. His research may help find better ways to treat injuries in people and animals.
As you can see, all of your 200-plus cell types work in harmony, each playing its own role to keep you alive and healthy. Next, we'll cover how cells replenish themselves, and how certain cells enable us to pass on some—but not all—of our genes through sexual reproduction. "
Symbionts?
publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidethecell/chapter3.htmlOh, well, wonder what their favorite food is?
Will keep them happy.
Skytroll