Beside its unique nutritional content breast milk also contains live cells from the mother. Fate of these cells in the offspring has not been adequately described. In this study, we aimed to detect and identify maternal cells in the suckling’s blood and the brain. Green fluorescent protein expressing transgenic female mice (GFP+) were used as foster mothers to breastfeed wildtype newborn pups. One week and two months after the birth, blood samples and brains of the sucklings were analyzed to detect presence of GFP+ cells by fluorescence activated cell sorting, polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry on the brain sections and optically cleared brains. The tests confirmed that maternal cells were detectable in the blood and the brain of the pups and that they differentiated into both neuronal and glial cell types in the brain. This phenomenon represents breastfeeding – induced microchimerism in the brain with functional implications remain to be understood.

Absorption of autologous fat graft in the recipient area necessitates recurrent fat transplantation. Harvesting extra tissue during the first operation and storing it for future use is considered a solution to this problem. Fat tissue was removed from the inguinal region of 40 Swiss albino mice, which were arranged into four equal groups, and treated as follows: immediately transplanted to the donor animal; dry-frozen; immersed in glycerol; or frozen in liquid nitrogen. The grafts that were frozen or immersed in glycerol were stored at -35 degrees C for 6 months and then transplanted to their original donors. Transplantations were performed by injecting the fat under the scalp. Viability of the fat tissue was evaluated with the MTT reduction test before transplantation, and histology of the transplanted tissue was examined at the end of the study. : The viability and histology of grafts frozen in liquid nitrogen were similar to those of fresh tissue, whereas with other methods the grafts had a considerable loss of viability during storage that was reflected in the low number of adipocytes and high proportion of vacuolar and fibrotic areas. Freezing fat grafts in liquid nitrogen and storing them at -35 degrees C is an effective way of preserving tissue for future use, with clear superiority over other methods.

Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is a critically endangered salamander species and a model organism for regenerative and developmental biology. Despite life-long neoteny in nature and in captive-bred colonies, metamorphosis of these animals can be experimentally induced by administering Thyroid hormones (THs). However, microbiological consequences of this experimental procedure, such as host microbiota response, remain largely unknown. Here, we systematically compared host bacterial microbiota associated with skin, stomach, gut tissues and fecal samples, between neotenic and metamorphic axolotls based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Our results show that distinct bacterial communities inhabit individual organs of axolotl and undergo substantial restructuring through metamorphosis. Skin microbiota among others, shifted sharply, as highlighted by a major transition from Firmicutes-enriched to Proteobacteria-enriched relative abundance and precipitously decreased diversity. Fecal microbiota of neotenic and metamorphic axolotl shared relatively higher similarity, suggesting that diet continues to shape microbiota despite fundamental transformations in the host digestive organs. We also reproduced the previous finding on reduction in regenerative capacity in limbs of axolotl following metamorphosis, highlighting the need to investigate whether shifts in microbiota is causally linked to regenerative capacity of axolotl. The initial results on axolotl microbiota provide novel insights into microbiological aspects of axolotl metamorphosis and will establish a baseline for future in-depth studies.