Abstract of the 68th Meeting (Spring Meeting) 6–9 March 1990, Heidelberg

Oligodendrocyte and Schwann Cell Identification Methods

Oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells were first identified using light and electron microscopy of tissue. With the definition of proteins and lipids specific to these cells, antigen localization or in situ hybridization of the mRNA has facilitated identification in vivo and in vitro. Transgenic and ‘knockin’ mice have been generated in which cells expressing a specific promoter are fluorescently labeled. This permits isolation of the cells by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and the study of the labeled cells in situ by techniques such as electrophysiology. Transgenic zebra fish, in which the glial cells are similarly labeled, facilitate studies of these cells in the living animal.

Sea level rise in the Mediterranean Sea: High resolution constraints from vermetid reefs

The Mediterranean Sea (MS), is extremely sensitive to rising sea-levels (SL) as attested by drowned archeological remains from the Roman Period [2]. Due to the absence of coral reefs, evidence for recent and Holocene SL change has so far mainly been restricted to coastal cores [1] archeological remains [2] and submerged speleothem deposits. Vermetid reefs are an extremely sensitive high resolution carbonate archive [3,4] and they are mainly formed in the lower intertidal zone by gregarious and sessile gastropods belonging to the genus Dendropoma (family Vermetidae). Since their interval of growth is restricted to the tidal zone, they can be used as precise SL proxies (about ±0.1 m in low ra…