Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the literature on the application of organ culture to the study of vitamins and hormones. The organ culture technique enables part of a complicated problem to be isolated from the general confusion of the body so that it may be studied under controlled, simplified-and yet abnormal conditions. Seeking for the primary cause of some phenomenon in vivo is often like looking for a needle in a haystack. In organ culture, the main object is to preserve the characteristic structure and functional activities of tissues in a condition resembling as closely as possible that of the same organ in the body. Used in this way, as an ancillary technique to studies on the intact animal, organ culture is an extremely valuable tool for a wide variety of problems.
In the 50 years since we described cell death as 'programmed,' we have come far, thanks to the efforts of many brilliant researchers, and we now understand the mechanics, the biochemistry, and the genetics of many of the ways in which cells can die. This knowledge gives us the resources to alter the fates of many cells. However, not all cells respond similarly to the same stimulus, in either sensitivity to the stimulus or timing of the response. Cells prevented from dying through one pathway may survive, survive in a crippled state, or die following a different pathway. To fully capitalize on our knowledge of cell death, we need to understand much more about how cells are targeted to die and what aspects of the history, metabolism, or resources available to individual cells determine how each cell reaches and crosses the threshold at which it commits to death.
Age serves as a basis for assigning status and regulating social interaction across all societies. Members of the cultural group socialize new members into the rules and roles that are associated w...