Marcia Loeb
I study the cells of the insect midgut. The midgut is the second largest organ in an insect caterpillar after the skin (which is called the cuticle in insects). As insects eat, they also ingest viruses, other pathogens and toxic materials. All of these are things we use to try to kill pest insects and the pathway to the rest of the insect's body is through the gut. Therefore, it is important to understand how the gut develops and the internal chemical messengers that tell it what to do, how it recovers from disease, and how its cells are attacked by the pathogens that pass through it. We are growing midgut cells in culture in order to study these problems.
Recent Publications:
- Meola SM, Loeb MJ, Kochansky JP, Wagner R, Beetham P, Wright MS, Mouneimne Y, and Pendleton MW 1998 Immunocytochemical localization of testis ecdysiotropin in the pupa of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae). J. Molec. Neurosci 9: 197-210.
- Loeb MJ, Kochansky J, Wagner RM, and Woods CW 1998 Structure-function analysis of Lymantria Testis Ecdysiotropin: a search for the active core. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol 38: 11-18.
- Loeb MJ, DeLoof A, Schoofs L, and Isaac E 1998 Angiotensin II and angiotensin converting enzyme as candidate compounds modulating the effects of Testis Ecdysiotropin in testes of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. Gen Comp Endocrin 112: 232-239.
- Hu JS, Gelman DB, Bell RA, Loeb MJ 1998 In vitro rearing of Edovum puttleri, an egg parasitoid of the Colorado potato beetle - a development from egg through the pupal stage. BioControl 43: 1-16.
- Loeb MJ, Jaffe H, Gelman DB, Hakim RS. 1999 Two polypeptide factors that promote differentiation of insect midgut stem cells in vitro. Archives of Insect Biochem Physiol 40: 129-140.
- Loeb M.J. and Hakim R.S. 1999 Cultured midgut cells of Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera): Fibronectin and Integrin ß1 immunoreactivity during differentiation in vitro. Invert Reprod Devel 35: 95-102.
- Loeb MJ, Vaughn JL, and Clark E 2000 Primary Cultures of Midgut Cells from Heliothis virescens can be frozen and stored. In Vitro Cell Devel Biol-Animal 36: 7-10
- Loeb MJ, Hakim RS, Martin P, Narang N, Goto S, and Takeda M. 2000 Apoptosis in cultured midgut cells from Heliothis virescens larvae exposed to various conditions. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol 45: 12-23.
- Loeb MJ, Martin P, Hakim RS, Goto S and Takeda M 2001. Regeneration of cultured midgut cells after exposure to sublethal doses of toxin from 2 strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. J Insect Physiol 47: 599-606.
- Smagghe G, Loeb M, Tirry L 2001. In vitro and In vivo effects of a fat body extract on Spodopteral littoralis. In vitro cell Dev Biol - AN 37: 90-92.
- Loeb MJ, DeLoof A, Gelman DB, Hakim RS, Jaffe H, Kochansky JP, Meola SM, Schoofs L, Steel C, Vafopoulou X, Wagner RM, Woods CW 2001. Testis ecdysiotropin, an insect gonadotropin that induces synthesis of ecdysteroid. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol 47: 181-188.
- Takeda M, Sakai T, Fujisawa Y, Narita M, Iwabuchi K, Loeb MJ 2001. Cockroach midgut peptides that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and death in vitro. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol - An 37: 343-347.
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