title: Complexity reduction of chromatin architecture in macula densa cells during mouse postnatal development.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether complexity of chromatin structure in kidney macula densa cells (MDC) decreases during postnatal development in mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  The levels of chromatin structural complexity were measured by determining fractal dimension of MDC nuclei. Kidney tissue was obtained from the total of 32 male Swiss albino mice divided into four age groups (n = 8): newborn (0 days), 10 days old, 20 days old and 30 days old. For a total of 640 MDC chromatin structures, fractal dimension, lacunarity, as well as parameters of Grey level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Chromatin fractal dimension in animals aged 10 days, 20 days and 30 days was significantly lower (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively), compared with newborn mice. This complexity reduction of chromatin architecture is in accordance with previously published studies, which detected generalized and sustained loss of both tissue and cell complexity during aging. The loss of complexity was texture-independent, since there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) in both chromatin angular second moment and inverse difference moment between the age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that age-related nuclear intrinsic factors which do not influence chromatin texture may have an important role in MDC postnatal development.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. igor.pantic@mfub.bg.ac.rs
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pantic
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Basta-Jovanovic
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Starcevic
authors.forename: Jovana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paunovic
authors.forename: Slavica
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzic
authors.forename: Zvezdana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kojic
authors.forename: Senka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pantic
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D002843:Chromatin / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017709:Fractals; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008853:Microscopy
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin