Calcofluor-white Calcofluor-white Calcofluor-white is a special fluorescent stain that binds strongly to structures containing cellulose and chitin. In plant cell biology research, it is used for the staining of cell walls of both algae and higher plants. It is also useful in medicine and animal biology for the identification of fungi in the tissue, (it binds to the chitin in the cell walls of the fungi). In research, calcofluor-white is also used to stain bud scars of yeast cells because the bud scars have a higher content of chitin, which stains them more than the rest of the cell membrane. Due
Natural killer cell NK cell activity. Most of our current knowledge is derived from investigations of mouse splenic and human peripheral blood NK cells. However, in recent years tissue-resident NK cell populations have been described. These specialized NK-cell subsets can play a role in organ homeostasis. For example, NK cells are enriched in the human liver with a specific phenotype and take part in the control of liver fibrosis. Cancer Terms Natural killer cell Natural killer cells, or NK cells, are a type of cytotoxic lymphocyte critical to the innate immune system. The role NK cells play is analogous to that of cytotoxic