Development of a new tachykinin antagonist

The mouse urinary bladder possesses a tachykinin receptor which responds to kassinin and eledoisin, but not to some other tachykinins. The action of kassinin, but not that of eledoisin, was blocked in a surmountable manner by a new tachykinin antagonist, D-Pro4, Val8, D-Trp (SP).     

Enhanced bacterial clearance and sepsis resistance in caspase-12-deficient mice

Caspases function in both apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine processing and thereby have a role in resistance to sepsis. Here we describe a novel role for a caspase in dampening responses to bacterial infection. We show that in mice, gene-targeted deletion of caspase-12 renders animals resistant to peritonitis and septic shock. The resulting survival advantage was conferred by the ability of the caspase-12-deficient mice to clear bacterial infection more efficiently than wild-type littermates. Caspase-12 dampened the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-18 (interferon (IFN)-gamma inducing factor) and IFN-gamma, but not tumour-necrosis factor-alpha and IL-6, in response to various bacterial components that stimulate Toll-like receptor and NOD pathways. The IFN-gamma pathway was crucial in mediating survival of septic caspase-12-deficient mice, because administration of neutralizing antibodies to IFN-gamma receptors ablated the survival advantage that otherwise occurred in these animals. Mechanistically, caspase-12 associated with caspase-1 and inhibited its activity. Notably, the protease function of caspase-12 was not necessary for this effect, as the catalytically inactive caspase-12 mutant Cys299Ala also inhibited caspase-1 and IL-1beta production to the same extent as wild-type caspase-12. In this regard, caspase-12 seems to be the cFLIP counterpart for regulating the inflammatory branch of the caspase cascade. In mice, caspase-12 deficiency confers resistance to sepsis and its presence exerts a dominant-negative suppressive effect on caspase-1, resulting in enhanced vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic mortality.     

多项式微分系统的不变直线的不同斜率的最大个数

本文证明了公式β（ｎ）＝σ（ｎ－１）＋１其中α（ｎ－１）是ｎ－１次多项式微分系统的不为直线的最多条数，βｎ）是ｎ次多项式微分系统的不变直线的不同斜率的最大个数。这里假设所讨论的多项式系统只有限条不变直线。     

Identity of tumour necrosis factor and the macrophage-secreted factor cachectin

In mammals, several well-defined metabolic changes occur during infection, many of which are attributable to products of the reticuloendothelial system. Among these changes, a hypertriglyceridaemic state is frequently evident, resulting from defective triglyceride clearance, caused by systemic suppression of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL). We have found previously that macrophages secrete the hormone cachectin, which specifically suppresses LPL activity in cultured adipocytes (3T3-L1 cells). When originally purified from RAW 264.7 (mouse macrophage) cells, cachectin was shown to have a pI of 4.7, a subunit size of relative molecular mass (Mr) 17,000 and to form non-covalent multimers. A receptor for cachectin was identified on non-tumorigenic cultured cells and on normal mouse liver membranes. A new high-yield purification technique has enabled us to determine further details of the structure of mouse cachectin. We now report that a high degree of homology exists between the N-terminal sequence of mouse cachectin and the N-terminal sequence recently determined for human tumour necrosis factor (TNF). Purified cachectin also possesses potent TNF activity in vitro. These findings suggest that the 'cachectin' and 'TNF' activities of murine macrophage conditioned medium are attributable to a single protein, which modulates the metabolic activities of normal as well as neoplastic cells through interaction with specific high-affinity receptors.     

Development of a new tachykinin antagonist

Summary The mouse urinary bladder possesses a tachykinin receptor which responds to kassinin and eledoisin, but not to some other tachykinins. The action of kassinin, but not that of eledoisin, was blocked in a surmountable manner by a new tachykinin antagonist, D-Pro⁴, Val⁸, D-Trp^7,9,10 (SP)^4–11.Acknowledgments. We thank Mrs Danielle Solomos for technical help. This study was financed by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (3.800-80.2).     

Hepatic carcinogenesis threshold and biphasic mitochondrial swelling response in the guinea-pig during diethylnitrosamine administration

Résumé La corrélation préalablement établie entre l'incidence de tumeurs hépatiques induits par le 3-méthyl-4-diméthylaminoazobenzène et le gonflement de mitochondries dans le rat a été étendue à la cancérogenèse induite par la diéthylnitrosamine dans le cobaye.

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Supported by Research Grants Nos. CA-05431 and CA-05793 from the National Cancer Institute, United States Public Health Service. The expert technical assistance of Mrs.Shirley B.Bemis with the mitotic indexes is gratefully acknowledged.