Effects of Ag+ on frog skin: Interactions with oxytocin,amiloride and ouabain

Summary Different biological effects of Ag⁺ (10^–4 M) were found depending on its presence in the outer or the inner solution bathing the frog skin. A marked increase in the electrical conductance and an interference with the action of oxytocin and amiloride were found only when Ag⁺ was added to the outer solution. Results suggest that Ag⁺ affects several transport processes, in particular the permeability of the Na entry pathways.This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant No. 1.300.73. We thank Mrs A. Cergneux for skilful secretarial assistance.     

Fine structure of modiffied phtoreceptor cells in the pineal of the gobyClevelandia ios (Pisces: Gobiidae)

Summary Photoreceptor cells with a system of long, thi cytoplasmic processes (50–80 nm thick), which amy represent a modification of the outer segment saccules, are described in the pineal of the goby,Clevelandia ios.The author wishes to thank Mr Larry Allen, who helped collect the specmens, and Mr Kyle Kikuchi, who was instrucmental in the preliminary studies.Partial support by Biomedical Research Support Grant (NIH) No. 447-12-000 from the Stritch School of Medicine is gratefully acknowledged.     

Increasing porosity of the incubating alligator eggshell caused by extrinsic microbial degradation

Summary The outer densely calcified layer of the alligator eggshell shows progressive crystal dissolution, with the production of concentrically stepped erosion craters, as incubation progresses. This dissolution is caused by the acidic metabolic byproducts of nest bacteria. Extrinsic degradation serves to gradually increase the porosity and decrease the strength of the eggshell.The work is supported by M.R.C. grant No. G979/386/CB and E.H.S.S.B. grant No. EB 109/74/75.     

Effect of ACTH on the zona reticularis of the rat adrenal cortex: An ultrastructural stereologic study

Summary The effects of ACTH on the rat adrenalzona reticularis were investigated by stereologic methods. It was found that thezona reticularis cell responsiveness to ACTH is similar to that of thezona fasciculata elements. This excludes that thezona reticularis of the adult rat can only function as the site of destruction of worn-out elements migrating from the adrenal outer zones.Acknowledgment. We wish to thank Mr.G. Gottardo for his skilled technical assistance. This work was partly supported by a contract with the CNR No. C.T.73.00663.04.     

Spontaneous rhythmic contractions in isolated human coronary arteries

Summary Isolated post mortem human coronary arteries developed rhythmic contractions in physiological saline solution without being exposed to vasoactive agents.This study was supported by a Scientific Research Fund (No. 56480181) from the Ministry of Education, Japan.     

Fractionation of mouse DNA by precipitation with F1 histone into fragments differing in their base composition

Summary Several fractions of mouse DNA were obtained by gradual precipitation with histone Fl. The analysis of their base composition revealed that histone interacted selectively with sequences of DNA rich in adenine plus thymine, regardless of the type of DNA molecules present in the DNA solution to be fractionated.Acknowledgments. This research was supported by the Polish Government Grant No. PRBR-1317/13.     

The biogenesis and function of eukaryotic porins.

Like most other mitochondrial proteins porin is synthesized in the cytosol and imported posttranslationally into the outer mitochondrial membrane. This transport follows the general rules for mitochondrial protein import with a few aberrations: a) porin contains an uncleaved NH2-terminal signal sequence, b) also its carboxyterminus might be involved in the import process, and c) this transport does not seem to require a membrane potential delta psi, although it is ATP-dependent. Most likely the actual import step occurs at contact sites between the outer and the inner mitochondrial membrane and involves at least one receptor protein. Although porin is known to be the major gate through the outer mitochondrial membrane, its absence only causes transient respiratory problems in yeast cells. This could mean a) that there is a bypass for some mitochondrial functions in the cytosol and/or b) that there are alternative channel proteins in the outer membrane. The first idea is supported by the overexpression of cytosolic virus-like particles in yeast cells lacking porin and the second by the occurrence of residual pore activity in mitochondrial outer membrane purified from porinless mutant cells.     

Photoreceptor damage following exposure to excess riboflavin

Flavins generate oxidants during metabolism and when exposed to light. Here we report that the photoreceptor layer of retinas from black-eyed rats is reduced in size by a dietary regime containing excess riboflavin. The effect of excess riboflavin was dose-dependent and was manifested by a decrease in photoreceptor length. This decrease was due in part to a reduction in the thickness of the outer nuclear layer, a structure formed from stacked photoreceptor nuclei. These changes were accompanied by an increase in photoreceptor outer segment autofluorescence following illumination at 328 nm, a wavelength that corresponds to the excitation maxima of oxidized lipopigments of the retinal pigment epithelium.     

Further studies on the effect of red and far red light on rat retinal development

Summary The influence on the development of the outer segments of the rat retina of far red and red light in different sequences was investigated. The far red treatment appeared to be dominating, and for animals treated with far red light first, further treatment of red light could not bring the outer segment growth back to normal. The treatments also initiated different dopamine uptakes in the retinas.     

The inner ear structures of the echidna—An SEM study

Summary Surface structures of the echidna cochlea were investigated using a scanning electron microscope technique. It was found that unlike typical mammalian cochleas, the echidna cochlea possesses four rows of inner hair cells and 6–9 rows of outer hair cells, and that the arrangements of the stereocilia of the outer hair cells were not uniform throughout the length of the basilar membrane.We are grateful for the valuable advice given by Mr J. Nailon.     

Membrane protein folding on the example of outer membrane protein A of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

The biophysical principles and mechanisms by which membrane proteins insert and fold into a biomembrane have mostly been studied with bacteriorhodopsin and outer membrane protein A (OmpA). This review describes the assembly process of the monomeric outer membrane proteins of Gram-negative bacteria, for which OmpA has served as an example. OmpA is a two-domain outer membrane protein composed of a 171-residue eight-stranded -barrel transmembrane domain and a 154-residue periplasmic domain. OmpA is translocated in an unstructured form across the cytoplasmic membrane into the periplasm. In the periplasm, unfolded OmpA is kept in solution in complex with the molecular chaperone Skp. After binding of periplasmic lipopolysaccharide, OmpA insertion and folding occur spontaneously upon interaction of the complex with the phospholipid bilayer. Insertion and folding of the -barrel transmembrane domain into the lipid bilayer are highly synchronized, i.e. the formation of large amounts of -sheet secondary structure and -barrel tertiary structure take place in parallel with the same rate constants, while OmpA inserts into the hydrophobic core of the membrane. In vitro, OmpA can successfully fold into a range of model membranes of very different phospholipid compositions, i.e. into bilayers of lipids of different headgroup structures and hydrophobic chain lengths. Three membrane-bound folding intermediates of OmpA were discovered in folding studies with dioleoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers. Their formation was monitored by time-resolved distance determinations by fluorescence quenching, and they were structurally distinguished by the relative positions of the five tryptophan residues of OmpA in projection to the membrane normal. Recent studies indicate a chaperone-assisted, highly synchronized mechanism of secondary and tertiary structure formation upon membrane insertion of -barrel membrane proteins such as OmpA that involves at least three structurally distinct folding intermediates.     

Morphometrische Untersuchungen an der Rattenleber — Parenchymzelle nach Anwendung verschiedener Fixationspuffer

Summary The effect of 2 fixatives, (1) s-Collidin buffered OsO₄, (2) phosphate buffered OsO₄, on the liver cell was studied by morphometric analysis. After fixation with solution 2, large areas of smooth endoplasmic reticulum were covered by electron-opaque deposits of glycogen. No such masking was noticed by using solution 1. Other cell organelles showed no significant differences in their relative volumes. By using fixative solution 2, decrease in glycogen can simulate relative volume increase of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.

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Wesentliche Teile der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden von Frl. F.Stockmann der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Basel als Inaugural-Dissertation vorgelegt.     

The generality of the nitroso-glyoxylate reaction: Conversion ofp-nitronitrosobenzene to the hydroxamic acid

Summary The reaction of glyoxylic acid withp-nitronitrosobenzene (1b) in dilute aqueous solution gave the hydroxamic acid (2b) as the major detectable product. The significance of this observation with respect to the title reaction is discussed.This study was supported by grant No. CA 32395 from the National Cancer Institute, and by Research Career Development Award ES 00120 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, DHHS.     

The preprotein translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane: receptors and a general import pore

Cytosol-synthesized preproteins destined for the mitochondria are transported across the outer membrane by the translocase of the mitochondrial outer membrane (TOM complex). This dynamic transport machinery can be divided into receptors that recognize preprotein targeting signals and components of the general import pore complex that mediate preprotein transport across the outer membrane. This review focuses on recent studies dealing with the central questions regarding the pore-forming subunits, and architecture and gating of the translocation channel of the outer membrane.     

The biogenesis and function of eukaryotic porins

Summary Like most other mitochondrial proteins porin is synthesized in the cytosol and imported posttranslationally into the outer mitochondrial membrane. This transport follows the general rules for mitochondrial, protein import with a few aberrations: a) porin contains an,uncleaved NH₂-terminal signal sequence, b) also its carboxyterminus might be involved in the import process, and c) this transport does not seem to require a membrane potential , although it is ATP-dependent. Most likely the actual import step occurs at contact sites between the outer and the inner mitochondrial membrane and involved at least one receptor protein.Although porin is known to be the major gate through the outer mitochondrial membrane, its absence only causes transient respiratory problems in yeast cells. This could mean a) that there is a bypass for some mitochondrial functions in the cytosol and/or b) that there are alternative channel proteins in the outer membrane. The first idea is supported by the overexpression of cytosolic virus-like particles in yeast cells lacking porin and the second by the occurrence of residual pore activity in mitochondrial outer membrane purified from porinless mutant cells.     

On the interaction of hypoxanthine with adenine

Résumé Une conversion non-enzymatique d'hypoxanthine en adénine fut proposée sur la base d'observations spectrophotométriques obtenues de solutions contenant adénine et hypoxanthine dans 1–5M de phosphate d'ammonium. Les résultats fournis par les expériences sur la radioactivité ne confirme pas la conclusion émise parBowne ² que hypoxanthine et adénine agissent l'une sur l'autre en solution concentrée de phosphate d'ammonium pour former de l'adénine.

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This work was supported by United States Public Health Service Grants No. AM-08897, No. AM-10126, and No. 2A-5124; a grant from The Arthritis Foundation (Northern California Chapter); and from the Committee on Research, University of California School of Medicine (San Francisco).     

Biogenesis of prokaryotic pores.

The prokaryotic pore-forming proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm, and are assembled in their functional form in the outer membrane. They begin to traverse the cytoplasmic membrane via the SecY/SecA export pathway, which is shared also by periplasmic proteins. The sorting signals that direct these proteins to the outer membrane could be present in the three-dimensional conformations of the proteins, but some results suggest that they may be present in short, contiguous sequences. Outer membrane proteins share a rather hydrophilic amino acid composition, and appear to be rich in beta-sheets (with the exception of lipoproteins). This observation as well as the demonstration of periplasmic export intermediates favor the secretion pathway through the periplasm, as opposed to export through fusion sites between the inner and the outer membrane, but such intermediates have not yet been observed with the wild type proteins under physiological conditions.     

The use of iodinated density gradient media for the isolation of rod outer segments

Summary Sucrose, nycodenz, metrizamide and a mixture of equal volumes of sucrose and metrizamide were used as density gradient media for the isolation of retinal rod outer segments. The high osmolarity of sucrose had a strongly negative effect on the nature of the rod outer segments, whereas they were much better preserved using iodinated density gradient media such as nycodenz and metrizamide for their isolation.     

The use of iodinated density gradient media for the isolation of rod outer segments

Sucrose, nycodenz, metrizamide and a mixture of equal volumes of sucrose and metrizamide were used as density gradient media for the isolation of retinal rod outer segments. The high osmolarity of sucrose had a strongly negative effect on the nature of the rod outer segments, whereas they were much better preserved using iodinated density gradient media such as nycodenz and metrizamide for their isolation.     

Zur Bindung von Biliverdin an das Protein im Crenilabrus-Blau

Summary The blue biliprotein from the fins of the Mediterranean fishCrenilabrus pavo C.V. was analysed with respect to linkages between colouring matter (biliverdin IX) and apoprotein. It was shown by chromic oxidation under various conditions and determination of degradation products that one of the outer and one of the inner rings of biliverdin are free. The remaining inner ring is bound to the apoprotein presumably by an ester bond, while the lability of the linkage between one outer ring and apoprotein corresponds to a N-acyl-bond.