Pituitary response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone in diabetic male rats

Summary The rise in serum luteinizing hormone concentration after treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone was less in diabetic castrated male rats than control castrates. In intact male rats, gonadotropin-releasing hormone treatment resulted in higher serum luteinizing hormone concentrations in diabetic than in control rats.Acknowledgments. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada. The authors are grateful to Dr G.D. Niswender, Dr L.E. Reichert, Jr. and the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases, Rat Pituitary Hormone Program for providing radioimmunoassay materials. The streptozotocin was kindly provided by Dr W.E. Dulin, The Upjohn Company. D.B. Beaton and J. Brunka provided excellent technical assistance.     

Certain biochemical effects of garlic oil on rats maintained on high fat-high cholesterol diet

The feeding of a high fat-high cholesterol (HF-HC) diet to normal rats for 1 month increased the lipid components cholesterol and triglyceride in serum, liver and kidneys and decreased the serum albumin very significantly. Administration of garlic oil (100 mg/kg b. wt/day) for 1 month together with the HF-HC diet to another group almost nullified the lipid-increasing and albumin-decreasing effects of that diet. The reduction in total lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides and the restoration to normal level of serum albumin were highly significant in the garlic oil group. Adipose tissue triglyceride lipase activity was significantly increased in both the above groups with a much greater rise in the oil group.     

Certain biochemical effects of garlic oil on rats maintained on high fat-high cholesterol diet

Summary The feeding of a high fat-high cholesterol (HF-HC) diet to normal rats for 1 month increased the lipid components cholesterol and triglyceride in serum, liver and kidneys and decreased the serum albumin very significantly. Administration of garlic oil (100 mg/kg b. wt/day) for 1 month together with the HF-HC diet to another group almost nullified the lipid-increasing and albumin-decreasing effects of that diet. The reduction in total lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides and the restoration to normal level of serum albumin were highly significant in the garlic oil group. Adipose tissue triglyceride lipase activity was significantly increased in both the above groups with a much greater rise in the oil group.     

Bombesin,calcitonin and leu-enkephalin immunoreactivity in endocrine cells of human lung

Summary By immunohistochemistry, bombesin, calcitonin and leu-enkephalin was localized in endocrine cells of human lungs from various age groups. It is suggested that at least 3 different peptide containing endocrine cells may be present in human lung.Acknowledgments. The authors thank Dr Camille Vaillant, University of Liverpool, for advice with immunohistochemical methods and Dr G. Dockray for his generous gift of bombesin antiserum. This work has been supported by Medical Research Council of Canada (MA-7054) and Ontario Thoracic Society.     

Effect of exogenous iron on the viability of pathogenicNaegleria fowleri in serum

Summary WhenNaegleria fowleri (Lee) was incubated in newborn calf and human serum an amebicidal effect was observed. Heat inactivation of both sera resulted in the recovery of viable amebae after incubation in these sera. Exogenous iron added to non-heat inactivated calf serum improved viability slightly but was without effect when added to human serum not heat inactivated. Exogenous iron greatly enhanced growth and/or viability in heat inactivated calf serum. Viability of amebae also was considerably enhanced in human serum which was heat inactivated when pH was lowered in conjunction with iron supplements.Appreciation is expressed to Dr Ronald R. Weik (Dept. Biochemistry, Louisiana State Univ., New Orleans, LA. 70119) and Dr David T. John (Dept. Microbiology, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, VA. 23298) for providing theNaegleria fowleri (Lee) used in this investigation.     

Effect of menstrual stress on serum lipid levels

Summary The effect of menstrual stress on serum lipid levels has been investigated in 28 healthy unmarried student nurses aged between 19 and 25 years, with histories of regular 26–30 day menstrual cycles. There were definite and similar patterns of changes in serum cholesterol, phospholipids and triglycerides during different phases of the menstrual cycle.The authors acknowledge with pleasure the useful discussion with Dr Radium D. Bhattacharya, the statistical analysis by Shiri N. P. Gopinath and Dr A. R. N. Setalvad.     

Changes in the concentration of vasoactive intestinal peptide in intestinal lymph in response to vagal stimulation in the calf

Summary Stimulation of both vagi caused a significant rise in arterial plasma vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) concentration in 3–5-week-old calves with cut splanchnic nerves. This was associated with a pronounced rise in the VIP concentration of intestinal lymph showing that vagal stimulation causes release of VIP from splanchnic viscera.Acknowledgment. This work has been supported by grants from the Agricultural Research Council and the Medical Research Council and we are indebted to Dr D.M. Burley (CIBA) for his continued support.     

Effect of butyl alcohol inDatura innoxia Mill

Zusammenfassung Die Behandlung der Samen vonDatura innoxia Mill. mitn-Butylalkohol und Temperaturschock ergibt in der nächsten Generation Pflanzen, deren Samen einen höheren Alkaloidgehalt aufweisen. Das Hauptalkaloid ist Scopolamin (Hyoscin) mit einem Anteil von 50–70% am Gesamtalkaloidgehalt.

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The author is grateful to Dr. K.Ganapathi, Director, and Dr. C. K.Atal, Scientist of this Laboratory, for their interest in the work.Shri Het Singh, Dr. K. L.Dhar and MissSubash Kumari helped by analyzing the seeds which is duly acknowledged.     

Serum cholesterol levels in a nigerian population sample

Summary Serum cholesterol was determined in 104 healthy Nigerians (57 males and 47 females). The average cholesterol concentration was 187±72.8 mg/100 ml (mean±SD) with a range of 60–480 mg/100 ml. Cholesterol levels were higher in males than in females and increased with age. Distribution of cholesterol level was generally skew to the left.Acknowledgment. I am grateful to Mr S. O. Oguike an Mr O. Uzoechi for technical assistance. I also thank Dr. E. O. Anosike for his help in arranging for the subjects of study.     

Radioresistance in cells with high content of metallothionein

Summary An endogenous cytoplasmic protein, metallothionein (MT) apparently gave rise to radioresistance in 2 different cell lines. A dose reduction factor of 1.9 was achieved in MT-containing cells. MT accounted for a 3–4-fold increase of total sulfhydryl groups in the resistant cell strains, compared to the non-resistant lines from which they were derived. The protein is rich in cysteine (30%), an amino acid known to give radioprotection when administered exogeneously. Glutathione levels and cell-cycle phase distribution showed no marked difference between resistant and corresponding non-resistant cells.We thank Dr F. Devik, Dr L. Eldjarn and Dr E. Jellum for stimulating discussions, and Miss A. K. Syversen and Mrs T. Nysted for skillful technical assistance. This work was partly supported by the Norgwegian Council for Science and the Humanitites. LE is a fellow of the Norwegian Society for Fighting Cancer.     

Anti-endotoxin (anti-lipid-A) antibodies

Summary Anti-lipid-A, anti-endotoxin, antibodies have been measured by a passive haemolysis test using antigen from anE. coli Re mutant. Titres in the normal population are low but do rise in situations in which there has been gram-negative sepsis. Absence of raised titres in other situations has profound implications.We are most grateful to Dr Günter Schmidt of Freiburg for his gift of Lipid-A antigen. We also thank Dr L. Monnens of Nijmegen and Dr T.M. Barratt of London for their sera.     

Purification of 20α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from human erythrocytes

Summary 20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase was found in the supernatant after hemolysis of human erythrocytes, and the enzyme was isolated from the membrane-free hemolysate on a DEAE-cellulose column. The NADPH-generating system was essential for the reaction.Acknowledgments. We wish to thank Dr A. Tomoda, Department of Biochemistry, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, and Dr T. Yubisui, Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Oita, for their advice and useful discussions.     

Common antigenicity between a human thymic epithelial cell product and a thymus-dependent serum factor

Summary Specific immunofluorescence of human thymic epithelial cytoplasm was obtained with antibodies to supernatant of thymic epithelial cultures, and with anti-prealbumin antibodies. These antibodies also reacted with normal serum but not with serum from Di George patients. The data indicates that thymic epithelium and a component of the prealbumin fraction of normal serum share a common antigen believed to be thymic hormone.Acknowledgment. The authors wish to thank Mrs Francine Rivard and Claire Prévost for technical assistance and Dr A.R.C. Dobell for human thymic material. This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute of Canada and the Medical Research Council of Canada.     

High affinity of quinidine for a stereoselective microsomal binding site as determined by a radioreceptor assay

Summary The techniques of the radioreceptor binding assay were applied to detect stereoselective binding of quinidine and quinine to a site on human liver microsomes. Binding of³H-dihydroquinidine was 50% inhibited by 20–100 nM quinidine, while its enantiomer quinine did not displace the³H-ligand at concentrations up to 500 nM. This stereoselectivity agreed with the affinity values measured by functional enzyme assays of cytochrome P450 activity using sparteine or debrisoquine as substrates.Acknowledgments. We thank C. Ulpian for advice and assistance. We also thank Dr M. Robinette of Metro Organ Retrieval and Exchange and Dr T. Inaba for making human hepatic tissue available. This work was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of Canada.     

Serum iron level of the common Indian frogRana tigrina Daud.

Summary A study extending over a period of 2 years has been made on serum iron level of common Indian frogR. tigrina. Serum iron averages 99.4 g/100 ml in female and 92.60 g/100 ml in males. The serum iron concentration is relatively high from May to October. Starvation has been found to decrease the serum iron level from the 16th day onwards.Acknowledgment. Thanks are due to Professor Dr M. M. Goil, Head of the Zoology Department for guidance and help in various ways and to Professor Dr R. K. Sharma for valuable suggestions.     

Phosphatase activity in testis and prostate of rats treated with embelin andVinca rosea extract

Summary Daily administration ofVinca rosea Linn. extract orally and embelin s.c. to male albino rats caused significant rise in levels of acid and alkaline phosphatases of testis and prostate indicating altered metabolic function.We acknowledge the financial support by Indian Council of Medical Research and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. Thanks are due to Dr J. Bahadur, School of Studies in Zoology, Jiwaji University, Gwalior for providing laboratory facilities.     

The role of sex steroid in two avian song behaviours differing in ontogenetic process

The male Bengalese finch,Lonchura striata, has two types of song behaviour (directed song, DS and undirected song, US). DS and US share a basically identical syllable repertoire, sequence pattern and tempo, but differ in the time course of appearance during the maturational process. In order to examine whether this results from a difference in testosterone (T) dependency, we studied developmental changes in the fecal T level and the amounts of DS and US during the 2–4 month period (N=7). DS appeared between 83 and 94 days of age, 4–16 days after a rise in the fecal T level. In contrast, US appeared earlier and at high frequency even when T was still at a very low level. These results suggest that DS is more dependent on the T level than US, and is not activated until the T level rises during the maturational process.     

Changes in the lipoproteins of rabbits on a high-fat,cholesterol-free diet; preventive action of metformin

Summary Endogenous hypercholesterolemia induced by a cholesterol-free, high-fat diet corresponds to an increase in the level of low density lipoproteins and their enrichment in cholesterol esters. Metformin has no effect on the rise in plasma cholesterol but completely prevents the appearance of cholesterol-rich low-density lipoprotein.     

Effects of bromocriptine on plasma testosterone and gonadotropin levels and testicular lipid fractions in adult rats

Summary Bromocriptine treatment of adult male rats resulted in a decrease in testicular testosterone (T) content and a reduction in plasma T levels. This was accompanied by increase in testicular total lipids and cholesterol and depletion of testicular phospholipids.Acknowledgments. We thank Dr R. L. Elton of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals for provision of CB-154. This work was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY, and by NIH grants HD 12642 and P-30 HD 10202 (Radioimmunoassay Core).     

3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaric acid and triton-induced hyperlipidemia in rats

Summary 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaric acid (HMG) significantly decreased cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipid levels in whole serum, serum -lipoproteins and liver of Triton-induced hyperlipidemic rats. Therapeutically 50 mg HMG/kg is equivalent to 200 mg nicotinic acid/kg in lowering all these lipid parameters. HMG may exert its hypolipidemic effect through inhibition of lipoprotein synthesis.Acknowledgments. We are grateful to Dr.M. Saleemuddin for encouragement, Dr.P. E. Schurr, Upjohn Co. USA for generous gift of Triton W. R 1339 and Lady Tata Memorial Trust (India) for financial assistance to one of us (SYKY).