Ca-antagonistic substance from soft coral of the genus Sarcophyton

A 14-membered ring diterpenoid named cembrane, possessing Ca-antagonistic action on the isolated rabbit aorta, has been isolated from a soft coral of the genus Sarcophyton, and its structure established by X-ray and spectroscopic data.     

Characterization and antithrombotic action of tissue plasminogen activator

Summary An extractive fibrinolytic enzyme has been characterized and found to belong to the class of vascular plasminogen activators. The agent has been found to have an antithrombotic action in the rabbit.Provided by Dr L. Dussourd d'Hinterland, Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, Castres, France. 1000 units have a fibrinolytic activity of about 15 PU urokinase.     

Gap junctions in myo-endothelial bridges of rabbit carotid arteries

Summary Myo-endothelial contacts have been studied in rabbit carotid arteries. Structures, featuring as gap junctions, have been depicted by means of lanthanum hydroxide.Acknowledgment. This work has been partly supported by grants Nos 78.00571.83 and 76.01561.04 from Italian CNR.     

Potentiating effect of cycloheximide on viral interference]

The degradation of the antiviral state can be delayed in vitro by antimetabolites, when added between 5-7 hours after interferon. We explore in this chronological order whether antiviral resistance induced by Newcastle disease virus (N.D.V.) in vivo could be modified by an antimetabolite. Cycloheximide was selected for this study because of its reversible biological effect and lack of toxicity in our experimental conditions. The model system employed was Syrian Hamsters, using N.D.V. as an interferon inducer and encephalomyocarditis virus (E.M.C.) as a challenge virus. A constant and significant increase in survival of animals treated with N.D.V.+cycloheximide is probably related to a delay in the degradation of the antiviral state and not to interferon superinduction.     

Characterization and antithrombotic action of tissue plasminogen activator

An extractive fibrinolytic enzyme has been characterized and found to belong to the class of vascular plasminogen activators. The agent has been found to have an antithrombotic action in the rabbit.     

Ca-antagonistic substance from soft coral of the genusSarcophyton

Summary A 14-membered ring diterpenoid named cembrane, possessing Ca-antagonistic action on the isolated rabbit aorta, has been isolated from a soft coral of the genusSarcophyton, and its structure established by X-ray and spectroscopic data.The authors thank Mr. Z. Nagahama (Okinawa) for collection of soft corals, Miss R. Abe (the present institute) for her skillful assistance, and Dr. T. Higashijima, Prof. T. Miyazawa (Tokyo University), Mr. T. Hayase and Dr. H. Ohtani (Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Ltd) for¹H and¹³C NMR-measurements.     

Adenosine promoted accumulation of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in rabbit vagus nerve.

Desheathed rabbit vagus nerve has been found to form cyclic AMP when incubated with adenosine. This accumulation of cyclic AMP is inhibited by theophylline but not by antiadrenergic agents, anticholinergic agents or local anaesthetics. Depolarizing media are not able to promote cyclic AMP accumulation in this preparation.     

Tissue antagonist of interferon : murine substance similar to plant lectins]

A tissue antagonist of interferon (TAI) extracted from mouse costal cartilage contains a substance which has many properties characteristic of plant lectins. After binding to the cell membrane receptors, it agglutines normal and transformed murine cells. In interferon treated cells, it restores virus sensitivity probably through a modification in the distribution of membrane bound cellular antigens.     

Animal models in interferon research: Some current trends

Conclusions Concepts about interferon have changed dramatically over the years. Initially it was considered to be an antiviral protein which selectively inhibited the replication of viruses²⁴. Over the years we have discovered an increasing number of interferons and many different biological activities. Other regulatory proteins have been detected and the interferons have become part of an interacting family of biological response-modifying proteins. Because of the complexity of these systems, animal experiments are the only way to assess the clinical potential of interferons (and interferon-like molecules). It is important that the animal experiments should not be too restricted in scope, because interferon has now proved to have activity in conditions other than viral infections, for example against tumors and infections other than those caused by viruses.     

Gene structure and function of the 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase family

2'-5'-Oligoadenylate synthetase was among the first interferon-induced antiviral enzymes to be discovered. This family of enzymes plays an important role in the mechanisms of action of interferon antiviral activity, but is also involved in other cellular processes such as apoptosis and growth control. We have reviewed the function and genomic structure of this class of at least nine proteins. By studying the recently available data in the human genome database and the human Expressed Sequence Tag database, we have been able to build a comprehensive picture of the 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase gene family and its precise location on chromosome 12. Chromosomal localization as well as the intron/exon structure of all four genes has been established and an overview of the splice variant forms of the 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetases arising from expression of the four genes is presented. Alignments of the human 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase sequences with non-human 2'-5'-oligoadenylate synthetase sequences suggest that the exon structure and several amino acid sequence motifs have been conserved during evolution.     

Vitamin A in human semen

Summary Vitamin A concentration has been determined in human semen with and without hydrolysis by fluorometry and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The vitamin A content of human spermatozoa is much lower than that reported for rabbit spermatozoa but approximately equal to that of bull spermatozoa.     

Pregnancy following segmental isthmic reversal of the rabbit oviduct

Summary Microsurgical reversal of a segment of rabbit proximal tubal isthmus has been followed by normal pregnancy in the first two animals to undergo the procedure. Establishment of pregnancy despite radical modification of the oviduct furnishes the opportunity to gain new insights into the mechanisms controlling tubal ovum transport and emphasizes the evolving feasibility and importance of tuboplastic microsurgery both as a research tool and clinical procedure.This study was partly supported by an N.I.H. Institutional Research Grant.Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.     

Isolation and characterization of a new hemagglutinin from the red alga Gracilaria bursa-pastoris

A new agglutinin has been isolated from the red alga Gracilaria bursa-pastoris by affinity chromatography on a yeast mannan-Cellulofine column. This agglutinin was isolated as a monomeric glycoprotein with a relatively low molecular weight. It had an isoelectric point of 4.7 and contained large amounts of Gly, Asx and Glx. It agglutinated trypsin-treated rabbit erythrocytes at the low concentration of 30 ng/ml. The activity was inhibited only by glycoproteins bearing N-glycans. This agglutinin also showed mitogenic activity for mouse splenic lymphocytes.     

Isolation and characterization of a new hemagglutinin from the red algaGracilaria bursa-pastoris

Summary A new agglutinin has been isolated from the red algaGracilaria bursa-pastoris by affinity chromatography on a yeast mannan-Cellulofine column. This agglutinin was isolated as a monomeric glycoprotein with a relatively low molecular weight. It had an isoelectric point of 4.7 and contained large amounts of Gly, Asx and Glx. It agglutinated trypsin-treated rabbit erythrocytes at the low concentration of 30 ng/ml. The activity was inhibited only by glycoproteins bearing N-glycans. This agglutinin also showed mitogenic activity for mouse splenic lymphocytes.     

Évolution du contrôle cérébelleux sur l'activité unitaire spontanée du noyau de Deiters chez le jeune Lapin

Summary The inhibitory cerebellar control of the spontaneous firing of Deiters' neurones has been demonstrated from the early post natal hours in the rabbit.     

Antigenic correlation between rat thymus and superior cervical ganglion

Summary By using rabbit anti-rat thymocyte and anti-rat superior cervical ganglion sera in cytotoxicity, immunofluorescence and absorption assays, it has been shown that surface membranes of rat thymocytes and cervical ganglion cells (i.e. peripheral nervous tissue cells) contain common antigenic determinants.Acknowledgment. This work was supported by grants from the Republic Research Fund of Serbia, Belgrade.     

Über das Glukuronsäurekonjugat eines Cardenolidgenins (3-Epi-digitoxigenin)

Summary After incubation of digitoxigenin with slices from livers of man, rabbit or dog, a total of 5 chloroform-insoluble, highly polar metabolites has been isolated by extraction with ether-ethanol. Two of the products were the sulfuric acid esters of digitoxigenin or 3-epi-digitoxigenin, as demonstrated earlier, and two further ones could not be identified. The fifth metabolite appeared to be identical with 3-epi-digitoxigenin glucuronide.     

Actinomycin-resistant antiviral activity associated with preparations containing chicken interferon.

Crude and purified preparations containing chicken interferon show a 2fold antiviral activity. One is inhibited by actinomycin and leads to total inhibition if interferon is added to cells before actinomycin, the other is insensitive to actinomycin and leads to partial inhibition if interferon is added simultaneously with or after actinomycin.     

Über die Reaktion der höheren und tieferen Reizbildungszentren des isolierten Herzens auf Temperatursenkung

Summary In the isolated rabbit heart perfused by the Langendorff method total heart block has been produced by section of the His bundle. The influence of cooling of the perfusion fluid upon higher and lower automatic centers was studied. The sinoauricular pacemaker responded to cooling with a much greater decrease of the heart rate than did the ventricular automatism. The responsiveness of the atrioventricular node to cooling lay between that of the two others.