Role of serum components in the binding and phagocytosis of oxidatively damaged erythrocytes by autologous mouse macrophages

To investigate the role of autologous serum components in the recognition of damaged cells by macrophages, we examined the binding and phagocytosis of damage oxidatively damaged red blood cells with Cu2+ and ascorbate (oxRBCs) by autologous resident mouse peritoneal macrophages. The binding of oxRBCs by macrophages was independent of the presence of serum. However, phagocytosis by macrophages increased with serum concentration, and macrophages showed little ingestion of oxRBCs in a serum-free medium. Macrophages neither bound nor appreciably ingested native RBCs (before oxidation) in either the absence or presence of autologous serum. Mouse macrophages ingested significantly more native as well as oxRBCs in the presence of heat-inactivated fetal calf serum than in the presence of heat-inactivated mouse serum. Pretreated oxRBCs with normal serum were rarely ingested by macrophages in a serum-free medium. Phagocytosis of oxRBCs was significantly inhibited by depletion of IgG or calcium from serum, by heat inactivation of complement, or by antiserum against mouse C3. These results demonstrate that serum components such as IgG, C3, and calcium are involved in phagocytosis of oxRBCs by autologous macrophages.     

Aktivität einiger Transaminasen in den mit SO2 behandelten Erbsen-Keimpflanzen

Summary Fifteen-day-old green pea seedlings were intoxicated 48 h by 1% gaseous sulphur dioxide and in their individual organs the activity of glutamate-oxalacetate (l-aspartate: 2-ketoglutarate-aminotransferase) and aspartate-pyruvate (l-alanine: oxalacetate-aminotransferase) transaminases estimated. The activity of glutamate-oxalacetate transaminase in the intoxicated seedlings was lowered in shoots by 77.8% and in roots by 78,9% as compared with the control plants. The activity of aspartate-pyruvate transaminase was lowered in shoots by 33.5%, in roots by 76% and in cotyledons by 54.5% in comparison with the control plants.     

Über die durch Licht bedingte «Missweisung» bei den Tänzen im Bienenstock

Summary Bees are able to indicate direction to their hive comrades by means of a waggling dance of 2 kinds: in the horizontal plane with regard to the sun they point directly towards the goal by a waggling walk using the same angle to the sun as they took in their flight. Inside the dark hive in the vertical honey-comb, they transpose the angle between goal and sun to the field of gravity, whereby the sun's direction is shown by a waggling walk upwards, and the angle to the right or left of the sun's position is given by a dance-direction in the corresponding angle to the right or left of the zenith.If a piece of blue sky is made visible in an observation hive to the bees which are dancing in orientation by gravity, they recognise the position of the sun by this polarisation sample, and the effort to orientate themselves directly by the sun (as in the horizontal plane) comes into conflict with the orientation by gravity. The result is a dance direction which corresponds remarkably well with the halving of the angle between what the dance direction should have been by gravity and what it should have been by light orientation (Figure 1). This is also true when the bee is orientating itself by polarised sky light over its back, while the sun is at the other side of the honey-comb under its front (Figure 2), a situation which does not occur during flight but which is important for its dance in the swarm. The bees receiving the information compensate the deviation of the angle determined by light, and fly to the right goal.As the sun itself, as well as the piece of blue sky, was made visible to the dancers, its influence dominated and they orientated themselves by its light (Figure 3).     

Systemic candidiasis from Candida albicans colonizing the gastrointestinal tract of mice.

Reproducible induction of systemic Candida infection was achieved by treating mice in which Candida colonization had been established in the gastrointestional tract by aminobenzylpenicillin treatment. Systemic candidiasis was induced in these mice by X-ray irradiation followed by immunosuppressive doses of dexamethasone or X-ray irradiation followed by immunosuppressive doses of trypan blue. Macrophages seem to play an important role in thie systemic infection.     

Protective effects of vitamin E and dithiothreitol against the hemolysis of rat and goat erythrocytes induced by Tween 20 with or without ascorbic acid and azide

Summary Exrtensive in vitro hemolysis of erythrocytes, induced in vitamie E-deficient rats by 0.001% Tween 20 with ascorbic acid and azide, or in goats by 2.5% Tween 20, could be counteracted by either the inclusion of vitamin E in the cells or by the in vitro addition of 0.25–0.4 mM dithiothreitol.     

Systemic candidiasis fromCandida albicans colonizing the gastrointestinal tract of mice

Summary Reproducible induction of systemicCandida infection was achieved by treating mice in whichCandida colonization had been established in the gastrointestinal tract by aminobenzylpenicillin treatment. Systemic candidiasis was induced in these mice by X-ray irradiation followed by immunosuppressive doses of dexamethasone or X-ray irradiation followed by immunosuppressive doses of trypan blue. Macrophages seem to play an important role in this systemic infection.     

Transdermal uptake of a peptide hormone: inhibition by calcitonin eardrops of induced osteolysis in guinea-pig ossicles.

In view of a recent proposal that calcitonin injections may arrest the bony pathology of otosclerosis, we have tested the possibility of obtaining locally effective concentrations by giving salmon calcitonin in eardrops. Osteolysis of guinea-pig ossicles induced by injecting parathyroid hormone shortly before explantation was markedly inhibited by 3 days prior instillation of the calcitonin in an aqueous vehicle or in dimethyl sulphoxide, but not by a solution in propylene carbonate.     

Lysis of Rous sarcoma virus in the presence of anti-chicken fibroblast serum and complement]

Rous sarcoma virus produced by Chick embryo fibroblasts is inactivated by an antiserum prepared against uninfected fibroblasts in the presence, but not in the absence, of complement. This inactivation which demonstrates the presence of one or more antigens of the surface of the producer cell on the viral envelope, is due to virolysis. This is demonstrated by the release of the viral internal proteins and by the fact that the viral RNA becomes entirely degradable by RNase.     

Natural and experimental interspecific hybridization between populations ofDolichopoda cave crickets

Summary Evidence of hybridization between 2 pairs of allopatricDolichopoda species is provided by electrophoretic analysis. Occurrence of hybrids was revealed by laboratory crosses and in nature both by occasional co-existence due to passive dispersal and by transplantation experiments.This research was supported by the National Research Council, Italy, grant No. 78.01441.04, and by funds of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Rome. Acknowledgments are due to Drs G. Carchini, M. Rampini and G. Sammuri for substantial help in collecting in caves and to Professor B. Baccetti for SEL micrographs.     

Some characteristics of urokinase released in organ culture of human kidney.

Plasminogen activator produced in organ culture of human kidney, i.e. in the histotypical arrangement of the tissue, was partially purified by affinity chromatography on para-aminobenzamidine coupled to Sepharose by a 6-carbon spacer, followed by gel chromatography on Sephadex G-100. The molecular weight of 2 active peaks were 27,000 and 52,000 daltons respectively. It was inhibited by DFP and by IgG antiurokinase.     

Chemistry in Rozier's Journal.—VI and VII

In 1783 John Michell published a note entitled ‘On the Means of Discovering the Distance, Magnitude etc. of the Fixed Stars, in Consequence of the Diminution of the Velocity of their Light’, but it was Christian Doppler who in 1842 for the first time formulated the principle (now generally known by his name): If a source of sound or light is in motion relative to an observer, or an observer in motion relative to a source, the period of the waves received by the observer will be different from the period of the waves emitted by the source. The acoustical Doppler principle was verified in 1845 by Buys-Ballot's experiments and by Ernst Mach (in the laboratory, using a Rotationsapparat (1860)). H. Fizeau proposed to verify the optical Doppler principle by measuring the shift of lines in the spectra of stars (1848). This was carried out by William Huggins (1868 ff.), and H. C. Vogel and led to exact results in 1892. The Doppler effect with canal rays was shown by Johannes Stark in 1905.     

Activation of the electrogenic Na-pump of cardiac muscle fibres by ACh in K-free solutions

Summary The ionic mechanism of the membrane outward current (ACh-current) of bullfrog atrium muscle, induced by acetylcholine in K-free solution, was analyzed by a voltage-clamp experiment. The results suggested that the ACh-current was induced not only by an increase in K-conductance but also by an activation of the electrogenic Na-pump.Acknowledgment. This work was supported by a grant (257037) from the Ministry of Education of Japan.     

Cytoprotection-organoprotection by somatostatin: gastric and hepatic lesions

Summary In rats, the hemorrhagic gastric erosions produced by ethanol, and the fatal hemorrhagic hepatic recrosis induced by phalloidin, were significanlty reduced by regular somatostatin, but not by derivatives devoid of-SH containing cysteines. These effects of the hormone were abolished in animals which received, in a dditiion, the sulfhydryl blocker nethylmaleimide before the toxic chemicals. Thus, somatostain exhibits organoprotection dependent on endogenous sulfhydryls.Acknowledgment. These studies were supported in part by a grant from Serono.     

Inhibition of human platelet lipoxygenase by cyanide

Summary Potassium cyanide inhibited the lipoxygenase activity of a human platelet cytosolic fraction in a concentration-dependent manner (ID₅₀=2 mM). The inhibition was monitored by spectrophotometry (conjugation of diene bonds at 236 nm), by chromatography (inhibition of formation of 12-hydroperoxy eicosatetraenoic acid) as well as by measuring suppression of oxygen consumption. The lipoxygenase activity of intact platelets was also inhibited by KCN as evidenced by the reduction in 12-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid formation in response to thrombin.Acknowledgments. This work was supported in part by NIH grant HL-14890. D.A. was a recipient of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Advanced Pre-Doctoral Fellowship.     

Activation of the electrogenic Na-pump of cardiac muscle fibres by ACh in K-free solutions.

The ionic mechanism of the membrane outward current (ACh-current) of bullfrog atrium muscle, induced by acetylcholine in K-free solution, was analyzed by a voltage-clamp experiment. The results suggested that the ACh-current was induced not only by an increase in K-conductance but also by an activation of the electrogenic Na-pump.     

Modulation of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl CoA reductase by 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid

Rat liver microsomal 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase was activated by 50% at a concentration of 0.4 mM 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (DPG) and by 11-fold at 10 mM DPG. DPG also prevented the inactivation of HMG-CoA reductase by ATP and Mg++. Rat liver microsomal HMG-CoA reductase prepared in the presence of 1 mM DPG was significantly more active than when prepared in the absence of DPG. Activation of the enzyme by DPG and protection of the enzyme against inhibition by ATP and Mg++ by DPG were also observed with solubilized HMG-CoA reductase.     

Positive after-image,PAI: Early erasure by saccadic eye movement or Jendrassik manoeuvre

Summary Positive after-images (PAIs) evoked by low intensity stroboscopic flash are erased by voluntary large amplitude saccadic eye movements. The duration of the PAI is shortened by a Jendrassik manoeuvre. The results suggest that muscle spindle afferent impulses conducted centrally are involved in the erasure phenomenon. The duration of the PAI is modifiable by drugs. The social implications of PAI are considered briefly.Supported in part by a General Research Support grant of N.I.H.     

Chymotrypsin gene expression during the intermolt cycle in the shrimpPenaeus vannamei (Crustacea; Decapoda)

InPenaeus vannamei, chymotrypsin is present as two isoenzymes in the hepatopancreas. The enzyme has been localized in F-cells by immunocytochemistry using a specific antibody. By in situ hybridization, with a 510 pb cDNA probe encoding for the first 170 amino acids of the shrimp chymotrypsin, mRNA was localized in the same cells. Gene expression was followed during the intermolt cycle by measuring changes in specific activity in crude extracts, and by the estimation of mRNA levels by Northern blots using the same probe. The increase in specific activity in premolt is preceded in early premolt by an increase in the amount of chymotrypsin mRNA. A second increase is observed in postmolt, suggesting a different mode of regulation of gene expression.     

Effect of consumption of green and black tea on the level of various enzymes in rats

Drinking of both green and black tea as the only liquid ingested resulted in significant decreases in the activity of transketolase in whole blood of rats both before and after the in vitro addition of thiamin diphosphate. Liver transketolase activity was decreased only by green tea. Mucosal transketolase activity was not affected by either type of tea. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was not affected by either type of tea, while whole blood LDH was decreased by both green and black tea. Neither tea had any affect on mucosal alkaline phosphatase, but thiamin diphosphatase activity was decreased by both teas. An increase in liver total thiamin resulted from the drinking of both types of tea.     

Effect of consumption of green and black tea on the level of various enzymes in rats

Summary Drinking of both green and black tea as the only liquid ingested resulted in significant decreases in the activity of transketolase in whole blood of rats both before and after the in vitro addition, of thiamin diphosphate. Liver transketolase activity was decreased only by green tea. Mucosal transketolase activity was not affected by either type of tea. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was not affected by either type of tea, while whole blood LDH was decreased by both green and black tea. Neither tea had any affect on mucosal alkaline phosphatase, but thiamin diphosphatase activity was decreased by both teas. An increase in liver total thiamin resulted from the drinking of both types of tea.