RNA-synthesis in rat kidneys after fluorinated anesthetics or inorganic fluoride administration.

RNA-synthesis in rat kidneys is affected by the administration of 0.5% methoxyflurane and 1% enflurane; also fluoride, a product of fluorinated anesthetics metabolism, hinders renal RNA-synthesis in rats.     

Einbau von3H-Uridin in Follikelepithelzellen degenerierender Oozyten beim Zebrafisch,Brachydanio rerio (Ham. Buch.)

Summary The incorporation of tritiated uridine into the follicular epithelium of degenerating oocytes of the zebrafish,Brachydanio rerio, was studied by radio-autography. After incubation times from 1–12 h, the labelling of the follicular epithelial cells of degenerating oocytes was several times higher than in normal developing follicles. This indicates an increase of RNA-synthesis, probably necessary for the formation of lytic enzymes.     

Der Einfluss von Colchizin und Ethidium-Bromid auf den Gehalt radioaktiv markierter Uridin-Verbindungen in optischen Axonen von Teleosteern

Summary After application of colchicine to one eye, and subsequent injections of³H-histidine or³H-uridine into both eyes, a blockage of the transport in the optic system of teleosts could be demonstrated only for the fast protein-components. However, colchicine is able to depress the effectivity of ethidium-bromide, a blocker of mitochondrial RNA-synthesis. This finding is discussed in connection with the possibility that axonal mitochondria are associated with the neurotubules.

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Mit dankenswerter Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, die Herrn Prof. Dr.H. Rahmann (Münster) die Mittel zu dieser Untersuchung zur Verfügung stellte.     

Pistia stratiotes L. in Nigerian waters

Summary Pistia stratiotes L., a perennial water weed found in natural water bodies in Nigeria, removes organic and inorganic nutrients as it grows and spreads in the waters. In a lake which received a variety of pollutants, the plant reduced oxidizable organic matter (4-h permanganate value) by 61%, the biochemical oxygen demand by 85.3%, ammonia nitrogen by 95.3% and water soluble phosphorus by 85%. The plant also removed other mineral matter.     

Effect of pectin and cellulose on formation and regression of gallstones in hamsters

Summary Male Syrian hamsters were fed a lithogenic diet containing 7% cellulose or 4.2% pectin. After 50 days, pectin was 76% and cellulose 64% less lithogenic than the control diet. Hamsters fed the control diet for 50 days were maintained on that diet for another 50 days or fed diets containing cellulose or pectin. These was a 52% increase in gallstone incidence in hamsters continued on the control diet and a 9% increase in those on cellulose. Pectin promoted regression of gallstones (by 52%).Acknowledgments. This work was supported, in part, by a grant (HL-03299) and a Research Career Award (HL-00734) from the National Institutes of Health, and by funds from Mary L. Smith and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.     

Isoprenaline, modifications of the turnover of ATP in the perfused rat heart]

5 hrs after a single sub-cutaneous injection of the drug in a dose of 5 mg/kg, the ATP concentration was reduced by 15%, the incorporation of 14C adenine was augmented by 20% and the turnover of ATP was accelerated: the reduction of specific radioactivity attained 16%, 75 mn after the period of marquage, instead of 7% in the control hearts. When the drug was added to the perfusion fluid, there was no supplementary reduction of the ATP concentration and the action on the nucleotide turnover only existed if the ATP level was reduced by a pretreatment: the reduction of specific radioactivity then attained 24% after 75 min. of perfusion.     

Effect of pectin and cellulose on formation and regression of gallstones in hamsters

Male Syrian hamsters were fed a lithogenic diet containing 7% cellulose or 4.2% pectin. After 50 days, pectin was 76% and cellulose 64% less lithogenic than the control diet. Hamsters fed the control diet for 50 days were maintained on that diet for another 50 days or fed diets containing cellulose or pectin. There was a 52% increase in gallstone incidence in hamsters continued on the control diet and a 9% increase in those on cellulose. Pectin promoted regression of gallstones (by 52%).     

Hydrolyse enzymatique de la propionylcholine,de l'acétylthiocholine et de la butyrylthiocholine par le rectus de grenouille

Summary The enzymatic hydrolysis of propionylcholine (PrCh), acetylthiocholine (AcThCh), and butyrylthiocholine (BuThCh), by extracts of the muscle rectus abdominis, was determined. Inhibition of this hydrolysis by D.F.P. and 3318 CT [bis(pipéridinométhylcoumaranyl- 5)cétone diméthiodide] — utilized over a range of concentrations covering both specific and non-specific concentrations—showed that PrCh is hydrolyzed by an acetylcholinesterase (70%) and an Xcholinesterase (30%), AcThCh by the AcChE (70%), the XChE (15%) and a thioesterase (15%) and BuThCh by the XChE (70%) and a thioesterase (30%).     

Cyclic nucleotide levels in the perfused rat heart subjected to hypoxia

Summary Isolated rat hearts were subjected to hypoxic perfusion on a recirculating Langendorff apparatus. Following a 30-min-period of aerobic stabilization the hearts were perfused for 30 min with media equilibrated with 84% N₂, 12% O₂ and 4% CO₂. At the end of the hypoxic period myocardial concentrations of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP were determined by radioimmunoassay. Exposure to hypoxia resulted in a significant increase in cyclic AMP (p<0.01) and a decrease in cyclic GMP (p<0.05) as compared to hearts perfused for 60 min with media gassed with 96% O₂, 4% CO₂.Acknowledgment. We gratefully acknowledge the excellent technical assistance provided by Mrs Inger O. Boggs and Miss Patricia C. Hannigan. This work was supported in part by U. S. Public Health Service grant HL 14661 from the National Heart and Lung Institute, and by a grant from the Central Ohio Heart Chapter.     

Glioma cell activation by Alzheimer's peptide Abeta1-42, alpha1-antichymotrypsin,and their mixture

We compared the effects ofAlzheimer's peptide (Abeta1-42), a,-antichymotrypsin (ACT) and an ACT/Abeta1-42 mixture on human glioma DK-MG cells. The solution of Abeta (5 microM) formed by 2-h incubation at room temperature induced tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin (IL)-6 levels by 55 and 45%, respectively, and increased gelatinase B activity by 67%, while exposure of cells to the ACT/Abeta1-42 mixture (1:10 molar ratio ACT: Abeta1-42) under the same experimental conditions showed no effect on IL-6 levels or gelatinase B activity, but strongly induced TNF-alpha (by 190%), compared to the controls. Stimulation of the cells with Abeta1-42 alone, but not with ACT, increased by about 20% low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and mRNA levels for LDL receptor and HMG-CoA reductase, while the ACT/Abeta1-42 mixture significantly increased LDL uptake (by 50%), up-regulated mRNA levels for LDL receptor and HMG-CoA reductase by 48 and 63%, respectively, and increased lipid accumulation by about 20-fold. These data suggest a possible new role for Abeta in Alzheimer's disease through its interaction with the inflammatory reactant, ACT.     

Effect of monensin and diabetes on asialoglycoprotein degradation in rat hepatocytes.

We have studied the effects of two modulations--streptozotocin-induced diabetes in vivo, and the presence of the carboxylic proton ionophore monensin in vitro--on the degradation of 3H-asialoorosomucoid ligand in isolated rat hepatocytes. The ligand was internalized by means of a synchronous wave procedure. Diabetes was associated with a marked decrease in the amount of total degraded radioactive ligand compared to that in normal cells (3.6% and 37.3% of internalized ligand respectively, at 60 min), together with increased secretion of degradation products into the incubation medium (87% and 46.3% of the total degraded ligand was secreted by diabetic and normal cells, respectively). Monensin induced similar effects in normal cells, but had no apparent effect in diabetic cells.     

Biological effectiveness of solar UV radiation in humans

Solar UVB radiation is prejudicial to the health of humans in a number of ways. Erythema and photodermatoses are acute reactions of the skin; keratitis and conjunctivitis are acute reactions of the eye. Various types of skin cancer, accelerated aging of the skin, and cataract formation in the crystalline lens are reactions that appear with great latency. UV radiation can also cause damage to the immune system and DNA. For the period 1981–1991, an increase in erythemal effective UVB radiation of +(7±4)% per decade was measured in a non-pulluted high mountain area (Jungfraujoch, 3576m a.s.l., Switzerland). This increase is related to a decrease in stratospheric ozone. The effects on human health are discussed. A 10% ozone reduction increases non-melanoma skin cancer by 26% and cataract by 6 to 8%.     

Na+ independent binding of [3H] muscimol to a membrane fraction of the brains of normal and dwarf mice

Although their body weights were decreased by about 77% and their brain weights by about 30%, high-affinity [3H] muscimol binding to a cerebral membrane fraction was not altered in hereditary pituitary dwarf mice. Marked changes in the level of pituitary growth-associated hormones do not appear to be associated with a change in cerebral GABA-receptors.     

Effect of monensin and diabetes on asialoglycoprotein degradation in rat hepatocytes

We have studied the effects of two modulations — streptozotocin-induced diabetes in vivo, and the presence of the carboxylic proton ionophore monensin in vitro — on the degradation of³H-asialoorosomucoid ligand in isolated rat hepatocytes.The ligand was internalized by means of a synchronous wave procedure. Diabetes was associated with a marked decrease in the amount of total degraded radioactive ligand compared to that in normal cells (3.6% and 37.3% of internalized ligand respectively, at 60 min), together with increased secretion of degradation products into the incubation medium (87% and 46.3% of the total degraded ligand was secreted by diabetic and normal cells, respectively). Monensin induced similar effects in normal cells, but had no apparent effect in diabetic cells.     

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.     

Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) reduces the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase in rat liver microsomes

The effect of dried oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) on cholesterol (C) content in serum, in lipoproteins and in liver, and on the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase in liver microsomes, was studied in male rats (strain Wistar, initial body weight 75 g) fed on low-cholesterol (9 mg/100 g) and high-cholesterol (0.3%) diets. Addition of 5% oyster mushroom to both diets reduced significantly the C-content in serum (by 30%), in very-low- and low-density lipoproteins (in a 11 ratio to the decrease of total serum C) and in liver (by 50%), as well as the activity of HMG-CoA reductase (by more than 30%).     

Disposal of low- and intermediate-level waste in Switzerland: Basic aspects of potential relevance to microbial effects

Summary Current projects for the disposal of low-and intermediate-level radioactive waste in Switzerland are based on the concept of a horizontally accessed repository under a hillside. Most of the waste to be disposed of in such a repository is operational and decommissioning waste from nuclear power plants and wastes from medicine, industry and research. This waste is generally solidified in cement and placed in steel drums or concrete containers. Once the by the anaerobic corrosion of steel and by microbial degradation of organic material, to escape from the near field. Valanginian marl, which is one of three envisaged options for the host rock, is characterized by a high carbonate content, up to 75% in some locations. The organic content of the marl is between 1% and 2%, while pyrite is present in concentrations up to 5%. The groundwater is reducing, and its pH tends to lie in the neutral to slightly alkaline range. Potentially important microbial effects on the long-term performance of the system are microbial degradation of barrier materials and organics, the effect of microorganisms on sorption, and their role as catalysts.     

Progressive resistance against the male recombination factor 31.1 MRF acquired by Drosophila melanogaster.

A genetically abnormal but structurally normal second chromosome (31.1 MRF) which induces recombination in the male sex, was introduced by outcrossing into the cytoplasm of a normal strain. In this new combination, male recombination frequency induced by females dropped from 3.81% to 0.17% within 10 generations, indicating a gradual acquisition of resistance against the activities of the 31.1 MRF.     

Phosphocreatine and ATP concentrations increase during flow-stimulated metabolism in a non-contracting muscle.

The gracilis muscle was excised from cold-acclimated rats, placed in vitro, and simultaneously perfused via its artery by high pO2 medium and superfused by low pO2 medium. With a doubling of the perfusion rate (from 50 to 100 microliters/min) phosphocreatine and ATP increased by 39% and 44%, respectively.     

In vivo study of the hypocalcemic, hypophosphoremic, hyperlipemic, and immunogenic activities of the oligopeptide fragment common to ACTH, alpha and beta MSH, and beta lipotropin]

The intravenous injection that was given to rabbits which consisted of 0,5 mg of a common heptapeptide to ACTH4-10, BETA MSH11-17 hormones, and to beta lipotropic47-53 hormone (beta LPH47-53) was followed at the end of an hour by an augmentation of 70% of total lipids, and at the end of two hours by a lowering of calcemia (around 27%) and of phosphoremia (20%). The injection of a tetrapeptide corresponding to only ACTH7-10 bound to a nitrobenzylhydralamin and in presence of a Freund adjuvants has provoked the formation of corresponding antibodies.