Circadian rhythm of bile secretion in the rat.

In rats the bile flow and the estimated bile acid independant flow (BAIF) were significantly lower at 17.00 h than at 08.00 and 24.00 h. The decrease in BAIF paralleled the decrease in liver weight. Bile acid excretion was not different.     

Disruption of Bardet-Biedl syndrome ciliary proteins perturbs planar cell polarity in vertebrates

The evolutionarily conserved planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway (or noncanonical Wnt pathway) drives several important cellular processes, including epithelial cell polarization, cell migration and mitotic spindle orientation. In vertebrates, PCP genes have a vital role in polarized convergent extension movements during gastrulation and neurulation. Here we show that mice with mutations in genes involved in Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), a disorder associated with ciliary dysfunction, share phenotypes with PCP mutants including open eyelids, neural tube defects and disrupted cochlear stereociliary bundles. Furthermore, we identify genetic interactions between BBS genes and a PCP gene in both mouse (Ltap, also called Vangl2) and zebrafish (vangl2). In zebrafish, the augmented phenotype results from enhanced defective convergent extension movements. We also show that Vangl2 localizes to the basal body and axoneme of ciliated cells, a pattern reminiscent of that of the BBS proteins. These data suggest that cilia are intrinsically involved in PCP processes.     

Influence de laβ-mercaptoéthylamine sur la réponse de l'intestin grêle du rat à une irradiation rœntgénienne localisée

Summary Intra-peritoneal injections of 15 mg of B-mercaptoethylamine in rats, with an average weight of 200 g, protect the small intestine against a local irradiation of 500 r on the antero-upper portion of the abdomen.This protection is proved mainly, as compared with the control, by a smaller decrease of cells still in mitosis after 12 and 24 hours and of the migrant cells in resting stage, by a greater precocity and higher quantitative value of the post-radiation normal and subnormal mitotic processes, and by variations in the mitotic formula (namely, in protected animals, a relatively high increase in the amount of metaphases).These experiments seem to prove a certain local and immediate action of the radio-protector, whose effects are not solely limited to the preparation of the generating system of the intestine for the later complete repair of the digestive epithelium.

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(Travail du Centre anticancéreux de l'Université de Liège et du Centre national belge pour l'étude de la croissance normale et pathologique).     

A complete insect from the Late Devonian period

After terrestrialization, the diversification of arthropods and vertebrates is thought to have occurred in two distinct phases, the first between the Silurian and the Frasnian stages (Late Devonian period) (425-385?million years (Myr) ago), and the second characterized by the emergence of numerous new major taxa, during the Late Carboniferous period (after 345?Myr ago). These two diversification periods bracket the depauperate vertebrate Romer's gap (360-345?Myr ago) and arthropod gap (385-325?Myr ago), which could be due to preservational artefact. Although a recent molecular dating has given an age of 390?Myr for the Holometabola, the record of hexapods during the Early-Middle Devonian (411.5-391?Myr ago, Pragian to Givetian stages) is exceptionally sparse and based on fragmentary remains, which hinders the timing of this diversification. Indeed, although Devonian Archaeognatha are problematic, the Pragian of Scotland has given some Collembola and the incomplete insect Rhyniognatha, with its diagnostic dicondylic, metapterygotan mandibles. The oldest, definitively winged insects are from the Serpukhovian stage (latest Early Carboniferous period). Here we report the first complete Late Devonian insect, which was probably a terrestrial species. Its 'orthopteroid' mandibles are of an omnivorous type, clearly not modified for a solely carnivorous diet. This discovery narrows the 45-Myr gap in the fossil record of Hexapoda, and demonstrates further a first Devonian phase of diversification for the Hexapoda, as in vertebrates, and suggests that the Pterygota diversified before and during Romer's gap.