Protection against mercuric chloride nephropathy by sodium selenite in the rat]

Daily intraperitoneal injection of 2.5 or 5 mumole HgCl2 to male Rats weighing 250 to 350 g induces an early intense increase of urine gamma-glutamyl transferase activity. In the same conditions, equimolecular administration of sodium selenite and mercuric chloride induces no increase of the enzymuria for the low dose: for the high dose- a minor and more persistent increase of urine GGT is observed. Thus, the activity of urines GGT allows, in vivo, to establish that sodium selenite protects Rat kidney against toxic effects of mercuric chloride.     

How a gap junction maintains its structure

In gap junctions, identical membrane proteins are linked up in pairs (dyads) that bridge the extracellular space between two apposed cell membranes. Typically, several thousand of these dyads are aggregated in the plane of the membranes and form a junctional plaque with a distinct boundary. The question thus arises as to what maintains the dyads in an aggregated state. From a statistical mechanical analysis of the positions of dyads in a freeze-fracture electron micrograph, we report here that the aggregates are not maintained by an attractive force between pairs of dyads, but probably by the minimization of the repulsive force between apposed membranes. On the basis of this analysis we present a model for the structure of mature gap junctions as well as certain aspects of the formation and disassembly of gap junctions.     

Changes in blood-brain permeability resulting from d-amphetamine, 6-hydroxydopamine and pimozide measured by a new technique

Summary A new technique is described for measurement of diffusion across the blood-brain barrier using intraventricularly administered⁶⁸Ga-EDTA, and determining loss from the brain with a scintillation camera. Repeated injections via permanent cannulas showed that the diffusion half-time was reduced to 50% of control values after intraventricular d-amphetamine and 6-hydroxydopamine; pimozide had no effect.Acknowledgment. This work was supported by the Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research of the US Department of Energy, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Drug interactions in intestinal absorption of3H-digitoxin in rats

Summary The absorption of³H-digitoxin from perfused rat small intestine was inhibited by probenecid (1.0×10^–2 M), ethacrynic acid (0.5×10^–3 M), and mersalyl (8.0×10^–3 M) indicating that digitoxin absorption is at least partly an active process.     

Monoclonal antibodies against functionally distinct sites on the delta-endotoxin ofBacillus thuringiensis var.thuringiensis

Summary Monoclonal antibodies against the toxic units ofBacillus thuringiensis delta-endotoxin were raised by the hybridoma technique and detected by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Out of 5 positive clones, I was found to secrete antibodies which inactivate the toxin.     

Superallowed Gamow-Teller decay of the doubly magic nucleus 100Sn

The shell structure of atomic nuclei is associated with 'magic numbers' and originates in the nearly independent motion of neutrons and protons in a mean potential generated by all nucleons. During β(+)-decay, a proton transforms into a neutron in a previously not fully occupied orbital, emitting a positron-neutrino pair with either parallel or antiparallel spins, in a Gamow-Teller or Fermi transition, respectively. The transition probability, or strength, of a Gamow-Teller transition depends sensitively on the underlying shell structure and is usually distributed among many states in the neighbouring nucleus. Here we report measurements of the half-life and decay energy for the decay of (100)Sn, the heaviest doubly magic nucleus with equal numbers of protons and neutrons. In the β-decay of (100)Sn, a large fraction of the strength is observable because of the large decay energy. We determine the largest Gamow-Teller strength so far measured in allowed nuclear β-decay, establishing the 'superallowed' nature of this Gamow-Teller transition. The large strength and the low-energy states in the daughter nucleus, (100)In, are well reproduced by modern, large-scale shell model calculations.     

Membrane-traversing mechanism of thyroid hormone transport by monocarboxylate transporter 8

Monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) mediates thyroid hormone (TH) transport across the plasma membrane in many cell types. In order to better understand its mechanism, we have generated three new MCT8 homology models based on sugar transporters XylE in the intracellular opened (PDB ID: 4aj4) and the extracellular partly occluded (PDB ID: 4gby) conformations as well as FucP (PDB ID: 3o7q) and GLUT3 (PDB ID: 4zwc) in the fully extracellular opened conformation. T₃-docking studies from both sides revealed interactions with His192, His415, Arg445 and Asp498 as previously identified. Selected mutations revealed further transport-sensitive positions mainly at the discontinuous transmembrane helices TMH7 and 10. Lys418 is potentially involved in neutralising the charge of the TH substrate because it can be replaced by charged, but not by uncharged, amino acids. The side chain of Thr503 was hypothesised to stabilise a helix break at TMH10 that undergoes a prominent local shift during the transport cycle. A T503V mutation accordingly affected transport. The aromatic Tyr419, the polar Ser313 and Ser314 as well as the charged Glu422 and Glu423 lining the transport channel have been studied. Based on related sugar transporters, we suggest an alternating access mechanism for MCT8 involving a series of amino acid positions previously and newly identified as critical for transport.     

聚合物超薄膜结晶相关的形貌形成及链行为

聚合物超薄膜结晶是高分子物理领域的一个新研究课题,近来已引起人们的关注,其为人们在真实时空下研究聚合物结晶及相关链行为提供了可能。聚合物超薄膜结晶与膜厚(D)有很强的相关性,尤其是D<20nm的薄膜在结晶形貌和结晶动力学方面与本体结晶差别很大。已有的结果主要集中在结晶形貌、晶体尺寸、晶体生长速度和习性、晶体的熔融和结晶度等方面,涉及温度、膜厚、基片性质和膜的组成和结构对结晶的影响;然而,有些实验结果和解释彼此不完全一致,甚至有时相互矛盾。本文综述和讨论了近年来在超薄膜结晶方面的研究,重点在于结晶形貌的形成和相关的聚合物链行为。     

Antibiotika als pflanzliche Plasmagifte

Summary The toxic action oflycomarasmine (a wilting agent produced byFusarium lycopersici Sacc., the causal organism of tomato-wilting) and ofpatulin (clavacin, an antibiotic produced byPenicillium patulum and by some other fungi) on some test-objects is studied (anthocyanin-test with red turnips, plasma-streaming test withSpirogyra etc.). Both substances are able to destroy for instance the semipermeability of the plasma boundary layer; but patulin proves to be more toxic for these objects than lycomarasmine, the specific poison of the tomato wilting disease.