Initial myocardial succino-oxidase activity changes induced by intravenous infusion ofEscherichia coli endotoxin in rabbit

Zusammenfassung Escherichia coli-Endotoxin (1 mg per kg) wurde in die Ohrvene von Kaninchen injiziert: Die Succinat-dehydrogenase- und Cytochromoxydase-Aktivität in den Mitochondrien des Herzmuskels wurde nach 15 min verändert. Es ist wahrscheinlich, dass das Endotoxin sowohl auf das Herz, als auch auf die peripheren Gefässe direkt wirkt.

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This study was supported by the Research Grant HE-09016 from the National Heart Institute, US Public Health Service; and the General Research Support Funds from the Philadelphia General Hospital.     

Does increased gastric mucus play a role in the ulcer-protecting effects of zinc sulphate?

Summary Zinc sulphate pretreatment i.p. produces dose-related reductions in stress ulcer incidence in pylorus-occluded rats. The associated increases in gastric wall mucus, in stressed and nonstressed animals, suggest that a similar effect may contribute to its ulcer-reducing ability in man.     

Cardiac mitochondrial NADH2-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome oxidase after cardiopulmonary by-pass in dog

Zusammenfassung Nach kurzfristiger extrakorporaler Zirkulation beim Hund wurden Cytochrom-Oxydase-Aktivität und NADH₂-Oxydationsrate in den Mitochondrien des Herzmuskels im Vergleich zu Kontrolltieren vermindert gefunden.

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This study was supported by Research Grant HE-09016 from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service.     

Genome sequence and comparative analysis of the model rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium yoelii yoelii

Species of malaria parasite that infect rodents have long been used as models for malaria disease research. Here we report the whole-genome shotgun sequence of one species, Plasmodium yoelii yoelii, and comparative studies with the genome of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum clone 3D7. A synteny map of 2,212 P. y. yoelii contiguous DNA sequences (contigs) aligned to 14 P. falciparum chromosomes reveals marked conservation of gene synteny within the body of each chromosome. Of about 5,300 P. falciparum genes, more than 3,300 P. y. yoelii orthologues of predominantly metabolic function were identified. Over 800 copies of a variant antigen gene located in subtelomeric regions were found. This is the first genome sequence of a model eukaryotic parasite, and it provides insight into the use of such systems in the modelling of Plasmodium biology and disease.     

Haploinsufficiency of protamine-1 or -2 causes infertility in mice

Protamines are the major DNA-binding proteins in the nucleus of sperm in most vertebrates and package the DNA in a volume less than 5% of a somatic cell nucleus. Many mammals have one protamine, but a few species, including humans and mice, have two. Here we use gene targeting to determine if the second protamine provides redundancy to an essential process, or if both protamines are necessary. We disrupted the coding sequence of one allele of either Prm1 or Prm2 in embryonic stem (ES) cells derived from 129-strain mice, and injected them into blastocysts from C57BL/6-strain mice. Male chimeras produced 129-genotype sperm with disrupted Prm1 or Prm2 alleles, but failed to sire offspring carrying the 129 genome. We also found that a decrease in the amount of either protamine disrupts nuclear formation, processing of protamine-2 and normal sperm function. Our studies show that both protamines are essential and that haploinsufficiency caused by a mutation in one allele of Prm1 or Prm2 prevents genetic transmission of both mutant and wild-type alleles.     

A role for graphene in silicon-based semiconductor devices

As silicon-based electronics approach the limit of improvements to performance and capacity through dimensional scaling, attention in the semiconductor field has turned to graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Its high mobility of charge carriers (electrons and holes) could lead to its use in the next generation of high-performance devices. Graphene is unlikely to replace silicon completely, however, because of the poor on/off current ratio resulting from its zero bandgap. But it could be used to improve silicon-based devices, in particular in high-speed electronics and optical modulators.     

Structure and reactivity of a mononuclear non-haem iron(III)-peroxo complex

Oxygen-containing mononuclear iron species--iron(III)-peroxo, iron(III)-hydroperoxo and iron(IV)-oxo--are key intermediates in the catalytic activation of dioxygen by iron-containing metalloenzymes. It has been difficult to generate synthetic analogues of these three active iron-oxygen species in identical host complexes, which is necessary to elucidate changes to the structure of the iron centre during catalysis and the factors that control their chemical reactivities with substrates. Here we report the high-resolution crystal structure of a mononuclear non-haem side-on iron(III)-peroxo complex, [Fe(III)(TMC)(OO)](+). We also report a series of chemical reactions in which this iron(III)-peroxo complex is cleanly converted to the iron(III)-hydroperoxo complex, [Fe(III)(TMC)(OOH)](2+), via a short-lived intermediate on protonation. This iron(III)-hydroperoxo complex then cleanly converts to the ferryl complex, [Fe(IV)(TMC)(O)](2+), via homolytic O-O bond cleavage of the iron(III)-hydroperoxo species. All three of these iron species--the three most biologically relevant iron-oxygen intermediates--have been spectroscopically characterized; we note that they have been obtained using a simple macrocyclic ligand. We have performed relative reactivity studies on these three iron species which reveal that the iron(III)-hydroperoxo complex is the most reactive of the three in the deformylation of aldehydes and that it has a similar reactivity to the iron(IV)-oxo complex in C-H bond activation of alkylaromatics. These reactivity results demonstrate that iron(III)-hydroperoxo species are viable oxidants in both nucleophilic and electrophilic reactions by iron-containing enzymes.