Variation in the toxicity of various silicas in relation to the duration of presence in the body]

The toxic effect of two forms of sand on the lung was investigated by tracheal injection in Rats. After a latent period with low toxicity, more and more extensive pulmonary lesions, comparable to typical silicotic lesions, appear progressively. On the basis of some observations, the hypothesis is put forward that the impurities present in the dust have a retardative effect.     

Procaine, a local anesthetic, interacting with the cell membrane and inhibiting the processing of exported protein precursors in Escherichia coli]

In E. coli cells grown in the presence of procaine (0.55% w/v), precursor forms of alkaline phosphatase and of glutamine binding protein accumulate besides mature forms synthesized prior to procaine addition. An experimental technique, of general application, for isolation and purification of mature and precursor forms obtained under these conditions, is described.     

Myosin isoenzymes during in vivo and in vitro differentiation of chick muscles

Muscle fibers differentiated, in vitro, from myoblasts of embryonic Pectoralis (presumptive fast) and embryonic Adductor magnus (presumptive slow) muscles synthesise the same type of myosin, which is identical to the type synthesised in day 10 embryonic muscles. This type of myosin comigrates with the third isozyme of the adult fast-twitch muscle. There is no change in the kind of myosin in cultures aged from 2 to 7 weeks, whereas during the in vivo differentiation of the same muscles, new isozymes appear which are different in the two muscles. With regard to myosin, the muscle fibers differentiated, in vitro, from myoblasts of fast or slow muscles expressed the same phenotype.