Lipoperoxidation rates and drug-oxidizing enzyme activities in the liver and placenta of some mammal species during the perinatal period.

Lipoperoxidation and drug-metabolizing enzymes were measured in livers and placentas of different mammal species during the perinatal perios. In placentas and fetal livers of rat, rabbit and guinea-pig, cofactor-supported lipoperoxidation was negligible, as were the activities of drug-oxidizing enzymes. Human fetal liver contained an intact drug-oxidizing electron transport chain, and lipoperoxidation activity was accordingly abserved. It is suggested that lesions mediated by lipoperoxidation may be possible in human fetus, but they are less probable in animal fetuses.     

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in T-lymphocyte deficient rats.

Thymectomized, lethally irradiated rats reconstituted with syngeneic bone marrow were injected with rat brain in complete Freund adjuvant mixture. Both, they and sham-thymectomized, irradiated and bone marrow protected rats displayed a higher incidence of leg paralysis than normal non-irradiated animals. Thymectomy lowered the incidence of the disease.     

The accumulation pattern of ingested gossypol in selected organs of the rat.

Bound gossypol levels in the spleen and kidney of rats ingesting dietary gossypol (0.98%) varied directly with the feeding intervals of 6, 14, 28 and 35 days. Free gossypol level in the kidney, spleen and lungs increased for 14 days and then tended to decrease as the feeding period was extended.     

2-Phenylethanol, a presumed sexual stimulant produced by the male cabbage looper moth, Trichoplusia ni.

A sex pheromone produced by male cabbage looper moths, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), has been isolated from the genital scent brushes and identified as 2-phenylethanol. It is shown conclusively to elicit specific behavioural responses in the female (such as wing vibration and abdominal elevation), as determined by a novel behavioural laboratory bioassay. This is taken as further evidence that the male pheromone of T. ni acts as a sexual stimulant (aphrodisiac) prior to mating. 2-Phenylethanol represents the first identification of a genital scent brush pheromone in the family Noctuidae, and of a male pheromone in the subfamily Plusiinae.     

Enzymic 'imprinting' as the result of early postnatal administration of enzyme inducers to animals

Early postnatal treatment of rats or mice with different enzyme inducers (cortisol, galactose, steroid which induces mixed function oxidases) results in long-lasting changes in the activity of corresponding inducible enzymes.