Humoral autoregulation of blood flow and blood pressure

Zusammenfassung Vasoaktive Substanzen im arteriellen Blut können charakteristische Reaktionen des lokalen Strömungswiderstandes hervorrufen. Die einfachsten Beispiele dieser humoralen Autoregulation können durch intraarterielle Infusion von Acetylcholin (Autoregulation der Strömung) oder Noradrenalin (Autoregulation des Drucks) demonstriert werden. Es wird angenommen, dass der humoralen Autoregulation Bedeutung bei der normalen und pathologischen Kreislaufregulation zukommt.

---

---

Supported by NIH grant No. HE 11747.

---

The experiments were performed in the Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.     

Force generation in glycerinated insect-flight muscles without ATP

Zusammenfassung Durch Zugabe und durch Auswaschen von Mg-Pyrophosphat (0,5 mM) oder Mg-Tripoly-Phosphat (1 mM) konnten (in Abwesenheit von ATP) in glyzerinextrahierten Fasern von fibrillären Insektenmuskeln (Lethocerus maximus) reversible Kontraktionszyklen und Änderungen des Dehnungswiderstandes bewirkt werden.

---

---

Supported by Grant No. Ru 154/b of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The excellent technical assistance of Mrs.Helgard Jung is gratefully acknowledged.     

The importance of the lateral line system for the perception of surface waves in the claw toad,Xenopus laevis daudin

Zusammenfassung Blinde Krallenfrösche reagieren auch dann auf konzentrische Oberflächenwellen, wenn das gesamte Seitenliniensystem zerstört wird. Weitere Ausschaltversuche zeigen, dass der Reiz (Eintauchen eines Stabes) sehr wahrscheinlich über das Labyrinth perzipiert wird. Ob die Oberflächenwelle selbst oder (und) das Geräusch beim Eintauchen des Stabes wahrgenommen wird, ist noch nicht sicher entschieden.

---

---

My thanks are due to Dr.M. L. Mittelstaedt for critical help and to MissA. Middelmann for valuable technical assistance. This work was partly supported by a grant from the DFG.     

Effect of long-term fenfluramine treatment on drug-metabolism in rat

Zusammenfassung Nachweis, dass Fenfluramin in Dosen von 25 und 50 mg/kg p.o. Arzneimittel abbauende Enzyme stimuliert und die Cytochromen b₅ und P-450 in der Rattenleber vermehrt. Der induzierende Effekt ist bereits nach 3 Wochen maximal.     

Permeability of the blood-brain-barrier in lymphostatic encephalopathy combined with complex vitamin B deficiency. The protective effect of vitamin (factor) P treatment

Zusammenfassung Die bereits bekannte Permeabilitätszunahme der Blut-Hirnschranke bei der lymphostatitischen Enzephalopathie wurde mittels einer neuen Methode bestätigt: i.v. infundiertes PVP, mit einem Molekulargewicht von 40.000, drang bei normalen Kontrollratten in die Hirnsubstanz nicht ein; bei Tieren mit einer lymphostatischen Enzephalopathie war PVP in der Hirnsubstanz nachweisbar. Eine komplexe B-Avitaminose führt ebenfalls zum Eindringen von PVP in die Hirnsubstanz; eine Kombination zwischen lymphostatischer Enzephalopathie und komplexer B-Avitaminose hat eine Addition der Permeabilitätsstörung zur Folge. Zwei in die «Vitamin P-Familie» gehörende Stoffe, Cumarin und Troxerutin, übten einen weitgehenden protektiven Effekt gegen die Zunahme der Permeabilität der Blut-Hirnschranke aus.     

Analysis of the human protein interactome and comparison with yeast, worm and fly interaction datasets

We present the first analysis of the human proteome with regard to interactions between proteins. We also compare the human interactome with the available interaction datasets from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), worm (Caenorhabditis elegans) and fly (Drosophila melanogaster). Of >70,000 binary interactions, only 42 were common to human, worm and fly, and only 16 were common to all four datasets. An additional 36 interactions were common to fly and worm but were not observed in humans, although a coimmunoprecipitation assay showed that 9 of the interactions do occur in humans. A re-examination of the connectivity of essential genes in yeast and humans indicated that the available data do not support the presumption that the number of interaction partners can accurately predict whether a gene is essential. Finally, we found that proteins encoded by genes mutated in inherited genetic disorders are likely to interact with proteins known to cause similar disorders, suggesting the existence of disease subnetworks. The human interaction map constructed from our analysis should facilitate an integrative systems biology approach to elucidating the cellular networks that contribute to health and disease states.     

Conserved requirement for a plant host cell protein in powdery mildew pathogenesis

In the fungal phylum Ascomycota, the ability to cause disease in plants and animals has been gained and lost repeatedly during phylogenesis. In monocotyledonous barley, loss-of-function mlo alleles result in effective immunity against the Ascomycete Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei, the causal agent of powdery mildew disease. However, mlo-based disease resistance has been considered a barley-specific phenomenon to date. Here, we demonstrate a conserved requirement for MLO proteins in powdery mildew pathogenesis in the dicotyledonous plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. Epistasis analysis showed that mlo resistance in A. thaliana does not involve the signaling molecules ethylene, jasmonic acid or salicylic acid, but requires a syntaxin, glycosyl hydrolase and ABC transporter. These findings imply that a common host cell entry mechanism of powdery mildew fungi evolved once and at least 200 million years ago, suggesting that within the Erysiphales (powdery mildews) the ability to cause disease has been a stable trait throughout phylogenesis.     

CXorf6 is a causative gene for hypospadias

46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD) refer to a wide range of abnormal genitalia, including hypospadias, which affects approximately 0.5% of male newborns. We identified three different nonsense mutations of CXorf6 in individuals with hypospadias and found that its mouse homolog was specifically expressed in fetal Sertoli and Leydig cells around the critical period for sex development. These data imply that CXorf6 is a causative gene for hypospadias.     

Mutations in the RNA exosome component gene EXOSC3 cause pontocerebellar hypoplasia and spinal motor neuron degeneration

RNA exosomes are multi-subunit complexes conserved throughout evolution and are emerging as the major cellular machinery for processing, surveillance and turnover of a diverse spectrum of coding and noncoding RNA substrates essential for viability. By exome sequencing, we discovered recessive mutations in EXOSC3 (encoding exosome component 3) in four siblings with infantile spinal motor neuron disease, cerebellar atrophy, progressive microcephaly and profound global developmental delay, consistent with pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 1 (PCH1; MIM 607596). We identified mutations in EXOSC3 in an additional 8 of 12 families with PCH1. Morpholino knockdown of exosc3 in zebrafish embryos caused embryonic maldevelopment, resulting in small brain size and poor motility, reminiscent of human clinical features, and these defects were largely rescued by co-injection with wild-type but not mutant exosc3 mRNA. These findings represent the first example of an RNA exosome core component gene that is responsible for a human disease and further implicate dysregulation of RNA processing in cerebellar and spinal motor neuron maldevelopment and degeneration.     

A bisexually reproducing all-triploid vertebrate

Green toads are common in the Palaearctic region, where they have differentiated into several taxa. The toads exist with variable amounts of ploidy, similar to other anuran species or reptiles. In vertebrate biology, the very rare occurrence of triploidy is coupled with infertility or unisexuality, or requires the coexistence of individuals of different ploidy in a reproductive community. The reproduction of naturally occurring triploids has been reported to occur only through parthenogenesis, gynogenesis or hybridogenesis. The bisexual reproduction of pure triploids has been considered to be impossible because of the problem of equally distributing three chromosome sets in meiosis. Here we report geographically isolated populations of green toads (Bufo viridis complex) that are all-triploid and reproduce bisexually.