Induction of hemopoietic chimerism in the caprine fetus by intraperitoneal injection of fetal liver cells

Summary Intraperitoneal injection of allogeneic liver cells from 43-day-old male fetuses into normal 60-day female goat fetuses resulted in persistent hemopoietic chimerism in surviving recipients without clinical evidence of graft-versus-host disease. Transplantation of normal fetal liver cells into preimmunocompetent goat fetuses affected with -D-mannosidosis may provide an alternative strategy for evaluating hemopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of human lysosomal storage diseases.     

Using genetically-defined rodent strains for the identification of hippocampal traits relevant for two-way avoidance behavior: a non-invasive approach

Summary Genetically-defined rodent strains permit the identification of hippocampal traits which are of functional relevance for the performance of two-way avoidance behavior. This is exemplified here by analyzing the relationship between infrapyramidal mossy fibers (a tiny projection terminating upon the basal dendrites of hippocampal pyramidal neurons) and two-way avoidance learning in about 800 animals. The necessary steps include 1) identification of structural traits sensitive to selective breeding for extremes in two-way avoidance, 2) testing the robustness of the associations found by studying individual and genetical correlations between hippocampal traits and behavior, 3) establishing causal relationships by Mendelian crossing of strains with extreme structural traits and studying the behavioral consequences of such structural randomization, 4) confirming causal relationships by manipulating the structural variable in inbred (isogenic) strains, thereby eliminating the possibility of genetic linkage, and 5) ruling out the possibility of spurious associations by studying the correlations between the hippocampal trait and other behaviors known to depend on hippocampal functioning.In comparison with the classical lesion approach for identifying relationships between brain and behavior, the present procedure appears to be superior in two aspects: it is non-invasive, and it focuses automatically on those brain traits which are used by natural selection to shape behaviorally-defined animal populations, i.e., it reveals the natural regulators of behavior.     

Evolutionary and ecological implications of cardenolide sequestration in the monarch butterfly

Summary Monarch butterflies sequester cardenolides from their larval host plants in the milkweed genusAsclepias for use in defense against predation. Of 108Asclepias species in North America, monarchs are known to feed as larvae on 27. Research on 11 of these has shown that monarchs sequester cardenolides most effectively, to an asymptote of approximately 350 g/0.1 g dry butterfly, from plants with intermediate cardenolide contents rather than from those with very high or very low cardenolide contents. SinceAsclepias host plant species are distributed widely in space and time across the continent, monarchs exploit them by migration between breeding and overwintering areas. After overwintering in central Mexico, spring migrants east of the Rocky Mountains exploit three predominantAsclepias species in the southern USA that have moderately high cardenolide contents. Monarchs sequester cardenolides very effectively from these species. First generation butterflies are thus well protected against predators and continue the migration north. Across the northern USA and southern Canada most summer breeding occurs on a fourthAsclepias species and in autumn most of these monarchs migrate back to Mexican overwintering sites. The ecological implications of this cycle of cardenolide sequestration for the evolution of monarch migration are discussed.     

Failure of opioids to affect excitation and contraction in isolated ventricular heart muscle

Summary The opioid agonists morphine (selective for -receptors) and ethylketocyclazocine (selective for kappa-receptors), at concentrations evoking strong effects in neuronal structures, did not significantly affect the configuration of the intracellularly recorded action potential and the force of contraction in ventricular heart muscle isolated from guinea pigs, rabbits and man. These results suggest that any changes of heart functions in vivo in response to opioid-like drugs are probably not mediated postsynaptically at the myocardial cell membrane but rather presynaptically, influencing the release of noradrenaline and/or acetylcholine from the nerve terminals.     

Evidence for anoxygenic photosynthesis from the distribution of bacteriochlorophylls in the Black Sea

The contribution of anoxygenic photosynthesis to carbon cycling in the Black Sea, the world's largest body of anoxic marine water, has been vigorously investigated and debated for over four decades. Penetration of light into the sulphide-containing deep water may result in a zone of anaerobic primary production by photosynthetic bacteria. We report here the results of analyses of photosynthetic pigments in samples of suspended particulate matter collected from two stations in the western basin of the Black Sea. Our data demonstrate high concentrations of a bacterio-chlorophyll at the chemocline, and thus the potential for anoxygenic photosynthesis as a component of primary production in the carbon cycle of the Black Sea. More than 95% of the pigments in the bacteriochlorophyll-maximum are accounted for by a series of aromatic carotenoids and bacteriochlorophylls-e, including a previously unreported geranyl ester of 4-i-butyl bacteriochlorophyll-e. The distribution of pigments is characteristic of the obligate phototrophs Chlorobium phaeobacteroides and C. phaeovibriodes. Total depth-integrated bacteriochlorophyll at one station exceeded total chlorophyll-a in the overlying oxygenated portion of the euphotic zone. We suggest that anoxygenic photosynthesis is a relatively recent phenomenon in the Black Sea initiated by shallowing of the chemocline over the past decade and development of an anoxic layer devoid of O2 and H2S.     

New window on Proterozoic life

This article briefly discusses the the new fossil assemblage found in the 600-650-million-year-old shales of the Pertatataka formation in central Australia. It includes about two dozen taxa of spinose, process-bearing or otherwise ornamented acritarchs, many of them extremely large relative to comparably ornamented fossils in younger rocks. These acritarchs reveal a glimpse of early evolution and Proterozoic life.     

The pineal and melatonin: Regulators of circadian function in lower vertebrates

Summary The pineal has been identified as a major circadian pacemaker within the circadian system of a number of lower vertebrates although other pacemaking sites have been implicated as well. The rhythmic synthesis and secretion of the pineal hormone, melatonin, is suggested as the mechanism by which the pineal controls circadian oscillators located elsewhere. Both light and temperature cycles can entrain the pineal melatonin rhythm. The pineal, therefore, acts as a photo and thermoendocrine transducer which functions to synchronize internal cycle with cycles in the environment. A model is presented which portrays the pineal as a major component of a multioscillator circadian system and which suggests how these multiple circadian clocks are coupled to each other and to cycles of light and temperature in the external world.     

The contents of the pygidial gland of the primitive antNothomyrmecia macrops (Hymenoptera:Formicidae)

Summary The principal constituent of the pygidial gland ofNothomyrmecia macrops is 3,7-dimethyloct-6-en-2-one, a substance not previously identified in insects. Also identified were 2,6-dimethylhept-5-enal, 2-nonanone, indole, -dodecalactone, and the hydrocarbons pentadecane, heptadecane, heptadecene and heptadecadiene, all in low nanogram quantities.     

Lack of effect of dihydroergotamine on endothelial and smooth muscle cell proliferation and endothelial cell prostanoid production

Summary The most important effect of dihydroergotamine is venoconstriction, but certain metabolic effects and changes in vessel prostanoid activity have also been suggested. In this study endothelial cell production of 6-keto PGF₁ and TxB₂ was quantitated in vitro. No evidence of altered prostanoid production was noted after incubation with dihydroergotamine (exposure ranging from 5×10^–3 to 5×10^–7 g/l). Similarly, no effect of dihydroergotamine on the growth rates of endothelial cells or smooth muscle cells in vitro was documented.