重油组成的分子系综表征法

采用Ｍｏｎｔｅ－Ｃａｒｌｏ模拟方法，建立了表征重组成的等效分子系统法，提出了重油分子构造规则和约束及关计算机算法。Ａｌｂｅｒｔａ重油的模拟结果和实验数据比较表明，其系统计结构基团浓度，密度、沸点、环、桥和侧链分布，饱和烃含量均与实测一致，从而为利用纯化合物物化性质研究复杂的重油建立起桥梁。     

Sectioning of polyacrylamide slab gels with a modified small animal stereotaxic instrument

Summary A simple and inexpensive modification of the Kopf model 900 small animal stereotaxic instrument allows it to be used temporarily as a precision polyacrylamide slab gel slicer.Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.     

The analysis of sound by the sprat ear

In the acoustico-lateralis systems of vertebrates the individual hair cells are usually polarised in their responses to displacements of the liquid in which they lie, and are often arranged in back-to-back pairs or groups with different polarities. A simple example to investigate, mechanically as well as electrically, is the utriculus of the sprat (Clupea sprattus L.). The acoustico-lateralis system of the sprat and other clupeids has two partly gas-filled bony bullae which transform pressure changes into liquid displacements capable of stimulating the sense organs of the ear and lateral line. With its related structures the utriculus is a very sensitive sound pressure detector which has one population of receptors that respond to the compressions and another that respond to the decompressions of a sound wave. We now give additional evidence that this type of organisation is unlike that of the mammalian cochlea in being specialised more for the detection of phase/time relationships than for frequency analysis.     

Noradrenaline and beta-adrenoceptor agonists increase activity of voltage-dependent calcium channels in hippocampal neurons

The predominance of unconventional transmitter release sites at noradrenaline-containing synapses and the diffuse projections of noradrenaline-containing fibres originating in locus coeruleus have led to speculation that noradrenaline may act as a neuromodulator in the central nervous system. Evidence suggests that it has a modulatory function in the plasticity of the developing nervous system, in controlling behavioural states of an organism, and in learning and memory. Recently, Hopkins and Johnston demonstrated that noradrenaline enhances the magnitude, duration and probability of induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) at mossy fibre synapses in the hippocampal formation, and LTP is widely believed to be a cellular substrate for aspects of memory. To investigate the membrane effects of noradrenaline on central neurons, we used a newly developed preparation in which patch-clamp techniques can be applied to exposed adult cortical neurons. We report here that noradrenaline produces an enhancement in the activity of voltage-dependent calcium channels in granule cells of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. This action appears to be mediated by beta-adrenoceptors and can be mimicked by cyclic AMP.     

Cholinergic-rich brain transplants reverse alcohol-induced memory deficits

Alcohol-induced memory impairment in man has been attributed to deficiencies in subcortical noradrenergic and cholinergic systems, as well as to damage in midbrain structures. Korsakoff's psychosis, a disease in which alcohol poisoning causes apparently irreversible memory defects, is characterized by lesions in cholinergic and noradrenergic nuclei and by a decrease in the activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and the content of noradrenaline (NA) in forebrain areas such as cerebral cortex and hippocampus, innervated by these nuclei. Prolonged intake of ethanol in rodents similarly produces signs of noradrenergic and cholinergic deafferentation in the cortex and hippocampus, as well as persistent memory deficits. To test whether alcohol-induced memory impairments depend on cholinergic deafferentation, we transplanted cholinergic-rich fetal basal forebrain cell suspensions into the cortex and hippocampus of alcohol-treated rats. The substantial and persistent memory losses produced in our rats by ethanol intake were associated with an impairment of cholinergic function, and were reversed by cholinergic-rich transplants into cortex and hippocampus.     

The first cleavage of the mouse zygote predicts the blastocyst axis

One of the unanswered questions in mammalian development is how the embryonic-abembryonic axis of the blastocyst is first established. It is possible that the first cleavage division contributes to this process, because in most mouse embryos the progeny of one two-cell blastomere primarily populate the embryonic part of the blastocyst and the progeny of its sister populate the abembryonic part. However, it is not known whether the embryonic-abembryonic axis is set up by the first cleavage itself, by polarity in the oocyte that then sets the first cleavage plane with respect to the animal pole, or indeed whether it can be divorced entirely from the first cleavage and established in relation to the animal pole. Here we test the importance of the orientation of the first cleavage by imposing an elongated shape on the zygote so that the division no longer passes close to the animal pole, marked by the second polar body. Non-invasive lineage tracing shows that even when the first cleavage occurs along the short axis imposed by this experimental treatment, the progeny of the resulting two-cell blastomeres tend to populate the respective embryonic and abembryonic parts of the blastocyst. Thus, the first cleavage contributes to breaking the symmetry of the embryo, generating blastomeres with different developmental characteristics.     

The melanocyte differentiation program predisposes to metastasis after neoplastic transformation

The aggressive clinical behavior of melanoma suggests that the developmental origins of melanocytes in the neural crest might be relevant to their metastatic propensity. Here we show that primary human melanocytes, transformed using a specific set of introduced genes, form melanomas that frequently metastasize to multiple secondary sites, whereas human fibroblasts and epithelial cells transformed using an identical set of genes generate primary tumors that rarely do so. Notably, these melanomas have a metastasis spectrum similar to that observed in humans with melanoma. These observations indicate that part of the metastatic proclivity of melanoma is attributable to lineage-specific factors expressed in melanocytes and not in other cell types analyzed. Analysis of microarray data from human nevi shows that the expression pattern of Slug, a master regulator of neural crest cell specification and migration, correlates with those of other genes that are important for neural crest cell migrations during development. Moreover, Slug is required for the metastasis of the transformed melanoma cells. These findings indicate that melanocyte-specific factors present before neoplastic transformation can have a pivotal role in governing melanoma progression.