Susceptibility of beta 2-microglobulin-deficient mice to Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

The beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) protein associates with the products of the class I major histocompatibility (MHC) loci; this combination functions in the thymic development of and antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells. Mice in which the beta 2m gene has been disrupted by homologous recombination fail to express class I MHC gene products, and therefore lack CD8+ T cells and measurable cytotoxic T-cell responses. However, beta 2m- mice appear to have normal development of both CD4+ alpha/beta T-cell receptor (TCR+) and gamma/delta TCR+ T cells and are not overtly more susceptible than beta 2m+ mice to potential environmental agents of infection or to experimental viral infection. Here we show that beta 2m- mice suffer high parasitaemias and early death when infected with the obligate cytoplasmic protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Despite this increased susceptibility, the beta 2m- mice are more responsive than their beta 2m+ littermates in terms of lymphokine production, making higher levels of both interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma in response to mitogen stimulation. In addition, the beta 2m- mice show essentially no inflammatory response in parasite-infected tissues. These results confirm previous experiments on mice depleted of CD8+ cells using antibody treatment in demonstrating the importance of CD8+ T cells in immune protection in T. cruzi infection. They also implicate CD8+ T cells and/or class I MHC molecules in regulation of lymphokine production and recruitment of inflammatory cells.     

Tumour necrosis factor alpha restores granulomas and induces parasite egg-laying in schistosome-infected SCID mice.

Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is a parasitic disease caused by several species of schistosome worms (blood flukes). The key pathogenic event in this disease is the formation of granulomas around schistosome eggs trapped in portal venules of the liver. Granulomas are a distinctive form of chronic inflammation characterized by localized aggregation of activated macrophages around an inciting stimulus. Each granuloma evolves to form a fibrous scar; in schistosomiasis, the result is widespread hepatic fibrosis and portal hypertension. To identify the specific immune signal molecules necessary for granuloma formation, we studied schistosome infections in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, which have normal macrophages but lack functional B or T lymphocytes. Here we report that the immunoregulatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor alpha is necessary and sufficient to reconstitute granuloma formation in schistosome-infected SCID mice. Moreover, we find that the parasitic worms require tumour necrosis factor alpha for egg-laying and for excretion of eggs from the host. The implication of this latter result is that the parasite has adapted so successfully to its host that it uses a host-derived immunoregulatory protein as a signal for replication and transmission.     

Rapid switching to multiple antigenic and adhesive phenotypes in malaria.

Adhesion of parasitized erythrocytes to post-capillary venular endothelium or uninfected red cells is strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Neoantigens at the infected red-cell surface adhere to a variety of host receptors, demonstrate serological diversity in field isolates and may also be a target of the host-protective immune response. Here we use sequential cloning of P. falciparum by micromanipulation to investigate the ability of a parasite to switch antigenic and cytoadherence phenotypes. Our data show that antigens at the parasitized cell surface undergo clonal variation in vitro in the absence of immune pressure at the rate of 2% per generation with concomitant modulations of the adhesive phenotype. A clone has the potential to switch at high frequency to a variety of antigenic and adhesive phenotypes, including a new type of cytoadherence behaviour, 'auto-agglutination' of infected erythrocytes. This rapid appearance of antigenic and functional heterogeneity has important implications for pathogenesis and acquired immunity.     

甲烷氧化偶联制C2烃La2O3基催化剂的研究

本文的实验结果表明,具有开放型本征构型的La_2O_3对甲烷氧化偶联反应有相当好的活性和选择性,在750℃、原料气空速6.O×10~4ml.g~(-1).h~(-1),CH_4:O_2:N_2=3.7:l.0:9.0(V/V)的反应条件下,氧接近全部转化,甲烷转化率达25.4％,C_2烃选择性为43.6％,添加碱土金属(Ca、Sr、Ba)氧化物或碳酸盐能显著地改善催化剂的性能,在上述反应条件下,60mol％Ba-La_2O_3催化剂的C_2烃选择性达到58％。     

Extraordinary levels of cadmium and zinc in a marine sponge,Tedania charcoti Topsent: inorganic chemical defense agents

The Antarctic marine spongeTedania charcoti has been shown to contain extraordinarily high natural concentrations of cadmium and zinc, which have in turn been correlated to the ability of the crude ethanol extract to modulate protein phosphorylation in chicken forebrain and to inhibit the growth of several test bacteria.     

The temporal requirement for endothelin receptor-B signalling during neural crest development

Endothelin receptor B (EDNRB) is a G-protein-coupled receptor with seven transmembrane domains which is required for the development of melanocytes and enteric neurons. Mice that are homozygous for a null mutation in the Ednrb gene are almost completely white and die as juveniles from megacolon. To determine when EDNRB signalling is required during embryogenesis, we have exploited the tetracycline-inducible system to generate strains of mice in which the endogenous Ednrb locus is under the control of the tetracycline-dependant transactivators tTa or rtTA. By using this system to express Ednrb at different stages of embryogenesis, we have determined that EDNRB is required during a restricted period of neural crest development between embryonic days 10 and 12.5. Moreover, our results imply that EDNRB is required for the migration of both melanoblasts and enteric neuroblasts.     

A telomerase component is defective in the human disease dyskeratosis congenita

The X-linked form of the human disease dyskeratosis congenita (DKC) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding dyskerin. Sufferers have defects in highly regenerative tissues such as skin and bone marrow, chromosome instability and a predisposition to develop certain types of malignancy. Dyskerin is a putative pseudouridine synthase, and it has been suggested that DKC may be caused by a defect in ribosomal RNA processing. Here we show that dyskerin is associated not only with H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs, but also with human telomerase RNA, which contains an H/ACA RNA motif. Telomerase adds simple sequence repeats to chromosome ends using an internal region of its RNA as a template, and is required for the indefinite proliferation of primary human cells. We find that primary fibroblasts and lymphoblasts from DKC-affected males are not detectably deficient in conventional H/ACA small nucleolar RNA accumulation or function; however, DKC cells have a lower level of telomerase RNA, produce lower levels of telomerase activity and have shorter telomeres than matched normal cells. The pathology of DKC is consistent with compromised telomerase function leading to a defect in telomere maintenance, which may limit the proliferative capacity of human somatic cells in epithelia and blood.     

Distribution of spatial and nonspatial information in dorsal hippocampus

The hippocampus in the mammalian brain is required for the encoding of current and the retention of past experience. Previous studies have shown that the hippocampus contains neurons that encode information required to perform spatial and nonspatial short-term memory tasks. A more detailed understanding of the functional anatomy of the hippocampus would provide important insight into how such encoding occurs. Here we show that hippocampal neurons in the rat are distributed anatomically in distinct segments along the length of the hippocampus. Each longitudinal segment contains clusters of neurons that become active when the animal performs a task with spatial attributes. Within these same segments are ordered arrangements of neurons that encode the nonspatial aspects of the task appropriate to those spatial features. Thus, anatomical segregation of spatial information, together with the interleaved representation of nonspatial information, represents a structural framework that may help to resolve conflicting views of hippocampal function.     

Central inputs mask multiple adult neural networks within a single embryonic network

It is usually assumed that, after construction of basic network architecture in embryos, immature networks undergo progressive maturation to acquire their adult properties. We examine this assumption in the context of the lobster stomatogastric nervous system. In the lobster, the neuronal population that will form this system is at first orgnanized into a single embryonic network that generates a single rhythmic pattern. The system then splits into different functional adult networks controlled by central descending systems; these adult networks produce multiple motor programmes, distinctively different from the single output of the embryonic network. We show here that the single embryonic network can produce multiple adult-like programmes. This occurs after the embryonic network is silenced by removal of central inputs, then pharmacologically stimulated to restore rhythmicity. Furthermore, restoration of the flow of descending information reversed the adult-like pattern to an embryonic pattern. This indicates that the embryonic network possesses the ability to express adult-like network characteristics, but descending information prevents it from doing so. Functional adult networks may therefore not necessarily be derived from progressive ontogenetic changes in networks themselves, but may result from maturation of descending systems that unmask preexisting adult networks in an embryonic system.