Resolution ofdl-amino acids by preferential crystallization procedure,I. Preparation of optically active alanines

Zusammenfassung Die direkte optische Spaltung vondl-Alaninbenzensulfonat in die optischen antipoden wurde bewirkt durch die bevorzugte Kristallisation aus übersättigter Lösung, die mit einem der reinen optischaktiven Kristalle inokuliert war.     

Administration of D-alanine did not cause increase of D-amino acid oxidase activity in mice

D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) activity was not altered in the liver and kidney by oral administration of D-alanine to adult mice. The enzyme was apparently not induced by the enteric microflora either, since the enzyme activity in the liver and kidney of germ-free mice was not different from that of specific-pathogen-free mice. The times of appearance of DAAO activity and of free D-amino acids in the kidney were elucidated using suckling mice. DAAO activity started to increase 7 days after birth, and reached almost the adult level by 28 days. The content of free neutral D-amino acids also increased with age, in a similar fashion. A possible conclusion is that the enzyme activity normally increases during this period, to eliminate the free D-amino acids which have increased with age in the suckling mice. Consequently, the administration of D-alanine had no further effect in increasing enzyme activity.     

Conservation of the sizes for one but not another class of exons in two chick collagen genes

Type III collagen is often found in the same tissues as type I collagen, yet the function and nature of the fibrils formed by the two collagens differ markedly. To understand the evolutionary history of the collagen gene family in more detail, we isolated the gene for type III collagen and compared its structure with that of the gene for alpha 2(I) collagen. This comparison points to a remarkable conservation in the size distribution of the exons coding for the helical part of these two collagen polypeptides: equivalent amino acid segments in the helical domain of each polypeptide are encoded by exons of equal sizes in each gene. This suggests that after the interstitial collagen genes had been duplicated from a common ancestor about 2-5 X 10(8) years ago, no recombinations between these exons were tolerated, although the same recombinational phenomena must have played an important part in shaping the structure of the progenitor for these genes. This fixation of the size distribution of the exons which code for the interstitial collagen helical domains is found despite the persistence in these exons of sequence elements that should have favoured recombinational rearrangements, and contrasts with the variations in the pattern of sizes of some exons coding for the amino and carboxyl propeptides of these collagens.     

125Sb高自旋态: 粒子-核芯激发耦合

利用在束γ谱学方法, 通过¹²⁴Sn (⁷Li, α2n)反应研究了¹²⁵Sb的激发态, 首次建立了¹²⁵Sb的高自旋能级纲图, 其中包括21条新 γ 跃迁和14个新能级. 发现1970, 2110和2470 keV 3个能级为同质异能态, 基于延迟符合测量确定了它们的寿命范围, 并确定其自旋、宇称分别为15/2^-, 19/2^-和23/2⁺. 根据粒子-核芯耦合图像和经验壳模型计算解释了¹²⁵Sb的能级结构, 3个同质异能态的组态分别被指定为πg_7/2 Ä^{v(h_11/2s_1/2)_5-} , πg_7/2 Ä v(h_11/2d_3/2)_7^-, 和πg_7/2 Äv(h²_11/2)_10⁺     

Role of adenosine A1 and A2 receptors in the regulation of aldosterone production in rat adrenal glands

Summary To investigate the roles of adenosine A₁ and A₂ receptors in the regulation of aldosterone production, we examined the effects of adenosine and adenosine agonists (N⁶-cyclohexyl adenosine; selective adenosine A₁ receptor agonist and 5-N-ethylcarboxamine adenosine; selective adenosine A₂ receptor agonist) on aldosterone and cyclic AMP production in rat adrenal capsular cells. Neither adenosine nor 5-N-ethylcarboxamine adenosine caused significant effects on basal aldosterone or cyclic AMP production. Also, adenosine (10^–3M) showed no consistent effects on aldosterone and cyclic AMP production induced by ACTH. On the other hand, N⁶-cyclohexyl adenosine exhibited a significant inhibition of basal aldosterone and cyclic AMP production at doses of 10^–4 M and 10^–3 M; furthermore, 10^–3 M N⁶-cyclohexyl adenosine inhibited aldosterone and cyclic AMP production stimulated by ACTH. These results suggest that adenosine A₁ receptors are coupled to and inhibit adenylate cyclase and may be involved in the inhibition of aldosterone production.     

Synthesis and some characteristics of [13C]-specially enriched tetragastrin and the related compound

Summary [¹³C]-enriched tetragastrin and the related compound were synthesized in solution. Conversion of S-[¹³C]-methylated tetragastrin to the enriched tetragastrin gave 10.5 ppm upfield chemical shift of C resonance. The potency of the synthetic tetragastrin to stimulate gastric acid secretion was virtually identical with that of pentagastrin (ICI).Acknowledgment. A part of this research was supported by scientific research funds (No. 944059, 048253) from the Japanese Ministry of Education.