Catecholamines and granular vesicles in adrenergic axons of the developing pineal body of the rat

Resumen Imediatemente después del nacimiento, las fibras adrenérgicas del cuerpo pineal del ratón, contienen solamente vesículas granulosas del tipo grande. Con dós dias, comienzan a aparecer las vesículas granulosas pequeñas; que son las que contienen nor-epinefrina. Se piensa que antes de ésta edad, la nor-epinefrina se localizaria principalmente en un compartimiento extra-vesicular.

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This material was presented at the meetings of the American Association of Anatomists, Kansas City, Missouri, 1967.     

Effect of high anodic polarization on the passive layer properties of superduplex stainless steel friction stir welds at different chloride electrolyte pH values and temperatures

The conditions used for friction stir welding of duplex stainless steels determine the resulting mechanical and corrosion performance of the material.This study investigates the corrosion resistance of UNS S32750 and S32760 superduplex stainless steels(SDSSs)joined by friction stir welding,employing cyclic polarization,Mott–Schottky,and microscopy techniques for analysis.The microscopy images indicated the presence of a deleterious intermetallic phase after electrolytic etching of S32760,as well as decreased corrosion resistance.The presence of molybdenum in the steels promoted better passive behavior at low pH.The Mott–Schottky curves revealed p-n heterojunction behavior of the passive oxide.Images acquired after the polarization test by scanning electron microscopy showed higher passivation propensity with increases of temperature and pH.     

Functional connectivity in the retina at the resolution of photoreceptors

To understand a neural circuit requires knowledge of its connectivity. Here we report measurements of functional connectivity between the input and ouput layers of the macaque retina at single-cell resolution and the implications of these for colour vision. Multi-electrode technology was used to record simultaneously from complete populations of the retinal ganglion cell types (midget, parasol and small bistratified) that transmit high-resolution visual signals to the brain. Fine-grained visual stimulation was used to identify the location, type and strength of the functional input of each cone photoreceptor to each ganglion cell. The populations of ON and OFF midget and parasol cells each sampled the complete population of long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive cones. However, only OFF midget cells frequently received strong input from short-wavelength-sensitive cones. ON and OFF midget cells showed a small non-random tendency to selectively sample from either long- or middle-wavelength-sensitive cones to a degree not explained by clumping in the cone mosaic. These measurements reveal computations in a neural circuit at the elementary resolution of individual neurons.     

Universal scaling of respiratory metabolism, size and nitrogen in plants

The scaling of respiratory metabolism to body size in animals is considered to be a fundamental law of nature, and there is substantial evidence for an approximate (3/4)-power relation. Studies suggest that plant respiratory metabolism also scales as the (3/4)-power of mass, and that higher plant and animal scaling follow similar rules owing to the predominance of fractal-like transport networks and associated allometric scaling. Here, however, using data obtained from about 500 laboratory and field-grown plants from 43 species and four experiments, we show that whole-plant respiration rate scales approximately isometrically (scaling exponent approximately 1) with total plant mass in individual experiments and has no common relation across all data. Moreover, consistent with theories about biochemically based physiological scaling, isometric scaling of whole-plant respiration rate to total nitrogen content is observed within and across all data sets, with a single relation common to all data. This isometric scaling is unaffected by growth conditions including variation in light, nitrogen availability, temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration, and is similar within or among species or functional groups. These findings suggest that plants and animals follow different metabolic scaling relations, driven by distinct mechanisms.     

Genetic deficiency of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase associated with skeletal dysplasia, cerebral calcifications and autoimmunity

Vertebral and metaphyseal dysplasia, spasticity with cerebral calcifications, and strong predisposition to autoimmune diseases are the hallmarks of the genetic disorder spondyloenchondrodysplasia. We mapped a locus in five consanguineous families to chromosome 19p13 and identified mutations in ACP5, which encodes tartrate-resistant phosphatase (TRAP), in 14 affected individuals and showed that these mutations abolish enzyme function in the serum and cells of affected individuals. Phosphorylated osteopontin, a protein involved in bone reabsorption and in immune regulation, accumulates in serum, urine and cells cultured from TRAP-deficient individuals. Case-derived dendritic cells exhibit an altered cytokine profile and are more potent than matched control cells in stimulating allogeneic T cell proliferation in mixed lymphocyte reactions. These findings shed new light on the role of osteopontin and its regulation by TRAP in the pathogenesis of common autoimmune disorders.