Failure of melatonin to influence endogenous opioid effects on LH secretion in the anoestrous ewe

In May mature seasonally anoestrous ewes were implanted with melatonin which advanced the onset of cycles by about 1 month. The LH response to an opioid antagonist, WIN-3, was determined 5, 15, 25 and 60 days after melatonin implantation, by intravenous administration of WIN-3 (12.5 mg/dose) 4 times at 15-min intervals during both the 1st and the 5th hour of an 8-h treatment period. There was no effect of WIN-3 at 5, 15 and 25 days after melatonin implantation. At 60 days LH concentration and pulse frequency were significantly increased (P less than 0.05 and less than 0.01 respectively) in response to WIN-3 treatment, but only in those animals which had begun reproductive cycles, an effect known to be mediated by the presence of progesterone. We were therefore unable to find evidence to support the hypothesis that the influence of melatonin in advancing the breeding season may be via an opioidergic pathway.     

Immunoquantification and enzyme kinetics of alpha-L-iduronidase in cultured fibroblasts from normal controls and mucopolysaccharidosis type I patients.

alpha-L-Iduronidase activity is deficient in mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I; Hurler syndrome, Scheie syndrome) patients and results in the disruption of the sequential degradation of the glycosaminoglycans dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate. A monoclonal antibody-based immunoquantification assay has been developed for alpha-L-iduronidase, which enables the detection of at least 16 pg alpha-L-iduronidase protein. Cultured human skin fibroblasts from 12 normal controls contained 17-54 ng alpha-L-iduronidase protein/mg extracted cell protein. Fibroblasts from 23 MPS I patients were assayed for alpha-L-iduronidase protein content. Fibroblast extracts from one MPS I patient contained at least six times the level of alpha-L-iduronidase protein for normal controls--but contained no associated enzyme activity--and is proposed to represent a mutation affecting the active site of the enzyme. Fibroblast extracts from 11 MPS I patients contained 0.05-2.03 ng alpha-L-iduronidase protein/mg extracted cell protein, whereas immunodetectable protein could not be detected in the other 11 patients. Four fibroblast extracts with no immunodetectable alpha-L-iduronidase protein had residual alpha-L-iduronidase activity, suggesting that the mutant alpha-L-iduronidase in cultured cells from these MPS I patients has been modified to mask or remove the epitopes detected by two monoclonal antibodies used in the quantification assay. Both the absence of immunoreactivity in a mild MPS I patient and high protein level in a severe MPS I patient present limitations to the use of immunoquantification analysis as a sole measure of patient phenotype. Enzyme kinetic analysis of alpha-L-iduronidase from MPS I fibroblasts revealed a number of patients with either abnormal substrate binding or catalytic activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Phylogenetic systematic evaluation of a classification of the Zoogonidae Odhner, 1902 (Cercomeria: Trematoda: Digenea: Plagiorchiiformes)

A recent systematic study of the digenean family Zoogonidae presented a series of cladograms, which are the product of phylogenetic systematic, or cladistic, analysis. However, one of the two subfamilies and nine of the 21 genera recognised in that study lacked putative synapomorphies, a requirement for phylogenetic systematic studies. This study presents a re-analysis of the database for the zoogonids, based on rigorous application of phylogenetic systematic methods. A new phylogenetic tree is presented, which better fits the original data than the published tree (with a consistency index of 52.3% vs. 46.3%). Four subfamilies, three monophyletic and one of uncertain status, and 10 genera could be recognised phylogenetically. This would affect the nomenclatorial status of one-third (26) of the species in the family. However, it is recommended that another analysis, based on more characters, be carried out before nomenclatorial changes are proposed.     

Unusual responses of proboscis muscles ofBusycon canaliculatum to some calcium antagonist agents

Summary K- and ACh-induced responses of the radular sac, odontophore retractor, and radular retractor muscles ofBusycon canaliculatum were found to be strongly dependent upon [Ca]₀. Diltiazem had strong positive inotropic and chronotropic actions on fast twitch activity in the odontophore retractor and radular protractor muscles. K-induced tonic force in these muscles was partly inhibited by diltiazem but only at very high concentrations. ACh responses in all muscles were eliminated by diltiazem. Nifedipine enhanced fast twitches and tonic force in response to high K, and induced persistent spontaneous fast twitch discharges. Nifedipine inhibited ACh-induced tonic force, but induced rhythmic bursts of fast twitches persisting long after nifedipine washout. Verapamil strongly inhibited K- and ACh-induced tonic force in all three muscles at high concentration, but stimulated fast twitch responses and converted ACh contractures into fast twitch activity. Sucrose gap studies showed that nifedipine and diltiazem reduced K- and ACh-induced tension and depolarization. Paradoxically, verapamil reduced K- and ACh-induced tension but significantly enhanced their induced depolarizations. Diltiazem, nifedipine and verapamil did not act like slow Ca channel antagonists in these muscles. This may reflect differences in channel structure between molluscs and mammals, or differences in the cellular calcium release pathways operated by such channels in molluscan and mammalian muscle. These Ca-ant-agonists appeared to act as agonists of fast twitch activity in these muscles and antagonists of the ACh-induced calcium release pathway for tonic force development.     

Growth of Phytomonas serpens in a Defined Medium; Nutritional Requirements

ABSTRACT. Three strains of Phytomonas serpens two from tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum one from the insect Phtia picta (Hemiptera, Coreidae), were cultivated in a chemically defined medium developed from a defined medium for cultivating insect flagellates. Besides organic growth factors required by other insect trypanosomatids this flagellate requires, serine and inositol. Glutamine stimulates growth, and, surprisingly, does not require heme.     

Differing T-cell requirements for recombinant retrovirus vaccines.

Friend murine leukemia virus is a retrovirus complex that induces rapid erythroleukemia and immunosuppression in susceptible strains of adult mice. Using this model, we directly examined the T-cell subsets required for a protective retrovirus vaccine. Paradoxically, recovery in mice immunized with a chimeric envelope containing only T-helper (TH) and B-cell epitopes was dependent on CD8+ T cells as well as CD4+ T cells despite the fact that the vaccine contained no CD8+ cytolytic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes. However, the requirement for CD8+ T cells was overcome by inclusion of additional TH and B-cell epitopes in the immunizing protein. These additional epitopes primed for more rapid production of virus-neutralizing antibody which appeared to limit virus spread sufficiently to protect even in the absence of CD8+ T cells. Inclusion of an immunodominant CTL epitope in the vaccine was not sufficient to overcome dependence on CD4+ T cells. These data suggest that TH priming is more critical for retrovirus immunity than CTL priming.     

Membrane Skeletal Proteins and Their Integral Membrane Protein Anchors are Targets for Tyrosine and Threonine Kinases in Euglena

ABSTRACT. Proteins of the membrane skeleton of Euglena gracilis were extensively phosphorylated in vivo and in vitro after incubation with [³²P]-orthophosphate or γ-[³²P] ATP. Endogenous protein threonine/serine activity phosphorylated the major membrane skeletal proteins (articulins) and the putative integral membrane protein (IP39) anchor for articulins. The latter was also the major target for endogenous protein tyrosine kinase activity. A cytoplasmic domain of IP39 was specifically phosphorylated, and removal of this domain with papain eliminated the radiolabeled phosphoamino acids and eliminated or radically shifted the PI of the multiple isoforms of IP39. In gel kinase assays IP39 autophosphorylated and a 25 kDa protein which does not autophosphorylate was identified as a threonine/serine (casein) kinase. Plasma membranes from the membrane skeletal protein complex contained threonine/serine (casein) kinase activity, and cross-linking experiments suggested that IP39 was the likely source for this membrane activity. pH optima, cation requirements and heparin sensitivity of the detergent solubilized membrane activity were determined. Together these results suggest that protein kinases may be important modulators of protein assembly and function of the membrane skeleton of these protistan cells.     

Mucopolysaccharidosis VI (Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome): six unique arylsulfatase B gene alleles causing variable disease phenotypes.

Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI, or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency of the enzyme arylsulfatase B (ASB), also known as N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase. Multiple clinical phenotypes of this autosomal recessively inherited disease have been described. Recent isolation and characterization of the human ASB gene facilitated the analysis of molecular defects underlying the different phenotypes. Conditions for PCR amplification of the entire open reading frame from genomic DNA and for subsequent direct automated DNA sequencing of the resulting DNA fragments were established. Besides two polymorphisms described elsewhere that cause methionine-for-valine substitutions in the arylsulfatase B gene, six new mutations in six patients were detected: four point mutations resulting in amino acid substitutions, a 1-bp deletion, and a 1-bp insertion. The point mutations were two G-to-A and two T-to-C transitions. The G-to-A transitions cause an arginine-for-glycine substitution at residue 144 in a homoallelic patient with a severe disease phenotype and a tyrosine-for-cysteine substitution at residue 521 in a potentially heteroallelic patient with the severe form of the disease. The T-to-C transitions cause an arginine-for-cysteine substitution at amino acid residue 192 in a homoallelic patient with mild symptoms and a proline-for-leucine substitution at amino acid 321 in a homoallelic patient with the intermediate form. The insertion between nucleotides T1284 and G1285 resulted in a loss of the 100 C-terminal amino acids of the wild-type protein and in the deletion of nucleotide C1577 in a 39-amino-acid C-terminal extension of the ASB polypeptide. Both mutations were detected in homoallelic patients with the severe form of the disease. Expression of mutant cDNAs encoding the four amino acid substitutions and the deletion resulted in severe reduction of both ASB protein levels and arylsulfatase enzyme activity in comparison with a wild-type control. The six mutations described in the present study were unique among 25 unrelated mucopolysaccharidosis VI patients, suggesting a broad molecular heterogeneity of the Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome.     

Sequence variation in the outer-surface-protein genes of Borrelia burgdorferi

Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete pathogen transmitted among warm- blooded hosts by ixodid ticks. Frequency-dependent selection for variant outer-surface proteins might be expected to arise in this species, since rare variants are more likely to avoid immune surveillance in previously infected hosts. We sequenced the OspA and OspB genes of nine North American strains and compared them with nine strains previously described. For each gene, the mean number of synonymous substitutions per synonymous site and the mean number of nonsynonymous substitutions per nonsynonymous site show only a twofold excess of silent mutations. Synonymous rates vary widely along the OspB protein. Some regions show a significant excess of silent substitutions, while divergence in other regions is constrained by biased base composition or selection. The presence, in antigenically important regions of the protein, of significant variation among strains, as well as evidence for recombination among strains, should be considered in attempts to develop vaccines against this disease.