Effects of ethinyl estradiol on intestinal membrane structure and function in the rabbit

Structural and functional properties of the small intestinal microvillus membrane were evaluated in the rabbit after administration of ethinyl estradiol, a synthetic estrogen with a demonstrated propensity to alter hepatic membrane lipid fluidity, and promote cholestasis. In the jejunum, no estrogen-induced changes in microvillus membrane total lipid, cholesterol or phospholipid content were observed. However, the ileal microvillus membrane in estradiol-treated animals demonstrates significant reductions vs. controls (per mg protein) in total lipid (0.55 milligrams vs. 0.89 milligrams) [corrected] and phospholipid (206.7 micrograms vs. 304.91 micrograms) (p less than 0.001) content, as well as modifications in specific phospholipid species. The increase in the ileal microvillus membrane cholesterol: phospholipid molar ratio (0.65 vs. 0.51, p less than 0.05) was associated with a significant decrease in membrane lipid fluidity reflected by an increase in fluorescence anisotropy measurements utilizing diphenyl hexatriene as the fluorophore (r at 25 degrees C = 0.306 vs. 0.282, p less than 0.05). Thermotropic lipid phase transitions, assessed by Arrhenius plots of both fluorescence data and ileal microvillus membrane p-nitrophenylphosphatase activity demonstrate that phase changes occur between and 24 and 28 degrees C in both treated and untreated groups. Within the temperature range studied (40-10 degrees C) no differences from control were observed in microvillus membrane alkaline phosphatase activity following estrogen treatment. These data therefore indicate that ethinyl estradiol-induced effects on microvillus membrane lipid composition and physical properties occur predominantly in the ileum and appear to be related, in part, to specific alterations in the availability of phospholipid following estrogen treatment.     

Labelling of amoeboid microglial cells in rats of various ages following an intravenous injection of horseradish peroxidase

The macrophagic amoeboid microglial cells in the corpus callosum of postnatal rats were labelled following an intravenous injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The earliest time when these cells were labelled was 3 h after the injection of HRP in postnatal (1-10 days) rats. Similar cells around the mesencephalic aqueduct and the fourth ventricle were also labelled. These cells, however, were weakly labelled in developing (11-20 days) and unlabelled in weaning (21-30 days) rats. The results suggest that in the postnatal rats, the HRP passed through the endothelial lining of the blood vessels and was then ingested by the amoeboid microglial cells. In the developing and older rats, the wall of blood vessels had developed fully thereby preventing the free passage of HRP into the brain tissues.     

Antagonistic effect of interferon-beta on the interferon-gamma-induced expression of Ia antigen in murine macrophages

The cell surface expression of I region-associated (Ia) antigens by murine and human macrophages has been shown by investigators from a number of laboratories to be induced in a dose-dependent fashion by IFN-gamma, which is free of other lymphokines. The experiments described in this report demonstrate that fibroblast-derived IFN-beta exerts an antagonistic effect on IFN-gamma induced Ia expression in murine macrophages. Simultaneous addition of IFN-beta and IFN-gamma to peritoneal exudate macrophages results in decreased Ia expression when compared with macrophages treated with IFN-gamma only. Different sources of highly purified IFN-beta, as well as a recombinant human IFN-alpha (A/D Bgl; shown previously to be as active as IFN-beta in several other murine systems) acted in a similar antagonistic fashion to IFN-gamma-induced Ia induction. The down-regulation of Ia expression by IFN-beta is dose-dependent over a concentration range up to 100 U/ml. Time-course experiments indicated that for IFN-beta to down-regulate IFN-gamma-induced Ia, it had to be present either before stimulation with IFN-gamma or during the first 24 hr of simultaneous stimulation. Further experiments in which a highly specific antibody against IFN-alpha/beta was added to the cultures confirmed the findings of the time-course experiments. Inhibitors of the arachidonic acid pathway failed to reverse the effect of IFN-beta to reduce Ia antigen expression, which suggests that this inhibition is not prostaglandin mediated. Thus, these findings support a role for type I IFN as naturally occurring substances that negatively regulate the expression of class II molecules.     

Some observations on the localization of mitomycin C-induced aberrations in human lymphocytes

Actively cycling human lymphocytes were treated with mitomycin C for 1 h (1.4 μg/ml) and then grown in medium containing 10 μg/ml bromodeoxyuridine. Serial 5-h colcemid accumulation samples were taken up to 35 h and the air-dried methaphase spreads stained for replication banding. A complete cell-cycle subphasing analysis was made, and classified cells scored for all categories of chromatid-type aberrations and their location.

Inspite of the high dose which produced massive delay and cycle perturbation, there was no evidence for selectively lethality of early-S cells, in fact such cells were in excess. Extreme localization of aberrations to late-replicating (mostly centromeric) regions was found at all subphases and in pre-S cells. This rules out ‘localization by default’ as an explanation for the observed preferential occurence of ‘break points’ in these regions.

The frequency of incomplete intrachanges, low in late S, rises dramaticallyin early S to become maximal in pre-S cells.     

Effects of Systemically Administered Lithium on Phosphoinositide Metabolism in Rat Brain, Kidney, and Testis

A single subcutaneous dose of 10 mEq/kg LiCl gives rise to an increase in the cerebral cortex level of myo-inositol-1-P (I1P) that closely follows cortical lithium levels and, at maximum, is 40-fold above the control value. Kidney and testis show smaller increases in I1P level following LiCl administration. The I1P level is still sixfold greater than that of untreated rat cortex 72 h later. In cortex, parallel increases also occur in myo-inositol-4-P (I4P) and myo-inositol 1,2-cyclic-P (cI1,2P), whereas myo-inositol-5-P (I5P) remains unchanged. The cortical increases in I1P and I4P levels are partially reversed by administering 150 mg/kg of atropine 22 h after the LiCl, treatment that does not affect cI1,2P. When doses of LiCl from 2 to 17 mEq/kg are given, the cerebral cortex levels of I1P and myo-inositol, measured 24 h later, are found to reach a plateau at about 9 mEq/kg of LiCl, whereas cortical lithium levels continued to increase with greater LiCl doses. Levels of all three of the brain phosphoinositides are unchanged by the 10 mEq/kg LiCl dose, as is the uptake of 32Pi into these lipids. Chronic dietary administration of LiCl for 22 days showed that the effects of lithium on I1P and myo-inositol levels persist for that period. Over the course of the chronic administration of the lithium, levels of I1P, myo-inositol, and of lithium in cortex remained significantly correlated. We believe that these increases in inositol phosphates result from endogenous phosphoinositide metabolism in cerebral cortex and that lithium is capable of modulating that metabolism by reducing cellular myo-inositol levels. The size of the effect is a function of both lithium dose and the degree of stimulation of receptor-linked phosphoinositide metabolism. This property of lithium may explain part of its ability to moderate the symptoms of mania. Our chronic study suggests that prolonged administration of LiCl does not result in compensatory changes in myo-inositol-1-P synthase or myo-inositol-1-phosphatase.     

Stimulation of proliferation ofTetrahymena pyriformis by trace rare earths

Using two Chinese strains ofTetrahymena pyriformis, S1 and BJ4, as the biological models, the effects of lighter rare earths (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, and europium), representatives of heavier rare earths (yttrium and thulium), and mixed rare earths were studied. The stimulation of population growth ofTetrahymena in peptone-glucose media containing trace amounts of these elements have been observed. The mechanisms for the beneficial effects of rare earth elements in low concentrations remains to be discovered.     

Radioimmunoassay for fibroblast growth factor (FGF): release by the bovine anterior pituitary in vitro

A radioimmunoassay (RIA) was developed to measure fibroblast growth factor (FGF) using antiserum generated against a synthetic replicate of [Tyr¹⁰]FGF(1–10). The antisera, previously shown to be capable of inhibiting the biological action of FGF on bovine aortic arch endothelial cells in vitro [1], are highly specific for the amino-terminus of FGF. In the RIA, the antisera recognize the decapeptide antigen [Tyr¹⁰]FGF(1–10) and the intact mitogen on an equimolar basis and show less than 0.01% cross-reactivity with N-acetyl-[Tyr¹⁰]FGF(1–10).

Bovine adenohypophysial cells maintained in primary monolayer culture release and ir-FGF which is indistinguishable from the intact mitogen in as much as it is retained on heparin-Sepharose affinity columns and shows a dose-dependent and parallel displacement in RIA. The release of ir-FGF by the bovine adenohypophysis can be increased with forskolin (10⁻⁵ M) or KCl (50 mM). Preincubation of pituitary cells with 17β-estradiol has no measurable effects on basal ir-FGF, but increases the release after KCl treatment 2–3-fold. These results show that ir-FGF can be released by the bovine adenohypophysis in vitro and lend credence to the hypothesis that FGF plays a physiological role in the homeostatic mechanisms regulating mesoderm-derived cell growth.     

肝素修饰尿激酶某些性质的研究

本文对比研究了溴化氰活化及高碘酸活化肝素修饰的两种修饰尿激酶的性质。结果表明尿激酶在溴化氰活化肝素(肝素CN),高碘酸钠活化肝素(肝素I_4)的共价修饰后,其残余自由氨基分别是64％和52％;酶活性分别保留94％和90％;抗胃蛋白酶水解以及抗冻融变性的能力均高于天然酶;在离体血浆中的失活速变低于天然酶。本文还对修饰酶进行了萤光及紫外差光谱的分析,讨论了修饰过程对构象的影响。     

新城疫病毒单克隆抗体的特性及应用

建立了8个分泌抗新城疫病毒(NDV)特异性单克隆抗体(McAb)的杂交瘤细胞株,根据它们的免疫生物学特性可以分为三种类型:(1)具有FA和ELISA特性(FN1、FN4、FN29、FN30、FN35、FNl22);(2)具有FA、ELISA和HI特性(FN7);(3)具有ELISA、HI特性和中和能力(FN106),根据FN30和FN106的ELISA试验,可将11个NDV毒株分为二种不同的抗原群,应用FN4-FITC,FN7-FITC和FN29-HRP试剂,对人工感染NDV和野外送检病例检测结果表明,单抗试剂的DFA阳性率(92.3％)高于病毒分离阳性率(87.2％),两种方法的符合率89.7％,这些单抗试剂用于临床诊断敏感性和特异性高,且方法快速、简便。