Intracerebral distribution pattern of radioactive morphine and morphine-like drugs after intraventricular and intrathecal injection

Summary The intracerebral distribution patterns of ¹⁴C-morphine, ³H-dihydromorphine, and ³H-fentanyl after intraventricular injection were studied autoradiographically in rats and rabbits. The extent of permeation into the ventricular wall was measured at different times after injection. The hydrophilic morphine and dihydromorphine could be demonstrated within the tissue up to 4 hours. They seemed to be retained within the gray matter and hindered in crossing fiber bundles. On the other hand, the lipophilic fentanyl was quickly removed from the brain but remained relatively longer demonstrable within the white matter. Also, after intrathecal injection of ¹⁴C-morphine a time dependent spread from the injection site was observed. The use of autoradiography in pharmacological experiments as described was found advantageous. Thus, it is possible to correlate directly, the time course of the pharmacological effect and the respective distribution pattern of the drug applied. This may lead to better information about the probable sites of drug action.     

Nachweis einer Pupillenreaktion im Auge der Schmeißfliege

Zusammenfassung Elektronenoptische Untersuchungen mit der Gefrierätzmethode an Augen der Normalform von Calliphora erythrocephala (Meig.) ergeben, daß im dunkeladaptierten Zustand die Rhabdomere 1–6 in den Retinulazellen dicht von Vesikeln umgeben sind, die wahrscheinlich durch Pinocytose an den Mikrovilli der Rhabdomere entstehen. Diese Bläschen fehlen im helladaptierten Zustand nahezu völlig. Die optische Dichte des umgebenden Mediums der lichtleitenden Rhabdomere wird dadurch im Dunkel-Auge herabgesetzt, was mit Hilfe der Becke-Methode im Lichtmikroskop festgestellt werden konnte.Physikalische Berechnungen mit den Gleichungen der geometrischen Optik ergeben, daß durch diese Brechzahländerung in den Sinneszellen im dunkeladaptierten Auge der physiologisch wirksame Lichtfluß in den Rhabdomeren l–6 im grünen Spektralbereich um etwa 30% erhöht werden kann.

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Evidence for a longitudinal pupil in the blowfly eye from studies with light and electron microscopes

Summary Eyes of the wild-type blowfly, Calliphora erythrocephala (Meig.), were investigated by using freeze-etching and the light microscope. In the dark-adapted eye a layer of vesicles 1 m thick borders on the rhabdomeres in sense cells Nos. 1 to 6. These vesicles may arise by pinocytosis at the bases of the rhabdomeric microvilli and decrease the optical density of the sense cell medium adjacent to the rhabdomeres. In the light-adapted sense cells only a few vesicles could be seen. No differences could be observed to exist between the two states of adaptation in the retinular cells Nos. 7 and 8 and in the axial retinular space.Calculations based on geometrical optics show that when rhabdomeres Nos. 1 to 6 are in the dark-adapted state they can transmit about 1.3 times more light energy than when they are in the light-adapted state. The results show the existence of a light-induced pupil reaction correlated to ultrastructural changes in the photoreceptor cells of the blowfly eye.

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Der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft danke ich für die Gewährung eines Ausbildungsstipendiums.     

Die Rolle der Fimbrien bei der eigenartigen Sternbildung von Agrobacterium luteum

Zusammenfassung Die bemerkenswerte Sternbildung von Agrobacterium luteum Stamm A61 (Moll et al., 1967; Ahrens, 1968) ist auf polare Fimbrien zurückzuführen, die um die Sternaggregate ausgebreitet sind. Es wird angenommen, daß sich Schwärmzellen an den Fimbrien verfangen und durch Kontraktion rasch zum Stern gezogen werden. Nach elektronenoptischen Präparaten sind die Fimbrien bis zu 10,5 lang und können die beobachtete Sternbildung gut erklären. Agrobacterium luteum Stamm B14 besitzt ebenfalls lange polare Fimbrien. Beide Stämme tragen peritriche Geißeln, deren Struktur sich deutlich von den dünnen und unregelmäßigen Fimbrien unterscheidet.

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The function of fimbriae in the peculiar star formation of Agrobacterium luteum

Summary The remarkable way of star formation in Agrobacterium luteum strain A61 (Moll et al., 1967; Ahrens, 1968) was found to be due to polar fimbriae which are spread around the star-shaped aggregates. It is assumed that swarmers adhere to the fimbriae and, by contraction, are swiftly pulled towards the star. As seen in electron microscopic preparations, the fimbriae are up to 10,5 long and may well explain the star formation observed. Agrobacterium luteum strain B 14 also possesses long polar fimbriae. Both strains have peritrichous flagella, the structure of which being clearly distinct from the delicate and irregular fimbriae.

     

Zum Bewegungssehen des Mehlkäfers Tenebrio molitor

Summary The locomotory turns of the beetle Tenebrio molitor were recorded from free walking animals which were held in stationary position and orientation by means of a tread compensator. Striped patterns revolved around an animal elicit optomotor responses which undergo an inversion at smaller stripe widths. The position of the inversion point characterizes the resolving power of the motion detectors, and corresponds to a 6.5° average angle between the optical axes of interacting elements in the motion detecting device. This indirectly determined value is consistent with the anatomically measured 7° average angle between the axes of neighbouring ommatidia in the Tenebrio compound eye.     

HuminsÄure und PermeabilitÄt

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Erythrocyte Sensitization by Blood Group-Specific Bacterial Antigens

Human and chicken erythrocytes are readily coated in vitro by blood group active protein-lipopolysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides from E. coli O₈₆ and E. coli O₁₂₈. Serum albumin, α₂- and β-lipoproteins inhibit this sensitization. Blood group B specific agglutination of erythrocytes with B or B-like antigens was obtained with antibodies purified by adsorption on and elution from B erythrocytes. Anti-blood group B and E. coli O₈₆-specific antibodies could be eluted from E. coli O₈₆-coated O erythrocytes. Eel anti-H(O) serum agglutinated O erythrocytes and only those A₁B red cells which were coated with blood group H(O) active E. coli products. Blood group active substances specifically inhibited agglutination of lipopolysaccharide-coated erythrocytes by anti-B and anti-H(O) agglutinins. Demonstrable amounts of lipopolysaccharide could only be removed from coated erythrocytes by washing them at elevated temperatures (58°C) in physiological solutions. Red cell sensitization with B active E. coli O₈₆ substances was achieved in vivo in a minority of severely diseased infants and in germ-free and ordinary chicks which were in tourniquet shock after treatment with cathartics. Therefore, a possible mode by which erythrocytes of patients with severe intestinal disorders acquire antigens is the fixation of bacterial substances to their surfaces, if there are not enough of the normally interfering plasma factors present.     

Quantum Requirement for Photosynthesis in Chlorophyll-Deficient Plants with Unusual Lamellar Structures

Neither an over-all deficiency of chlorophyll, nor an increased enzymatic capacity for maximal rates, nor an unusual lamellar structure was found to change the number of quanta required for the evolution of one molecule of oxygen in healthy aurea mutants of tobacco. The average minimal quantum number remains 10 (efficiency 0.1) as in many algae and typical higher plants. Most of the time the optimal efficiency depends on the availability of some far-red radiation, particularly in the blue region of the spectrum where blue light alone is rather inefficient. These results fit an explanation offered earlier in connection with the hydrogen or acetate photometabolism of algae in far-red light.     

Kurze Mitteilungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Molecular cloning,nucleotide sequence and expression in Escherichia coli of the β-cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase gene from Bacillus circulans strain no. 8

Summary The -cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (-CGTase) gene was isolated from a -library prepared from Bacillus circulans strain no. 8. It was subcloned into plasmid pTZ and expressed by its endogenous regulatory sequences in Escherichia coli JM 103. The structural gene was sequenced and showed an open reading frame for a polypeptide of 718 amino acid residues. The recombinant -CGTase had the same enzymatic properties as the extracellular CGTase (684 amino acid residues, corresponding to a mol. wt. of 74416) produced by B. circulans strain no. 8. The amino acid sequence showed the highest homology (74.6% identical amino acids) with the CGTase of B. circulans strain F-2, which had been erroneously described as an amylase. The homology with the enzyme from the alkalophilic Bacillus sp. strain no. 1011 was 71.4%. The amino acid sequence derived will be used for elucidating the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme. Offprint requests to: H. Bender