Differing activities of medullary respiratory neurons in eupnea and gasping

Our purpose was to compare further eupneic ventilatory activity with that of gasping. Decerebrate, paralyzed, and ventilated cats were used; the vagi were sectioned within the thorax caudal to the laryngeal branches. Activities of the phrenic nerve and medullary respiratory neurons were recorded. Antidromic invasion was used to define bulbospinal, laryngeal, or not antidromically activated units. The ventilatory pattern was reversibly altered to gasping by exposure to 1% carbon monoxide in air. In eupnea, activities of inspiratory neurons commenced at various times during inspiration, and for most the discharge frequency gradually increased. In gasping, the peak discharge frequency of inspiratory neurons was unaltered. However, all commenced activities at the start of the phrenic burst and reached peak discharge almost immediately. The discharge frequencies of all groups of expiratory neurons fell in gasping, with many neurons ceasing activity entirely. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that brain stem mechanisms controlling eupnea and gasping differ fundamentally.     

Fragment A of diphtheria toxin causes pH-dependent lesions in model membranes

Fragment A of diphtheria toxin has been shown to insert into lipid bilayers at low pH (Montecucco, C., Schiavo, G., and Tomasi, M. (1985) Biochem. J. 231, 123-128; Zhao, J.-M., and London, E. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 15369-15377). In this report, evidence is provided which demonstrates that fragment A, like diphtheria toxin, can also cause the release of a fluorescent dye (calcein) from vesicles under acidic conditions and that this release parallels fragment A insertion into the membrane. Although the permeability changes are not as large as those obtained with whole toxin (Jiang, G.-S., Solow, R., and Hu, V. W. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 13424-13429), molecular sieving experiments indicate that the lesion induced by fragment A increases in size with decreasing pH and reaches an upper limit of 30 A at pH 4.0. In addition to size differences, the lesion induced by fragment A releases calcein in a graded manner, whereas diphtheria toxin causes an all-or-none release. One possible interpretation of this result is that the fragment A lesion is transient in comparison to that induced by whole toxin. Although the molecular bases for the observed differences are not understood, these data suggest that fragment A interaction with the lipid bilayer may play a significant role in mediating its own translocation across membranes and that fragment B may aid this process by initiating, enlarging, and stabilizing the lesion formed.     

Insulin suppresses hepatitis B surface antigen expression in human hepatoma cells

The human hepatoma Hep3B cells contain integrated hepatitis B viral genome and continually secret hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The production of HBsAg (but not alpha-fetoprotein) was suppressed by addition of low concentrations (0.1-1 nM) of insulin into serum-free medium. In addition, the suppression of HBsAg production by insulin was paralleled with the decrease in HBsAg mRNA abundance. Insulin also cause a rapid rate of disappearance of HBsAg mRNA (t 1/2, 2 h) in Hep3B cells. The Hep3B cells carry specific receptor with high affinity for insulin (Kd = 1.8 nM). The receptor showed an insulin-dependent protein tyrosine kinase activity. The half-maximal insulin concentration for the activation of the receptor kinase was about 5 nM. Only very high concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I and human proinsulin can compete for the insulin receptor binding and suppress HBsAg production, this suggests that insulin may act through its receptor binding to suppress HBsAg expression in human hepatoma Hep3B cells.     

Effects of cloprostenol sodium and clenbuterol HCl on reproductive performance in postpartum anestrous cows

Two experiments were conducted to study effects of cloprostenol sodium (cloprostenol) and clenbuterol HCl (clenbuterol) during postpartum anestrus on subsequent reproductive performance in cows. In Experiment I, 96 cows received either 0.5 mg cloprostenol (PGF, n = 25), 364 mg clenbuterol (CLEN, n = 24), 0.5 mg cloprostenol and 364 mg clenbuterol (CLEN+PGF, n = 21) or no treatment (Control, n = 26) on Day 20 post partum. Treatments failed to influence postpartum interval, pregnancy rate or the incidence of short estrous cycles preceding the first normal estrous cycle. In Experiment II, anestrous cows were administered cloprostenol (0.5 mg) on either Day 20 (PGF20, n = 27) or Day 35 post partum (PGF35, n = 25), or served as untreated controls (Control, n = 26). Neither postpartum interval nor pregnancy rate were affected by cloprostenol treatment. In conclusion, treatment of postpartum cows with PGF did not alter the resumption of normal estrous cycles following parturition.     

Physiological studies and determination of chromosome number in Maca,Lepidium Meyenii (Brassicaceae)

Experiments based on four accessions of maca (Lepdium meyenii) disclosed higher developmental rates in plants grown in neutral pH (6.6) soil when compared with those grown in acidic soil (5.3). Photoperiod response studies revealed similar growth rate for plants grown under either long day or short day condition. Plants in the field and growth chambers completed their life cycle in 11 months or less, therefore maca can be considered an annual crop. These results suggest that the range of adaptation of maca is not as narrow as previously believed, and therefore it can be successfully produced outside its natural habitat. Chromosome counts and predominance of bivalents in diakinesis and metaphase I disclosed that maca is a disomic octoploid of 2n=8x=64 chromosomes. Field and growth chamber observations and morphological uniformity of the plants within accessions indicate that maca relies mainly on self-fertilization for its reproduction.