Morphine mydriasis in mice.

In mice, morphine produces dose-dependent mydriasis. The mydriatic effect does not depend upon the integrity of the sympathetic system, and interference with central catecholamines or serotonin also does not abolish the response. Ro 4-1284, a neurotransmitter depletor, causes miosis and inhibits completely the response to morphine. This effect may possibly be related to depletion of histamine, GABA, or other neurotransmitter.     

The synthesis of oxalate from hydroxypyruvate by isolated perfused rat liver the mechanism of hyperoxaluria in L-lyceric aciduria

Hydroxypyruvate and glycolate inhibited the oxidation of [U-¹⁴C]glyoxylate to [¹⁴C]oxalate in isolated perfused rat liver, but stimulated total oxalate and glycolate synthesis. [¹⁴C]Oxalate synthesis from [¹⁴C]glycine similarly inhibited by hydroxypyruvate, but conversion of [¹⁴C₁]glycolate to [⁴C]oxalate was increased three-fold. Pyruvate had no effect on the synthesis of [¹⁴C]oxalate or total oxalate. The inhibition studies suggest that hydroxypyruvate is a precursor of glycolate and oxalate and that the conversion of glycolate to oxalate does not involve free glyoxylate as an intermediate. [¹⁴C₃]Hydroxypyruvate, but not [¹⁴C₁]hydroxypyruvate, was oxidized to [¹⁴C]oxalate in isolated perfused rat liver. Isotope dilution studies indicate the major pathway involves the decarboxylation of hydroxypyruvate forming glycolaldehyde which is subsequently oxidized to oxalate via glycolate. The oxidation of serine to oxalate appears to proceed predominantly via hydroxypyruvate rather than glycine or ethanolamine. The hyperoxaluria of L-glyceric aciduria, primary hyperoxaluria type II, is induced by the oxidation of the hydroxypyruvate, which accumulates because of the deficiency of D-glyceric dehydrogenase, to oxalate.     

An efficient code searching for sequence homology and DNA duplication

This paper presents a very simple and efficient algorithm that searches for sequence homology and gene duplication. The code finds the best alignment of two, short or long, sequences without having to specify how many unmatched bases are allowed to be looped out. Following Needleman & Wunsch (1970), Sellers (1974), Sankoff (1972) and Smith, Waterman & Fitch (1981) gap constraints are incorporated into the program and may be employed. The availability of such a fast computer code enables detection of homologous genes which may fulfill a different function at present, but have arisen from a common gene-ancestor. The code is extremely fast and runs in O(n3/2) units of time. It was applied to the phi X174 sequence.