Feedback inhibition of sodium uptake in K+-depolarized toad urinary bladders

Ouabain-blocked toad urinary bladders were maintained in Na⁺-free mucosal solutions, and a depolarizing solution of high K⁺ activity containing only 5 mM Na⁺ on the serosal side. Exposure to mucosal sodium (20 mM activity) evoked a transient amiloride-blockable inward current, which decayed to near zero within one hour. The apical sodium conductance increased in the initial phase of the current decay and decreased in the second phase. The conductance decrease required Ca²⁺ to be present on the serosal side and was more rapid when the mucosal Na⁺ activity was higher. At 20 mM mucosal Na⁺ and 3 mM serosal Ca²⁺ the initial (maximal) rate of inhibition amounted to 20% in 10 min. The conductance decrease could be accelerated by raising the serosal Ca²⁺ activity to 10 mM. The inhibition reversed on lowering the serosal Ca²⁺ to 3 μM and, in addition, the mucosal Na⁺ to zero. Exposure of the mucosal surface to the ionophore nystatin abolished the Ca²⁺ sensitivity of the transcellular conductance, showing that the Ca²⁺-sensitive conductance resides in the apical membrane. The data imply that in the K⁺-depolarized epithelia, cellular Ca²⁺, taken up from the serosal medium by means of a Na⁺-Ca²⁺ antiport, cause feedback inhibition by blockage of apical Na⁺ channels. However, the rate of inhibition is small, such that this regulatory mechanism will have little effect at 1 mM serosal Ca²⁺ and less than 20 mM cellular Na⁺.     

Photosynthetic carbon assimilation in the blue-green alga Coccochloris peniocystis

Abstract. Cells of the blue-green alga Coccochloris peniocystis , grown at air levels of CO₂, were exposed to [^l4C]bicarbonate in the light for periods of 0.5 to 2.0 s followed by exposure to unlabelled bicarbonate for longer periods of time in the light. The kinetics of tracer movement during these pulse-chase experiments demonstrate that the principal mechanism of CO₂ fixation in this alga is the C₃-pathway although an appreciable amount of the C₄ acid aspartate is found as one of the initial products of photosynthesis. Degradation of the labelled aspartate revealed that after 20 s of illumination, over 95% of the radioactivity was located in the β-carboxyl of this C₄ acid. This alga possesses little, if any, capacity for either the enzymatic decarboxylation of C₄ acids or the regeneration of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) from pyruvate mediated by the enzyme pyruvate, P_i dikinase. These data further demonstrate the lack of a functional C₄-pathway in this alga.     

褐藻寡糖生物法制备研究进展 *

褐藻寡糖(alginate oligosaccharides,AOS)是褐藻胶的降解产物,具有抗氧化、调节免疫、调节血脂、促进细胞生长等生理活性,应用范围广泛。现有的AOS 制备法主要分为物理法、化学法和生物法。介绍AOS的生物法制备包括酶解、微生物全细胞发酵和生物合成法,基因工程的应用在改造产褐藻胶裂解酶的菌株以提高生物法效率方面具有重要意义。此外,规模化的AOS生物法制备案例进行了科学引证,并展望了未来 AOS规模化制备的发展方向,以期为 AOS 的工业化制备和应用提供参考。     

Pathways of carbohydrate oxidation in leaves of Pisum sativum and Triticum aestivum

The aim of this work was to establish the pathways of carbohydrate oxidation used in the dark by leaves of Pisum sativum and Triticum aestivum. Segments of young and mature leaves of pea released the carbons of glucose-[¹⁴C] as ¹⁴CO₂ in the order 3,4 > 1 > 2 > 6 whereas in segments of young and mature leaves of wheat the order was 3,4 > 1 > 6 > 2. The detailed labelling of the constituents of mature leaves of wheat by glucose-[1-¹⁴C], -[2-¹⁴C], -[3,4-¹⁴C], and -[6-¹⁴C] was determined and showed that the high yield of CO₂ from C-6 relative to that from C-2 was due to release of C-6 during pentan synthesis. Estimates were made of the maximum catalytic activities of phosphofructokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in pea and wheat leaves of three ages. The results of all the above investigations strongly indicate that both pea and wheat leaves in the dark oxidize carbohydrate via glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway with the latter accounting for no more than a third of the total. No evidence was obtained of any major change in the relative activities of the two pathways during the development of either type of leaf.     

Development of the photosynthetic apparatus during light-dependent greening of a mutant of Chlorella fusca

The formation of chlorophyll, cytochrome f, P-700, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase as well as photosynthesis and Hill reaction activities were tested during the light-dependent greening process of the Chlorella fusca mutant G 10. Neither chlorophyll nor protochlorophyllide was detected in the darkgrown cells. When transferred to light the mutant cells developed chlorophyll and established its photosynthetic capacity after a short lag phase. In the in vivo absorption spectra a spectral shift of the red absorption peak position from 674 to 680 nm was indicated during the first 3 h of greening. Cytochrome f was already present in the dark-grown cells, but during the greening phase a threefold increase in the cytochrome f content could be seen. At the early stages of greening a characteristic primary oscillation in the content of cytochrome f was observed. P-700 was lacking in the dark and during the first 30 min of illumination. From the first to the second h of light a forced synthesis of P-700 took place and the time-course curve for the ratios of P-700/chlorophyll rose to a sharp maximum. The synthesis of P-700 started together with photosystem I activity and showed similar kinetics. We found the simultaneous appearance of photosystem II, photosystem I, and photosynthetic activities 30 min after the beginning of the illumination. Based on chlorophyll content they attained maximum activity after 2 h of light, but at this time photosystem I capacity proved to be remarkably higher than photosynthetic and photosystem II activities. Highest carboxylase activity existed in darkgrown cells. During the greening process the activity of the enzyme decreased continuously. After 2 h of illumination chlorophyll synthesis partially served to increase the size of the photosynthetic unit, which consequently led to a decrease in the light energy needed to saturate photosynthesis and also to a decrease of photosynthetic rate based on chlorophyll content.Abbreviations Chl chlorophyll - Cyt f cytochrome f - DPIP 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol - EDTA ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid - GSH glutathione - LH light-harvesting - PS photosystem - RuBP ribulose bisphosphate     

辽宁省丹东地区吸血蠓类(双翅目:蠓科)生态调查

吸血蠓类对人畜危害较大,不仅是多种疾病的传播媒介,而且刺叮吸血骚扰性很大。1988年我们在辽宁省丹东地区东沟和风城二县郊区进行了采集和生态习性的调查,现将结果报道如下。材料和方法器材由军事医学科学院微生物流行病研究所提供的诱蠓帐、捕虫网和吸虫器。调查方法     

Microcarrier culture of bowes melanoma cells in serum-free medium with Human plasma fraction IV-4+ V

Bowes melanoma cells were cultivated successfully in a serum-free medium which was constructed by the concept of maximum retention of proteins from fractionated human plasma having growth stimulatory activities. The cells could be cultivated in the serum-free medium without any adaptation period. The major serum-free component of the medium was the fraction IV-4 + V of the Cohn fractionation process of human plasma. Approximately six times increase of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity as compared with that in serum-free medium even though the cell growth was much slower. In addition, the growth stimulatory activities of thrombin and fibronectin were investigated during the cultivation of Bowes melanoma cells in this serum-free medium. These proteins contributed significantly to the enhanced growth of cells by reducing doubling time to 25 and 35 h as compared with 55 h in the serum-free medium without them. Especially, fibronectin supported cells to propagate near to the maximum cell density achieved in the medium with 10% FBS.     

Cyclic AMP and intracellular ionic activities innecturus gallbladder

Summary Open-tip and liquid ion-exchanger microelectrodes were used to study the effects of cAMP (6mm, added to the serosal medium) on apical membrane potential (E _m ) and intracellular sodium, potassium, and chloride activities (a _Na ⁱ ,a _K ⁱ ,a _Cl ⁱ ) inNecturus gallbladder under open-circuit conditions. Transepithelial potential difference (E _Tr ) was also measured. In the presence of cAMP,a _Cl ⁱ fell from about 1.5 times its equilibrium value to a level that corresponded to electrochemical equilibrium across the apical and basolateral cell membranes. Under these conditionsa _Na ⁱ decreased anda _K ⁱ increased,E _m was unchanged andE _Tr increased from virtually zero to a small but significant serosal positive value. The cAMP-induced increase ina _K ⁱ was abolished when Cl^–-free incubation media were used. Addition of the Ca⁺⁺-ionophore A23187 (0.5 g/ml) to the serosal medium had no effect onE _m ,E _Tr , ora _Cl ⁱ . When A23187 was added to the mucosal medium,E _m and the basolateral membrane potential hyperpolarized by about 20 mV and an increase in the outwardly directed electrochemical driving force for Cl^– was observed. These results indicate that cAMP inhibits coupled transapical Na–Cl entry into epithelial cells ofNecturus gallbladder and suggest that this inhibition may not be mediated by an increase in intracellular Ca⁺⁺ concentration.     

Intracellular ionic activities in frog skin

Summary Asymmetrical displacement currents are measured in the absence and in the presence of the lipophilic anion dipicrylamine (DPA) in the extracellular solution of nerve fibres of the frogRana esculenta. DPA (30nM-3 M) enhances the current by a component that has the properties expected for a translocation current of DPA ion across the lipid membrane. Analysis in terms of a single-barrier model yields the translocation rate constant (k), the total surface density of DPA absorbed to the membrane (N _t ), and the equidistribution voltage (). The value ofk of about 10⁴ s^–1 is similar to that for a solvent-free artificial bilayer formed by the Montal-Mueller method. The surface densityN _t varies with the DPA concentration as it does in the artificial bilayer, but is about tenfold smaller at all concentrations. The DPA ions sense an intrinsic electric field that is offset by a transmembrane voltage between 0 and 30 mV (inside positive). The part of the axolemma probed by the DPA ion appears as a thin (<2.5 nm), fluid bilayer of lipids. DPA ions seem, however, to be excluded from the major part of the axolemma as if this area is occupied by integral proteins or negative charges.     

Annuithrin,a new biologically active germacranolide from Helianthus annuus

Investigations on growth inhibition in Helianthus annuus led to the isolation of a new sesquiterpene lactone, a germacranolide with an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety. The structure of this new germacranolide, annuithrin, was elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Its biological activity has been proven by growth inhibition in straight growth tests, antibacterial tests and inhibition of DNA-/RNA-synthesis in cells of the ascitic form of Ehrlich carcinoma.