Energy metabolism and selective neuronal vulnerability following global cerebral ischemia

A short period of global ischemia results in the death of selected subpopulations of neurons. Some advances have been made in understanding events which might contribute to the selectivity of this damage but the cellular changes which culminate in neuronal death remain poorly defined. This overview examines the metabolic state of tissue in the post-ischemic period and the relationship of changes to the development of damage in areas containing ischemia-susceptible neurons. During early recirculation there is substantial recovery of ATP, phosphocreatine and related metabolites in all brain regions. However, this recovery does not signal restitution of normal energy metabolism as reductions of the oxidative metabolism of glucose are seen in many areas and may persist for several days. Furthermore, decreases in pyruvate-supported respiration develop in mitochondria from at least one ischemia-susceptible region at times coincident with the earliest histological evidence of ischemia-induced degeneration. These mitochondrial changes could simply be an early marker of irreversible damage but the available evidence is equally consistent with these contributing to the degenerative process and offering a potential site for therapeutic intervention.Submitted as an Overview article for the volume of Neurochemical Research in honor of Alan N. Davison.     

一个拖延了半个多世纪的研究课题的总结汇报

本文是汤佩松教授为北京植物生理学会1992年年会准备的发言稿,并以庆祝中国植物生理学会成立30周年。后“北京年会”因故未开,本刊应汤老要求按原样发表于此(并附英文摘要),以飨读者。     

Stereoselective biliary elimination of disopyramide and mono-N-desisopropyldisopyramide in humans.

The results of a previous pharmacokinetic study of disopyramide (DP) enantiomers in humans suggested that DP and/or mono-N-desisopropyldisopyramide (MND) may show stereoselective extrarenal elimination. Thus, the present study investigates the biliary elimination of DP and MND enantiomers in three patients who had undergone cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis. DP and MND enantiomers displayed biliary elimination. In both subjects, this elimination pathway showed the same characteristics: (1) biliary elimination of DP and MND was stereoselective, (2) the stereoselectivity was opposite to that observed for the metabolic and renal elimination pathways, i.e., the elimination of the (-)-(R)-enantiomer was higher than that of the (+)-(S)-enantiomer, and (3) biliary elimination of MND was higher than that of DP, for both enantiomers. Estimates of the relative contribution of the biliary clearance in the total clearance of DP and MND indicated that this elimination pathway was secondary, especially for DP. The biliary clearance (expressed as % of total clearance) was 1.9 to 4.0% for (-)-(R)-DP, 1.2 to 1.7% for (+)-(S)-DP, 7.8 to 22.9% for (-)-(R)-MND, and 5.2 to 10.5% for (+)-(S)-MND.     

Metabolic activities of the sugarbeet pathogens Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. and Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. under pyramin stress

Effects of different concentrations of active ingredient of the herbicide pyramin on metabolic activities of Fusarium solani and Sclerotium rolfsii were examined. High concentrations of this herbicide (1000 and 2000 g mL^-1 for F. solani and 100 and 200 g mL^-1 for S. rolfsii) had inhibitory effects on the metabolic activities of both fungi. These were demonstrated by significant decreases in growth, and increases in rates of CO₂ evolved, O₂ consumed and keto acids produced. These were accompanied by increased rates of sugar, nitrate and inorganic phosphorus absorption as well as lowered rates of synthesis of carbohydrates and insoluble nitrogenous (including protein) and phosphorus (including RNA-P and DNA-P) compounds. In addition, rates of excretion of both nitrogen and phosphorus fractions by the mycelial mats were increased.A concentration of 25 g mL^-1 exerted little or no effect on the metabolic activities of these fungi, although S. rolfsii was somewhat sensitive to this concentration.     

Regulation of chloroplast metabolism in leaves: Evidence that NADP-dependent glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenase,but not ferredoxin-NADP reductase,controls electron flow to phosphoglycerate in the dark-light transition

P₇₀₀ is rapidly, but only transiently photooxidized upon illuminating dark-adapted leaves. Initial oxidation is followed by a reductive phase even under far-red illumination which excites predominantly photosystem (PS) I. In this phase, oxidized P₇₀₀ is reduced by electrons coming from PSII. Charge separation in the reaction center of PSI is prevented by the unavailability of electron acceptors on the reducing side of PSI. It is subsequently made possible by the opening of an electron gate which is situated between PSI and the electron acceptor phosphoglycerate. Electron acceptors immediately available for reduction while the gate is closed corresponded to 10 nmol · (mg chlorophyll)^–1 electrons in geranium leaves, 16 nmol · (mg chlorophyll)^–1 in sunflower and 22 nmol · (mg chlorophyll)^–1 in oleander. Reduction of NADP during the initial phase of P₇₀₀ oxidation showed that the electron gate was not represented by ferredoxin-NADP reductase. Availability of ATP indicated that electron flow was not hindered by deactivation of the thylakoid ATP synthetase. It is concluded that NADP-dependent glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenase is completely deactivated in the dark and activated in the light. The rate of activation depends on the length of the preceding dark period. As chloroplasts contain both NAD- and NADP-dependent glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenases, deactivation of the NADP-dependent enzyme disconnects chloroplast NAD and NADP systems and prevents phosphoglycerate reduction in the dark at the expense of NADPH and ATP which are generated by glucose-6-phosphate oxidation and glycolytic starch breakdown, respectively.Abbreviations Chl chlorophyll - P₇₀₀ electron donor pigment in the reaction center of photosystem I Cooperation of the Institute of Botany of the University of Würzburg with the Institute of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in Tartu was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Estonian Academy of Sciences. This work was performed within the Sonderforschungsbereich 251 of the University of Würzburg.     

Diel water movement between parenchyma and chlorenchyma of two desert CAM plants under dry and wet conditions

Abstract. Electric-circuit analogue models of the water relations of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) succulents such as Agave deserti and Ferocactus acanthodes have predicted diel movement of water between the water-storage parenchyma and the photo-synthetic chlorenchyma. Injection of tritiated water into either tissue in the laboratory confirmed substantial and bidirectional water movements, especially under conditions of wet soil. For A. deserti , water movement from the water-storage parenchyma to the chlorenchyma increased at night as the chlorenchyma osmotic pressure increased. Although nocturnal osmotic pressure increases and transpiration for both species were minimal in the field under dry conditions, diel changes in the deuterium: hydrogen ratio (expressed as ΔD) were similar for the water-storage parenchyma and the chlorenchyma. Such indication of [substantial mixing of water between the tissues over a 24-h cycle was more evident under wet conditions in the field. For A. deserti , ΔD then increased by 32%o from the afternoon to midnight and was essentially identical in the water-storage parenchyma and the chlorenchyma. For F. acanthodes , the diel changes in ΔD were one-third those of A. deserti , and ΔD was always slightly higher for the chlorenchyma than for the water-storage parenchyma, apparently reflecting the lower surface-to-volume ratio of A. deserti. In summary, data obtained using radioactive and stable isotopes strongly supported model predictions concerning diel cycles of internal water distribution for these CAM species.     

Foundations of vectorial metabolism and osmochemistry

Chemical transformations, like osmotic translocations, are transport processes when looked at in detail. In chemiosmotic systems, the pathways of specific ligand conduction are spatially orientated through osmoenzymes and porters in which the actions of chemical group, electron and solute transfer occur as vectorial (or higher tensorial order) diffusion processes down gradients of total potential energy that represent real spatially-directed fields of force. Thus, it has been possible to describe classical bag-of-enzymes biochemistry as well as membrane biochemistry in terms of transport. But it would not have been possible to explain biological transport in terms of classical transformational biochemistry or chemistry. The recognition of this conceptual asymmetry in favour of transport has seemed to be upsetting to some biochemists and chemists; and they have resisted the shift towards thinking primarily in terms of the vectorial forces and co-linear displacements of ligands in place of their much less informative scalar products that correspond to the conventional scalar energies. Nevertheless, considerable progress has been made in establishing vectorial metabolism and osmochemistry as acceptable biochemical disciplines embracing transport and metabolism, and bioenergetics has been fundamentally transformed as a result.     

Culture of soybean fruit explants: growth conditions and efficiency of nitrogen sources for reserve protein synthesis

A system was devised for the in vitro culture of soybean fruits. The culture system consisted of a single fruit attached to a short piece of stem through which the nutrients were supplied. The fruit explants were taken when pods were fully expanded and the seeds at initial stages of growth. During a 7-day culture period, the seeds accumulated dry matter and protein in quantities comparable to those in situ. Omission of the C source (sucrose) from the medium resulted in no dry matter accumulation in the seeds, but omission of the N source (glutamine) still led to some protein accumulation, indicating mobilization of N from other parts of the fruit explant. Optimum protein accumulation occurred when glutamine was supplied at 1.2 mg N ml^-1. Protein accumulation in the seeds was highly dependent on the nature of the N source. Glutamine, asparagine and the ureide, allantoin, were equally the most efficient sources, whereas several other amino acids tested showed lower degrees of efficiency. The data indicate a high metabolic capacity of the fruit tissues for principal N transport compounds of soybean, namely allantoin, asparagine and glutamine. The culture system described should prove useful for developmental and metabolic studies where the complex influence of the rest of the plant is to be avoided.Abbreviations ALN allantoin - ALC allantoic acid Preliminary report presented at the IV World Soybean Research Conference, Buenos Aires, Arggentina, March 1989.