Differential responses of expiratory muscles to chemical stimuli in awake dogs

We assessed respiratory muscle response patterns to chemoreceptor stimuli (hypercapnia, hypoxia, normocapnic hypoxia, almitrine, and almitrine + CO2) in six awake dogs. Mean electromyogram (EMG) activities were measured in the crural (CR) diaphragm, triangularis sterni (TS), and transversus abdominis (TA). Hypercapnia and normocapnic hypoxia caused mild to marked hyperpnea [2-5 times control inspiratory flow (VI)] and increased activity in CR diaphragm, TS, and TA. When hypocapnia was permitted to develop during hypoxia and almitrine-induced moderate hyperpnea, CR diaphragm activity increased, whereas TS and TA activities usually did not change or were reduced below control. Over time in hypercapnia, CR diaphragm, TS, and TA were augmented and maintained at these levels over many minutes; with hypoxic hyperventilation CR diaphragm, TS, and TA were first augmented but then CR diaphragm remained augmented while TS and, less consistently, TA were inhibited over time. Marked hyperpnea (4-5 times control) due to carotid body stimulation increased TA and TS EMG activity despite an accompanying hypocapnia. We conclude that in the intact awake dog 1) carotid body stimulation augments the activity of both inspiratory and expiratory muscles; 2) hypocapnia overrides the augmenting effect of carotid body stimulation on expiratory muscles during moderate hyperpnea, usually resulting in either no change or inhibition; 3) at higher levels of hyperpnea both chemoreceptor stimulation and stimulatory effects secondary to a high ventilatory output favor expiratory muscle activation; these effects override any inhibitory effects of a coincident hypocapnia; and 4) expiratory muscles of the rib cage/abdomen may be augmented/inhibited independently of one another.     

Leukocyte inhibitory factor activates human neutrophils and macrophages to release leukotriene B4 and thromboxanes

Recent evidence has proved that cytokines can stimulate the production of 5-lipoxygenase products. Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) is a major mediator of leukocyte activation in acute inflammatory reactions, which produce chemotaxis, lysosomal enzyme release, and cell aggregation. Leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) also causes biological responses related to inflammation, i.e., LIF directly induces specific granule secretion by polymorphonuclears (PMNs) and potentiates many formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLPs) mediated responses. Since arachidonic acid products are important mediators of inflammation, we have studied the effects of LIF on the arachidonic acid cascade products LTB4 and thromboxane A2 (TxA2). Resuspended at a final concentration of greater than 95% polymorphonuclear PMNs were isolated and tested with some cytokines on the release of LTB4 and TxA2. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and seeded in Petri dishes and incubated for 60 min. Adherent macrophages were used for the cytokine stimulation study. Both types of leukocytes were treated with LIF, interleukin 6 (IL 6), and granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) at different concentrations, and test agents A23187 and FMLP. Radioimmunoassay for LTB4 and TxB2 was determined by the resulting supernatants. Treatment of PMNs and macrophages with LIF at different concentrations proved to generate significant increases in LTB4 and TxA2 production. This was compared with IL 6 and GM-CSF, which had no effects. In these experiments, TxA2 generations could not be attributed to platelet contamination of PMN suspensions. The quantity of platelet contamination was not sufficient to influence how much TxB2 was produced. The similarities of LIF to other arachidonate stimulating cytokines suggest a similar mode of action in producing hematologic changes typical of tissue injury.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A modular domain of NifU,a nitrogen fixation cluster protein,is highly conserved in evolution

HnifU, a gene exhibiting similarity tonifU genes of nitrogen fixation gene clusters, was identified in the course of expressed sequence tag (EST) generation from a human fetal heart cDNA library. Northern blot of human tissues and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using human genomic DNA verified that the hnifU gene represented a human gene rather than a microbial contaminant of the cDNA library. Conceptual translation of the hnifU cDNA yielded a protein product bearing 77% and 70% amino acid identity to NifU-like hypothetical proteins fromHaemophilus influenzae andSaccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively, and 40–44% identity to the N-terminal regions of NifU proteins from several diazatrophs (i.e., nitrogen-fixing organisms). Pairwise determination of amino acid identities between the NifU-like proteins of nondiazatrophs showed that these NifU-like proteins exhibited higher sequence identity to each other (63–77%) than to the diazatrophic NifU proteins (40–48%). Further, the NifU-like proteins of non-nitrogenfixing organisms were similar only to the N-terminal region of diazatrophic NifU proteins and therefore identified a novel modular domain in these NifU proteins. These findings support the hypothesis that NifU is indeed a modular protein. The high degree of sequence similarity between NifU-like proteins from species as divergent as humans andH. influenzae suggests that these proteins perform some basic cellular function and may be among the most highly conserved proteins. Correspondence to: C.-C. Liew     

Hydrogen bond stabilities in membrane-reconstituted alamethicin from amide-resolved hydrogen-exchange measurements.

Amide-resolved hydrogen-deuterium exchange-rate constants were measured for backbone amides of alamethicin reconstituted in dioleoylphosphatidylcholine vesicles by an exchange-trapping method combined with high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In vesicles containing alamethicin at molar ratios between 1:20 and 1:100 relative to lipid, the exchange-rate constants increased with increasing volume of the D20 buffer in which the vesicles were suspended, indicating that exchange under these conditions is dominated by partitioning of the peptide into the aqueous phase. This was supported by observation of a linear relationship between the exchange-rate constants for amides in membrane-reconstituted alamethicin and those for amides in alamethicin dissolved directly into D2O buffer. Significant protection of amides from exchange with D2O buffer in membrane-reconstituted alamethicin is interpreted in terms of stabilization by helical hydrogen bonding. Under conditions in which amide exchange occurred by partitioning of the peptide into solution, only lower limits for hydrogen-bond stabilities in the membrane were determined; all the potentially hydrogen-bonded amides of alamethicin are at least 1000-fold exchange protected in the membrane-bound state. When partitioning of alamethicin into the aqueous phase was suppressed by hydration of reconstituted vesicles in a limiting volume of water [D2O:dioleoylphosphatidylcholine:alamethicin; 220:1:0.05; (M:M:M)], the exchange-protection factors exhibited helical periodicity with highly exchange-protected, and less well-protected, amides on the nonpolar and polar helix faces, respectively. The exchange data indicate that, under the conditions studied, alamethicin adopts a stable helical structure in DOPC bilayers in which all the potentially hydrogen-bonded amides are stabilized by helical hydrogen bonds. The protection factors define the orientation of the peptide helix with respect to an aqueous phase, which is either the bulk solution or water within parallel or antiparallel transmembrane arrays of reconstituted alamethicin.     

Enhanced Phosphodiestric Breakdown of Phosphatidylinositol Bisphosphate After Experimental Brain Injury

Abstract: Regional levels of lactate and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP₃), a cellular second messenger of the excitatory neurotransmitter system, were measured after lateral fluid percussion (FP) brain injury in rats. At 5 min postinjury, tissue lactate concentrations were significantly elevated in the cortices and hippocampi of both the ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres. By 20 min postinjury, lactate concentrations were elevated only in the cortices and hippocampus of the ipsilateral hemisphere. Whereas the IP₃ concentrations were elevated in the hippocampi of the ipsilateral and contralateral hemisphere and in the cortex of ipsilateral hemisphere at 5 min postinjury, no elevation in these sites was found at 20 min postinjury. Histologic analysis revealed neuronal damage in the cortex and CA3 regions of hippocampus ipsilateral to the injury at 24 h postinjury. The present results suggest activation of the phosphoinositide signal transduction pathway at the onset of injury and of a possible requirement of early persistent metabolic dysfunction (>20 min) such as the lactate accumulation in the delayed neuronal damage.     

Episodic exposure to acid and aluminium in soft water: survival and recovery of brown trout,Salmo trutta L.

Yolk-sac fry, swim-up fry and 1–2 yr juveniles of brown trout, Sulmo trutta L., were exposed to episodes of aluminium and low pH, maximum aluminium concentration 12 μmol l⁻¹ (323 μg l⁻¹), minimum pH 4.5, total duration up to 54 h (yolk-sac fry) or up to 78 h (swim-up fry and juveniles), in an artificial soft water medium, [Ca] 20 μmol l⁻¹ (0–8 mg l⁻¹) (nominal baseline: pH 5.6, zero aluminium concentration). Yolk-sac fry mortality was nil or very low. A marked increase in susceptibility, with high mortalities, occurred when the yolk was fully absorbed. Mortality of juveniles exposed to two successive episodes was lower than would have been expected on the basis of comparisons with mortalities in single episodes, and mortality declined as the interval between the two episodes was increased. Disturbance of sodium, potassium or calcium balance or gill damage in surviving yolk-sac fry or juveniles was still evident 5 to 6 days after the end of a single episode.     

Structural alterations in synaptosomal membrane-associated proteins and lipids by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in the cat

We have previously reported that ischemia reperfusion injury results from free radical generation following transient global ischemia, and that this radical induced damage is evident in the synaptosomal membrane of the gerbil. [Hall et al, (1995) Neuroscience 64: 81–89] In the present study we have extended these observations to transient focal ischemia in the cat. We prepared synaptosomal membranes from frontal, parietal-temporal, and occipital regions of the cat cerebral cortex with reperfusion times of 1 and 3 hours following 1 hour right middle cerebral artery occlusion. The membranes were selectively labeled with protein and lipid specific paramagnetic spin labels and analyzed using electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometry. There were significant motional changes of both the protein and lipid specific spin labels in the parietal-temporal and occipital regions with 1 hour reperfusion; but, both parameters returned to control values by 3 hours reperfusion. No significant changes were observed in the normally perfused frontal pole at either reperfusion time. These results support the argument that free radicals play a critical role in cell damage at early reperfusion times following ischemia.     

Correlation of tumor metastasis with sterol carrier protein and plasma membrane sterol levels

Squalene and sterol carrier protein (SCP) levels and sterol/phospholipid molar ratios of whole cells and plasma membranes were measured in cultured primary tumor and metastatic cell lines. SCP is abundant in all cell lines. However, metastatic lines have significantly lower SCP levels and plasma membrane sterol/phospholipid ratios than do primary lines. The results indicate that extremely malignant, metastatic cells are unable to produce or maintain adequate levels of both SCP and plasma membrane sterols when grown in lipoprotein deficient media. This defect, in vivo, probably causes excess uptake of SCP and lipid.