Cerebral glycine content and phosphoserine phosphatase activity in hyperaminoacidemias

Chronic hyperphenylalaninemia maintained with the aid of a suppressor of phenylalamine hydroxylase, -methylphenylalanine, increases the glycine concentration and the phosphoserine phosphatase activity of the developing rat brain but not that of liver or kidney. Similar increases occur after daily injections with large doses of phenylalanine alone, while tyrosine, isoleucine, alanine, proline, and threonine, were without effect. Treatment with methionine, which increases the phosphoserine phosphatase activity of the brain and lowered that of liver and kidney, left the cerebral glycine level unchanged. When varying the degrees of gestational or early postnatal hyperphenylalaninemia, a significant linear correlation was found between the developing brains' phosphoserine phosphatase and glycine concentration. Observations on the uptake of injected glycine and its decline further indicate that coordinated rises in the brain's phosphoserine phosphatase and glycine content associated with experimental hyperphenylalaninemia denote a direct impact of phenylalanine on the intracellular pathway of glycine synthesis in immature animals.     

Ultrastructure of carotenoid deprivation in photoreceptors of Manduca sexta: myeloid bodies and intracellular microvilli

Summary The ultrastructural effects of carotenoid (vitamin A) deprivation were studied in the adult photoreceptors of the tobacco hornworm moth Manduca sexta. Moths were reared on a deprived diet, which lacked the carotenoid sources of the photopigment chromophore, 3-hydroxy retinal, or on a control, fortified diet, containing ample carotenoid. The latter supported normal levels of visual function, whereas visual pigment and sensitivity were reduced by at least 3 log units in moths reared on the deprived diet. Myeloid bodies, massed cisternae of hypertrophied smooth endomembrane, filled the cytoplasm in the receptors of deprived animals. The myeloid bodies assumed various configurations that included lamellate stacks of parallel cisternae, and tubular networks in a paracrystalline form. Freeze-fracture preparations of myeloid membranes revealed a high density of P-face particles. Vacuoles containing microvilli similar to those of the rhabdomere were also present in deprived photoreceptors. We suggest that the elaboration of smooth endoplasmic reticulum as myeloid bodies in chromophore-deprived photoreceptors may stem from the hypertrophy of a biochemical system for processing the chromophore or the interruption of the intracellular pathway that normally carries visual pigment to the rhabdomere.     

The fluorescence induction kinetics as a non-destructive tool for investigating spruce treated with ozone

Summary The scattering coefficient of yellow spruce needles exceeds that of green needles by a factor of 2, whereas the fluorescence efficiency is approximately equal for both needle colours. As shown by the angular distribution the fluorescence light is diffusely emitted. However, the scattered light consists of a diffuse and a reflecting portion below 20° with a ratio of the intensities of 1 : 2 at perpendicular observation (0°). Control measurements show that in the rejection region the effective transmission of cut-off-filters commonly used to separate fluorescence light and excitation light exceeds the value calculated from the filter specifications by a factor of 100. Therefore, the portion of the scattered light in the measuring signal must be controlled if the fluorescence induction kinetics is measured from specimen of different colour. A device for the determination of the fluorescence induction kinetics is described which employs a He-Ne laser, a mechanically working shutter with an opening time of 4 ms for the excitation, and a computer for data storage and device control. Two filters select the fluorescence components at 685 nm and 730 nm and they reduce the portion of the scattered light in the measuring signal to 0.18% and 0.55%, respectively. In order to consider the temporal development of the fluorescence kinetics the sampling rate is reduced from 2 kHz to 1 Hz. From the data stored in the computer maximum valueF _P, and steady-state-valueF _S are determined for both fluorescence components. Measurements on 4-year-old spruce exposed to ozone-concentrations of 0, 300 ppb, 600 ppb, and 1000 ppb were repeated every week. With increasing concentration and duration of treatmentR _fd =(F _P-F_s)/F _S was decreased for both fluorescence components. With the highest ozone concentration a reduction ofR _fd of 23% and 24%, respectively, was obtained for the two fluorescence components after three weeks.     

Effects of trypsin on secretion stimulated by micromolar Ca2+ and phorbol ester in digitonin-permeabilized adrenal chromaffin cells

1. Catecholamine secretion from digitonin-treated chromaffin cells is stimulated directly by micromolar Ca2+ in the medium. The permeabilized cells are leaky to proteins. 2. In this study trypsin (30-50 micrograms/ml) added to cells after digitonin treatment completely inhibited subsequent Ca2+-dependent catecholamine secretion. The same concentrations of trypsin did not inhibit secretion from permeabilized cells if trypsin was present only prior to cell permeabilization. 3. The data indicate that trypsin entered digitonin-treated chromaffin cells which were capable of undergoing secretion and that an intracellular, trypsin-sensitive protein is involved in secretion. Chymotrypsin was less potent but had effects similar to those of trypsin. 4. The enhancement of Ca2+-dependent secretion from permeabilized chromaffin cells induced by the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was inhibited by trypsin added simultaneously with Ca2+ to permeabilized cells at concentrations (3-10 micrograms/ml) which had little or no effect on Ca2+-dependent secretion from cells untreated with TPA. Ca2+-dependent secretion in TPA-treated cells was reduced by trypsin only to the level that would have occurred in cells not treated with TPA. Trypsin reduced the large TPA-induced increment of membrane-bound protein kinase C.     

Further localization of ETS1 indicates that the chromosomal rearrangement in Ewing sarcoma does not occur at fra(11)(q23)

Summary A genomic probe homologous to 5.4 kb of the c-ets-1 gene was hybridized in situ to chromosomes expressing fra(11)(q23). This probe hybridized distal to the fragile site, which is just distal to the midpoint of band 11q23.3. This result localizes ETS1 from the FRA11B locus to 11q24. The result also distinguishes the FRA11B locus from the site of translocation at 11q23-q24 in the Ewing sarcoma- and peripheral neuroepithelioma-specific t(11;22), indicating that the chromosomes of a previously reported patient heterozygous for fra(11)(q23) did not rearrange at this fragile site to give rise to Ewing sarcoma. This adds to the mounting evidence against individuals with fragile sites being predisposed to developing cancer.     

Autoradiographic Analysis of [3H]Imipramine Binding in the Human Brain Postmortem: Effects of Age and Alcohol

In vitro quantitative autoradiography of high-affinity [3H]imipramine binding sites was performed on 16 human brains postmortem. The densities of binding sites were highest in the hypothalamus. Next, in descending order, were the basal and lateral nuclei of the amygdala; substantia innominata; insular cortex; the central nucleus of the amygdala; the anterior nucleus of the thalamus; the head of the caudate nucleus; portions of the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex; claustrum; the granular layer of the dentate gyrus; substantia nigra; the pyramidal layer of CA fields; globus pallidus; red nucleus; and white matter. Imipramine binding was found to increase with age in a region-specific manner. The presence of alcohol had a similar effect, which was most pronounced in the hippocampus. Sex and time from death to autopsy did not affect imipramine binding, in our sample.     

High Ammonia Levels in Brain Induce Tubulin in Cerebrum but Not in Cerebellum

Ingestion of large amounts of ammonium increases markedly the content of tubulin in brain. The effect on tubulin induction of ammonium ingestion for up to 100 days was investigated. Brain tubulin content showed a rapid initial increase (28%) at 2 days and reached 50% after 100 days on the diet. To discern if ammonia, the increase in urea synthesis, or both was responsible for tubulin induction, rats were maintained at several levels of uremia (by administering diets containing 0 to 80% protein) or in hyperammonemia (by urease treatment). Only ammonium administration in the diet and urease injection induced tubulin in brain. Tubulin was quantified in three different brain regions. There was a regional selectivity of tubulin induction by ammonia in rat brain. Whereas the cerebellum remained unaltered, the paleencephalon showed the highest increase, and the cerebral cortex exhibited only a modest increase.     

Rhabdomeric membrane and smooth endoplasmic reticulum in photoreceptors of Manduca sexta: modulations associated with the diurnal light/dark cycle and effects of chromophore deprivation

Summary Aberrations of photoreceptor ultrastructure resulting from carotenoid/retinoid (vitamin A) deprivation were studied in the retina of Manduca sexta. The syndrome of chromophore deficiency included hypertrophy of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, variable dilation of rhabdomeric microvilli, the insertion of endomembrane fingers into such enlarged microvilli, and the formation of rhabdomeric vacuoles, intracellular compartments containing microvilli similar to those of the rhabdomere. Retinas were processed either with conventional procedures employing preliminary aldehyde fixation followed by heavy metal postfixation, or by fixation and incubation in unbuffered OsO₄. The latter method deposits osmium throughout the endomembrane system, within the rhabdomeric vacuoles, and in the extracellular space of the rhabdom. However, the intravillous fingers were rarely impregnated with osmium, despite their continuity with densely stained cisternae of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum. We suggest that the insertion of endomembrane fingers into dilated microvilli results from a cytoskeleton-mediated link between cisternae of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum and the rhabdomeric membrane, an association that may be important in the turnover of photoreceptor membrane. We interpret endomembrane hypertrophy and development of rhabdomeric vacuoles as symptoms of disturbance in the pathway leading to the assembly of the rhabdomere resulting from reduced synthesis of visual pigment.