DENSITY DEPENDENT GROWTH IN NORTH PACIFIC SPERM WHALES

Data from the North Pacific sperm whale (Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758) fishery were examined for a possible density dependent change in growth during 40 yr harvesting after World War II. Early in this period males from the eastern stock were 16.8 m or less in length. By the early 1970s the largest males in the catch exceeded 16.8 m in length and reached 18.9 m in the late 1970s. The proportion of males measuring over 16.8 m, among sexually mature males (≥14.0 m), increased from 0 to >20% during the 1970s. Increases in the maximum size of males were possibly preceded by a change in the frequency distribution of body lengths in the middle 1960s when only 10% of the postwar catch had been taken. Testis weights suggested an increase in body length at sexual maturity. Two of the three putative North Pacific stocks showed similar growth changes. Adult males taken in the Bering Sea did not show such changes during the exploitation which ended in 1972 because of overfishing. Females showed no detectable change in body size. It is concluded that: (1) density dependent effects on male growth are greater before sexual maturity than after it, (2) males may show density dependent changes even at a population level above 90% of the carrying capacity, (3) polygynous males acquire more mates and realize higher reproductive success because of increased body size, and (4) females appear to maximize production by maturing earlier and shortening calving intervals in response to density change.     

Erythropoietic progenitor cells from premature neonates studied using a validated serum-deprived medium

We have examined a serum-deprived culture system in order to verify that it is suitable for the study of burst forming unit erythroid (BFU-E) progenitor cells from premature neonates. Optimum growth of BFU-E from premature neonates was observed with each media constituent using the same concentration as that previously described for adult subjects. Growth of immature BFU-E from premature neonates were highly dependant upon a source of Burst Promoting Activity and mature BFU-E derived colonies emerged at day 12 compared to day 14 in adults. Our preliminary results with the validated medium suggest that premature infants have increased peripheral blood concentrations of BFU-E compared to healthy adult controls.Abbreviations Ad Adherent cells - BPA Burst promoting activity - BFU-E Burst forming unit erythroid - Epo Erythropoietin - IL3 Interleukin-3 - LDC Low density (<1.077 g ml¹) peripheral blood mononuclear cells     

Influence of inoculum age on hybridoma culture kinetics

To determine the influence of the inoculum age on the kinetics of hybridoma growth and metabolism, spinner flasks have been inoculated with cells previously propagated in T flasks for 43, 52, 62 and 71 hr respectively. Increasing the age of the inoculum is found to result in a longer lag phase, in a lower maximum specific growth rate and in a reduced maximal cell density. During the growth phase specific rates of glucose and glutamine uptake and of ammonia and lactate production are similar. However, with the older inoculum, much higher metabolic activities are observed during the lag phase. The production of antibodies is delayed with increasing inoculum age, but the final antibody concentrations are similar, which indicates a higher specific antibody production rate when inoculating with older cells.     

Coordinated regulation of vascular endothelial cell growth and prostacyclin production by epidermal growth factor: Evidence of clonal variations among rat aortic endothelial cells

Summary Rat aortic endothelial cells were found to exhibit clonal variations in response to EGF stimulation in cell growth and prostacyclin synthesis. EGF-induced growth and prostacyclin synthesis appeared to be regulated in a coordinated manner in that a clone with a higher response to EGF growth stimulation also exhibited a higher response to EGF-stimulated prostacyclin synthesis. This observation implys a possible involvement of prostacyclin synthesis in some of the biological effects of EGF on vascular endothelial cells.     

Plasmodium falciparum: Differential Sensitivity In Vitro to E-64 (Cysteine Protease Inhibitor) and Pepstatin A (Aspartyl Protease Inhibitor)

ABSTRACT We investigated the effect of a cysteine proteinase inhibitor (E-64) and an aspartyl proteinase inhibitor (Pepstatin A) on asexual erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum in culture. These two protease inhibitors showed different patterns of activity. E-64 acted preferentially against trophozoite and schizont stages. After 48 h incubation at high concentrations of E-64 (28, 140, 280 μM), growth was totally abolished and the parasites presented characteristic enlarged food vacuoles. Morphological alterations were also seen after shorter incubation periods (6 h at 28 μM) or 12 h at the inhibitory concentration 50% (12 μM), but an additional culture period (24 h) in inhibitor-free medium allowed normal parasite development, demonstrating a parasitostatic effect. E-64 acts on parasite multiplication; the normal merozoite maturation was altered and the normal reinvasion process partially impaired. Pepstatin A used at the inhibitory concentration 50% (4 μM) killed the parasites before trophozoite development and had a major effect on schizonts maturation. No altered parasite development occurred during an additional culture period without Pepstatin A, demonstrating a parasiticidal effect. E-64 and Pepstatin A used in combination inhibit the parasite growth with a strong synergistic effect.     

Mechanisms of somatic embryogenesis in cell cultures: Physiology,biochemistry, and molecular biology

Summary One of the most characteristic cell functions in plants is totipotency. Somatic embryogenesis can be regarded as a model system for the investigation of mechanisms of totipotency, because a high frequency and synchronous embryogenic system from single somatic cells has been established in carrot suspension cultures. Four phases are recognized in this process, and several molecular markers, viz. polypeptides, mRNAs, antigens against monoclonal antibodies, can be detected during the expression of totipotency, but they disappear during its loss. Four organ-specific genes have been isolated from hypocotyls and roots by differential screening. They were expressed preferentially after the globular-heart stages of embryogenesis, and were strongly suppressed by auxin. A CEM 1 gene was isolated by differential screening of embryogenic cell clusters. This gene was expressed strongly and transiently during the proglobular and globular stages. The sequence of CEM 1 was found to encode a polypeptide showing high homology to the elongation factor isolated from eucaryotic cells. Thus good progress is being made in understanding the basic mechanisms of somatic embryogenesis. Presented in the Session-in-Depth Developmental Biology of Embryogenesis at the 1991 World Congress on Cell and Tissue Culture, Anaheim, California, June 16–20, 1991.     

Continuous culture of suspended plant cells

Summary Continuous culture is an attractive research tool in physiologic and growth and production kinetics research. However, fulfillment of the basic assumptions of continuous culture in the experimental set-up may cause problems. The homogeneity of plant cell cultures and effluent, particularly, may cause problems. This paper presents an experimental set-up which solves these problems and describes the use of this equipment in a study of the growth kinetics of plant cells. Industrial application of the continuous culture of plant cells in the production of secondary metabolites seems to be profitable when compared with batch or fed-batch cultures. However, various problems such as uncoupled product formation and strain instability make fed-batch culture a better choice. Presented in the Session-in-Depth Batch Production and Fermentation at the 1991 World Congress on Cell and Tissue Culture, Anaheim, California, June 16–20, 1991.     

毛百合繁殖生物学研究——Ⅰ 毛百合的自然生长与繁殖

本文对产于东北地区的毛百合进行了自然状况下的生长与繁殖研究。结果发现在不同的生境下毛百合的生长发育有三种类型,即生长旺盛类型;可完成生活史,但生长受到一定限制类型;不能完成生活史,只能营养生长类型。 在毛百合完成其生活史的转化中光是一个重要限制因子。在全光的46.6％的生境中毛百合尚能大部向成株转化,并开花结果完成生活史,而在相对光照为15.6％的林下,毛百合转化为成株的概率很少。 由于长期适应环境的结果,毛百合具有两种繁殖对策,一是在全光下或不低于相对光照的46％的生境下,有性与无性繁殖同时进行;而在低于相对光照的15％以下时,除个别光强处外,毛百合主要以鳞茎繁殖和生长,一旦林地受干扰后,则马上开花结实,营有性繁殖。     

鲑鱼生长激素cDNA的分子克隆和序列分析

从太平洋切奴克鲑鱼(Pacific Chinook Salmon,Oncorthychus tschawytscha)垂体poly(A)~+ RNA构建cDNA文库。按照鲑鱼生长激素(sGH)部分氨基酸序列合成两个寡聚脱氧核苷酸探针,它们分别与编码第1—7和第166—172氨基酸序列互补。用探针筛查cDNA文库,得到了完整的sGH cDNA克隆。cDNA序列已测定,包括编码210个氨基酸的编码序列。其中含有22个氨基酸的信号肽序列和188个氨基酸的成熟GH序列。该克隆还包括了5'端和3'端非翻译区,分别为72个和438个碱基对长。与Chum鲑鱼比较表明,核酸序列和氨基酸序列的同源性分别为97%和99%。     

Inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation potentiates substrate-induced neurite growth

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) have major roles in signal transduction and growth control. There are several lines of evidence implicating PTKs in the regulation of axon growth, and this has led to the suggestion that they are centrally involved in the transduction of neuronal growth signals. To test this idea, we assayed the effect of the compounds genistein and lavendustin, specific inhibitors of PTKs, on neurite growth. We find that genistein greatly reduces phosphotyrosine in neurons, as expected from its action on other cells. Surprisingly, administration of genistein or lavendustin potentiated substrate-induced neurite growth in at least several different neuronal types. Stimulation of neurite growth by genistein was abolished by vanadate, providing additional evidence that inhibition of PTKs is responsible for this effect. The potentiation of growth is rather general, in that it occurs on several different extracellular matrix substrates and on two different cell adhesion molecules. Both the initiation of neurite growth and the rate of neurite elongation appear to be potentiated. Our results do not provide evidence for models of substrate-induced signal transduction that involve PTKs asa positive and necessary step, but suggest that such kinases play aregulatory role in neurite elongation. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.