Acetaldehyde binding increases the catabolism of rat serum low-density lipoproteins

Acetaldehyde was found to form adducts with rat serum lipoproteins. The binding of [14C]acetaldehyde to lipoproteins was studied at low concentrations which are known to exist during ethanol oxidation. The amount of lipoprotein adducts was a linear function of acetaldehyde concentration up to 250 microM. Incubation of rat plasma low-density lipoproteins (LDL) with 200 microM acetaldehyde increased the disappearance rate of the 3H-label from the cholesterol ester moiety of LDL injected into normal rats. The data show that even low concentrations of acetaldehyde are capable of affecting LDL metabolism. These findings may provide an explanation for the low concentrations of serum LDL in alcoholics.     

Marfan syndrome: exclusion of genetic linkage to five genes coding for connective tissue components in the long arm of chromosome 2

Summary Marfan syndrome represents a heterogeneous connective tissue disease, the symptoms arising in several tissues and organs. The defective gene(s) behind this autosomal dominant condition has not been found despite considerable research. The main targets of the research have been the genes coding for connective tissue components. Several of the candidate genes suspected to be defective in Marfan syndrome are located on the long arm of chromosome 2. These genes include a cluster of two genes coding for fibrillar collagens COL3A1 and COL5A2, and a third member of the collagen gene family: COL6A3. Furthermore, genes for elastin (ELN) and fibronectin (FN) are also located in this area of chromosome 2. We studied this chromosomal area using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) linkage analysis in five Finnish Marfan families with affected members in three generations. In two point linkage analyses, Lod scores of –3.192 ( = 0.1) to COL3A1, –1.683 ( = 0) to COL6A3 and –2.664 ( = 0.01) to FN were obtained, whereas the linkage analysis between elastin and the disease was non-informative (Lod score 0.444, = 0). With the multipoint linkage analysis that permits simultaneous examination of several loci and more efficient use of family data, we obtained an exclusion of all these loci as the site of the mutation leading to Marfan syndrome in these families.     

A rapid increase in lipoprotein (a) levels after ethanol withdrawal in alcoholic men.

Plasma concentrations of lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) were studied in 11 male alcoholics at the end of a drinking period and monitored during subsequent abstinence. Lp(a) levels showed a daily increase for four consecutive days after the beginning of abstinence, the values for the third and the fourth day being significantly higher than those of the first day (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01, respectively). The changes in Lp(a) showed no association with the changes in low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. In one alcoholic subject with a heterozygous form of familial hypercholesterolemia who was monitored for 11 days, the Lp(a) levels rose up to the fourth day and remained at a high level thereafter. These results suggest that ethanol ingestion may be associated with a lowering of Lp(a) levels, which may contribute to the delayed progression of atherosclerosis observed in alcohol drinkers. Ethanol intake may be added to the short list of factors that affect the quite stable, genetically determined Lp(a) concentrations in the plasma.     

Lithium-induced decrease of brain inositol and increase of brain inositol-1-phosphate is transient

The effects of a single does of LiCl (2.5 or 10 mEq/kg) on brain inositol and inositol-1-phosphate (Ins1P), intermediates of brain phosphoinositude (PI) turnover, were determinated in male Han: Wistar rats. There was a remarkable, 36–58 fold elevation of brain Li⁺ as the single does of LiCl was increased 4-fold. Moreover, the accumulation of brain lithium was slow during repeated administration of LiCl. Brain lithium did not correlate with changes in brain PI turnover either after a single or repeated doses. Thus, after a single does of LiCl the increases in brain Ins1P were much less than the decreases in brain inositol. Also, brain inositol was significantly decreased only with the high dose of LiCl whereas brain Ins1P accumulation was more prominent with the lower dose. Moreover, repeated daily doses of LiCl only transiently increased brain Ins1P at 1 and 7 d whereas inositol remained at control levels throughout the 14 d observation period. Lithium probably caused the transient decrease in brain inositol by inhibiting several enzymes, in addition to the inhibition of myo-inositol mono-phosphates, in the PI cycle. Moreover, a slow dampening down of PI turnover by lithium, possible via an inhibitory action on G-protein-coupling, may also explain the present findings.     

Ribosomal RNA genes in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.): Chromosomal organization and structure

The nuclear 18S, 5.8S and 25S rRNA genes exist as thousands of rDNA repeats in the Scots pine genome. The number and location of rDNA loci (nucleolus organizers, NORs) were studied by cytological methods, and a restriction map from the coding region of the Scots pine rDNA repeat was constructed using digoxigenin-labeled flax rDNA as a probe. Based on the maximum number of nucleoli and chromosomal secondary constrictions, Scots pine has at least eight NORs in its haploid genome. The size of the Scots pine rDNA repeat unit is approximately 27 kb, two- or threefold larger than the typical angiosperm rDNA unit, but similar in size to other characterized conifer rDNA repeats. The intergenic spacer region (IGS) of the rDNA repeat unit in Scots pine is longer than 20 kb, and the transcribed spacer regions surrounding the 5.8S gene (ITS1 and ITS2) span a region of 2.9 kb. Restriction analysis revealed that although the coding regions of rDNA repeats are homogeneous, heterogeneity exists in the intergenic spacer region between individuals, as well as among the rDNA repeats within individuals.     

Effect of prolonged ethanol ingestion on hepatic lipogenesis and related enzyme activities

1. Hepatic lipogenesis in vivo and the activities of enzymes associated with fatty acid synthesis in the liver were studied in rats fed for 21 days on liquid diets containing ethanol. 2. The ethanol-fed rats developed a moderate hepatic triacylglycerol accumulation during this period. When carbohydrate was replaced by ethanol in the diet, the rate of fatty acid synthesis was slower in the ethanol-fed rats on low-, medium- and high-fat diets than in the appropriate controls. However, when the fat/carbohydrate ratio was kept the same in the ethanol-fed and control rats, ethanol had no influence on the rate of fatty acid synthesis. 3. Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was lower in the ethanol-fed group. ;Malic' enzyme activity did not change during the ethanol treatment when the fat/carbohydrate ratio was kept unchanged. 4. The ATP citrate lyase activity was lower in the ethanol-fed rats on all diets, whereas acetyl-CoA synthetase activity was independent of the composition of the control diet, but was lower in the ethanol-fed rats, in which the concentration of the active form of pyruvate dehydrogenase was also lower. 5. It is concluded that hepatic fatty acid synthesis does not play any major role in ethanol-induced triacylglycerol accumulation. Careful design of the diets is necessary to reveal the specific effects of ethanol on the enzymes associated with lipogenesis.     

Effects of acute CS2 intoxication on liver protein and drug metabolism

Rats pretreated with phenobarbitone and their controls were exposed to 0.15% atmospheric CS₂ for 2 h. Liver protein metabolism and microsomal drug metabolizing enzyme activities were analyzed 1, 4 and 46 h later. In the pretreated rats the [¹⁴C]leucine uptake was at first inhibited, then liver RNA tended to increase. This increase was followed by a decline in the [¹⁴C]leucine uptake, while RNA content diminished to the control level. In the control rats (not pretreated with phenobarbital) the effects of CS₂ on liver protein metabolism were less; only at 4 h after the exposure was liver RNA increased and [¹⁴C]leucine uptake slightly stimulated. In the pretreated rats CS₂ had decreased microsomal P-450 by about 50% at 1 and 4 h, and the activity of 7-O-dealkylase of ethoxycoumarin had decreased even more. The measurable UDPglucuronosyltransferase of the liver microsomes of the pretreated rats had increased by 26% at 1 h and by 80% at 4 h after the CS₂ exposure. The in vivo activation of microsomal UDPglucuronosyltransferase may result from a stimulated lipid peroxidation of reticuloendothelial membranes by CS₂ metabolites in vivo, as suggested by the diene conjugation spectra. In control rats CS₂ depressed only the ethoxycoumarin deethylase activity. All the microsomal changes caused by CS₂ exposure were restored within 46 h.It is suggested that the different action of CS₂ on the liver protein metabolism of rats pretreated with phenobarbitone and controls results from the different stage of protein turnover in the two groups, i.e. in the barbituratetreated animals there is a phase of increased protein synthesis and accordingly the protein turnover is more sensitive to the action of CS₂.     

Congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type maps to the long arm of chromosome 19.

Congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type (CNF) is an autosomal recessive disease that is characterized by massive proteinuria and nephrotic syndrome at birth. CNF represents a unique, apparently specific dysfunction of the renal basement membranes, and the estimated incidence of CNF in the isolated population of Finland is 1 in 8,000 newborns. The basic defect is unknown, and no specific biochemical defect or chromosomal aberrations have been described. Here we report the assignment of the CNF locus to 19q12-q13.1 on the basis of linkage analyses in 17 Finnish families. Multipoint analyses and observed recombination events place the CNF locus between multiallelic markers D19S416 and D19S224, and the significant linkage disequilibrium observed suggests that the CNF gene lies in the immediate vicinity of the markers D19S224 and D19S220.     

Complex Genetic Effects on Early Vegetative Development Shape Resource Allocation Differences Between Arabidopsis lyrata Populations

Costs of reproduction due to resource allocation trade-offs have long been recognized as key forces in life history evolution, but little is known about their functional or genetic basis. Arabidopsis lyrata, a perennial relative of the annual model plant A. thaliana with a wide climatic distribution, has populations that are strongly diverged in resource allocation. In this study, we evaluated the genetic and functional basis for variation in resource allocation in a reciprocal transplant experiment, using four A. lyrata populations and F₂ progeny from a cross between North Carolina (NC) and Norway parents, which had the most divergent resource allocation patterns. Local alleles at quantitative trait loci (QTL) at a North Carolina field site increased reproductive output while reducing vegetative growth. These QTL had little overlap with flowering date QTL. Structural equation models incorporating QTL genotypes and traits indicated that resource allocation differences result primarily from QTL effects on early vegetative growth patterns, with cascading effects on later vegetative and reproductive development. At a Norway field site, North Carolina alleles at some of the same QTL regions reduced survival and reproductive output components, but these effects were not associated with resource allocation trade-offs in the Norway environment. Our results indicate that resource allocation in perennial plants may involve important adaptive mechanisms largely independent of flowering time. Moreover, the contributions of resource allocation QTL to local adaptation appear to result from their effects on developmental timing and its interaction with environmental constraints, and not from simple models of reproductive costs.