T-cell responsiveness in Mycobacterium lepraemurium infections in a "resistant" (CBA) and a "susceptible" (BALB/c) mouse strain

Antigen-specific and mitogen-nonspecific T-lymphocyte proliferation and lymphokine release (interleukin 2 and macrophage activation factor) were studied in BALB/c and CBA mice infected intravenously with 10(8) Mycobacterium lepraemurium organisms. The responsiveness of spleen cells from infected animals to Con A and specific MLM antigen declined as the infection progressed. Thus, the decreased responsiveness appeared earlier and was more profound in the relatively susceptible BALB/c strain than in the relatively resistant CBA strain. Nylon-wool-purified, T-cell-enriched spleen cells from both strains, however, responded to both M. lepraemurium antigen and Con A until the later stages of infection (17 weeks postinfection). The relevance of nonspecific immunodepression mediated by nylon-wool-adherent spleen cells to the progressive nature of this infection is discussed.     

Evidence for regulation of actin synthesis in cytochalasin D-treated HEp-2 cells

In HEp-2 cells treated with 0.2 or 2.0 μM cytochalasin D (CD), the relative rate of actin synthesis increased for about 12 h and then reached a plateau; this increase was suppressed by actinomycin D (AD). When CD was washed from cells which had been treated for 20 h, the elevated rate of actin synthesis declined to the control value within ca 4 h, as the actin-containing cytoskeletal components rearranged by CD recovered their normal morphology. Subsequently, actin synthesis was depressed below control values for a prolonged period; during recovery from 2 h treatment with CD, this depression was of much shorter duration. Re-addition of CD to cells after a 3 h recovery period again induced the cytoskeletal alterations characteristic of CD treatment but did not reverse the prior decline in the rate of actin synthesis. In HEp-2 cells treated with cycloheximide during exposure to CD for 20 h, the relative rate of actin synthesis measured after removal of cycloheximide was twofold higher than with CD alone and such cells exhibited a twofold slower decline in the rate of actin synthesis during recovery from CD in the continued presence of cycloheximide. These effects of cycloheximide, which resemble observations on “super-induction”, suggest that actin synthesis in CD-treated and recovering HEp-2 cells may be regulated by a repressor protein. The possibility that the proposed repressor protein is actin and that actin may thus be a feedback inhibitor of its own synthesis is discussed.     

Termination of inspiration by phase-dependent respiratory vagal feedback in awake normal humans.

Imperceptible levels of proportional assist ventilation applied throughout inspiration reduced inspiratory time (TI) in awake humans. More recently, the reduction in TI was associated with flow assist, but flow assist also reaches a maximum value early during inspiration. To test the separate effects of flow assist and timing of assist, we applied a pseudorandom binary sequence of flow-assisted breaths during early, late, or throughout inspiration in eight normal subjects. We hypothesized that imperceptible flow assist would shorten TI most effectively when applied during early inspiration. Tidal volume, integrated respiratory muscle pressure per breath, TI, and TE were recorded. All stimuli (early, late, or flow assist applied throughout inspiration) resulted in a significant increase in inspiratory flow; however, only when the flow assist was applied during early inspiration was there a significant reduction in TI and the integrated respiratory muscle pressure per breath. These results provide further evidence that vagal feedback modulates breathing on a breath-by-breath basis in conscious humans within a physiological range of breath sizes.     

HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY IN NORTH AMERICAN ARID REGIONS: AN APPROACH USING MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA PHYLOGENY IN GRASSHOPPER MICE (GENUS ONYCHOMYS)

Restriction-endonuclease-site variation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was used to investigate patterns of geographic and phylogenetic divergence within the rodent genus Onychomys. Onychomys has occupied arid habitats in the western North American deserts, shrub-steppes, and grasslands since the late Tertiary. A phylogenetic analysis of the total mtDNA restriction-site variation throughout the range of Onychomys suggests that the distribution of this genus has been affected by the same Quaternary pluvial-interpluvial climatic fluctuations that have resulted in the periodic fragmentation of arid habitats in western North America. Onychomys mtDNA haplotypes define at least five discrete geographical subsets, suggesting that there are five areas of endemism for biota restricted to arid and semiarid habitats in North America. The mtDNA-haplotype phylogeny can be used to infer an hypothesis of historical relationships among the five areas of endemism as follows: ([{(Wyoming Basin + Interior Plains + Colorado Plateaus) + (Columbia Basin + Great Basin)} + Gulf Coastal Plain] + Chihuahuan) + Western Deserts. The results of this study point to the potential use of mtDNA-haplotype phylogenies to reconstruct historical biogeographic events in Quaternary time. The utility of mtDNA variation depends in part on the ecology and distribution of the species being examined. Therefore, our hypothesized area cladogram can be tested by investigating regional relationships in other western North American taxa with distributions similar to Onychomys.     

A double sequential immunofluorescence method demonstrating the co-localization of urotensins I and II in the caudal neurosecretory system of the teleost,Gillichthys mirabilis

Summary A double immunofluorescence method was devised to localize simultaneously urotensin-I (UI) and -II (UII) immunoreactivities in the caudal neurosecretory system of the goby, Gillichthys mirabilis. In a sequential fashion, sections of the posterior spinal cord and urophysis were treated with antiserum to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) that cross-reacts with UI, fluorescein-conjugated sheep anti-rabbit IgG, biotinylated anti-UII and rhodamine-conjugated avidin. UI and UII immunoreactivities appeared to coexist in some neurons and in most fibers and urophysial tissue; the remainder of the fibers and urophysis and the majority of neurons were immunoreactive for CRF/ UI only. No convincing evidence of immunoreactivity for UII only was found. A few nonreactive cells were seen, but these may not be neurosecretory neurons. The two immunoreactive cell types were not segregated topographically, and the intensity of perikaryal immunofluorescence for CRF/UI was variable. To explain these results a hypothesis that all caudal neurosecretory cells may synthesize both UI and UII and that immunoreactive differences may reflect different states of cellular activity, is suggested. This sequential double immunofluorescence method offers several advantages over other techniques and is especially useful for co-localization studies when primary antisera from different species are not available.     

Phenotypic and karyotypic transitions in the spontaneous transformation of a rat cell line

After 20-50 transfers, a rat myofibroblast line, Hmf-n, 'spontaneously' transforms to an established (immortalized) line of smaller, rapidly cycling fibroblastoid cells (tHmf-f). From these 1 degree transformants, colonies of larger, slower growing anchorage-independent (tHmf-e) cells of epithelioid phenotype emerge. Both transformants grow in low serum and low calcium media, but the tHmf-f cells are highly tumorigenic in nude mice, have diminished substrate adhesivity, and limited anchorage independence, whereas tHmf-e are less tumorigenic, firmly substrate adherent, and markedly anchorage independent. Most tHmf-f are trisomic; most tHmf-e transformants are hypodiploid, a third are tetraploid, and all have chromosomal abnormalities, but no trisomy. Hmf-n cells have polar stress fiber arrays terminating in vinculin adhesion plaques, colinear extracellular fibronectin matrices, and linear non-coincident deposits of fodrin. Microtubules (mt) and vimentin-intermediate filaments (IF) parallel the actin cables. Stress fibers of the tHmf-f are moderately reduced, their vinculin adhesion plaques and fibronectin matrices intact; fodrin is diffuse. Mts and IFs are normal and axial. Most epithelioid tHmf-e have no stress fibers, adhesion plaques, or extracellular fibronectin; instead, dense actin microfilament meshworks are attached to plasma membrane, as is fodrin. Mt and IF are radial. Both transformed phenotypes are stable over greater than 300 continuous passages. The differentiation-inducing agents DMSO, cyclic AMP, 5-azacytidine, and mezerein, were ineffective in normalizing shape or cytoskeleton of transformed Hmf, and butyrate was selectively toxic to 50% of tHmf-e. But hydrocortisone induced striking polarization, and increase in number, and alignment of stress fibers of both tHmf-f and tHmf-e. Growth, anchorage, cytoskeletal arrangements, and tumorigenic potential are not closely correlated in these stable, spontaneously transformed lines of distinct pheno- and karyotype originating from the same normal parental cell, suggesting independent acquisition of properties associated with transformation.     

A glucuronyltransferase involved in glucuronoxylan synthesis in pea (Pisum sativum) epicotyls.

A particulate enzyme preparation made from epicotyls of 1-week-old etiolated pea (Pisum sativum) seedlings was shown to incorporate glucuronic acid from UDP-D-[U-14C]glucuronic acid into a hemicellulosic polysaccharide. Optimum conditions for the incorporation include the presence of Mn2+ ions at between 4 and 10 mmol/litre and a pH between 5 and 6. UDP-D-xylose at 1 mmol/litre allows incorporation to continue for at least 8 h. In its absence, the reaction stops within 30 min. Analysis of the product by partial and total acid hydrolysis, followed by paper chromatography or electrophoresis, indicates that the polysaccharide produced is a glucuronoxylan.     

Earlier diagnosis and survival in lung cancer

In a controlled investigation the survival prospects of lung cancer in a population of men aged 40 and over who had been offered six-monthly chest radiographs over a period of three years were compared with lung cancer in a similar population without such x-ray facilities. The five-year survival rate of lung cancer in the study series was 15%, and in cases discovered by six-monthly examination 23%, compared with 6% in the control series. The average expectation of life after diagnosis was 2·5 years for the test cases and 1·2 for the control cases. Survival declined with age. Of resected lung cancer, 32% survived five years in the test series and 23% in the control series. The five-year survival rate for squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma in the test series was 28% and 25% respectively, compared with 15% and nil in the control series.On the basis of these results it is concluded that through earlier radiological detection a modest improvement in the prognosis of lung cancer can be achieved.