Astrocytes and Synaptosomes Transport and Metabolize Lactate and Acetate Differently

Astrocytes transport the monocarboxylate acetate, but synaptosomes do not. The reason for this is unknown, because both preparations express monocarboxylate transporters (MCT). The transport and metabolism of lactate, another monocarboxylate, was examined in these two preparations, and the results were compared to those for acetate. Lactate transport is more rapid in astrocytes than in synaptosomes, but of lower affinity (Kms of 17 and 4 mM, respectively). Lactate (0.2 mM) is metabolized to CO2 more rapidly in synaptosomes than in astrocytes (rates of 0.37 and 0.07 nmol x mg protein(-1) x min(-1), respectively). The reason for this is unclear, but cellular differences in lactate dehydrogenase isotype expression may be involved. Acetate is metabolized to CO2 more rapidly in astrocytes than in synaptosomes (rates of 0.43 and 0.02 nmol x mg protein(-1) x min(-1), respectively). This is likely due to cellular differences in the expression of monocarboxylate transporter subtypes.     

Relative and combined effects of ethanol and protein deficiency on strontium and barium bone content and fecal and urinary excretion

To elucidate accumulation of minerals in human iliac arteries with aging, the content of minerals was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Bilateral common, internal, and external iliac arteries of 16 men and 8 women, ranging ages from 65 to 93 yr, were examined. It was found that an extremely high accumulation of calcium and phosphorus occurred in the common iliac artery at old age, being higher than that of the internal and external iliac arteries. It should be noted that the accumulation of calcium and phosphorus is the highest in the common iliac artery among the human arteries examined to date. Regarding sexual differences, the content of calcium and phosphorus in the common and internal iliac arteries was higher in women than in men, whereas their content in the external iliac artery was lower in women than in men.     

Embryo and Endosperm Function and Failure inSolanumSpecies and Hybrids

Although the importance of the endosperm as a food store inmany angiosperm seeds is well known, its significance duringearly embryogenesis has been neglected. In many interspecifichybrids, and in some other situations, embryos do not developfully and abort. It has often been stated that this is causedby the endosperm failing to conduct sufficient nutrients tothe embryo, but seldom has it been suggested that the endospermactively controls most of the early stages of morphogenesisof the embryo. Information gleaned from a broad survey of theliterature, combined with additional evidence presented here,obtained fromSolanum incanumand interspecific hybrids, indicatethat the endosperm is dynamic and very active in regulatingearly embryo development. This requires highly integrated geneticcontrol of rapidly changing metabolism in the endosperm. Ininterspecific hybrids, lack of coordination may cause unbalancedproduction of growth regulating substances by the endospermand hence abortion of the embryo, or even unregulated productionof nucleases and proteases resulting firstly in autolysis ofthe endosperm and then digestion of the embryo. The endospermmay thus serve to detect inappropriate hybridization of speciesor ploidy levels and so prevent waste of resources by producingseeds that would result in sterile hybrids or unthrifty subsequentgenerations. This discriminatory function of the endosperm hasdiminished during evolution and domestication of the crop plantSolanummelongenaL.Copyright 1998 Annals of Botany Company Solanum, embryo morphogenesis, endosperm, hybrid, seed development.     

Morphological and constitutional features and self-esteem in children and adolescents

Studies of human constitution and mental features are traditionally among the main concepts of anthropological research. In this research, we attempted to discover connections between morphological and constitutional features and self-esteem in children and adolescents. Such a connection was discovered in some studied age groups. The obtained results could serve as a basis for further studies in this field.     

Synthesis and SAR of diazepine and thiazepine TACE and MMP inhibitors

Potent and selective TACE and MMP inhibitors utilizing the diazepine and thiazepine ring systems were synthesized and evaluated for biological activity in in vitro and in vivo models of TNF-alpha release. Oral activity in the mouse LPS model of TNF-alpha release was seen. Efficacy in the mouse collagen induced arthritis model was achieved with diazepine 20.     

Neurosecretion and Salt and Water Balance in the Annelida and Crustacea

The possible role of the neurosecretory system in regulationof salt and water has been studied in the annelids and crustaceans.In the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, a brain factor influences'the salt and osmotic concentration of the blood and coelomicfluid. Removal of the brain results in the increase of waterinflux with a decrease in the salt and osmotic concentrationsof the body fluids. The decreases in salt and osmotic concentrationscan be prevented by the implantation of the brain or the injectionof brain homogenates. In the freshwater crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, a factor, presumablysecreted in the brain and released in the eyestalk, seems tomaintain the normal permeability of the body surfaces to water.Eyestalk removal, which eliminates the release site, resultsin the increased influx of water with a decrease in the saltconcentration of the blood. A brain factor also seems to beinvolved in maintaining the sodium and osmotic concentrationsof the blood. In the semi-terrestrial grapsid crab, Metopograpsus messor,the thoracic ganglion, under the control of an eyestalk element,secretes a factor involved in increasing the permeability ofthe body surfaces to water. The removal of the eyestalks, theimplantation of the thoracic ganglion, or the injection of extractsof thoracic ganglia, results in changes in the osmotic concentrationof the blood tending toward that of the medium. In all threespecies studied, the neuroendocrine factors seem to be involvedprimarily in the regulation of the permeability of the bodysurfaces to water.     

Ontogeny and phylogeny of endothermy and torpor in mammals and birds

Endothermic thermoregulation in small, altricial mammals and birds develops at about one third to half of adult size. The small size and consequently high heat loss in these young should result in more pronounced energetic challenges than in adults. Thus, employing torpor (a controlled reduction of metabolic rate and body temperature) during development would allow them to save energy. Although torpor during development in endotherms is likely to occur in many species, it has been documented in only a few. In small, altricial birds (4 orders) and marsupials (1 order), which are poikilothermic at hatching/birth, the development of competent endothermic thermoregulation during cold exposure appears to be concurrent with the capability to display torpor (i.e. poikilothermy is followed by heterothermy), supporting the view that torpor is phylogenetically old and likely plesiomorphic. In contrast, in small, altricial placental mammals (2 orders), poikilothermy at birth is followed first by a homeothermic phase after endothermic thermoregulation is established; the ability to employ torpor develops later (i.e. poikilothermy-homeothermy-heterothermy). This suggests that in placentals torpor is a derived trait that evolved secondarily after a homeothermic phase in certain taxa perhaps as a response to energetic challenges. As mammals and birds arose from different reptilian lineages, endothermy likely evolved separately in the two classes, and given that the developmental sequence of torpor differs between marsupials and placentals, torpor seems to have evolved at least thrice.     

Identification and composition of the tonsillar and anal enterococcal and streptococcal flora of dogs and cats

Enterococcus faecalis was the most frequently isolated enterococcal species from anal swabs and tonsils of dogs and cats, although in the anal samples from dogs Ent. hirae was found almost as often as Ent. faecalis. Most Ent.faecium strains from dog tonsils differed from those associated with humans and other animals in that they fermented sorbitol. Typical Ent. avium as well as atypical Ent. avium -like strains were seen in dogs, while the related species Ent. raffinosus was associated with cat tonsils. Enterococcus cecorum also occurred mainly in cats. Certain atypical strains, presumptively identified as Ent. cecorum , shared characteristics with Ent. columbae.
The most frequent streptococcal species in tonsils of cats and dogs were Streptococcus suis and Strep. canis. Streptococcus canis and Strep. bovis predominated in anal swabs. The canine Strep. suis differed from the common porcine strains in fermenting mannitol.
Forty-seven of the 288 isolates examined could not be identified or related to known species. The characteristics of two groups of these bacteria, provisionally called 'Ton 31 group' and 'O7 group' are described.     

Hip Circumference and Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in Men and Women

Objective: It has recently been demonstrated that, in middle‐aged women, a wide hip circumference is a protective factor for a number of health endpoints in later years. The effect seems to be independent of both overweight and waist circumference. This paper aims to replicate this finding in another population‐based sample consisting of women and men. Research Methods and Procedures: This was a prospective observational study consisting of a random subset of adult Danes. A total of 2987 subjects born in 1922, 1932, 1942, or 1952 and 35, 45, 55, or 65 years of age (at examination in 1987 to 1988) participated in the Danish MONICA (MONItoring trends and determinants of CArdiovascular disease) project, with measurements of height, weight, and hip and waist circumference taken. Through personal identification numbers, incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) until the end of 1998 and all causes of death until 2001 were retrieved from the National Registers of Hospital Discharge. There was an average of 10 years of follow‐up for incidence of CVD and CHD and 13 years of follow‐up for total mortality. Results: Large hip circumference, relative to body size and waist circumference, predicted less incidence of CVD, CHD, and total death in women. This was not the case in men; BMI and waist circumference were the strongest independent predictors. Discussion: A large hip circumference seems to have independent and positive effects on CVD and CHD morbidity and mortality in women, but no protective effect on cardiovascular health in men. However, a borderline significant protective effect on total mortality was observed.     

Sociality and oxytocin and vasopressin in the brain of male and female dominant and subordinate mandarin voles

The dominant–subordinate hierarchy in animals often needs to be established via agonistic encounters and consequently affects reproduction and survival. Differences in brain neuropeptides and sociality among dominant and subordinate males and females remain poorly understood. Here we explore neuropeptide levels and sociality during agonistic encounter tests in mandarin voles. We found that dominant mandarin voles engaged in higher levels of approaching, investigating, self-grooming and exploring behavior than subordinates. Dominant males habituated better to a stimulus vole than dominant females. Dominant males displayed significantly less oxytocin-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nuclei and more vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nuclei, supraoptic nuclei, and the lateral and anterior hypothalamus than subordinates. Dominant females displayed significantly more vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and anterior hypothalamus than subordinates. Sex differences were found in the level of oxytocin and vasopressin. These results indicate that distinct parameters related to central nervous oxytocin and vasopressin are associated with behaviors during agonistic encounters in a sex-specific manner in mandarin voles.     

Maternal and fetal cadmium and selenium status in normotensive and hypertensive pregnancy

Cadmium and selenium concentrations in maternal and umbilical cord blood and amniotic fluid were determined in 37 normotensive and 23 hypertensive women during the last trimester of pregnancy in relation to their smoking status. Thiocyanate concentration in plasma was used as the index of smoking status. Cadmium and selenium were determined with atomic absorption spectrometry (graphite furnace and mercury hydride system). In the group of normotensive and hypertensive women, significantly higher cadmium and lower selenium concentrations in blood in smokers were observed than in nonsmokers. Umbilical cord blood selenium concentrations in both normotensive and hypertensive smokers were significantly lower than in nonsmokers as well. In the group of normotensive women, significant differences in selenium concentrations in amniotic fluid were observed between smokers and nonsmokers. In conclusion, the results of this study show that hypertension in pregnant women smokers is related to significantly higher blood cadmium concentrations, which indicates that cadmium may be considered as an independent factor involved in hypertension.     

姜黄色素及其提制方法

来源于姜科姜黄属植物姜黄根茎的姜黄是国内外食品行业允许使用的重要天然色素之一,具有重要的开发利用价值。姜黄素的主要提取方法可分为有机溶剂提取法和水提取法;精制方法主要包括专一性溶剂法、酸碱法、酶水解法和柱层析法等。文中对各种方法进行了简要介绍和评述。     

Prostaglandins and the myometrium and cervix

Prostaglandins have long been thought to play important roles in the mechanism of parturition. Here we review the involvement of prostaglandins in myometrial and cervical functions with emphasis on human labor and birth. In addition, the cellular sources of prostaglandins as well as their interactions with various other endocrine, paracrine and physical factors, such as oxytocin, corticotropin releasing hormone, nitric oxide, platelet activating factor, cytokines, endothelin and stretch are also addressed together with their potential role in the molecular reorganization of cervical structure associated with labor and delivery. Finally, the premier role of progesterone in pregnancy maintenance and parturition is juxtaposed with the proposed "fine-tuning", modulatory role of prostaglandins and the above listed factors in the regulation of parturition.     

Attack and defense in laboratory and wild Norway and black rats

Intra- and interspecific agonistic encounters in Long-Evans and field-trapped Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus showed a consistency in the form and character of attack and defensive behaviors. Colony alpha males exhibited high levels of lateral attack, on-top, and chasing behaviors which resulted in a high percentage of bites on the intruder's back. Bites directed to the back were countered by intruders through the utilization of boxing, on-back, and flight defense. These findings indicate that agonistic interactions in Rattus are underlined by back-attack and back-defense strategies. A sex difference in biting was also consistent across strains: males bit the back and flanks and females the head of an anesthetized stranger which suggest differences in the motivation of male and female attack.     

Content and synthesis of glycolytic enzymes and creatine kinase in skeletal muscles and normal and dystrophic chickens

A number of workers have reported that avian muscular dystrophy causes alterations in the levels of certain enzyme activities in "fast-twitch" muscle fibers but has little effect on enzyme activities in "slow-twitch" muscle fibers. In the present work, the effects of this disease on the content and relative rates of synthesis of a number of glycolytic enzymes and the skeletal muscle-specific MM isoenzyme of creatine kinase in chicken muscles was investigated. It was shown that (i) the approximate 50% reductions in steady-state concentrations of three glycolytic enzymes (aldolase, enolase, and glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase) in dystrophic breast (fast-twitch) muscle result predominantly from decreases in relative rates of synthesis, rather than accelerations in relative rates of degradation, of these proteins in the diseased tissue; (ii) in contrast to the situation with the glycolytic enzymes, muscular dystrophy has only minor effects (25% or less) on the content and relative rate of synthesis of MM creatine kinase in breast muscle fibers; (iii) the muscular dystrophy-associated alterations in content and synthesis of the glycolytic enzymes in breast muscle fibers become apparent only during postembryonic maturation of this tissue; and (iv) as expected, muscular dystrophy has no significant effect on the content or relative rates of synthesis of glycolytic enzymes in slow-twitch lateral adductor muscles of the chicken. These results are discussed in terms of the apparent similarities between the effects of muscular dystrophy and surgical denervation on the protein synthetic programs expressed by mature fast-twitch muscle fibers.     

Glucose and lactate turnover and gluconeogenesis in chronic metabolic acidosis and alkalosis in normal and diabetic dogs

The turnover rate of glucose, the irreversible disposal rate of lactate, and the rate of gluconeogenesis from lactate were calculated by tracer methods in four normal and four alloxan-diabetic dogs under control conditions as well as in chronic, stable metabolic acidosis and alkalosis. Acidosis was produced by feeding dogs 0.8-1 g.kg-1.day-1NH4Cl over 1 week, alkalosis was produced by feeding dogs a chloride-free diet and injections of furosemide. Mean plasma pH in the three states were 7.28 +/- 0.013, 7.40 +/- 0.024, and 7.51 +/- 0.015 in normal dogs, and 7.22 +/- 0.025, 7.42 +/- 0.009, and 7.49 +/- 0.002 in the diabetic dogs. Respective mean plasma bicarbonate levels were 14.6 +/- 0.88, 22.0 +/- 0.80, and 32.4 +/- 1.88 mequiv. in normal dogs, and 12.3 +/- 1.30, 22.6 +/- 0.66, and 35.0 +/- 1.14 mequiv. in diabetic animals. In normal dogs shifts in acid-base balance had no effect on the level of plasma glucose or the turnover rate of glucose. In diabetic dogs plasma glucose level was significantly elevated by alkalosis. Plasma lactate was positively correlated with plasma pH (r = 0.69, p less than 0.01) and was in general higher in diabetic than in normal animals. The increment in concentration was due to a decreased clearance of lactate from the plasma. The irreversible disposal rate was not changed by the acid-base status. Whereas a larger fraction of lactate removed from the plasma appeared in glucose in diabetic animals, this fraction was not changed significantly by shifts in the acid-base status.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Met- and leu-enkephalin immuno- and bio-reactivity in human stomach and pancreas

Acid extracts of human pancreas and gastric corpus and antral mucosa and muscularis were investigated for the presence of met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin by radioimmunoassay, Sephadex chromatography and radioreceptor assay. As the assays for leu-enkephalin crossreacted with those for met-enkephalin, only cyanogen bromide-treated samples were used for the determination of leu-enkephalin. Met-enkephalin immunoreactivity was destroyed by more than 94% when treated with cyanogen bromide. Serial extract dilutions displaced ¹²⁵ I labelled met-enkephalin and ¹²⁵ I leu-enkephalin in the respective enkephalin radioimmunoassay both roughly parallel to the standard curves. Sephadex chromatography of the extracts resulted in elution of met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin immunoreactivity similar to the size of ³H-met-enkephalin, and these eluates displaced ³H-met-enkephalin from rat brain membranes in an opioid radioreceptor assay. The highest concentration of met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin immunoreactivity in tissue obtained at surgery was in the mucosa of the body of the stomach. Met- and leu-enkephalin receptor bioreactivity concentrations exceeded immunoreactivity concentrations. These investigations provide evidence of the presence of met-enkephalin- and leu-enkephalin-like substances in human stomach and pancreas.     

The Numbers and Proportions of Testacea and Ciliates in Litters and Soils

SYNOPSIS. The numbers and kinds of testacea and ciliates were studied in the litters and soils of 23 sites, from temperate and subtropical coniferous and deciduous forests, and grasslands. In coniferous forests, testacea were 10 times or more abundant than ciliates, and numbered 10,000–24,000/g (wet weight) in litters and up to 8,000/g in soils. Ciliates numbered up to 1,500/g, but averaged less than 600/g in litters and less than 300/g in soils. Under deciduous vegetation, ciliates approached, equaled, or exceeded testacea, and numbered 1,000–5,000/g in litters, while remaining about the same in soils. Temperature and soil influence vegetation types, and their rates of litter decay affect the protozoa. Moisture favors numerical dominance of certain species. Among testacea, several species dominate in a particular habitat; among ciliates, the genus Colpoda dominates in almost all litter and soil habitats.     

Selenium and Cadmium Levels and Ratios in Prostates,Livers, and Kidneys of Nonsmokers and Smokers

Cadmium (Cd) from cigarette smoke, environmental, and nutritional sources accumulates in the human prostate where it interacts with selenium (Se) in a manner suggesting the formation of a 1:1 Cd–Se–protein complex. At low Cd exposures and adequate Se status, this interaction may be beneficial as it results in the detoxification of Cd. At higher exposures, Cd may weaken or abolish the anticarcinogenic effects of Se and increase prostate cancer risk. In some older men and especially in smokers, Cd levels in prostates reach levels in stoichiometric excess over Se, which may be the reason why heavy smokers are at higher risk of developing lethal forms of prostate cancer. In the liver and the kidneys, Cd accumulates as well, but in these organs, Cd is efficiently sequestered through metallothionein formation. In the prostate, this mode of detoxification is not available or less efficient, causing Cd to interact with Se and to increase prostate cancer risk.