THE ACTION OF EXCESS OF VITAMIN A ALCOHOL ON THE FINE STRUCTURE OF RAT DERMAL FIBROBLASTS

Rat dermal fibroblasts were grown as monolayers, and changes in the fine structure of the cells that occurred during 12 hr incubation in a medium containing protein and excess of retinol (vitamin A alcohol) were studied by electron microscopy. There is little change during the first 6 hr, although some of the nuclei have highly convoluted membranes. During the subsequent 3 hr, there is some disorganization of the mitochondrial cristae; the cisternae of the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum diminish in number; and the amount of smooth membranous material and free ribosomes increases. There is a rapid decline in the respiratory activity of the cells after 6 hr exposure to the vitamin. It is concluded that the primary action of excess of retinol is to cause alterations in the membranes of the cells and that these alterations affect the functions of the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum.     

STUDIES ON ENZYME ACTION : XIX. THE SUCROLYTIC ACTIONS OF BANANAS.

A number of different methods of treatment of unripe and ripe bananas for the purpose of obtaining and studying sucrolytic and amylolytic enzymes are described. No conclusive evidence of the presence of an amlyase could be obtained in any of the preparations. The sucrase of unripe and ripe bananas was studied more extensively. With ripe bananas, both soluble and insoluble sucrase preparations were obtained. Conditions for converting the soluble into an insoluble form were found. The actions of the sucrase preparations as far as the hydrogen ion concentration for maximum action and the time-action relation are concerned are similar to the behavior of the yeast and the potato sucrase.     

STUDIES ON ENZYME ACTION : XXXVIII. THE ESTER-HYDROLYZING ACTIONS OF THE WHOLE EEL.

The hydrolyzing actions of various preparations of the adult eel were studied on ten esters in the usual way. The results are presented in the form of curves for the relative actions and in a table for the absolute actions obtained in one complete experiment. The separation of the enzyme material in some cases into an active portion and a co-enzyme, the mixture showing greater actions on some esters than the sums of the individual actions, is described and discussed.     

COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON RESPIRATION : XXV. THE ACTION OF CHLOROFORM ON THE OXIDATION OF SOME ORGANIC ACIDS.

1. Organic acids when treated with H₂O₂ and Fe₂(SO₄)₃ produce CO₂ at a rate that can be measured by the indicator method. 2. In the case of acids containing a double bond, the rate of production of CO₂ can be varied by the addition of an anesthetic. The changes in the rate of production of CO₂ under the influence of a typical anesthetic, such as chloroform, show a striking resemblance to the reaction of the organism.     

STUDIES ON PERMEABILITY OF MEMBRANES : VII. CONDUCTIVITY OF ELECTROLYTES WITHIN THE MEMBRANE.

Two methods of measuring the electrical conductivity of the dried collodion membrane in contact with an electrolyte solution are described and the results of such measurements with different electrolytes in different ranges of concentration recorded. Some of the difficulties encountered in making these measurements are outlined. Of special interest was the fact that each membrane with each electrolyte showed a maximum level of resistance at a certain point in the dilution scale, a level which was not surpassed by further dilution. It is believed that this level was fixed by the collodion itself rather than by the contiguous electrolyte solution. Its existence limited the results available for reasonable interpretation. In relatively concentrated solutions the conductivity was shown to be approximately proportional to the concentration. With different electrolytes in the same concentration it was shown that the conductivities varied much more than in simple solutions without a membrane and that they fell in the order HCl > KCl > NaCl > LiCl. A method was described whereby the electrolyte content of a membrane in contact with different chloride solutions could be determined. It was shown that a membrane saturated with either 0.5 N HCl or 0.5 N KCl had practically the same total electrolyte content whereas the same membrane in contact with 0.5 N LiCl contained only half the quantity. These results were used in interpreting the conductivity data, the evidence presented strongly suggesting that two factors are operative in causing the widely divergent conductivities recorded with different electrolytes. The first factor depended on the quantity of electrolyte which can enter the membrane pores, a quantity dependent on the size of the pores and the volume of the larger of the two hydrated ions of the electrolyte. This factor was the chief one in determining the difference in conductivity between KCl and LiCl. The second factor was concerned with differences in the mobility of the various cations within the membrane brought about by friction between the moving ions and the pore walls. With KCl and HCl the quantity of electrolytes entering the membrane was in each case the same, being determined by the size of the larger Cl^- ion. The widely different conductivity values were explained as due to the changes in the mobility of the two cations within the membrane pores.     

STUDIES ON ENZYME ACTION : XVIII. THE SACCHAROGENIC ACTIONS OF POTATO JUICE.

The saccharogenic enzymes present in potato juice were studied. The actions were followed upon the substances present in the juice and upon added sucrose, maltose, and soluble starch. Sucrase and amylase were found to be present in the juice. No indication of a maltase was obtained. The sucrase showed optimum conditions for action at pH 4 to 5, the amylase at pH 6 to 7, both upon the starch present in the juice and upon added soluble starch. The action of a yeast sucrase preparation upon the juice showed the presence of sucrose (or raffinose) in a concentration of the order of magnitude of 1 per cent.     

鸟类核型研究Ⅶ.雉科10种鸟类

本文报道了雉科10种鸟的核型,并依据核型的DNA比较数据提出了对雉科中亚科分类的新观点。     

STUDIES ON PLANT GROWTH-REGULATING SUBSTANCES XI. AUXIN ANTAGONISM IN RELATION TO A THEORY ON MODE OF ACTION OF ARYL- AND ARYLOXY-ALKANECARBOXYLIC ACIDS

A study has been made of the antagonistic effects of a range of phenoxy and other acids on the growth-promoting activity of a number of auxins as assessed by the Avena cylinder and pea curvature tests. The compounds examined as inhibitors were selected on a logical basis, these molecules not possessing the structural requirements considered necessary for growth-regulating activity, yet possessing groupings which might allow them to accumulate at a site of action from which the growth response by auxins might be initiated. Our previous demonstrations that inactive stereoisomers of x-aryloxy propionic acids can competitively inhibit the activity of their active enantiomorph has been confirmed and a similar antagonism has been found to operate with other inactive aryloxy acids. Such competitive antagonism is discussed in relation to a 'three-point' contact theory on mode of action.     

STUDIES ON THE OXIDATIVE METABOLISM OF SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE : I. Observations on the Fine Structure of the Yeast Cell

Vegetative cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were fixed with potassium permanganate followed by uranyl nitrate, embedded in methacrylate, and studied in electron micrographs of thin sections. Details of the structure of the cell wall, cytoplasmic membrane, nucleus, vacuole, and mitochondria are described. Cell membranes, about 70 to 80 A thick, have been resolved into two dense layers, 20 to 25 A thick, separated by a light layer of the same dimensions, which correspond in thickness and appearance to the components of the "unit membrane" as described by Robertson (15). The cell wall is made up of zones of different electron opacity. Underlying the cell wall is the cytoplasmic membrane, a sinuous structure with numerous invaginations. The nucleoplasm, often of uneven electron opacity, is enclosed in a pair of unit membranes in which nuclear pores are apparent. The vacuole, limited by a single unit membrane, is usually irregular in outline and contains some dense material. Rod-shaped mitochondria, 0.4 to 0.6 µ in length and 0.2 to 0.3 µ in diameter, are smaller in size, but similar in structure to some of those described in plant and animal cells. Attempts to use osmium tetroxide as fixative were unsuccessful, a result similar to that obtained by other workers. It is suggested that yeast cells are impermeable to osmium tetroxide, except when grown under specific conditions.     

东亚飞蝗生殖的研究:抱持动作在生理上的效应

本试验系将五龄雄蝗蝻的外生殖器器官芽摘除, 经手术后雄蝻照常羽化, 性成熟后, 并能抱持雌蝗, 但缺少交配动作。正常雌蝗经去外生殖器的雄蝗抱持后, 其产卵前期缩短(与孤雌生殖的比较);卵的孵化率也比孤雌生殖的高, 但不及正常交配的那样。孵出后代全是雌性, 产卵量也不低。去外生殖器的雄蝗寿命较长。由试验结果认为仅有雄蝗的抱持动作, 借雄蝗的机械刺激或化学刺激, 就足以致使雌蝗内分泌中心活化, 因此产出激素来促进卵巢发育, 正常产卵。     

STUDIES ON SALT ACTION : X. THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTROLYTES UPON THE VIABILITY AND ELECTROPHORETIC MIGRATION OF BACTERIUM COLI.

1. The strain of Bacterium coli used in these experiments multiplies in distilled water at pH 6.0 and pH 8.0 and in Ringer-Locke solution at pH 6.0. Under all the other conditions studied the numbers decrease with the passage of time. 2. The electrophoretic charge of the cells is highest in distilled water at pH 6.0 and pH 8.0. Under all other conditions studied the velocity of migration is decreased, but the decrease is immediate and is not affected by more prolonged exposure. 3. A strongly acid solution (pH 2.0) causes a rapid death of the cells and a sharp decrease in electrophoretic charge, sometimes leading to complete reversal. 4. A strongly alkaline solution (pH 11.0) is almost as toxic as a strongly acid one, although in distilled water the organisms survive fairly well at this reaction. Electrophoretic charge, on the other hand, is only slightly reduced in such an alkaline medium. 5. In distilled water, reactions near the neutral point are about equally favorable to both viability and electrophoretic charge, pH 8.0 showing slightly greater multiplication and a slightly higher charge than pH 11.0. In the presence of salts, however, pH 8.0 is much less favorable to viability and somewhat more favorable to electrophoretic charge than is pH 6.0. 6. Sodium chloride solutions, in the concentrations studied, all proved somewhat toxic and all tended to depress electrophoretic charge. Very marked toxicity was, however, exhibited only in a concentration of .725 M strength or over and at pH 8.0, while electrophoretic migration velocity was only slightly decreased at a concentration of .0145 M strength. 7. Calcium chloride was more toxic than NaCl, showing very marked effects in .145 M strength at pH 8.0 and in 1.45 M strength at pH 6.0. It greatly depressed electrophoretic charge even in .0145 M concentration. 8. Ringer-Locke solution proved markedly stimulating to the growth of the bacteria at pH 6.0 while at pH 8.0 it was somewhat toxic, though less so than the solutions of pure salts. It depressed migration velocity at all pH values, being more effective than NaCl in this respect, but less effective than CaCl₂. 9. It would appear from these experiments that a balanced salt solution (Ringer-Locke''s) may be distinctly favorable to bacterial viability in water at an optimum reaction while distinctly unfavorable in a slightly more alkaline solution. 10. Finally, while there is a certain parallelism between the influence of electrolytes upon viability and upon electrophoretic charge, the parallelism is not a close one and the two effects seem on the whole to follow entirely different laws.     

STUDIES ON ENZYME ACTION : XXXIII. LIPASE ACTIONS OF EXTRACTS OF THE WHOLE RAT AT DIFFERENT AGES.

The ester-hydrolyzing or lipase actions of extracts of whole rats whose ages ranged from 3 days before birth to 3 years 15 days were tested on ten simple esters by the method described in previous papers. The results are presented in the form of curves, both as absolute actions and as relative actions on the different substrates. The "pictures" of the relative actions changed progressively with increasing age of the rat. For the embryo and the youngest rats, the curves approached those given by the Flexner-Jobling rat carcinoma and by a number of tumors of human origin, changing to a type characteristic of the adult rat, and appearing to revert again to some extent to the embryonic type for the oldest rats. The changes in the actions on individual esters and the relative changes in the actions on different esters are discussed in detail. The greatest increases in actions as the rats became older were found with methyl and ethyl butyrates; at the same time that the actions on some of the other esters were also found to change in characteristic ways. Similar experiments with the protease actions of the extracts of whole rats of different ages on three protein preparations did not give differences similar to those found for the lipase actions. The probable reasons for these observed differences in the two sets of enzyme actions are discussed.     

UNDERSTANDING THE MODE OF ACTION OF L-NUCLEOSIDES AS ANTIVIRAL AGENTS: A MOLECULAR MODELING APPROACH

Computer modeling studies have been performed on the several pairs of D- and L-nucleoside inhibitors with the HIV-1 RT model. Additionally, clinically important M184V mutation, which confers the viral resistance against 3TC and FTC, were studied by the same modeling system.