Combined action of lead and lithium on essential and nonessential elements in rat blood

The effects of lead and lithium ingestion, separately and in combination, on the levels of K, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, and As in rat blood were studied by the Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence technique. Two different doses of lead acetate, i.e., 50 and 100 mg/Kg body wt (low and high doses), were administered orally to rats, daily, for 1 and 4 months (short and long terms), whereas lithium in the form of lithium carbonate was given to rats in food (1.1 g/kg diet) for 1 and 4 mo separately, and also to rats receiving lower and higher doses of lead. K levels were found to be depressed significantly with lead treatment, whereas Fe contents were enhanced marginally after 1 mo of treatment when only the higher dose of lead was given. As, Br, and Rb contents were found to be elevated following lead treatment for short and long terms at both the dose levels. However, Cu contents were lowered, whereas Zn contents were raised only after long term treatment with lead. The Fe, Cu, As, and Br contents remained unaltered, whereas K, Rb, and Zn contents were reduced significantly when lithium was administered for short term. Moreover, Cu and Fe levels were also found to be reduced and Br contents were enhanced only after long term treatment. During the combined treatment with lead and lithium for short and long terms, the levels of K, As, and Rb were observed to decrease, whereas Fe contents were enhanced when estimated for both doses of lead. On the contrary, Cu levels were lowered only with the higher dose of lead acetate when given in combination with lithium for 1 and 4 mo. Br contents were only effectively decreased after 4 mo of treatment.     

Primary cultures of human caudate nucleus

It is possible to grow functional primary dissociated cultures and explants from stereotactic biopsies of human parkinsonian caudate nuclei. Two major classes of cells were identified on morphological grounds. The culture cells appear to be stimulated by an unidentified soluble factor(s) obtained from human fetal neuronal cells in vitro. Culture of primary neuronal and glial cells from human adult cerebral nuclei seems to be a useful tool for several research purposes and in particular for studying both trophic factor action and target effects on afferent neurons for prospective human brain grafting.     

Spatial organization of the caudate nucleus in dogs

The dog caudate nucleus was studied by the Nissl, Kluver-Barrera, and Golgi methods in the usual planes of section. A complex spatial organization of the caudate nucleus was established. Radial bundles of fibers form fibrous layers through which run blood vessels and in which large neurons (long-axon reticular and large short-axon smooth-dendritic) and also two types of small cells are located. In the mesh of the fibrous layers barrel-shaped concentrations of small (17.5 µm, about 2–4%, small short-axon smooth-dendritic) and medium-sized (25 µm, about 96–98%, long-axon densely branching spinous) cells can be observed. These concentrations have the appearance of two or three layers of elongated "barrels," their axis perpendicular to the surface of the internal capsule. The stria periventricularis of the caudate nucleus and certain others of its regions are less differentiated.     

Efferent connections of the caudate nucleus in cats

Structural and ultrastructural changes in the frontal areas of the cortex and in the region of the globus pallidus were investigated after local and extensive destruction of the caudate nucleus. It was shown by the Fink-Heimer method that after local injury to the caudate nucleus by means of electrodes implanted 2–16 months before electrolytic destruction, only a few degenerating fibers of medium and thin caliber were present. Extensive destruction of the caudate nucleus (without preimplantation of electrodes) was followed by massive degeneration of fibers of different caliber in the frontal area of the cortex. After local injury to the caudate nucleus numerous thin degenerating axons 0.5–0.6 µ in diameter and degenerating terminals were found in the region of the globus pallidus. Degenerative changes in the axo-dendritic and axo-somatic terminals followed the "dark" type of course. It is concluded that no considerable direct projections of neurons of the caudate nucleus are present in the cortex. Degenerating fibers of average caliber in frontal areas of the cortex after destruction of the caudate nucleus are evidently axons of thalamic neurons and not from cells of the damaged nucleus.A. A. Bogomol'ets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 165–171, March–April, 1975.     

The subcellular fractionation of the bovine caudate nucleus

Two synaptosomal fractions could be obtained from bovine caudate nucleus on sucrose density gradients one of which had a much greater capacity for high affinity choline uptake than the other but comparable amounts of CAT and choline kinase activity. Specific binding of QNB was widely distributed among all the subcellular fractions except the mitochondrial fraction and in quantitative terms by far the greatest amount was in the microsomal fraction. Only the microsomal fraction contained measurable amounts of glycerophosphocholine phosphodiesterase.This paper is dedicated to Dr. Derek Richter on his seventy-fifth birthday.     

Effects of neurotensin on caudate nucleus protein phosphorylation.

The tridecapeptide, neurotensin (NT), is heterogenously distributed in the mammalian central nervous system and exhibits many neurotransmitter-like characteristics. However, the molecular mechanisms of NT signal transduction remain obscure. In this report, we demonstrate NT-induced stimulation of specific protein substrate phosphorylation in the rat caudate nucleus. Rat caudate nucleus was dissected, a P2 fraction prepared and proteins phosphorylated in vitro with [32P]ATP for 1 min. Phosphorylated proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and autoradiograms prepared. NT preincubation in the absence of calcium resulted in markedly increased phosphorylation in vitro of proteins with apparent molecular weights of 80,000 and 50,000. These effects were not observed if calcium was present during the NT preincubation period. Both calcium and cAMP enhanced phosphorylation of the 80 kDa protein, but phosphorylation of the 50 kDa protein was responsive only to calcium.