Responses of the genital system and the urinogenital papilla of the female catfish,Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) to sex hormones

Summary Intraperitoneal injections of diethylstilbestrol and testosterone propionate into the catfish,Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) elicited pronounced changes in the female reproductive system and the urinogenital papilla. Considerable gonadal and oviducal hypotrophy occurred in the hormone recipients. Marked histological alterations were also encountered in the genital system of the experimental females. Another interesting response was the inhibition of the urinogenital papilla of the treated fishes. It is suggested that the changes in the ovary and the oviduct were induced by the sex hormones throught the inhibition of the gonadotrophic activity of the anterior hypophysis. The changes in the urinogenital papilla proved that this structure in the female catfish is a true secondary sexual character and is under the estrogenic control of the ovary.

---

Zusammenfassung Intraperitoneale Injektionen von Diäthylstilböstrol und von Testosteronpropionat haben bei Heteropneustes fossilis ausgesprochene Veränderungen an den weiblichen Geschlechtsorganen und an der Urogenitalpapille zur Folge. Bei den Hormonempfängern kommt es zu einer beträchtlichen Hypotrophie der Keimdrüse wie des Ovidukts. Im Genitalsystem der Versuchstiere sind auch deutliche histologische Veränderungen nachzuweisen. Eine bemerkenswerte Folgeerscheinung ist die Hemmung der Urogenitalpapille der behandelten Fische. Es ist anzunehmen, daß die Veränderungen im Eierstock und im Eileiter durch die Geschlechtshormone über eine Hemmung der gonadotropen Aktivität der Hypophyse veranlaßt werden. Die Veränderungen an der Urogenitalpapille beweisen, daß dieses Organ beim weiblichen Heteropneustes den Charakter eines wahren sekundären Geschlechtsmerkmales besitzt und unter der östrogenen Kontrolle des Eierstocks steht.

     

A novel technique for determining half life of alpha amylase enzyme during liquefaction of starch

Summary The half-life of alpha amylase has been determined in consideration with the stabilizing effect of starch (30% w/v). Initially, enzyme of known activity was taken. During starch liquefaction, the residual activity of enzyme was estimated interms of its’ reducing power.     

Antimicrobial potentiality of a new non-antibiotic: the cardiovascular drug oxyfedrine hydrochloride

Ten cardiovascular drugs, having diverse pharmacological action, were screened for possible antimicrobial property against known eight sensitive bacteria, belonging to Gram positive and Gram negative types. Although five drugs failed to show antimicrobial activity and three had moderate antimicrobial action, oxyfedrine HCl and dobutamine were seen to possess pronounced antimicrobial property. Oxyfedrine was further tested in vitro against 471 strains of bacteria from two Gram positive and fourteen Gram negative genera. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oxyfedrine was determined by agar dilution method, which ranged from 50-200 microg/ml in most of the strains, while some strains were inhibited at even lower concentrations. In animal experiments, this compound was capable of offering significant protection to Swiss strain of white mice, challenged with 50 median lethal dose (MLD) of a virulent strain of Salmonella typhimurium at concentrations of 15, 30 and 60 microg/mouse. The in vivo results were highly significant according to chi-square test.     

Designing and Testing of Novel Taxanes to Probe the Highly Complex Mechanisms by Which Taxanes Bind to Microtubules and Cause Cytotoxicity to Cancer Cells

Our previous work identified an intermediate binding site for taxanes in the microtubule nanopore. The goal of this study was to test derivatives of paclitaxel designed to bind to this intermediate site differentially depending on the isotype of β-tubulin. Since β-tubulin isotypes have tissue-dependent expression—specifically, the βIII isotype is very abundant in aggressive tumors and much less common in normal tissues—this is expected to lead to tubulin targeted drugs that are more efficacious and have less side effects. Seven derivatives of paclitaxel were designed and four of these were amenable for synthesis in sufficient purity and yield for further testing in breast cancer model cell lines. None of the derivatives studied were superior to currently used taxanes, however computer simulations provided insights into the activity of the derivatives. Our results suggest that neither binding to the intermediate binding site nor the final binding site is sufficient to explain the activities of the derivative taxanes studied. These findings highlight the need to iteratively improve on the design of taxanes based on their activity in model systems. Knowledge gained on the ability of the engineered drugs to bind to targets and bring about activity in a predictable manner is a step towards personalizing therapies.     

Pongaglabol,a new hydroxyfuranoflavone,and aurantiamide acetate,a dipeptide from the flowers of Pongamia glabra

Pongaglabol, a new hydroxyfuranoflavone, and aurantiamide acetate, a rarely occurring modified phenylalanine dipeptide, have been isolated together with 4 furanoflavones, karanjin, lancheolatin B, kanjone and pinnatin, a simple flavone, kanugin, a chromenoflavanone (?)-isolonchocarpin, two furanodiketones pongamol and ovalitenone, and β-sitosterol from the petrol and chloroform extracts of the flowers of Pongamia glabra. The structure of pongaglabol has been established as 5-hydroxyfurano(8,7-4″,5″)flavone on the basis of spectral and chemical evidence.     

Disruption of circulation by ethanol promotes fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryogenesis

Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos exposed to ethanol have developed craniofacial, cardiovascular and skeletal defects which can be compared with the phenotypic features of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) observed in human. The present experiment was designed to show that the disruption in circulation by ethanol during embryogenesis is a potential cause of FASD. Fertilized eggs were exposed to ethanol (0, 100 and/or 400 mM) for 24 or 48 h at various developmental stages (Iwamatsu stages 4-30) and were analyzed at 6 day post fertilization (dpf). It was observed that controls and the embryos exposed to 100 mM ethanol were in circulating state; however, a significant number of embryos of stages 4-24 exposed to 400 mM ethanol had disrupted circulation. Compared to controls, protein and RNA contents were significantly reduced in non-circulating embryos. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) analysis was made at 3, 6, 24, 48, 96 and 144 hour post fertilization (hpf). LPO was increased with the advancement of morphogenesis; however, ethanol or the circulation status had no effect. We further analyzed alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh 5 and adh8) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (Aldh9A and Aldh1A2) enzyme mRNAs in the embryos exposed to 400 mM ethanol for 24 h. A developmental stage-specific reduction in these enzyme mRNAs by ethanol was observed. We conclude that ethanol-induced disruption in circulation during embryogenesis is a potential cause of the development of FASD features in medaka.