Photoelectric signals from dried oriented purple membranes of Halobacterium halobium

In dried oriented samples of purple membrane isolated from Halobacterium halobium, the photoelectric activity decreases and the light adaptation vanishes when the water content of the sample is lowered. In the photocycle the first steps of the proton movement were accelerated with decreasing humidity, while the last steps of the photocycle could not be observed. From the analysis of the photoelectric signal we conclude that at low humidities the protons move forward in the L decay and return to their original place during M decay.     

Seraspenide (acetylSDKP): phase I-II trial study of inhibitor of hematopoiesis protects against toxicity of aracytine and ifosfamide monochemotherapies]

Seraspenide, a synthetic tetrapeptide, inhibits cell cycle entry of normal hematopoietic stem cells. In mice it protects hemopoiesis against the damage caused by cytarabine, cyclophosphamide and carboplatin. Seraspenide has been given to 53 cancer patients undergoing monochemotherapy with cytarabine and ifosfamide in a double-blind cross-over randomized study. A significant protection of peripheral blood cells has been observed. Seraspenide has been devoided of toxicity.     

Efferent projections of mesencephalic locomotor neurons in the cat

Efferent neuronal projections of the mesencephalic locomotor region were investigated in cats using a horseradish peroxidase retrograde axonal transport technique. It was found that neurons located within the locomotor area form ascending and descending projections to many structures of the spinal cord and the brain but that short-axon connections running to the reticular formation of the midbrain and the medulla predominate. Small numbers of long-axon fibers may merge into the locomotor strips of the medulla and the spinal cord. The locomotor regions of the two halves of the midbrain are interlinked.A. A. Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 117–125, January–February, 1986.     

Effect of alkylresorcin on biological membranes during activation of lipid peroxidation

The effect of alkyl resorcin isolated from the cells of Azotobacter chroococcum and of its structural analog devoid of the alkyl chain (resorcin) on liver microsomes and brain synaptosomes of the rat as well as on rabbit skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum fragments during activation of lipid peroxidation was studied. Alkyl resorcin was shown to produce a much more potent antioxidant effect as compared with resorcin, since it inhibited lipid peroxidation in all the three types of membranes under study at much lower concentrations. Both alkyl resorcin and resorcin which inhibit lipid peroxidation prevented lipid peroxidation-induced structural-functional damages of synaptosomal and sarcoplasmic reticulum fragment membranes. Unlike resorcin, alkyl resorcin exerted an additional effect on brain synaptosomal membranes which consisted in the stabilization of barrier functions of membranes during incomplete inhibition of lipid peroxidation. The cumulative data suggest that stabilization necessitates the presence of both resorcin radical and alkyl chain in the alkyl resorcin molecule.     

Characteristics of blastolysin preparations in their ability to inhibit hemagglutination caused by bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus

Anabol and blastolysin preparations obtained from L. bulgaricus may contain surface structural components of the initial strain with adhesion activity; of these, one is similar in specificity to L. casei adhesin and the other, to L. plantarum adhesin. The antigenic activity of anabol and blastolysin, evaluated in the immunodiffusion test, does not correlate with their capacity for binding the receptors of susceptible bacterial cells, determined in the Lactobacillus-induced hemagglutination inhibition test.     

Have the bloody cells gone to our heads?

Recent studies have shown that cells expressing neuronal antigens can be derived from a bone marrow transplant. A new report lends support to and extends these previous results by presenting compelling morphological evidence for the generation and integration of highly differentiated bone marrow-derived neurons.     

Ion-dependency of the GABA-potentiating effects of benzodiazepine tranquilizers and harmane

Experiments on an isolated spinal cord of 8-15-day-old rats have shown that one of the possible mechanisms of the GABA-potentiating action of the benzodiazepine tranquilizer, chlorodiazepoxide, may be a decrease in the intraneuronal concentration of Ca2+. This is evidenced by the enhancement of the GABA-potentiating action of chlorodiazepoxide under Ca2+ deficiency in the medium and in the presence of the blockers of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ ionic channels--Mn2+ and Co2+, and by the reduction of the effect in question under Ca2+ excess in the medium and in the presence of the K+ channels blockers--tetraethylammonium and 4-aminopyridine. The GABA-potentiating action of harmane is likely to be related to the blockade of the voltage-dependent K+ channels and elevation of the intracellular concentration of Ca2+.