Changes in the activity and subcellular distribution of cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinases with retinoic-acid-induced differentiation of embryonal carcinoma cells

We investigated changes in the activity and subcellular distribution of cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinases (cAMP-PKs) in response to treatment with retinoic acid in three different embryonal carcinoma cell lines derived from the same teratoma 6050. After retinoic-acid treatment, F9 and PCC4 cells gave rise to parietal-like endoderm, while PC13 cells differentiated into visceral endoderm. Retinoid treatment of F9 and PCC4 cells caused an increase in cAMP-PK activity as measured by histone phosphorylation, as well as increases in the amount of the RI and RII regulatory subunits of the cAMP-PKs, as quantitated by photoaffinity labeling with 8-azido-cyclic-32P-AMP, in both the soluble and plasma-membrane fractions. The increases in membrane cAMP-PK activity and RI and RII levels reached their maximum within 18 h of retinoid treatment, and then dropped to intermediate levels after 3 days of treatment. The cytosolic activity and the levels of the regulatory subunits exhibited a progressive increase during the 3 days of exposure to retinoic acid. The relative RI/RII ratios in the cytosol and membrane fractions of the treated cells were comparable to those found in established PYS-2 parietal-endoderm cells. PC13 stem cells had high levels of cAMP-PK activity and cAMP binding to the regulatory subunits in both the cytosol and plasma membranes, while also exhibiting very low levels of type-II cAMP-PK. Retinoid treatment induced a progressive increase in cAMP-PK activity in the cytosol, and a decrease in activity at the membrane level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Trisomy 14 in spontaneous abortus

Summary Chromosome analysis of the amnion from a spontaneous abortus revealed a 47,XX,D+karyotype. Giemsa banding pattern technique identified the extra chromosome as a No. 14.

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Zusammenfassung Die Chromosomenanalyse der Amnionzellen eines Spontanaborts zeigte einen Karyotyp 47,XX,D+. Mit der Giemsamusterfärbung wurde das Extrachromosom als Nr. 14 identifiziert.

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This study was supported by the Ford Foundation Population Program, Grant No. 640-0411B and by the World Health Organisation.     

Analysis of bacterial polyhydroxybutyrate production by multimodal nanoimaging

In this paper, we will employ two microscopy techniques, transmission electron microscopy and infrared nanospectromicroscopy, to study the production of polyhydroxybutyrate in Rhodobacter capsulatus and to evaluate the influence of glucose and acetone on the production yield. The results overlap which leads us to a consistent conclusion, highlighting that each technique brings specific and complementary information. By using electron microscopy and infrared nanospectromicroscopy we have proved that both glucose and acetone had a positive effect on the biopolymer production, although the first study done by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy only identified the effect of acetone. In conclusion, we have now established a method to be able to perform fast diagnostic for PHB production.     

In vitro responses in Passiflora species with different chromosome numbers,ploidy levels and nuclear 2C values: revisiting and providing new insights

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - Tissue culture in Passiflora has emerged as a strategy to propagate species with agronomic relevance, which is the main focus of most in vitro...     

Camillo Golgi and the discovery of the Golgi apparatus

 Camillo Golgi (1843–1926) was born at Corteno, near Brescia, in northern Italy. After graduating in Medicine at the ancient University of Pavia, the former seat of great scientists and naturalists, Golgi continued a long-standing Italian tradition by studying the histology of the nervous system. While working as a modest physician at Abbiategrasso, a small town near Pavia, he developed a silver–osmium technique, the ”reazione nera” (black reaction), for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906. In the late 1890’s, 25 years after the publication of his black reaction and while Professor of General Pathology in Pavia, Golgi noticed a fine internal network in only partially silver-osmium-blackened Purkinje cells. Following confirmation by his assistant Emilio Veratti, Golgi published the discovery, called the ”apparato reticolare interno”, in the Bollettino della Società medico-chirurgica di Pavia in 1898, which is now considered the birthday of the ”Golgi apparatus”. The discovery of the Golgi apparatus can be added to the long list of accidental discoveries. The man after whom it is named was not a cytologist engaged in studying the inner structure of the cell, but a pathologist searching to prove a neuroanatomical theory. Accepted: 24 October 1997