Combined perfusion and percolation of embalmed animal bodies for removing formaldehyde

Excess formaldehyde was extracted from embalmed animal cadavers by vascular perfusion or combined perfusion and percolation with 20% ethanol. The perfusion was undertaken through a carotid artery and the percolation through the serous body cavities for 1-2 h. Nineteen goats were perfused once and one goat and three cows were perfused and percolated twice a day for 3 days. The extracted cadavers were stored in 20% ethanol or in a freezer at -20 degrees C. The mean value of the atmospheric concentration of formaldehyde after extraction was 0.27 +/- 0.05 mg/m3 for goats and 0.39 +/- 0.12 mg/m3 for cows.     

Immunoreactive material resembling ovine prolactin in perikarya and nerve terminals of the rat hypothalamus

Summary The presence of prolactin (PRL)-like material is demonstrated in the brain of rats with the aid of anti-ovine PRL (oPRL) IgG as primary antibody in the unlabeled antibody-enzyme method. Immunoreactive deposits are visualized as an intraneuronal constituent with a widespread distribution in the hypothalamus and neural lobe of the pituitary. Dense networks of reactive nerve terminals derived from two prominent fibre tracts, a ventral (VHT) and a dorsal hypothalamo-neurohypophysial tract (DHT) are seen. The VHT is confined to the median eminence and pars oralis tuberis, the DHT to the pars caudalis tuberis. Both fibre tracts pass through the infundibular stalk into the neural lobe. The origin of the immunoreactive nerve terminals can be elucidated only to some extent. The VHT gives off beaded fibres entering the ependymal and glandular layer of the median eminence. Immunoreactive perikarya are observed in the supraoptic nucleus, the paraventricular nucleus, the anterior hypothalamic nucleus, the anterior commissural nucleus, the preoptic nucleus and the interstitial nucleus of the stria terminalis. A few of the immunoreactive perikarya are observed in close connection with brain vessels and the ependymal cells of the third ventricle. The results indicate that the anti-oPRL has a unique region specificity implying that only a segment of the mammalian PRL molecule is present in these nuclei of the brain. Fragments of PRL may function as neuromodulators or neurotransmitters in the rat brain.We are indebted to Dr. Mogens Hammer, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen for the gift of Arg-VP and anti-VP, and to NIAMDD for the gift of ovine PRL, ratPRL, anti-rPRL, anti-hPRL and bovineSTH     

Photometric determination of glycogen in stained liver sections

Summary Sections of developing chicken liver stained for glycogen according to Best have been photometrically analysed. It is concluded that such photometric determinations may be performed with a high degree of reliability and reproducibility.There is a close direct proportionality between the optical density in Best-stained sections and the chemically determined concentration of bound glycogen.This study was supported in part by a grant from the Swedish Medical Research Council.     

The intranuclear movement of Balbiani ring premessenger ribonucleoprotein particles.

Specific premessenger ribonucleoprotein (pre-mRNP) particles, the Balbiani ring (BR) granules in the salivary glands of the dipteran Chironomus tentans, can be visualized in the electron microscope when they assemble on the genes, move through nucleoplasm, and bind to and translocate through the nuclear pores. As shown by BrUTP labeling and immunoelectron microscopy, newly synthesized BR RNP particles, released from the BR genes, appear early in all nucleoplasmic regions of the cell nucleus and they saturate the nucleoplasmic pool of BR particles after 2 h of labelling. It is concluded that within the nucleus the BR particles move randomly. Furthermore, estimates of minimum diffusion coefficients for the BR particles are compatible with the view that the particles diffuse freely in the interchromosomal space, although it is not excluded that the random movement could be slightly retarded. Once the particles get bound to the nuclear pore complexes, they seem committed to translocation through the nuclear pores.     

Demonstration of endocytosis vesicles by means of electron-microscopic histochemistry

Summary A phosphatase activity similar to that of the plasma membrane is demonstrated at the inside of the membrane, which delimits the lipid-containing lysosomes of chicken liver parenchymal cells. This is taken as a definite confirmation of their endocytotic origin.It should be possible to demonstrate endocytosis vesicles in other cells in this way. It is, however, pointed out, that cells with a weak plasma membrane activity may require particular attention to certain steps in the technical procedure.This study was supported in part by a grant from the Swedish Medical Research Council.     

Chromosomes and reproductive behaviour of Finnish Taraxacum agamospecies

Material consisting of 157 accessions of 69 Finnish Taraxacum agamospecies, representing 7 sections, was grown in an experimental field for comparison of certain botanical and nutritional characteristics. This paper gives the collecting data as well as cytological and reproductive characteristics of the material. The largest section Taraxacum (Vulgariu ) was represented by 60 agamospecies, 59 of them triploid (2n = 24) and one tetraploid (T. penicilliforme , 2n = 32). The tetraploid and 37 triploids were chromosome counted for the first time. The diploid sexual species T. obtusilobum from Sweden was included for comparison. Other sections consisted of 3 triploids and 6 tetraploids, 3 tetraploid species of the section Erythrosperma being chromosome counted for the first time. Seedlings with deviating numbers were occasionally found. A banding technique of the chromosomes was developed but it did not allow the exact identification of other than the satellite chromosomes. Species-specific features were found in the flowering phenology and in several pollen characteristics (stainability, mean and variability of the size). There were indications of genetic variation within certain agamospecies in pollen characteristics. Isolated and emasculated (mostly only isolated) flower heads gave mostly a full seed set, which indicates obligate, autonomous agamospermy. Lower seed sets of T. adami, T. dahlstedtii and T. hamatiforme in isolation may be a sign of facultative apomixis in these species, requiring further study.     

Proacaciberin,A cyanogenic glycoside from Acacia sieberiana var. Woodii

A new cyanogenic glycoside isolated from pods of Acacia sieberiana var. woodii has been shown by chemical and spectroscopic methods to be (2S)-2-[(6-O-α-l-arabinopyranosyl-β-d-glucopyranosyl)oxy]-3-methylbut-3-enenitrileo. Acid-catalysed hydrolysis of the glycoside afforded arabinose and proacacipetalin, and base-catalysed double-bond migration gave 2- [(6-O-α-l-arabinopyranosyl-β- d-glucopyranosyl)oxy ]-3-methylbut-2-enenitrile.