Picrosirius Red Staining of Cardiac Muscle Following Phosphomolybdic Acid Treatment

When the picrosirius red technique was applied to cardiac muscle sections, intense yellow myocyte staining sometimes obscured thin collagenous septa. The picrosirius red technique was modified to include treatment of the sections in 0.2% (w/v) aqueous phosphomolybdic acid prior to staining. With 1-5 min treatment, cytoplasmic staining was eradicated; diminution of collagen staining occurred only with long treatments at much higher concentrations of phosphomolybdic acid. Using this phosphomolybdic acid-picrosirius red technique, collagenous septa as thin as 0.2-0.5 /im and fine collagen fibers making up the septa were clearly discernible. The technique also worked well on sections stained by other techniques and then destained. The phosphomolybdic acid-picrosirius red technique should be useful in experiments designed to investigate the effects of collagen distribution on the electrical and mechanical behavior of cardiac muscle.     

Spiranthes ovalis var. Erostellata (Orchidaceae), a new autogamous variety from the Eastern United States

Examination of flowers from herbarium specimens ofSpiranthes ovalis revealed two kinds of column structure. Some plants, including the type, have flowers with a normally developed rostellum and viscidium; other plants that have flowers in which these structures are entirely lacking are here described asSpiranthes ovalis var.erostellata. Self-pollination in the new variety was proven by pollinia removal and observation of plants in insect-proof cages. The var.erostellata has a somewhat smaller perianth with sepals 3.5–5 instead of 4–6.1 mm long and is more common and more widespread than the typical variety.     

Les effets de recristallisation sur la paroi des Involutinidae (Foraminifères) triasiques

The different types of recrystallization which can be observed in the Triassic involutinids should be considered in the taxonomic treatment of this foraminiferal family. If the diagenetic modifications of the test are neglected the same form could be placed into different suborders. Our inclusion of the genusTriasina Majzon in the Involutinidae proposed earlier on purely morphologic grounds, seems to be supported by the fact that the same types of recrystallization exist inTrocholina, Involutina undTriasina.     

Change in Properties of Physarum polycephalum Amoebae During Extended Culture

During two years of passage, several myxamoebal strains of Physarum polycephalum changed with regard to their properties in crosses and plaque morphology. These changes have been correlated with increased nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid content.     

Selective esterification of 1,6-anhydrohexopyranoses: The possible role of intramolecular hydrogen-bonding

Selective esterification reactions of 1,6-anhydro-3-deoxy-β-D-xylo-hexopyranose(1), 1,6-anhydro-β-D-glucopyranose (7), and several derivatives of 7, were conducted with an acid chloride or acid anhydride in pyridine. Reaction of 1 with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride and with benzoyl chloride gave 70 and 63%, respectively, of the 2-esters. The 2-methyl and 2-benzyl ethers of 7, both having strongly hydrogen-bonded C-4 hydroxyl group, reacted with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride to yield the 4-monosulfonates (71 and 74%, respectively). Esterification of the 2-methyl ether and 2-p-toluenesulfonate of 7 with p-toluenesulfonic anhydride instead of with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride led to increased yields of the 4-p-toluenesulfonates after a shorter reaction-time.     

Markers Differentiating Type 3 Parainfluenza Virus Grown at 25 and 37 C

Serial passage of the 64-2389 strain of type 3 parainfluenza virus in cercopithecus monkey kidney tissue cultures at low temperatures resulted in the selection of a variant which had a higher efficiency of plaque formation at 25 C than the parent line grown at 37 C. The cold variant, unlike the parent strain, plaqued readily at 25 C, and at 37 C it produced significantly larger plaques. Virus titers of the cold variant in hamster lungs were significantly lower and this was probably caused by the stimulation of interferon by the cold variant during the early phase of the infection. The cold variant, like the virus grown at 37 C, also induced the synthesis of interferon late in the infection. Hamsters responded to the intranasal inoculation of each virus line by the development of hemagglutinating-inhibiting antibodies in the sera.     

Histochemische Studien an den Plexus chorioidei,an der Paraphyse und am Ependym von Rana temporaria L.

Zusammenfassung Die Epithelzellen der Plexus chor. ventr. III und IV, das Paraphysenepithel und das Ventrikelependym von Rana temporaria L. zeigen eine deutliche — wenn auch quantitativ unterschiedliche — Aktivität von SDH, -HBDH und LDH. Der Nachweis einer UDPGGT-Aktivität fällt dagegen nur im Plexusepithel positiv aus. In der Plexusepithelzelle sind die Formazangranula gleichmäßig über das gesamte Plasma verteilt, während sie in den Ependymzellen vorwiegend im apikalen, lumenwärtigen Teil der Zelle angeordnet sind. Die Ependymzellen lassen im Reaktionsausfall Typenunterschiede erkennen. Bei einigen Tieren wird die Auswirkung einer Adrenalininjektion auf das Enzymmuster der Plexusepithelzellen untersucht; die funktionellen Zusammenhänge mit einer gleichzeitigen Entspeicherung ihres Glykogenvorrats werden erörtert. Die Verteilung und der Lamellierungstyp der Mitochondrien im Plexus- und Paraphysenepithel werden mit elektronenmikroskopischen Aufnahmen illustriert. Einige Komentare sind dem histochemischen Verhalten des Wundrandes gewidmet.

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Histochemical studies on the choroid plexuses, the paraphysis cerebri, and the ependyma of Rana temporaria L.

Summary The epithelium of the choroid plexuses of the IIIrd and IVth ventricles as well as the paraphyseal epithelium and the ventricular ependyma cells of Rana temporaria L. show distinct activities of SDH, -HBDH and LDH, that differ quantitatively. The UDPGGT-reaction is positive in the plexus epithelium. In the epithelium of the choroid plexus, the formazan granules are evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. In the ependyma cells an apical accumulation of this material can be demonstrated. The various morphological types of the ependyma cells differ in the intensity of the SDH, -HBDH and LDH-reactions. In the plexus cells of some animals the effect of epinephrine was studied on the histochemically-detectable activity of these enzymes with respect to the simultaneous depletion of the glycogen depot. The distribution and ultrastructure of mitochondria is described in the choroid plexus and paraphyseal epithelial cells. A comment is made in reference to some histochemical pecularities of stab wound areas.

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Teil einer medizinischen Doktorarbeit.

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Mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.