Changes in lipid content and composition during the development of N-nitrosodiethylamine induced hepatocarcinoma

Alterations in lipid content and composition in the N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced hepatocarcinoma were investigated. Rats were administrated with N-nitrosodiethylamine in the drinking water for 12 weeks followed by normal tap water for another 6 weeks. The cholesterol content in the liver was increased shortly after the administration of N-nitrosodiethylamine and remained elevated after the removal of the nitrosoamine from the water. The phosphatidylethanolamine level was elevated during N-nitrosodiethylamine administration with a concomitant reduction in phosphatidylcholine level. Lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin levels were increased during the last four weeks of the study. The level of phosphatidylinositol was substantially reduced after eight weeks of N-nitrosodiethylamine treatment, and remained low during the post-treatment period. We postulate that changes in lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin may be a compensatory mechanism for maintaining the asymmetrical distribution of choline-containing lipids in the outer leaflet of the membrane. The elevated level of cholesterol may be a useful indicator for the early detection of N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced hepatocarcinoma.     

The role of a minor groove spine of hydration in stabilizing poly(dA).poly(dT) against fluctuational interbase H-bond disruption in the premelting temperature regime.

Experimental estimates of the premelting Adenine-Thymine base pair opening probability for some B-DNA sequences are two orders of magnitude smaller than those of other B-DNA sequences. The AT pairs in the sequence with smaller open probability seem to be those that have a well defined spine of hydration in the minor groove. We show that this spine of hydration can significantly enhance the thermal stability of the base pairs to which they are attached. The effect of this spine of hydration coupled with the possible stabilization effect contributed from neighboring GC pairs can explain the differences in the observed AT pair opening probability for different AT containing B-DNA sequences.     

Comparative analysis of glycoprotein and glycolipid composition of virulent and avirulent strain membranes ofMycoplasma hyopneumoniae

The glycoproteins and glycolipids from membranes of virulent strain Z and avirulent strain M ofMycoplasma hyopneumoniae have been compared. The proteins and the glycoproteins were identified by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and concanavalin A-biotin labeling, respectively. The membrane preparation contained approximately 34 protein bands with molecular weights between 20 KD and 100 KD. The concanavalin A-biotin system reacted with a glycoprotein of a molecular weight of approximately 28,000 from avirulent strain M and did not react with the correspondent band from virulent strain Z. The membrane glycolipids of both strains consisted of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) and digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG), and the percentages of 160, 180, and 181 fatty acids comprised more than 80% of the total fatty acids of membrane glycolipids. The 180 fatty acid of MGDG in avirulent strain M was twofold higher than that of virulent strain Z.     

刺激隐神经中C类纤维诱发的小脑浦肯野细胞简单...

Simple spike of cerebellar Purkinje cells (PC-SS) was recorded with microelectrode. In the NCCVF (normalized cross-covariance function) histogram, spontaneous PC-SS does not show obvious peak. When the saphenous nerve is stimulated at lower intensities, which elicits the A-fiber input only, the discharge response (A-CED) consists of an early component with a latency of 16.7 +/- 0.9 ms and a late component with a latency of 270.8 +/- 12.8 ms. After A-fibers are blocked selectively by polarizing current, the stimulation at a suprathreshold strength for C-fiber evokes a characteristic response (C-CED) with a latency of 142.4 +/- 4.3 ms. However, the C-CED can not be evoked by the inputs of A- and C-fiber simultaneously. In NPSDF histogram, the spontaneous activities of PC-SS can be divided into two groups, the high and the low peak group. The high peak group (n = 15) has a peak energy value of 15.7 +/- 4.7 x 10(-3) and peak frequency of 4.07 +/- 1.69 Hz. A-fiber input causes an increase of the peak value, while C-fiber input causes a decrease. The low peak group (n = 16) has a peak energy value 8.4 +/- 1.4 x 10(-3) and peak frequency of 3.67 +/- 2.90 Hz. Both A-fiber and C-fiber inputs cause an increase of the peak value, but the effect of A-fiber input was more prominent. The results show that the pure C-fiber input can reach the cerebellar PC and elicit characteristic simple spike response.     

马铃薯Y病毒外壳蛋白基因的克隆及序列分析

本文报道应用聚合酶链式反应(PCR)技术,在体外扩增马铃薯 Y 病毒外壳蛋白基因及其克隆和序列分析的结果。病毒 RNA 从马铃薯 Y 病毒感染的烟草叶片中提取,用合成的PCR 3引物及 AMV 逆转录酶合成了单链的 cDNA。利用 PCR 技术,经30个循玎的扩增。得到了一特异的0.8kb 片段。克隆后对此片段进行了限制性内切酶物理图谱分析,并测定了其全序列。实验结果证明,我们克隆到的是完整的马铃薯 Y 病毒的外壳蛋白基因。与国外报道的马铃薯 Y 病毒 N 株相比,其核苷酸序列及推测的氨基酸序列的同源率分别为97.8%和97%。将该基因导入马铃薯以期获得抗 Y 病毒马铃薯的工作正在进行。本文还对 PCR 技术用于扩增植物 RNA 病毒的方法以及用基因工程方法培育抗病毒作物新品种的可行性等进行了讨论。     

大花翠雀的新二萜生物碱

从大花翠雀(Delphinium grandiflorum L.)的地上部分分离到两个微量的新二萜生物碱——大花翠雀辛(grandifloricine,Ⅰ)和大花翠雀亭(grandifloritine,Ⅱ)。通过分析光谱信息测定了它们的化学结构,并通过化学反应转变为 takaosamine 而得到确证。     

PVA和PEG预处理对大豆种子在低温吸胀过程中胚根线粒体发育和超微结构的影响

电镜观察发现,大豆种子在刚开始萌发时胚根细胞中未能见到线粒体,线粒体是在种子萌发过程中逐渐出现的,由原质体再分化发育而成。对照胚根细胞内原质体在低温吸张过程中明显膨胀,在回温后胚根细胞中原质体仍不能发育成线粒体,甚至网状膜结构破坏,呈空泡化;经聚乙烯醇(PVA)和聚乙二醇(PEG 6000)预处理的大豆种子在同样条件下线粒体能继续发育,在回温后预处理胚根细胞中线粒体发育良好,具有明显的双层膜和管状嵴的结构。这些结果表明,在低温吸胀过程中原质体能够继续再分化发育成线粒体是提高大豆种子活力和抗冷力的重要原因。     

Metastasis-associated alterations in phospholipids and fatty acids of human prostatic adenocarcinoma cell lines.

Metastatic variants of human prostatic adenocarcinoma cell lines (DU-145, LNCaP, and ND-1) were studied by using soft agar colony forming efficiency, nude mice tumorigenicity, in vitro invasion assay, and type IV collagenase assay. The DU-145 and ND-1 cell line showed higher metastatic potential than LNCaP. Lipids from DU-145, ND-1, and LNCaP cells were extracted and analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography. The major lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingomyelin, fatty acids, and cholesterol. The sphingomyelin level was significantly higher in highly metastatic cells (DU-145 and ND-1) compared with the lower metastatic variant (LNCaP). The increase in the synthetic pathway and decrease in degradation pathway of sphingomyelin in microsomal fractions was sufficient to account for the measured increase in sphingomyelin in DU-145 cells compared with LNCaP cells. The major fatty acids of these lipids were palmitic (16:0), stearic (18:0), oelic (18:1), and arachidonic acid (20:4). The arachidonic acid level was significantly decreased in DU-145 and ND-1 compared with LNCaP cells. Electron microscopic studies showed no significant changes in the morphology of DU-145, ND-1, and LNCaP cells. The results of these investigations demonstrate for the first time that sphingomyelin and arachidonic acid contents are different in high and low metastatic variants of human prostatic adenocarcinoma cell lines.     

Use of helper-free retroviral vector to direct a high expression of porcine growth hormone in mouse fibroblast cells.

A retroviral vector has been employed to express the cDNA coding for porcine growth hormone (pGH) in the mouse fibroblast cell NIH 3T3 in large quantity. In this study, a single gene vector which contained no selectable marker was used. We have coinfected NIH 3T3 cells with pGH retrovirus and Neo(r) retrovirus to obtain a stable, high-expression clone. Using a superinfection strategy, we further increased the copy number of proviral DNA in the host chromosome, thus increasing the pGH secretion from 22 to 55 micrograms/10(6) cells/24 h. The recombinant pGH produced from mouse fibroblast cells was heterogeneous at the N-terminus, which mimicked the situation with bovine growth hormone either from natural sources or from recombinant products derived from mouse fibroblasts. This technology is useful for many biologically important genes to be stably transduced by retroviral vector into mammalian cells and highly expressed.     

Three-dimensional structure of the quinoprotein methylamine dehydrogenase from Paracoccus denitrificans determined by molecular replacement at 2.8 A resolution.

The three-dimensional structure of the quinoprotein methylamine dehydrogenase from Paracoccus dentrificans (PD-MADH) has been determined at 2.8 A resolution by the molecular replacement method combined with map averaging procedures, using data collected from an area detector. The structure of methylamine dehydrogenase from Thio-bacillus versutus, which contains an "X-ray" sequence, was used as the starting search model. MADH consists of 2 heavy (H) and 2 light (L) subunits related by a molecular 2-fold axis. The H subunit is folded into seven four-stranded beta segments, forming a disk-shaped structure, arranged with pseudo-7-fold symmetry. A 31-residue elongated tail exists at the N-terminus of the H subunit in MADH from T. versutus but is partially digested in this crystal form of MADH from P. denitrificans, leaving the H subunit about 18 residues shorter. Each L subunit contains 127 residues arranged into 10 beta-strands connected by turns. The active site of the enzyme is located in the L subunit and is accessible via a hydrophobic channel between the H and L subunits. The redox cofactor of MADH, tryptophan tryptophylquinone is highly unusual. It is formed from two covalently linked tryptophan side chains at positions 57 and 107 of the L subunit, one of which contains an orthoquinone.