The ultrastructure of the middle cerebral artery and its associated nerve fibers in the squirrel monkey and baboon

This study describes the ultrastructural characteristics of the middle cerebral artery and its related neural elements in the squirrel monkey and baboon. The cytoarchitecture of the M-1 segment as well as that of the smaller extracerebral and intracerebral vessels is comparable in both animals.Smooth muscle elements are occasionally found within the intimai lining. The nerve bundles associated with vessels contain fewer myelinated fibers as the vessel diameter decreases. The cytological relationship between the neural structures and the smooth muscle cells are discussed.     

EST-SSR markers from Heterodera glycines Ichinohe

The soybean cyst nematode Heterodera glycines Ichinohe is a severe agricultural pest for which genetic resources are limited. In this study, 295 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified from 259 expressed sequenced tags (ESTs), which were selected from 9,443 unigenes. The successful primer pairs were designed against six regions. In total, 30 alleles were identified from 30 individuals using the six markers, with an average of five alleles per locus (range, 4–7). The observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.074–0.900 and 0.266–0.775, respectively. Significant departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was found at three of the six loci. The EST-based SSR markers developed in this study may contribute to better under-standing of the genetic structure of H. glycines populations.     

The mushroom ribosome-inactivating protein lyophyllin exerts deleterious effects on mouse embryonic development in vitro

Earlier investigations disclose that some plant ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) adversely affect mouse embryonic development. In the present study, a mushroom RIP, namely lyophyllin from Lyophyllum shimeji, was isolated, partially sequenced, and its translation inhibitory activity determined. Its teratogenicity was studied by using a technique entailing microinjection and postimplantation whole-embryo culture. It was found that embryonic abnormalities during the period of organogenesis from E8.5 to E9.5 were induced by lyophyllin at a concentration as low as 50 μg/ml, and when the lyophyllin concentration was raised, the number of abnormal embryos increased, the final somite number decreased, and the abnormalities increased in severity. The affected embryonic structures included the cranial neural tube, forelimb buds, branchial arches, and body axis, while optic and otic placodes were more resistant. Lyophyllin at a concentration higher than 500 μg/ml also induced forebrain blisters within the cranial mesenchyme. When the abnormal embryos were examined histologically, an increase of cell death was found to be associated with abnormal structures, indicating that cell death may be one of the underlying causes of teratogenicity of the mushroom RIP. This constitutes the first report on the teratogenicity of a mushroom RIP.     

病毒衣壳结构亚单位的种类数与三角形剖分数关系的研究和探讨

本文报道了在正廿面体病毒衣壳中,当蛋白结构亚单位以“三聚体”的形式聚集在单位三角形(?)时,其亚单位的种类数应等于该病毒的三角形剖分数值。     

小RNA病毒和小DNA病毒的三维结构模型

本文综述了小RNA病毒和小DNA病毒的主要结构特征,绘制出了它们的三维结构模型,从中找出了两者间的共同点和差异,为进一步研究两种病毒提供了依据。     

Induction of Fas and Fas-ligand expression in plasmacytoma cells by a cytotoxic factor secreted by murine macrophages

Induction of tumoricidal activity is one of the major functions of activated macrophages. Our previous study demonstrated that P388D1 murine macrophage-like cells secreted a plasmacytoma cytotoxic factor (PCF) that selectively killed certain tumor cell lines including MOPC-315 plasmacytoma in vitro. Our subsequent studies demonstrated that PCF killed MOPC-315 cells by induction of apoptosis. In this report, the involvement of Fas and Fas ligand (FasL) in PCF-induced apoptosis was investigated. Results suggest that expression of Fas mRNA time-dependently increased in PCF-treated cells and reached an optimal level after 36 h of treatment. The augmented effect of PCF on Fas mRNA expression was significantly reduced by the addition of CB7.C2, an anti-PCF monoclonal antibody. The expression of FasL mRNA was also induced by PCF and reached an optimal level at 24 h, but sharply decreased after 36 h of treatment. Caspase-3 is one of the proteolytic enzymes that can be activated by the Fas-FasL interaction. In our studies, the enzymatic activity of caspase-3 was significantly induced by PCF after 6 h of treatment and reached an optimal level at 12 h. The augmented effect of PCF on caspase activity was significantly reduced by the addition of CB7.C2 and the caspase-3-specific inhibitor, DEVD-fmk. Therefore, PCF-treated plasmacytoma cells might undergo apoptosis via interaction between Fas and FasL.