A quantitative autoradiographic method for the measurement of local rates of brain protein synthesis

We have developed a new method for measuring local rates of brain protein synthesis in vivo. It combines the intraperitoneal injection of a large dose of low specific activity amino acid with quantitative autoradiography. This method has several advantages: 1) It is ideally suited for young or small animals or where immobilizing an animal is undesirable. 2) The amino acid injection floods amino acid pools so that errors in estimating precursor specific activity, which is especially important in pathological conditions, are minimized. 3) The method provides for the use of a radioautographic internal standard in which valine incorporation is measured directly. Internal standards from experimental animals correct for tissue protein content and self-absorption of radiation in tissue sections which could vary under experimental conditions.A preliminary report of this work was presented at the 11th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Los Angeles, California, October 18–23, 1981.     

Première biozonation du Pléistocène Européen,principal résultat biostratigraphique de l'étude des Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia,Perissodactyla) du Miocène terminal au Pléistocène supérieur d'Europe Occidentale

For the Uppermost Miocene the already known zones MN 9 to MN 13 are used without any change; they prove to be particularly useful for the study of fossil rhinocerotids. The Plio-Villafranchian age corresponds to the zones 14 to 19, the definition of the first five being completed and the last being new. Middle to Upper Pleistocene age deals with the zones 20 to 26, all being new and defined following the same principles.     

Decreased heme content and cessation of cell growth in cultured chick embryo fibroblasts in the presence of horse serum: Stimulation of heme synthesis and cell growth by iron

A new spectrofluorometric method for heme quantitation in cultured fibroblasts is described. The method includes: (1) heme extraction by methanol/sulfuric acid, (2) partial purification of heme by a microchromatographic method, and (3) treatment of the purified heme by oxalic acid followed by fluorometric quantitation. Using this method, heme concentration was determined in chick embryo fibroblasts cultured in a medium supplemented with either 7% fetal bovine serum (FBS) or 10% horse serum (HS). In the presence of FBS, cultured cells actively divided and cells contained 34–55 pmol heme/mg protein. In contrast, cultures maintained in HS proliferated at a slower rate and contained 23–25 pmol heme/mg protein. The addition of 40 μM FeSO₄ to cultures maintained in the presence of HS stimulated cell proliferation, and the cellular heme concentration increased to 37–51 pmol/ mg protein. These findings suggest that the cessation of growth in the presence of HS may be due to decreased heme content in the cells and that the stimulation of cell growth by iron is mediated by its stimulation of heme synthesis.     

Brain Tubulin Microheterogeneity in the Mouse During Development and Aging

Abstract: Mouse brain tubulin was analyzed on isoelectric focusing gels. High-resolution gels utilizing Bio-Rad ampholytes (pH 4-6) revealed 5-6 bands in the region corresponding to the α-subunit of tubulin and 10 or more for the β-subunit. The same general banding pattern was observed regardless of the method of preparation of the tubulin. Two species prominent in the brains of immature mice, α6 and β2, virtually disappeared during maturation, while species β6 to β10 appeared. No significant changes from the mature pattern were seen during aging (examined at 12, 23, and 30 months of age).     

Sesquiterpenoids of Riccardia and Pallavicinia species

Riccardia species (Metzgeriales) contain various types of sesquiterpenes. R. jackii produces ent-selinane-, ent-aromadendrane-and ent-bicyclogermacrane-type sesquiterpenes together with (R)-cuparene and α-barbatene. Aneura pinguis (= Riccardia pinguis) is chemically quite different from R. multifida and R. jackii. The former produces a large amount of pinguisone. R. multifida contains 6-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-indole and (+)-β-elemene as the major components. Pallavicinia longispina (Dilaenaceae; Metzgeriales) produces mainly spathulenol. The chiral properties of the sesquiterpenes isolated from R. jackii are quite similar to those of red algae, Laurencia species.     

Correlation between cell density,membrane fluidity,and the availability of transferrin receptors in friend erythroleukemic cells

Undifferentiated Friend erythroleukemic cells (FL cells) acquire membrane microviscosity ( ), in accord with the culture cell density. At low cell density poise, whereas at confluency it increases to poise. Concomitantly, the total number of available transferrin receptors per cell decreases by about 80% upon increase in cell density. Modulation of membrane microviscosity, by artificial alteration of the membrane cholesterol level, mediates similar modulations of the availability of the transferrin receptors. The correlation between the availability of the transferrin receptors and the membrane lipid fluidity may take part in the overt decrease in iron uptake by erythroid cells along the erythropoiesis pathway.     

A spiroplasma of serogroup IV causes a May-disease-like disorder of honeybees in Southwestern France

Honeybees affected by a disorder resembling the classical May disease in southwestern France contained numerous helical, motile organisms in their digestive tracts and hemolymph. Two strains of the organism (B31 and B39) were cultured and triply cloned in the BSR spiroplasma medium. The electrophoretic patterns of spiroplasmal proteins in 1 - and 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gels were similar to those of group IV spiroplasmas F1 and F2, cultured previously from flower surfaces in France. The organism could be introduced into adult bees by injection or food ingestion at various stages after emergence. Agent administered by either route multiplied to high titers in the hemolymph and killed the bees. Both multiplication and the induced lethal effect of the agent could be prevented by tetracycline but not penicillin. Spiroplasmas that were nearly identical to the B31 and B39 strains were also recovered from the surface of flowers collected within the area visited by the bees from the diseased hives.