Hemispheric asymmetries in cortical electrical activity during sleep. I

The hypothesis of a predominance of the right hemisphere in stage REM as compared to NREM has been tested through a spectral analysis of the EEG recorded from left (T3) and right (T4) temporal sites in 5 young healthy right-handed male subjects. Variations in the asymmetry coefficient R - L/R + L in different sleep stages have been analyzed by one way ANOVAs and Sheffé's tests. The hypothesis of a progressive increase in left hemisphere activity throughout different REM cycles as one approaches final awakenings have been investigated by comparing variations in the asymmetry coefficient for epochs of REM and stage 2 NREM sampled in different phases of the REM cycle. EEG results do not support either the hypothesized stage dependent or cycle dependent variation in EEG activity during sleep. We question whether variations in EEG amplitude and synchronization can be used as indices of hemispheric asymmetries during sleep.     

Choline acetyltransferase- and peptide immunoreactivity of submucous neurons in the small intestine of the guinea-pig

Summary The peptides cholecystokinin (CCK), neuropeptide Y (NPY), somatostatin (SOM), substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and the synthesizing enzyme for acetylcholine, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) were localized immunohistochemically in nerve cell bodies of the submucous ganglia in the small intestine of the guinea-pig. VIP-like immunoreactivity was found in 45% of submucous neurons. ChAT immunoreactivity was observed in a separate group of nerve cells, which made up 54% of the total population. There were three subsets of neurons immunoreactive for ChAT: (1) ChAT neurons that also contained immunoreactivity for each of the peptides CCK, SOM and NPY, representing 29% of all submucous neurons; (2) ChAT neurons that also contained SP-like immunoreactivity, representing 11% of all submucous neurons, and (3) ChAT cells that did not contain any detectable amount of the peptides that were localized in this study.     

Distribution of intrinsic nerve cell bodies and axons which take up aromatic amines and their precursors in the small intestine of the guinea-pig

Summary The sites of uptake, decarboxylation and retention of 1-dopa and the uptake and retention of dopamine and 6-hydroxytryptamine in the small intestine of the guinea-pig have been localised histochemically with a fluorescence technique for arylethylamines. In segments of ileum from untreated guinea-pigs only noradrenergic axons are fluorescent; these axons were eliminated by surgical denervation (crushing nerves running to the intestine through the mesentery) or by chemical denervation with 6-hydroxydopamine. In denervated segments of ileum, cell bodies and processes of intrinsic neurons become fluorescent after the injection of 1-dopa, dopamine or 6-hydroxytryptamine and the inhibition of monoamine oxidase, as do cells of Brunner's glands and Paneth cells. About 11% of the nerve cell bodies in the submucous plexus and 0.4% of those in the myenteric plexus become fluorescent. Varicose intrinsic axons which take up amines are found amongst the nerve cell bodies of the myenteric and submucous plexuses. They also ramify in the principal connections of the plexuses, in the tertiary strands of the myenteric plexus, in the deep muscular plexus and contribute sparse supplies of axons to arterioles in the submucosa and to the lamina propria of the mucosa. The axons are resistant to the degenerative actions of 6-hydroxydopamine.It is suggested that the intrinsic amine handling axons are more likely to utilise an indolamine related to 5-hydroxytryptamine than they are to utilise a catecholamine as a neurotransmitter.     

On the nature of chromophore in pig kidney diamine oxidase.

The nature of the 500-nm chromophore in pig kidney diamine oxidase was investigated by absorption spectroscopy and fluorescence in the presence of various chelating or carbonyl-specific reagents. From the spectroscopic measurements the following conclusions can be drawn. First, the 500-nm absorption band is not due to copper, the reduction of which is not related to the disappearance of this band. Second, phenylhydrazine and cycloserine give rise, upon reaction with the enzyme, to absorptions very similar to those of a pyridoxal enzyme, aspartate aminotransferase. Third, these enzyme derivatives are unexpectedly non-fluorescent. Copper removal, obtained after prolonged incubation of cycloserine-treated enzyme in the presence of reducing and chelating agents, leads to a fluorescence similar to that of cycloserine-aspartate transminase. It is proposed that copper is coordinated to the postulated pyridoxal phosphate of diamine oxidase through the pyridine nitrogen.     

Alpha-adrenergic receptors on human platelets.

[³H] dihydroergocyrptine, an α-adrenergic antagonist, binds specifically to sites on human platelet membranes. Prostaglandin E₁ (PGE₁) stimulates the production of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in human platelets. Alpha-adrenergic agonists, 1-epinephrine and 1-norepinephrine, and antagonists, phentolamine, phenoxybenzamine, and dihydroergocyrptine inhibit the binding of [³H] dihydroergocryptine. The α-adrenergic agonists inhibit PGE₁-stimulated cAMP production and the α-adrenergic antagonists phentolamine and dihydroergocryptine reverse this inhibition. The β-adrenergic agonist 1-isoproterenol and the β-adrenergic antagonists d1-propranolol and 1-alprenolol do not significantly alter binding or PGE₁-stimulated cAMP production. Clonidine, dopamine, and serotonin inhibit binding, but clonidine and dopamine are weak inhibitors of PGE₁-stimulated cAMP production, and serotonin is without effect. Tyramine, an amine without direct adrenergic activity fails to inhibit binding. Alpha-adrenergic agonists decrease the apparent affinity of a PGE₁-receptor activating cAMP production. The inhibition of PGE₁-stimulated cAMP production is a physiological measure of α-adrenergic agonist binding to the α-receptor.     

A simplified radioenzymatic assay for dihydrofolate reductase using [3H]dihydrofolate

This report describes a simple method to measure the activity of dihydrofolate reductase using the substrate [³H]dihydrofolate, which is generated by preincubation of [³H]folic acid for 10 min with dithionite before the enzymatic reaction. The procedure then measures the direct reduction of [³H]dihydrofolate to [³H]tetrahydrofolate by coprecipitating the unreduced substrate with excess unlabeled folic acid and acidified zinc sulfate. The advantage of this method is that [³H]dihydrofolate, which is not commercially available, can be generated from high specific activity [³H]folic acid, which is commercially available, immediately before initiating the enzymatic reaction. By this modification, the two important advantages of radioenzymatic assays for dihydrofolate reductase can be more easily exploited; namely, increased sensitivity because much less substrate need be used, and the ability to measure enzyme activity in crude tissue preparations without interference by precipitating proteins or nucleotide oxidases.     

Incidence of caries and abscesses in archeological Eskimo skeletal samples from point hope and Kodiak Island,Alaska

The incidence of caries and abscesses in 246 archeologically derived skeletal specimens from the Ipiutak and Tigara levels at Point Hope, Alaska, and 79 specimens excavated from Jones Point, Kodiak Island, Alaska were investigated. All three collections span long periods of time. Only pre-white contact specimens were used. Each specimens was sexed and aged in five year groupings, using standard techniques. Caries and abscesses were recorded by type and degree of severity and correlated with age, sex, and site of origin. All samples displayed very low caries rates and few abscesses per tooth and per individual (both observed frequencies, and frequencies corrected for postmortem loss of teeth). DMF scores were tabulated using both observed and corrected frequencies. Very heavy occlusal wear in all three samples could account for the majority of abscesses and pulp exposures, while the low caries rates are attributable to traditional diets totally devoid of refined sugars, starches, and food additives.     

Phosphorylation of nuclear and DNA-binding proteins in proliferating and quiescent mammalian cells.

The dependence of cell proliferation on nuclear protein phosphorylation was studied with exponential-phase and stationary-phase cultures of Chinese-hamster ovary cells. Nuclear proteins were fractionated, according to their DNA-binding affinities, by using sequential extractions of isolated nuclei with increasing concentrations of NaCl. When viable whole cells were labelled with H332PO4, phosphorylation of nuclear proteins was found to be lower in quiescent cells than in proliferating cells. Phosphorylation of nuclear proteins soluble in 0.30M-NaCl (less than 50% of these proteins bind to DNA) was greater than for those proteins soluble in higher salt concentrations (80-100% of these proteins bind to DNA). Cyclic AMP enhanced the phosphorylation of nuclear proteins soluble in 0.3 m-NaCl by 40-50%, and this stimulation was independent of cell growth. Cyclic AMP also increased the phosphorylation of nuclear proteins soluble in 0.6M-NaCl and 2.0M-NaCl by 40-50% in exponential-phase cultures, but not in stationary-phase cultures. Several examples of specific phosphorylation in response to cyclic AMP were observed, including a 35000-mol.wt. protein in the 0.30 M-NaCl-soluble fraction and several proteins larger than 100000 molecular weight within this fraction. A major peptide of molecular weight approx. 31000 extracted with 0.6M-NaCl was also phosphorylated. Its phosphorylation was independent of cyclic AMP in exponential-phase cultures, and it was not phosphorylated in plateau-phase cells. These changes in cell-growth-dependent phosphorylation occurred in the absence of any apparent qualitative changes in the nuclear protein molecular-weight distributions. These data demonstrate that (1) phosphorylation of nuclear proteins is dependent on the culture's proliferative status, (2) both cyclic AMP-dependent and cyclic AMP-independent specific phosphorylation occurs, and (3) the cyclic AMP-dependent growth-independent phosphorylation that occurs does not appear to be a modification of DNA-binding proteins, whereas the cyclic AMP-dependent growth-dependent phosphorylation does involve modification of DNA binding proteins.     

Incorporation of 18O2 into brain serotonin in vivo as a procedure for estimating turnover: a feasibility study in animals.

Serotonin (5HT) containing ¹⁸0 instead of ¹⁶0 was found in brain after exposing rats to an atmosphere of ¹⁸0₂. The ¹⁸0 incorporation appeared linear with time and 22% of the 5HT in striatum contained ¹⁸0 after one hour of exposure. ¹⁸0 entered 5HT by enzymatic reaction rather than by isotope exchange as treatment with p-chlorophenylalanine, to block tryptophan hydroxylase, prevented incorporation, while more ¹⁸0-5HT than normal was found in brain after treatment with pargyline, to block monoamine oxidase. Our studies suggest that the incorporation of ¹⁸0₂ into brain 5HT might be a feasible approach for evaluating 5HT turnover in animals and with some modification might be applied in man.     

Cyclic AMP-dependent regulation of ornithine decarboxylase activity in Chinese hamster ovary cells maintained with a salts/glucose medium.

Ornithine decarboxylase activity (ODC) increased about 7 fold 6--8 h following 10mM asparagine (ASN) addition to confluent cultures that had been previously serum deprived and then placed in a salts/glucose medium. Optimal concentrations of dibutyryl cAMP (dB cAMP) when incubated with the ASN caused up to a 50 fold increase in the activity of this enzyme after 7--8 h. The enhancement of ODC activity by ASN and dB cAMP was not sensitive to continuous (0--7 h) treatment with actinomycin D but similar treatment with cycloheximide depressed enzyme activity 40--60%. The synergistic stimulation of ODC activity by dB cAMP added with ASN was dose dependent and the dB cAMP stimulation of ODC activity displayed an absolute requirement for ASN when cells were maintained in the salts/glucose medium. The addition of dB cAMP always further enhanced ODC activity above the levels produced by addition of various levels of ASN (1 to 40mM) to the salts/glucose medium. Other agents which elevated cAMP levels such as 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthine (IBMX) also enhanced ODC activity when administered with ASN. Additionally, treatment with sodium butyrate at concentrations ranging from 0.001mM to 5.0mM did not elevate ODC activity above the activity obtained with ASN alone. Addition of dB cAMP at various times after placing cells in salts/glucose medium with ASN further stimulated ODC activity only when added during the first 3-4 h. These results demonstrate the involvement of cAMP in the ASN mediated stimulation of ODC activity using cells maintained in a salts/glucose medium.