Ontogenetic development of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-containing neural elements in the brain of the chicken during incubation and after hatching

Summary In chicken embryos of different ages and in young chickens after hatching, neural elements reacting with antibodies generated against synthetic ovine corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) were studied by means of the peroxidase-anti-peroxidase (PAP) technique at the lightmicroscopic level. CRF-immunoreactivity was first observed in perikarya located in the periventricular part of the hypothalamus on the 14th day of the incubation period. CRF-containing neural elements were detected on the same day of incubation in the external zone of the median eminence, but not in all investigated animals. In extrahypothalamic sites, immunoreactive perikarya were demonstrable in the central gray of the mesencephalon on the 15th day of incubation. Furthermore, immunoreactive cells appeared in other brain regions such as nucleus accumbens and dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus after hatching. The present observations provide information regarding the functional development of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis in the chick embryo.     

Oxygen consumption during embryonic development of the annual fish Nothobranchius korthausae with special reference to diapause

The oxygen consumption of Nothobranchius korthausae eggs in different developmental stages, including diapause II and III, was measured. Oxygen consumption increases exponentially during embryonic development. In diapause II and III there is a drop in oxygen consumption, which attains a minimal level in diapause II after 3 weeks and in diapause III after 2 weeks. During early development the embryos can escape from hypoxic stress by entering diapause I and II. During late embryogenesis embryos in diapause III can escape from hypoxic stress by hatching. We conclude that survival of annual fish embryos is enhanced during conditions of low oxygen concentration by reduced oxygen consumption rates during diapause.     

A new cephalic type of presumed sense organ with naked dendritic ends in the atypical male of the parasitic copepod Pachypygus gibber (Crustacea)

Summary The topography, external structure and ultrastructure of a cephalic sense organ, described for the first time, were studied by light and electron microscopy in the parasitic copepod Pachypygus gibber. This species is unusual in that it has three reproductive sexual forms (two males, one female).The cephalic organ, present only in the atypical male, is made up of numerous functional units, each composed of 4 cells: two sensory cells, one basal enveloping cell and one apical canal-forming cell opening outside via a pore. Many hundred pores are situated within the cuticle of the ventral pleural borders. Through each pore protrude two ciliary endings.An interesting feature is that the ciliary ends are without cuticular cover and thus, directly exposed to the surroundings, a situation unique in arthropods.The structural characteristics of this sense organ and the particular mode of life of the atypical male (with an additional free planktonic phase), lead to the hypothesis that its function is linked to chemical reception in the complex behavioural patterns such as host and sex recognition, during the free life.     

Organization of the nervous system of physonectid siphonophores

Summary An antiserum to the sequence Arg-Phe-amide (RFamide) was used to stain the nervous systems of various physonectid siphonophores. In the stem of Nanomia bijuga, this antiserum stained an ectodermal nerve net, which was interrupted, at regular intervals, by transverse collars of neurons. Injection of Lucifer yellow into the giant axon of the stem showed that this axon was dye-coupled to an ectodermal nerve net that resembled the RFamide-positive network. Ectodermal nets of neurons were also found in the pneumatophore, gastrozooids, tentacles and tentilla. At the junctions of the pneumatophore, the gastrozooids, the dactylozooids and the gonozooids with the stem, and at the junctions of tentacles and tentilla, collars or rings of neurons occurred. The stem was connected to the phyllozooids and nectophores by muscular lamellae, which were bordered by chains of neurons. At the margin of the nectophores, an immunoreactive nerve ring was found. Connected to this ring and located in theseitliche Zapfen (sidely-located patche), were two agglomerations of nerve cells. On the upper side of the bell margin, positioned at 90° relative to the seitliche Zapfen, a delta-shaped neuronal structure was found. This structure was connected to the nerve ring and was associated with a muscle, which ran a short distance along the exumbrellar surface.The nervous systems of Agalma elegans, Forskalia edwardsi, Forskalia leuckarti and Halistemma rubrum resembled that of Nanomia bijuga in all major respects.     

A reinvestigation of the Gn-RH (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone) systems in the goldfish brain using antibodies to salmon Gn-RH

Summary The organization of Gn-RH systems in the brain of teleosts has been investigated previously by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against the mammalian decapeptide which differs from the teleostean factor. Here, we report the distribution of immunoreactive Gn-RH in the brain of goldfish using antibodies against synthetic teleost peptide.Immunoreactive structures are found along a column extending from the rostral olfactory bulbs to the pituitary stalk. Cell bodies are observed within the olfactory nerves and bulbs, along the ventromedial telencephalon, the ventrolateral preoptic area and the latero-basal hypothalamus. Large perikarya are detected in the dorsal midbrain tegmentum, immediately caudal to the posterior commissure. A prominent pathway was traced from the cells located in the olfactory nerves through the medial olfactory tract and along all the perikarya described above to the pituitary stalk. In the pituitary, projections are restricted to the proximal pars distalis. A second immunoreactive pathway ascends more dorsally in the telencephalon and arches to the periventricular regions of the diencephalon. Part of this pathway forms a periventricular network in the dorsal and posterior hypothalamus, whereas other projections continue caudally to the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord. Lesions of the ventral preoptic area demonstrate that most of the fibers detected in the pituitary originate from the preoptic region.     

Ethanol-sensitive mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants unable to grow at ethanol concentrations at which the wild type strain S288C does grow, have been isolated. Some of them show additional phenotypic alterations in colony size, temperature sensitivity and viability in ethanol, which cosegregate with the growth sensitivity in ethanol. 21 selected monogenic ethanol-sensitive mutants define 20 complementation groups, denominated ETA1 to ETA20, which indicates that there is a high number of genes involved in the ethanol tolerance/sensitivity mechanism.Out of 21 selected monogenic mutants, 20 are not altered in the glycolytic pathway since, when maintained in glucosesupplemented medium, they can produce as much ethanol as the wild type and at about the same velocity. Nor do any of the mutants seem to be altered in the lipid biosynthetic pathway since, whether grown in the absence or in the presence of ethanol, their concentration of fatty acids and ergosterol is similar to that of the wild type under the same conditions. Therefore growth sensitivity to ethanol does not seem necessarily to be related to carbohydrate or lipid metabolism.Non-common abbreviations YP yeast extract peptone medium - YPD yeast extract peptone dextrose agar or medium - YPG yeast extract peptone glycerol agar - YPDE yeast extract peptone dextrose ethanol agar or medium - SD yeast nitrogen base dextrose agar - SPO yeast extract potassium acetate glucose agar - PD parental ditype - NPD non-parental ditype - TT tetratype     

The proα2 (V) collagen gene (COL5A2) maps to 2q14→2q32, syntenic to the proα1 (III) collagen locus (COL3A1)

Summary A recombinant probe specific for the pro2 chain of human Type V collagen has been used for the localization of the corresponding gene (COL5A2) to chromosome 2. Regional mapping by in situ hybridization and analysis of DNA from humanxrodent cell lines indicated that COL5A2 is confined within the segment 2q142q32, thus syntenic to the pro1 (III) collagen gene (COL3A1).     

Laryngeal papillomas: local cellular immune response,keratinization and viral antigen

Virchows Archiv B Cell Pathology - Various parameters of the local cellular response have been studied in 16 laryngeal papillomas from ten patients with recurrent papillomas as well as normal...     

Large granular lymphocytes,Leu 7 reactivity and natural killer cell function in peripheral blood of patients with Hodgkin's disease

Summary The percentage and absolute number of lymphocytes and Leu 7⁺ cells were significantly lower in HD even in active stages. There was no significant difference in the percentage of LGL between the three groups (control, active HD, inactive HD), however, because of differences in counts of lymphocytes the absolute number of LGL was significantly lower in HD even in the active group than that in healthy controls. The absolute count of LGL and Leu 7⁺ cells in patients in remission was significantly higher than that in active HD. Natural cytotoxicity against K-562 cells was also significantly lower in active patients in comparison with controls, while the percentage of cytotoxicity was slightly but not significantly higher in patients in remission than that in the active group. A positive correlation was observed between all the three examined parameters both in controls and in patients with active and inactive HD.     

CO2 sensitive receptors on labial palps ofRhodogastria moths (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae): physiology,fine structure and central projection

Summary The tips of the labial palps ofRhodogastria possess a pit housing uniform sensilla (Fig. 1), histologically characterized by wall-pores and receptor cells with lamellated outer dendrites (Fig. 2). The receptor cell axons project to glomeruli in the deutocerebrum (cf. Fig. 3) which are not innervated by antennal receptors. From their histology as well as from their central projection these sense organs are identical with palpal pit organs of other Lepidoptera (Lee et al. 1985; Kent et al. 1986; Lee and Altner 1986).Physiologically, the palp-pit receptors respond uniformly; they are most excitable by stimulation with carbon dioxide (Fig. 6) while they exhibit relatively moderate responses to various odorants (Fig. 4). The responses to CO₂ (Fig. 7) show a steep dose-response characteristic. In ambient atmosphere (i.e., ca. 0.03% CO₂) the cells are in an excited condition already; the seeming spontaneous activity exhibited in air is decreased if the preparation is kept under N₂ or O₂ or CO₂-free air (Figs. 7, 10). There is hardly any adaptation of the responses to continuous or repeated stimulation (Fig. 8). Perhaps CO₂ sensitivity is correlated with sensilla characterized by both wall-pores and lamellated dendrites. Pilot tests indicate that CO₂ perception might be widespread in the Lepidoptera (cf. Fig. 12), but the biological significance remains obscure.