A chronic implant for recording of cochlear potentials in primates

A new technique for the continuous recording of peripheral bioelectrical activity in the auditory system of primates is described. Because of basic differences in the anatomy of the temporal bone, the approach to the round window of the cochlea is more difficult in most primates than in lower animals. A relatively simple surgical approach, which made possible the placement of an electrode into the perilymph of the inner ear via the well-demarcated horizontal semicircular canal was therefore developed and is described in detail. The bared tip of a Teflon-coated wire was cemented into the canal opening with carboxylate cement, and the wire attached to a permanent electrical connector on the skull. Cochlear microphonic and action potentials of 50 to 100 μV amplitude were thus recorded on a continuing basis at the same time that behavioral studies of primate auditory acuity were conducted.     

Assessment of ether anesthesia in normal and spinal cats using gas--liquid chromatographic analysis of blood

A new gas-liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of diethylether in whole blood. Ether was quantitated by peak area ratio analysis with n-propanol as the internal standard using a flame ionization detector. Blood ether concentrations were determined in cats undergoing inhalational anesthesia by ether in oxygen. In normal spontaneously breathing cats, anesthesia began at ether concentrations of about 0.6 g/l, and respiratory arrest occurred at 2.4 g/l and above. Mean arterial blood pressure was well maintained throughout the entire anesthetic range. In spinal artificially respired animals, mean arterial blood pressure correlated inversely with blood ether concentration. The data suggest that decline in blood pressure may be a useful sign of ether toxicity in spinal cats.     

Functional changes in the structure of the SRP GTPase on binding GDP and Mg2+GDP.

Ffh is a component of a bacterial ribonucleoprotein complex homologous to the signal recognition particle (SRP) of eukaryotes. It comprises three domains that mediate both binding to the hydrophobic signal sequence of the nascent polypeptide and the GTP-dependent interaction of Ffh with a structurally homologous GTPase of the SRP receptor. The X-ray structures of the two-domain 'NG' GTPase of Ffh in complex with Mg2+GDP and GDP have been determined at 2.0 A resolution. The structures explain the low nucleotide affinity of Ffh and locate two regions of structural mobility at opposite sides of the nucleotide-binding site. One of these regions includes highly conserved sequence motifs that presumably contribute to the structural trigger signaling the GTP-bound state. The other includes the highly conserved interface between the N and G domains, and supports the hypothesis that the N domain regulates or signals the nucleotide occupancy of the G domain.