Primary tissue culture of human adrenocortical Conn's adenomata

Summary Angiotensin II-induced the hypertrophy of the cytoplasmic compartment and significantly increased (5-³H)uridine incorporation into RNA species by Conn's human adult adenomatous cells in primary tissue culture. On its own, bromocriptine, while enlarging only the nucleolar compartment, also intensely stimulated the incorporation of (5-³H)uridine into RNA species by the cultured adrenocortical adenomatous cells. However, an equimolar mixture of angiotensin II and bromocriptine was totally ineffective, eliciting no change in cellular morphometry or isotope incorporation with respect to the control specimens run in parallel.The present findings support the view that bromocriptine can influence the metabolism of Conn's cells directly at the cellular level by acting as an agonist-antagonist of angiotensin.     

Freeze-preservation of rice cells: A physiological study of freeze-thawed cells

Rice ( Oryza sativa L.) cells returning to in vitro culture after preservation at superlow temperature in liquid nitrogen are characterized by a number of physiological alterations. These include: reduction in respiration and glucose uptake, loss of intracellular potassium, decrease in the cellular level of key metabolites (ATP, glucose-6-phosphate and pyruvate) and fragility of protoplasts following the action of cell wall-degrading enzymes.
Nevertheless, cell growth resumes after a short lag phase (2–4 days) with an actual 70–100% cell survival, thus indicating that the observed damage is not lethal and can be repaired in a short time.     

C1 proteins: a class of high-mobility-group non-histone chromosomal proteins from the fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

1. CM-cellulose chromatography of a fraction soluble in 5% perchloric acid from Ceratitis capitata chromatin yields three proteins, C1a1, C1a2 and C1b, which have been purified to electrophoretical homogeneity. 2. C1a1, C1a2 and C1b analyse like high mobility group (HMG) non-histone chromosomal proteins, although they do not exactly correspond with those from vertebrates. It is proposed that C1 proteins, as well as Drosophila D1 [Rodríguez Alfageme et al. (1980) Chromosoma, 78, 1-31] are representative of a class of insect-specific HMG proteins. Tryptic fingerprints show that C1a1 and C1a2 are very similar, but C1b is a somewhat distinct protein. Circular dichroism studies have shown that these preparations do not appreciably fold on increasing ionic strength. 3. The interactions between DNA and C1 proteins have been studied. These proteins precipitate DNA in 0.15 M NaCl, 0.015 M sodium citrate and the precipitation curves are cooperative. Soluble complexes between C1 proteins and DNA could be prepared in low ionic strength media and their thermal denaturation profiles obtained. C1 proteins do not destabilize DNA under the conditions used to prepare the complexes but the three proteins stabilize DNA to a different degree. From these studies it has been concluded that the association constant of C1b to DNA is smaller than that of C1a1 and C1a2.     

Silver Enhancement of Nickel-Diaminobenzidine as Applied to Single and Double Immunoperoxidase Staining

A reliable and practical method is proposed for increasing sensitivity and detection efficiency of immunocytochemical techniques, based on silver enhancement of the nickel-diaminobenzidine product of the peroxidase reaction. The procedure produces a strong signal at the site of the end product of the peroxidase reaction which is visible as black grains at the light microscopic level. The method has been used to detect peroxidase labeled probes in immunocytochemical tissue preparations and blotting assays and is ideal for the purposes of double staining and photographic documentation.     

To lek or not to lek: mating strategies of male fallow deer

We studied the mating system of fallow deer (Dama dama) for6 years in central Italy. Males in this population could defendterritories that were either single, clumped in leks, or satelliteto leks. The most highly successful males in our study werein leks. When we considered all males, there were no significantdifferences in average copulatory success according to territorytype because many lek males did not achieve any copulations,which were seen in only a few lek territories. The variancein copulatory success, however, was much greater for leks thanelsewhere. Single territories were occupied for shorter timesduring the rut than lek territories. Fighting among males wasmore frequent in the lek, even when we excluded highly successfullek males from the analysis. Chases of nonterritorial malesand harem size were correlated with the number of copulationsachieved by individual males, but did not vary according toterritory type. Copulatory success of some individuals increasedwith age, but there were no age differences among males holdingdifferent types of territories. Satellite males switched tolek territoriality in the course of one rut, but switches fromsingle territory to lek territory were rare. We suggest thatmales in single territories are inferior competitors that selecta low-risk, lowbenefit strategy, whereas those in lek territorieswhere no copulations were seen may be attempting to establishthemselves on the lek to increase their copulatory success infuture years.     

Further characterization of adenosine transport in renal brush-border membranes

Adenosine transport has been further characterized in rat renal brush-border membranes (BBM). The uptake shows two components, one sodium-independent and one sodium-dependent. Both components reflect, at least partly, translocation via a carrier mechanism, since the presence of adenosine inside the vesicles stimulates adenosine uptake in the presence as well as in the absence of sodium outside the vesicles. The sodium-dependent component is saturable (Km adenosine = 2.9 microM, Vmax = 142 pmol/min per mg protein) and is abolished at low temperatures. The sodium-independent uptake has apparently two components: one saturable (Km = 4-10 microM, Vmax = 174 pmol/min per mg protein) and one non-saturable (Vmax = 3.4 pmol/min per mg protein, Km greater than 2000 microM). Inosine, guanosine, 2-chloroadenosine and 2'-deoxyadenosine inhibit the sodium-dependent and -independent transport, as shown by trans-stimulation experiments, probably because of translocation via the respective transporter. Uridine and dipyridamole inhibited only the sodium-dependent uptake. Other analogs of adenosine showed no inhibition. The kinetic parameters of the inhibitors of the sodium-dependent component were further investigated. Inosine was the most potent inhibitor with a Ki (1.9 microM) less than the Km of adenosine. This suggests a physiological role for the BBM ecto-adenosine deaminase (enzyme which extracellularly converts adenosine to inosine), balancing the amount of nucleoside taken up as adenosine or inosine by the renal proximal tubule cell.     

Experimental pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis in mice: Morphology and correlation of lesions with humoral and cellular immune response

The present paper describes a murine model for pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis injecting 6×10⁵ yeast forms ofParacoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb) by the direct intratracheal route. The sequential histopathology of lung and dissemination lesions together with humoral (immunodiffusion test) and cellular immune response (footpad test and macrophage inhibition factor assay — MIF assay) were investigated since the 1^st to the 360^th day after infection. All infected animal showed pulmonary Pbmycosis up to Day 30; onwards the lesions subsided being found only in one mouse at Day 360. Dissemination lesions were observed in paratracheal and cervical lymph nodes in 9 out of 68 infected animals. Histologically early lesions were rich in polymorphonuclear cells and evolved to a macrophage desquamative pneumonitis at Day 15 and to typical epithelioid granulomata from Day 30 up to Day 360. Specific precipitating antibodies were first detected 15 days after infection, peaked from Day 30 to 60 and were not observed at Day 360. Significant cell-mediated immunity to Pb was noted at Day 15 with the peak reaction at Day 60 and 90.The intratracheal route represents a highly effective way of infecting mouse with Pb. This experimental pulmonary Pbmycosis is a granulomatous inflammation which courses with specific humoral and cellular immune response. It may be a good tool for further investigation in the pathogenesis and natural history of the disease.     

Chemical composition of the plasma membrane from epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi

The chemical composition of two plasma membrane fractions from epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi is reported. Fraction M, a preparation obtained by conventional methods of cell fractionation is composed of 31% proteins, 34% lipids, 16% carbohydrates and 3% of the lipopeptidophosphoglycan. Phospholipids and sterols account for 7.5 and 9%, respectively, of the total mass. Phosphatidylethanolamine is the major phospholipid in fraction M, representing 45% of the total membrane phospholipids. The other fraction, fraction V (vesicles), was obtained by treatment of the cell with a vesiculating agent. This fraction contains 42% lipids, 20% carbohydrates, 13% proteins and 21% of the lipopeptidophosphoglycan. Phospholipids and sterols make up 17 and 8%, respectively, of the total mass of this fraction. Phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine are the main phospholipids found in fraction V. Phosphonolipids and sialic acid have not been detected in either membrane fraction. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis show that the glycoproteins ABC and the lipopeptidophosphoglycan are 50- and 10-times more concentrated, respectively, in fractions V and M than in the whole cell homogenate. The high molar sterol/phospholipid ratio found in fraction M suggests that this fraction is less fluid than fraction V, perhaps reflecting a migration of certain membrane components in the presence of the vesiculating agent. Hence, fraction M is, probably, more representative of the epimastigote plasma membrane as a whole than fraction V.     

The epoxide hydrolase catalyzed hydrolysis of trans-3-bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexane. A direct proof for a general base catalyzed mechanism of the enzymatic hydration

The hydrolysis of (±)-$\text{trans}$-3-bromo-1,2-epoxycyclohexane in the presence of rabbit liver microsomes was investigated, and found to yield, beside $\text{c}$-3-bromocyclohexane-$\text{r}$-1,$\text{t}$-2-diol, 2,3-epoxycyclohexanol. It was demonstrated that the latter compound was the only product of the enzymatic reaction, whereas the diol resulted from a non enzymatic hydration in the reaction medium. These data provide the first direct proof for a general base catalysis in the enzymatic epoxide hydration, previously hypothesized on the basis of several lines of indirect evidence, and disprove alternative mechanisms involving protonation of the oxirane oxygen.