Mutagens in human urine: effects of cigarette smoking and diet

Human urine from smokers and nonsmokers on strictly controlled diets was assayed for mutagenic activity. Two distinct diets were employed in this study. Diet study A consisted of a high-meat, high-fat diet, observed for 5 days, followed by a vegan diet, adhered to for the next 5 days. The vegan diet contained no meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products. It was comprised of soy products, prepackaged vegan dinners, seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, beans and herbal teas. Diet study B consisted of 3 days on a typical western diet followed by a macrobiotic diet of grains and fresh vegetables for 5 days. Portions of 24-h urine samples were assayed in Salmonella typhimurium TA1538. The levels of urinary creatinine and cotinine were measured. Mutagenic activity was observed in the urine of most smokers. However, the levels of mutagens in the urine of light smokers were similar to those of nonsmokers. For both nonsmokers and smokers there was a significant increase in urine mutagenicity when volunteers were on the vegan diet. Several nonsmokers on the vegan diet in diet study A had pronounced mutagenic activity in their urine samples, in some instances at higher levels than that in the urine of smokers on a meat diet. In diet study B no clear differences were observed between the meat diet and the macrobiotic diet. In diet studies A and B the mutagenic potency of smokers' urine could not be correlated with cotinine levels alone or with urinary pH. These data suggest that dietary factors can play a dominant role in the mutagenicity of urine concentrates.     

Conceptual models and analytical tools: The biology of physicist Max Delbrück

Journal of the History of Biology -     

An automated device for the preparation of complex reagent mixtures. The immunofluorescence tomograph

A microcomputer-controlled device was built that automatically prepares small volumes of mixtures of up to eight reagents. The operation of the system is fast, flexible, and reliable, thus making possible the routine use of experimental protocols that require large numbers of small volume reagent samples, each having a different composition. In particular, the software we developed for this device handles the preparation of three-antibody staining solutions to be used in triple labeling immunofluorescent flow cytometry experiments that involve only two fluorochromes. In this role, the device is known as an "Immunofluorescence Tomograph."     

The presence and photoregulation of protochlorophyllide reductase in green tissues

Summary The enzyme protochlorophyllide (pchlide) reductase has been identified amongst the peptides, resolved by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), of chloroplast membranes from oat and barley plants. In support of this identification the enzymic activity associated with the enzyme has also been measured in the same preparations. A higher level of enzyme was found in plants which had been darkened prior to extraction. Based on this data, mechanisms for the light regulated diurnal variation of the reductase are discussed.     

The selectivity of action of the aspartic-proteinase inhibitor IA3 from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).

The ability of the aspartic-proteinase inhibitor IA3 from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to affect the activities of a range of mammalian and microbial aspartic proteinases was examined. The inhibitor appeared to be completely selective in that only the aspartic proteinase A from yeast was inhibited to any significant extent. IA3 thus represents the first example of a totally specific, naturally occurring, aspartic-proteinase inhibitor.     

Use of Growth-Attachment Correlation Plots to Analyse Human Melanoma Cell Dependency On 2-Oxocarboxylates and Serum

Modulation of the population-dependent growth of the human melanoma line MM96 by serum and a series of 2-oxocarboxylates was analysed by a method offering several useful features. Initial cell attachment was measured by the use of cells prelabelled with [¹⁴C] thymidine (C) while the size of the replicating cell population on any particular day was monitored by [³H] thymidine (H) incorporation for that particular 24 hr. the ³H incorporation was normalized for the initial cell attachment as the ³H/¹⁴C ratio (H/C), which was found to be little affected by artifacts of precursor equilibration. the method allows large numbers of replicate samples so that quantitation of dose-response relationships is simple and statistically robust, and simultaneous monitoring of cell attachment and growth within the same sample is routine. Not only cell growth, but also attachment to the culture vessel surface was found to be increased by higher seeded population densities, by increasing serum concentration and by pyruvate supplementation. Further investigation of the pyruvate effect showed that all nine of the soluble 2-oxocarboxylates tested were effective for both parameters, with little difference between them which was attributable to molecular structure. Quantitative studies of the potentiation of growth and attachment by increasing cell density or a range of concentrations of 2-oxocarboxylates led to the finding that increments in the growth parameter (H/C) were directly proportional to increments in attachment (C). Such a relationship would be unexpected in ordinary logarithmically-growing cultures. the observation is consistent with the hypothesis that increases in initial cell attachment, whether induced by 2 oxocarboxylates or higher inoculation densities, lead to conditioning of the medium by cell factors which stimulate growth and are produced in amounts proportional to the attached cell numbers. Pyruvate, when present with higher serum concentrations, stimulated growth above the levels accounted for by concomitant increases in cell attachment. Serum also appears to have other potentiating factors in addition to those attributable to its content of 2-oxocarboxylates. Differences in the response to 2-oxocarboxylates of human melanoma cells and human diploid fibroblasts were noted, and suggest that the present observations may be due to unique properties of the melanoma cell.     

Hematologic and immunologic responses in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) infected with Plasmodium knowlesi and Epstein-Barr virus

The hematologic and immunologic responses to infection with either the Epstein-Barr virus alone or infection with Epstein-Barr virus and Plasmodium knowlesi were studied using common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). The assays performed included complete blood cell counts, determinations of natural killer cell activity, and determinations of antibody titers to Epstein-Barr virus early antigen, virus capsid antigen and the nuclear antigen. While no animal showed signs of lymphoproliferative disease, it was found that animals infected with Epstein-Barr virus became positive for early antigen, virus capsid antigen and nuclear antigen at low levels. No difference in antibody titers between Epstein-Barr virus infected animals and co-infected animals was observed. An increase also was found in the number of leukocytes in all groups, and an increase in natural killer cells following infection with Epstein-Barr virus. Some depression in natural killer cells was observed in the co-infected animals when compared to Epstein-Barr virus infected animals.