Comparative study of the effect of L-lysine-L-oxidase from Trichoderma harzianum Rifai and Trichoderma viride on nucleic acid synthesis in human tumor cells in vitro

L-lysine-alpha-oxidase, a new fungal enzyme catalyzing oxidative deamination of L-lysine, exerts an inhibitory effect on DNA, RNA and protein synthesis in human cells of carcinoma ovarius (CaOv) in vitro.     

Modification of testicular and thyroid function by chronic exposure to short photoperiod: a comparison in four rodent species

Exposure of male Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) for 10 weeks to short photoperiod (SP) providing 10 hr light: 14 hr darkness (10:14 LD) produced a significant reduction in the weights of the reproductive organs, plasma thyroxine (T4) levels and free T4 index (FT4I) compared to the values of animals exposed to long photoperiod (LP, 14:10 LD). C57bl male house mice (Mus musculus) kept in SP (10:14 LD) had reproductive organ weights equivalent to those of mice kept in long days (14:10 LD) and lower T3 uptake (T3U) values. Male gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) exposed to 13 weeks of SP (10:14 LD) had lower body weights, testes and seminal vesicle weights and higher T3U values compared to LP (14:10 LD) controls. However, no effect was seen on plasma T4 and triiodothyronine (T3) values nor the FT4I and free T3 index (FT3I). White-footed male mice (Peromyscus leucopus) exposed to SP (8:16 LD) had significantly lower testes and seminal vesicle weights while plasma T4 and T3 levels were unaffected. Snell strain house mice (Mus musculus) exposed to SP (8:16 LD) had normal reproductive organ weights compared to the values of LP-exposed (16:8 LD) control animals. However, there was a significant depression in T3 and in the FT3I in the SP animals.     

Pattern analysis of stem cell differentiation during <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro Arabidopsis</Emphasis> organogenesis

Plant somatic cells have the capability to switch their cell fates from differentiated to undifferentiated status under proper culture conditions, which is designated as totipotency. As a result, plant cells can easily regenerate new tissues or organs from a wide variety of explants. However, the mechanism by which plant cells have such remarkable regeneration ability is still largely unknown. In this study, we used a set of meristem-specific marker genes to analyze the patterns of stem cell differentiation in the processes of somatic embryogenesis as well as shoot or root organogenesis in vitro. Our studies furnish preliminary and important information on the patterns of the de novo stem cell differentiation during various types of in vitro organogenesis.     

Reassessing Neotropical angiosperm distribution patterns based on monographic data: a geometric interpolation approach

Monographic data rely on specimens deposited in herbaria and museums, which have been thoroughly revised by experts. However, monographic data have been rarely used to map species richness at large scale, mainly because of the difficulties caused by spatially heterogeneous sampling effort. In this paper we estimate patterns of species richness and narrow endemism, based on monographic data of 4,055 Neotropical angiosperm species. We propose a geometric interpolation method to derive species ranges at a 1° grid resolution. To this we apply an inverse distance-weighted summation scheme to derive maps of species richness and endemism. In the latter we also adjust for heterogeneous sampling effort. Finally, we test the robustness of the interpolated species ranges and derived species richness by applying the same method but using a leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV). The derived map shows four distinct regions of elevated species richness: (1) Central America, (2) the Northern Andes, (3) Amazonia and (4) the Brazilian Atlantic coast (‘Mata Atlantica’). The region with the highest estimated species richness is Amazonia, with Central America following closely behind. Centers of narrow endemism are located over the entire Neotropics, several of them coinciding with regions of elevated species richness. Sampling effort has a minor influence on the interpolation of overall species richness, but it substantially influences the estimation of regions of narrow endemism. Thus, in order to improve maps of narrow endemism and resulting conservation efforts, more collection and identification activity is required.     

Alterations in cerebrospinal fluid uridine,hypoxanthine, and xanthine in head-injured patients

1. Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of head-injured patients reveals that the concentration of intraventricular xanthine is elevated and that of uridine is decreased relative to those of adult lumbar CSF. 2. No correlations were observed between CSF lactate and CSF hypoxanthine, xanthine, or uridine, suggesting that changes in purine metabolites and the pyrimidine nucleoside do not index similar cellular events as does lactic acid production. 3. Ventricular CSF from hydrocephalic infants had uridine and hypoxanthine concentrations not significantly different from those of normal adult lumbar CSF, but xanthine was significantly elevated. 4. Since uridine has anticonvulsant properties and is a crucial substrate for cerebral metabolism, it may be useful to evaluate this pyrimidine for use in the management of patients with head injury.     

Spontaneous fibrinolysis in whole human plasma. Identification of tissue activator-related protein as the major plasminogen activator causing spontaneous activity in vitro

Spontaneous fibrinolysis of plasma clots was studied by following the lysis of the clots formed in 125I-fibrinogen-supplemented citrated plasma. Lysis of the clots invariably follows sigmoidal kinetics with S50 (the time required for 50% clot lysis) ranging from 3.5 to 4.7 days in 8 samples of pooled blood bank plasma and in the majority of apparently healthy donor plasmas. The spontaneous lysis of factor XII-deficient and prekallikrein-deficient plasmas was found to be similar to that of normal plasma. Addition of ellagic acid or antibodies against kallikrein or urokinase to normal pooled plasma did not alter significantly its rate of spontaneous lysis. On the other hand the addition of antibody against tissue activator (t-PA) inhibited over 80% of the spontaneous fibrinolysis in a 7-day incubation period at 37 degrees C, and the clot visually persisted for more than a month. Therefore, the factor XII-dependent components and prourokinase/urokinase system do not contribute significantly in whole plasma fibrinolysis in vitro, while the t-PA-related protein appears to be the major plasminogen activator responsible for initiating spontaneous fibrinolysis in whole plasma. Exogenous addition of increasing amounts of purified HeLa cell t-PA to normal pooled plasma in the ng/ml range cause progressively faster clot lysis. By extrapolation, normal pooled plasma is found to contain endogenous tissue activator in an amount functionally equivalent to 2 ng/ml of purified 60-kDa t-PA. The molecular nature of the t-PA-related proteins in plasma was studied by zymographic and immunological methods. The major t-PA-related protein in plasma was found to have a molecular mass of 100 kDa as determined by zymography. By incubating purified HeLa 60-kDa t-PA with a t-PA-depleted plasma, the 100-kDa component can be generated in plasma, suggesting that the latter is formed as a result of the binding of 60-kDa t-PA to a binding protein in plasma.