Horizontal two-dimensional electrophoresis of plasma butyrylcholinesterase

Genetic variants of human plasma butyrylcholinesterase have been characterized and are highly relevant to anesthesiology. They might also represent potential genetic markers for neuropsychiatric disorders. Two-dimensional electrophoresis with isoelectrofocusing in the first and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the second dimension has proved to be a powerful tool in search for genetic variants. Butyrylcholinesterase is an oligomeric enzyme with considerable charge heterogeneity. Conventional two-dimensional electrophoresis proved unsuitable for this enzyme possibly due to its tendency to aggregate by hydrophobic interactions. The inversion of the sequence applying polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the first and isoelectric focusing in the second dimension circumvented this problem.     

Production of cytotoxic antibody to a benz(a)pyrene-induced sarcoma in mice receiving xenogeneic antitumor immune RNA

Summary Groups of normal C3Hf mice were injected subcutaneously and intraperitoneally over a 2-week period with various xenogeneic immune RNA (I-RNA) preparations. I-RNAs were extracted from the lymphoid organs of guinea pigs following immunization with normal C3Hf tissue cells, or tumor cells from a benz(a)pyrene-induced sarcoma (BP-1), a methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma MC-1, or a spontaneous mammary carcinoma (SMT). In sera from mice injected with anti-BP-1 I-RNA, antibodies were detected which were specifically cytotoxic to BP-1 target cells, in vitro, but not to MC-1 target cells. Absorption with BP-1 sarcoma cells removed this cytotoxic activity while absorption with syngeneic spleen cells, or MC-1 sarcoma cells did not. Sera from mice receiving any of the other I-RNAs were not cytotoxic for either BP-1 or MC-1 target cells. Treatment of mice with BP-1 I-RNA may have induced the production of tumor-specific cytotoxic antibody, in vivo.Dr. Fritze was the recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Identifying unusual mortality events in bats: a baseline for bat hibernation monitoring and white‐nose syndrome research

Bat population trends are particularly affected by adult mortality, especially when large numbers of individuals die, as evidenced by white‐nose syndrome in North America. We obtained baseline mortality data from 318 European hibernacula. Mortality was low and negatively associated with elevation but not with fungal infestation. Mortality events involving more than seven bats at a hibernaculum should be considered unusual, and above this threshold, pathological or microbiological analysis should be carried out. To increase understanding of mortality in bats, there is an urgent need to develop and co‐ordinate national and international programs for monitoring and investigating mortality and diseases.