The Neural Basis of Responsibility Attribution in Decision-Making

Social responsibility links personal behavior with societal expectations and plays a key role in affecting an agent’s emotional state following a decision. However, the neural basis of responsibility attribution remains unclear. In two previous event-related brain potential (ERP) studies we found that personal responsibility modulated outcome evaluation in gambling tasks. Here we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to identify particular brain regions that mediate responsibility attribution. In a context involving team cooperation, participants completed a task with their teammates and on each trial received feedback about team success and individual success sequentially. We found that brain activity differed between conditions involving team success vs. team failure. Further, different brain regions were associated with reinforcement of behavior by social praise vs. monetary reward. Specifically, right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ) was associated with social pride whereas dorsal striatum and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were related to reinforcement of behaviors leading to personal gain. The present study provides evidence that the RTPJ is an important region for determining whether self-generated behaviors are deserving of praise in a social context.     

Partial purification and characterization of cysteine proteinases from various developmental stages of Paragonimus westermani

1. During development of Paragonimus westermani, larvae develop during migration within the host, and adult worms feed on pulmonary tissues, causing significant pathology in the mammalian host. In this report acidic extracts of various developmental stages (metacercariae and worms at one, two and three months of development) were examined for cysteine proteinase activity. 2. A soluble thiol-dependent proteinase activity with a native molecular weight of approximately 20,000 was isolated and partially purified. 3. The enzymes purified from the various developmental stages of the parasite had maximal activity at acidic pH and showed inhibitor susceptibilities similar to the vertebrate acidic cysteine proteinases. 4. Enzymatic activity was stable at pH 5.0 for at least two days when stored at 4 degrees C. 5. It is suggested that these enzymes may be involved in the nutrition of these parasites and/or during penetration and lysis of the tissues.     

Isolation and characterization of a Mr = 110,000 glycoprotein localized to the hepatocyte bile canaliculus

A Mr = 110,000 glycoprotein, GP 110, was partially purified using wheat germ agglutinin-Sepharose affinity chromatography from a bile canalicular-enriched membrane fraction denoted N2u of rat liver. This fraction was subjected to preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the Mr = 110,000 polypeptide was excised and used as an immunogen in rabbits. The antisera were found to specifically recognize a Mr = 110,000 polypeptide, named GP 110, in the N2u membrane fraction. In isolated hepatocytes, GP 110 was readily accessible to cell surface iodination catalyzed by lactoperoxidase at 4 degrees C and was judged by immunoprecipitation studies to contain about 2% of total radioactivity incorporated into externally oriented proteins of the cell. Immunoprecipitated GP 110 was shown by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to migrate with an approximate pI of 4.9. Indirect immunofluorescence on frozen liver sections demonstrated that GP 110 was primarily localized in the bile canaliculus. In corroborative studies employing subcellular fractionation, it was found that GP 110 was enriched nearly 19-fold in P2, a plasma membrane fraction primarily derived from the sinusoidal domain, and 44-fold in N2u. In contrast, only low levels of GP 110 were present in endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondrial, cytosolic, and nuclear-enriched fractions of liver. The physiological function of GP 110 is as yet unknown; antisera to it did not immunoprecipitate other known bile canalicular proteins of similar molecular weights. GP 110 was found to be extensively glycosylated relative to other known membrane proteins; approximately 33% of the apparent molecular weight appear to be carbohydrate. In agreement, limited removal of N-linked carbohydrate chains indicated that there are approximately eight chains/GP 110 polypeptide. Neuraminidase treatment of GP 110 resulted in a desialylated Mr = 85,000 polypeptide suggesting that the majority of carbohydrate chains on GP 110 are of the complex type.     

Monospecific antibodies against a synthetic peptide predicted from the alpha-3 nicotinic receptor cDNA inhibit binding of [3H]nicotine to rat brain nicotinic cholinergic receptor

Polyclonal antibodies were raised against a synthetic decapeptide (designated S3) predicted from a segment of the alpha-3 subunit cDNA (amino acid residues 130-139) encoding the rat brain nicotinic cholinergic receptor. This segment was selected because it may be proximate to the nicotine/acetylcholine-binding site of the receptor (1). By radioligand binding assays and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, these monospecific antibodies were shown to inhibit the binding of [3H]nicotine to both the large molecular weight rat brain receptor (240 kDa) and to an SDS-disaggregated nicotine-binding subunit species (80 kDa), in a dose-dependent manner. The neutralizing effect of the anti-S3 antibodies supports the view that this region of the protein is closely related to the agonist binding site.     

人体小卫星DNA探针的制备

根据人体小卫星DNA核心顺序,化学合成长23碱基寡核苷酸探针,筛选人体基因组文库,旨在获得能用作遗传分析探针的小卫星顺序。结果得到15个含小卫星的阳性重组子。随机取其一(C_(35.9))作探针,试做群体分析。所有个体均可检出多条杂交带。其中某些带具有多态性。在一定检测条件下,检出的DNA图谱在有限的个体内具有个体特异性。结果表明筛选文库得到的小卫星顺序可用于小卫星多态性的检测。其它小卫星探针的筛选和应用性研究正在进行。