CULTURE AND NUTRITION OF AMOEBIDIUM PARASITICUM

Whisler , Howard C. (McGill U., Montreal, Canada.) Culture and nutrition of Amoebidium parasiticum. Amer. Jour. Bot. 49(3): 193–199. Illus. 1962.—The little known Trichomycete, Amoebidium parasiticum, has been isolated into pure culture Maximum growth was obtained on a thiamine-enriched Tryptone-glucose medium. Growth also occurred on a defined medium consisting of thiamine, glucose, methionine, ammonium and inorganic salts. Methionine could not be replaced by sulfate or l -cystine. Both mannose and fructose could satisfy the carbon requirement. At present, reproduction in pure culture is always by sporangiospores, but the amoeboid phase can be induced by the addition of crushed host material.     

THE EFFECT OF INSULIN, ALLOXAN DIABETES, AND ANOXIA ON THE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE RAT HEART

Hearts from normal and alloxan diabetic rats were perfused in vitro with a bicarbonate-buffered medium containing glucose. Transport of glucose through the cell membrane was stimulated with insulin or by induction of anaerobiosis. The organs were rapidly fixed and examined by electron microscopy. Transport stimulation was not associated with any increase in the number of sarcolemmal invaginations or subsarcolemmal cytoplasmic vesicles. It was concluded that glucose transport and the effects of insulin or anoxia do not involve pinocytosis. The relationship of pinocytosis to glucose transport is discussed. The appearance of numerous lipid inclusions at the Z line level of the sarcomeres in the diabetic and anoxic myocardia is described.     

An Analysis of the Striated Muscle Fiber Action Current

A method is presented for determining the magnitude of the ionic current associated with the propagated spike potential. Parameters of the action current are then compared to various aspects of the response as recorded in a phase plane. The findings also include evidence for (a) Na⁺ ion as the major inward current carrier, (b) a fairly constant membrane conductance during the terminal phase (~1 msec.) of the spike potential, and (c) the influence of Ca⁺⁺ ion concentration on the action current.     

Two Loci Controlling Genetic Cellular Resistance to Avian Leukosis-Sarcoma Viruses

Female chickens known to be heterozygous for resistance to subgroups A and B of the avian leukosis-sarcoma viruses were mated to males known to be homozygously resistant to both. The progeny were assayed both on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and in tissue culture for resistance to representative viruses of the A, B, and tentatively defined C subgroups. Segregation ratios of resistance to A and B subgroup viruses agreed with the previously suggested hypothesis of single-autosomal-recessive genes controlling resistance to each subgroup. Mixed infection on the CAM and replicate plate infection in tissue culture with subgroup A and B viruses showed that resistance to the A and B subgroups was inherited independently. Assays with viruses tentatively classified as subgroup C indicated that they were largely composed of a mixture of subgroup A and B viruses or of particles possessing the host range specificity of both. However, virus stocks of the subgroup C category, as well as some stocks classified as subgroup B, produced small numbers of pocks or foci on individuals known to be resistant to subgroup A and B viruses. It is suggested that these Rous sarcoma virus stocks carry between 1 and 10% of a true subgroup C virus.     

Simian Virus 40 Transformation and the Period of Cellular Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis

The antiviral agents interferon and statolon protected cells of the mouse line 3T3 against the transforming effect of simian virus 40. Loss of ability of these agents to protect when added some time after infection indicated that the transformation was already fixed. The cells of exponentially growing cultures became resistant to the protective effect of interferon at a linear rate after infection; after one cell generation, the whole population was resistant. By use of synchronous cultures, it was shown that, in cells passing though the G-1 period of the growth cycle, the transformation did not pass the interferon-sensitive stage, whereas cells in S [the period of cellular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis] readily passed this stage (i.e., became interferon-resistant). An irreversible step in transformation appeared to occur in cells synthesizing DNA, and it seems likely that replicating cellular DNA was the target of the viral action.