Fetal lung disaturated phosphatidylcholine. Ostensible increase following exposure to dexamethasone

Fetal rat lung removed at 15 days gestation and placed in organ culture incorporates choline into phosphatidylcholine. Addition of 10(-9) M dexamethasone resulted in increased rates of choline incorporation per micrograms protein after both 6 and 12 days culture. This concentration of dexamethasone did not increase tissue phosphatidylcholine or disaturated phosphatidylcholine. Thus, at a culture time when dexamethasone had a significant effect on choline incorporation, there was no change in either the total phospholipid or disaturated phosphatidylcholine content of the lung tissue. The transplacental administration of dexamethasone decreased fetal lung DNA and phospholipid content. At the mid-range dosage tested (400 micrograms), dexamethasone depressed DNA (51%) appreciably more than total phosphatidylcholine (28%) and disaturated phosphatidylcholine (33%). These results show that the hormone does not increase the total amount of surfactant per lung. The increased disaturated phosphatidylcholine per mg DNA results in an ostensible beneficial effect of dexamethasone on surfactant and may reflect an increased proportion of Type II cells in fetal lung both in vitro and in vivo following hormone exposure. Disaturated phosphatidylcholine per Type II alveolar cell is no doubt increased but the trade-off is fewer total cells in the lung.     

Chemical modification of peptides by hydrazine.

High pressure ('performance') liquid chromatography on reverse-phase supports has been used to characterize the products arising from the hydrazine treatment of peptides. In addition to converting arginine residues into ornithine, the reaction was found to cleave predominately Gly-Xaa, Xaa-Gly, Asn-Xaa and Xaa-Ser peptide bonds. Peptide-bond cleavage and deguanidation was studied as a function of time of exposure to hydrazine, hydrazine concentration and temperature. The convenience of this method of chromatography for the rapid low-cost separation and isolation of peptides, as well as their reaction products, is illustrated at the level of material required for solid-phase microsequencing.     

Modification by simetryn sulphoxide of a specific thiol group in rat haemoglobin.

Native rat haemoglobins were found to bind simetryn sulphoxide to an extent 40-fold greater than human haemoglobin. This specific behaviour was studied by using only high-pressure ('performance') liquid chromatography for the preparative separation of globin chains and the isolation of peptides resulting from chemical and enzymic degradation. High recoveries (greater than 80%) of peptides throughout the procedures in combination with microsequence techniques, allow a definitive assignment of the residue undergoing modification. The haemoglobin beta-chain cystine-125 residue, with a stoichiometry of one per tetramer of rat haemoglobin, was found to be modified. Stereochemical implications of this finding are discussed. Simetryn sulphoxide would appear to be useful as a specific reagent for the mapping of exposed thiol residues in proteins.     

The effects of hyperphenylalaninaemia on the concentrations of aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid in vivo. A mechanism for the inhibition of neural protein synthesis by phenylalanine.

An acute administration of phenylalanine to neonatal animals has been reported to result in large decreases in the intracellular concentrations of several essential amino acids in neural tissue, as well as an inhibition of neural protein synthesis. The present report evaluates the effects of the loss of amino acids on the concentrations of aminoacyl-tRNA in vivo, with the view that an alteration in the concentrations of specific aminoacyl-tRNA molecules could be the rate-limiting step in brain protein metabolism during hyperphenylalaninaemia. tRNA was isolated from saline- and phenylalanine-injected mice 30-45 min after injection, by using a procedure designed to maintain the concentrations of aminoacyl-tRNA present in vivo. Periodate oxidation of the non-acylated tRNA and aminoacylation with radioactively labelled amino acids was used to determine the proportion of tRNA that was present in vivo as aminoacyl-tRNA. Although decreases in the intracellular concentrations of alanine, lysine and leucine were observed after phenylalanine administration, the concentrations of alanyl-tRNA, lysyl-tRNA and leucyl-tRNA actually increased by 15%. Although tryptophan has been suggested to be rate-limiting during hyperphenylalaninaemia, the proportion of tryptophan tRNA that was acylated was maximal in both normal and hyperphenylalaninaemic animals. This unexpected increase in aminoacyl-tRNA concentration is discussed as perhaps a secondary effect resulting from the phenylalanine-induced inhibition of protein synthesis. In contrast, the proportion of methionine tRNA that was acylated in vivo after phenylalanine administration was demonstrated to be decreased by approx. 17%. When the isoaccepting species of methionine tRNA were separated by reverse-phase column chromatography, three species were separated, one of which was demonstrated to be the initiator species, tRNAfMet, by the selective aminoacylation and formylation with Escherichia coli enzymes. After the administration of phenylalanine, the acylation of each of the three methionine tRNA species was decreased, with the initiator species being lowered by 10%. This effect on aminoacylation of tRNAfMet may be the primary step by which phenylalanine affects neural protein synthesis, and this is consistent with previous reports that re-initiation may be inhibited during hyperphenylalaninaemia.     

Myocardial Revascularization in Patients 70 Years of Age and Older

Myocardial revascularization has been carried out by us in 67 patients 70 years of age or older. Advanced coronary artery disease was found at angiography in more than two thirds of the patients. The postoperative morbidity and mortality compare very favorably with those in younger patients. The early and late mortality in the 67 patients was 4.5 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively. Fifty-seven survivors have been followed an average of 21 months; for most patients there has been a pronounced improvement in clinical classification. Properly selected, patients of advanced age can undergo successful revascularization surgical procedures. The adequacy of function of the left ventricle, proper timing of the surgical operation and an aggressive yet realistic approach seem to be major determinants for a good result.     

Zinc content of the gills of rainbow trout (S. gairdneri) after treatment with zinc solutions under normoxic and hypoxic conditions

Forty specimens of rainbow trout (54–127 g) were divided into 4 groups which were treated as follows: (a) normoxic clean water; (b) hypoxic clean water; (c) normoxic water with 10 ppm zinc for 10 h; (d) hypoxic water with 10 ppm zinc for 10 h. The zinc content was determined separately for each of the 4 gill arches on each side of the fish. Values for the zinc concentration were greater following the zinc treatments, but no significant difference between hypoxia and normoxia was observed. Differences in concentrations of zinc were found in different arches whether expressed per gram dry weight or per unit surface area of the secondary lamellae.     

Formative and proliferative cell divisions,cell differentiation,and developmental changes in the meristem of Azolla roots

The root of the water fern Azolla is a compact higher-plant organ, advantageous for studies of cell division, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis. The cell complement of A. filiculoides Lam. and A. pinnata R.Br. roots is described, and the lineages of the cell types, all derived ultimately from a tetrahedral apical cell, are characterised in terms of sites and planes of cell division within the formative zone, where the initial cells of the cell files are generated. Subsequent proliferation of the initial cells is highly specific, each cell type having its own programme of divisions prior to terminal differentiation. Both formative and proliferative divisions (but especially the former) occur in regular sequences. Two enantiomorphic forms of root develop, with the dispositions of certain types of cell correlating with the direction, dextrorse or sinistrorse, of the cell-division sequence in the apical cells. Root growth is determinate, the apical cell dividing about 55 times, and its cell-cycle duration decreasing from an initial 10 h to about 4 h during the major phase of root development. Sites of proliferation progress acropetally during aging, but do not penetrate into the zone of formative divisions. The detailed portrait of root development that was obtained is discussed with respect to genetic and epigenetic influences; quantal and non-quantal cell cycles; variation in cell-cycle durations; relationships between cell expansion and cell division: the role of the apical cell; and the limitation of the total number of mitotic cycles during root formation.