Observations of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, infected with Cryptobia salmostica

Rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri , were experimentally infected with Cryptobia salmositica . The parasitaemia was associated with increases in the size of the spleen, liver and heart (% body weight). The splenomegaly was pronounced and was often 600-fold larger. The amounts of blood lactic acid and lactic dehydrogenase in the infected and control fish were similar. However, glycogen levels of the liver, heart and epaxial muscle declined. Liver glycogen levels were most affected and decreased to values which represented 20% of the control values. The pattern of the glycogen levels of the liver, heart and epaxial muscle declined to rise to normal values by day 56 post-inoculation. Thus, the glycogen levels both paralleled the acute parasitaemia and the subsequent partial recovery of the infected fish as they tolerated a low chronic parasitaemia.     

Growth-dependent expression of a cell surface glycoprotein

The expression of the hepatocellular membrane receptor for desialylated galactose-termining glycoproteins was studied during different proliferative stages of a human hepatoma cell line. Rapidly growing cells exhibited a reduced endocytotic rate of desialylated orsomucoid as compared to non-growing cells. This reduction was shown to be the consequence of a lower concentration of active cell-surface associated receptor protein in the dividing cells.     

Rat striatal dopamine and tetrahydrobiopterin content following an intrastriatal injection of manganese chloride

Injection of manganese into the rat corpus striatum causes a rapid fall in the biopterin and dopamine (DA) content ipsilateral to the lesion. Two weeks after the lesion both biopterin and DA are partially recovered. Controls, injected with saline or magnesium, do not show alterations in their DA or cofactor levels. It is proposed that the fall in DA levels results from a rapid displacement of the amine from its storage sites by manganese followed by a decrease in the rate of DA synthesis causes by the drop in cofactor levels.     

Quantification of human spermatogenesis: germ cell degeneration during spermatocytogenesis and meiosis in testes from younger and older adult men

Germ cell degeneration during spermatocytogenesis and meiosis was investigated to explain the age-related decline in daily sperm production (DSP). Numbers of Types A-dark, A-pale, and B-spermatogonia, potential daily sperm production per g parenchyma (PDSP) based on type B-spermatogonia, early primary spermatocytes, and late primary spermatocytes, and DSP per g based on early spermatids were determined in 15 men aged 20 to 48 yr (mean +/- SEM, 33 +/- 2 yr) and 15 men aged 52 to 90 yr (65 +/- 3 yr). Testes obtained within 15 h of death (largely due to trauma or heart failure) were perfused vascularly with glutaraldehyde. The number of each cell type per g parenchyma was calculated as the product of the percentage of nuclei in the parenchyma times a correction factor for section thickness and nuclear diameter divided by the volume of a single nucleus of that cell type. Paired testicular weight was lower (p less than 0.01) in older men (33 +/- 3 g) than in the younger men (49 +/- 3 g). Younger and older men had similar numbers of A-dark, A-pale, and B-spermatogonia per g parenchyma. PDSP based on late primary spermatocytes and DSP based on early spermatids were lower (p less than 0.01) in older men than in younger men. In younger men, PDSP was similar (p greater than 0.05) between B-spermatogonia and late primary spermatocytes, whereas DSP measured at the spermatid level was abruptly lower than that estimated from younger cell types. Older men showed reduction in PDSP between early and late primary spermatocytes, with further reduction occurring in DSP at the spermatid level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Radiometric assay for cytochrome P-450-catalyzed progesterone 16 alpha-hydroxylation and determination of an apparent isotope effect

In the course of studies on the oxygenation of steroids by purified P-450 cytochromes, particularly rabbit liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 form 3b, a rapid and reliable radiometric assay has been devised for progesterone 16 alpha-hydroxylation. In view of the lack of a commercially available, suitably tritiated substrate, [1,2,6,7,16,17-3H]progesterone was treated with alkali to remove the label from potential hydroxylation sites other than the 16 alpha position. The resulting [1,7,16-3H]progesterone was added to a reconstituted enzyme system containing cytochrome P-450 form 3b, NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase, and NADPH, and the rate of 16 alpha-hydroxylation was measured by the formation of 3H2O. This reaction was shown to be linear with respect to time and to the cytochrome P-450 concentration. An apparent tritium isotope effect of 2.1 was observed by comparison of the rates of formation of tritium oxide and 16 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, and the magnitude of the isotope effect was confirmed by an isotope competition assay in which a mixture of [1,7,16-3H]progesterone and [4-14C]progesterone was employed.