Comparative evaluation of macrophage stimulation and depression on tumor growth and macrophage content and function in mice

Summary In a syngeneic murine adenocarcinoma model, the administration of glucan, an RE stimulant, inhibited tumor growth and increased tumor macrophage populations. Conversely, the administration of methyl palmitate, an RE depressant, potentiated tumor growth and decreased the number of tumor macrophages. Glucan and methyl palmitate also produced diverse alterations in serum lysozyme levels that reflected their contrasting influences on RE functional status, thus supporting the role of serum lysozyme as an index of macrophage function. The diverse results produced by macrophage stimulation or depression in regard to tumor growth, tumor macrophage population, and serum lysozyme concentration indicate that a relationship may exist between macrophage functional activity and host resistance to neoplasia.     

Dimeric epoxy fatty acid methyl esters: formation,chromatography and mass spectrometry

The formation of dimers is reported from the thermal treatment of a series of epoxy fatty acid methyl esters. These compounds were isolated from the reaction mixture by steric exclusion chromatography and were subsequently characterised by their high resolution electron impact and ammonia chemical ionisation mass spectra. The spectra were consistent in each case with the presence of a mixture of four possible positional isomers each containing an ether bridge linking a pair of fatty acid methyl esters across the carbon chains, with a keto group on a carbon adjacent to the bridge on one of the esters.     

Trichinella spiralis: Generation in the presence of rat serum of factors chemotactic for rat cells

Chemotaxis of rat peritoneal cells, of which the eosinophil was the predominant migratory cell type, toward incubates of Trichinella spiralis was studied using a modified Boyden chamber. Excysted muscle larvae, preadults, and adults were incubated in a buffered medium for 20 hr at 37 C. Worms were incubated alone or with serum or spleen cells, or both, from immune and nonimmune rats. Incubates of worm stages alone possessed no chemotactic activity as compared with incubation medium as a negative control and zymosan-activated serum as a positive control. Both normal and immune sera tested alone stimulated cell migration to the same degree. Incubates of spleen cells from either normal or immunized hosts did not show chemotactic activity. Chemotaxis caused by normal and immune sera were not altered by incubation with homologous spleen cells. Addition of larva, preadults, and adult worms to sera, however, enhanced chemotactic activity over sera alone. Chemotaxis caused by larvae plus immune sera was significantly greater than that stimulated by larvae plus normal sera. This difference decreased when preadults were substituted for larvae and was not observed when adult worms were used. Reversal of the chemical gradients showed that active cell migration caused by various incubates was due to Chemotaxis.     

DNA and protein content of mouse sperm: Implications regarding sperm chromatin structure

A variety of biochemical and histochemical techniques have been used to compare the composition of chromatin in sperm nuclei isolated from the epididymides of five mouse strains. The DNA content was determined by phosphorus analysis, deoxyribose analysis, absorption spectroscopy at 260 nm, and cytomorphometry following gallocyanine chrome alum staining. All four methods indicate that the mouse sperm nucleus contains approx. 3.3 pg DNA and that the DNA content does not vary significantly among the strains tested. Three different techniques, quantitative amino acid analysis, absorption spectroscopy at 230 nm, and sperm head density analysis in cesium chloride, were used to determine the protein content. Sperm nuclei from each strain of mouse were found to have a protein to DNA ratio of 0.9 and a chromatin protein content of 3 pg/nucleus. Comparisons of the basic proteins by disc gel electrophoresis demonstrate that the sperm nuclei contain only protamine and lack significant levels of somatic histones or transition proteins. The sperm from each strain contained both mouse protamine variants and the relative distribution of the two proteins did not appear to differ among strains. Using this information, we have been able to draw certain conclusions regarding DNA-protamine interactions and the mode of DNA packaging in the sperm nucleus. The most important of these is that the DNA in the mouse sperm nucleus cannot be packaged in nucleosomes. The protamines in sperm chromatin do not function as structural proteins, providing a subunit core around which the DNA is wrapped, but appear to completely neutralize the phosphodiester backbone of the DNA molecule, thereby minimizing the repulsion between neighboring segments of DNA and allowing it to be condensed into a biochemically inactive particle of genetic information.     

The relation of acyl transfer to the overall reaction of thiolase I from porcine heart

Thiolase I (long chain 3-ketoacyl-CoA-specific) from porcine heart has been characterized kinetically. In the direction of acetoacetyl-CoA cleavage, a variety of thiols including CoASH show the same Vmax at saturating concentrations of acetoacetyl-CoA. At a constant overall velocity of acetoacetyl-CoA disappearance, one of the two acetyl groups from acetoacetyl-CoA will partition between CoASH and 2-mercaptoethanol at increasing 2-mercaptoethanol concentrations. These observations suggest rate-determining formation of an acetyl enzyme intermediate in the direction of acetoacetyl-CoA cleavage. In the direction of acetoacetyl-CoA formation from two molecules of acetyl-CoA, the Vmax of acetoacetyl-CoA formation is identical with the Vmax for an acetyl-CoA in equilibrium CoA isotope exchange reaction and the Vmax for an enzyme-catalyzed acetyl transfer reaction between acetyl-CoA and 2-mercaptoethanol. This suggests that in the direction of acetoacetyl-CoA synthesis, the acetyl transfer half-reaction is rate-limiting. The acetyl intermediate has been isolated and characterized. The equilibrium constant for acetyl enzyme formation from acetyl-CoA and free enzyme is 1 +/- 0.5 X 10(-2). The rate constant for spontaneous hydrolysis of the acetyl enzyme (2.6 X 10(-4) s-1) is a factor of 400 faster than the rate constant for acetyl-CoA hydrolysis under comparable conditions. The acetyl enzyme is thermodynamically and kinetically destabilized compared to acetyl-CoA.     

Genetic variability for regional brain gangliosides in five strains of young mice

The quantitative and qualitative distributions of gangliosides were determined in the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem of five inbred strains (C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, LG/J, C3H/HeJ, BALB/cJ) of mice at 21 days of age. Genetic differences were found among the strains for wet weight, absolute amount of gangliosides per region, and concentration of ganglioside (expressed on both a wet and a dry weight basis) in all three regions of the brain. The water content of the various brain regions showed the least amount of genetic variability. Coefficients of genetic determination were used to estimate the magnitude of genetic influence on these traits in each brain region. Significant differences were also found among the five strains for the distribution of certain gangliosides. The DBA strain, which is susceptible to audiogenic seizure at this age, had the highest level of the myelin-enriched ganglioside G_M1 in all brain regions. Most of the genetic variation that influences the content and distribution of gangliosides among neurologically normal mice can be considered polygenic. Several possible sources of this genetic variation that may contribute to the differences observed among the strains are discussed.This work was supported by USPHS Grant NS 11853 and by a grant from the Swebilius Fund. T. N. S. is the recipient of a USPHS postdoctoral fellowship (1F32NS0443).     

Correlations between epidermal cell structure and endogenous hormone titers during the fifth larval instar of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta

Epidermal cell morphology and cuticle production in Manduca sexta are directly influenced by both ecdysterone and juvenile hormone. Up to day 6 of the last larval instar, post-molt endocuticle is continuously deposited even though cells undergo a partial and temporary separation from the overlying cuticle at the time when a small ecdysteroid peak is detected (approximately day 3.5). At about days 6--7 when another, larger ecdysteroid peak is present, apolysis occurs accompanied by the appearance of edcysial droplets. Following apolysis, layers of pupal cuticle are deposited. Increased quantities of rough endoplasmic reticulum characterize the epidermis at times of peak endocuticle deposition (day 3, larval cuticle; day 9, pupal cuticle). Dense pigment inclusions are found in epidermis from the day of ecdysis to the last larval instar until they are eliminated 5 days later. These dense bodies migrate from cell apex to base in the absence of juvenile hormone (or in the presence of a negligible amount of juvenile hormone) and probably contain insecticyanin.     

In vitro metabolism of possible ecdysone precursors by the prothoracic glands of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta

3 beta, 14 alpha-Dihydroxy-5 alpha-7-en-6-one (5 alpha-ketodiol) (1) is metabolized by the prothoracic glands to 2,22-dideoxy-5 alpha-ecdysone (4) and 2-deoxy-5 alpha-ecdysone (3) but not to ecdysone (5) or any other 5 beta-metabolites. Similarly, 3 beta,5 alpha,14 alpha-trihydroxy-cholest-7-en-6-one (5 alpha-ketotriol) (8) is hydroxylated at C-22 and C-25 (9,10) of the side chain. However, 3 beta,14 alhpa-dihydroxy-cholesta-4,7-diene-6-one (ketodienediol) (11) is not metabolized. The absence of 2 beta-hydroxymetabolites for substrates (1) and (8) implies that hydroxylation at C-2 can occur only when the A-B rings are cis fused (5 beta-configuration). By contrast, the enzyme complexes that introduce hydroxyls at C-22 and C-25 do not exhibit a preference for cis over trans fusion and appraently cannot recognize the planar A-B ring configuration.     

Ultrastructural development of the neurohemal organ joined to the ecdysial gland after imaginal moulting in the male isopod Sphaeroma serratum fab. (Crustacea Flabellifera)

Summary The present ultrastructural study deals with the lateral cephalic nerve plexus of Sphaeroma serratum, a neurohemal organ joined to the Y organ (ecdysial gland). This plexus acts as a storage centre for neurosecretory products from two sources: the two autochtonous cells (plexus cells) within the plexus itself, and the neurosecretory cells in various parts of the central nervous system, particulary the mandibular ganglion (A-cells).In prepuberal animals, plexus cells and subesophageal A-cells produce neurosecretory granules of two types measuring 1550±50Å and 1570±40Å respectively. Five categories of axon terminals were distinguished in the plexus. The granules found in two of these terminal types are believed to come from the plexus cells and from the mandibular ganglion A-cells.Cessation of production of neurosecretory granules in these A cells and plexus cells was observed in puberal animals, in the plexus with concomitant depletion and disappearance of different granule categories. The first axon terminals affected by this process are the two categories containing granules originating in the plexus and mandibular ganglion A-cells. Degeneration of the ecdysial gland in male Sphaeroma serratum might be connected with the cessation of granule formation in these two types of cell.

---

Résumé Chez Sphaeroma serratum, la mue de puberté est suivie d'une dégénérescence de l'organe Y (glands de mue). Le plexus nerveux céphalique latéral, organe neurohémal accolé à cette glande a été l'objet de la présente étude ultrastructurale. Cet organe représente un centre de stockage de neurosécrétions qui proviennent d'une part, de deux cellules autochtones (cellules plexales) situées au sein même de ce plexus, d'autre part, de cellules neurosécrétrices situées dans le ganglion mandibulaire (cellules de type A).Chez les individus pubères, les cellules plexales et les cellules A du ganglion sous-oesophagien synthétisent des granules de neurosécrétion dont la taille est respectivement 1550±50Å et 1570±40Å. Il a été reconnu au sein du plexus 5 catégories de terminaisons dont les granules proviendraient pour deux d'entre elles des cellules plexales et des cellules A du ganglion mandibulaire. Chez les animaux pubères on observe un arrêt de la synthèse des granules de neurosécrétion au sein des cellules plexales et des cellules A du ganglion mandibulaire. Simultanément on enregistre dans le plexus la raréfaction puis la disparition des divers types de granules. Ce processus atteint en premier les terminaisons correspondant aux cellules plexales et aux cellules A du ganglion mandibulaire. La dégénérescence de la glande de mue chez les mâles pourrait être en relation avec l'arrêt de synthèse de ces cellules.