General method for the derivation and numerical solution of epithelial transport models

Summary A general method is presented for the formulation and numerical evaluation of mathematical models describing epithelial transport. The method is based on the principles of conservation of mass, and maintenance of electroneutrality within the cells and bathing solutions. It is therefore independent of the specific membrane transport mechanisms, and can be used to evaluate different models describing arbitrary transport processes (including passive, active and cotransport processes). Detailed numerical methods are presented that allow computation of steady-state and transient responses under open-circuit, current-clamp and voltage-clamp conditions, using a general-purpose laboratory minicomputer. To evaluate the utility of this approach, a specific model is presented that is consistent with the Koefoed-Johnson and Ussing hypothesis of sodium transport in tight epithelia (Acta Physiol. Scand. 42:298–308, 1958). This model considers passive transport of an arbitrary number of permeant solutes, active transport of sodium and potassium, and osmotically induced water transport across the apical and basolateral membranes. Results of the model are compared to published experimental measurements in rabbit urinary bladder epithelium.     

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) stimulates locomotor activity in intact and hypophysectomized newts (Amphibia)

Locomotor activity of rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) was significantly higher in intact and hypophysectomized males injected intracranially with 100 ng CRF (ovine corticotropin-releasing factor) than in those injected with 10 ng CRF or saline. In addition, an injection of corticosterone or dexamethasone failed to stimulate newt locomotor activity. These results provide evidence that CRF can act independently of pituitary hormones to stimulate locomotor activity in a nonmammalian vertebrate.     

Abdominal positioning interneurons in crayfish: projections to and synaptic activation by higher CNS centers

Electron microscopic observations suggest that venom from isolated nematocysts of the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war, Physalia physalis, causes histamine release via a rapid, short-duration exocytosis of granules and a slower, long-duration lysis of mast cells. Fine structural changes in mast cells are concurrent with histamine release and are independent of the presence of leukocytes. Vesiculation of the plasma membrane and release of granules nearest the cell surface occur within 10 sec after exposure to 100 micrograms venom/10(5) cells. Released granules and granules retained in plasma membrane invaginations are fibrous and less electron opaque than more centrally located granules. Complex channels to the external medium continue to form, and within 1 min, characteristics of both degranulation and cytolysis are well advanced. Mitochondria are swollen or disrupted. Microridges are absent. Intracellular granules are significantly fewer in venom-treated mast cells, but are more widely separated than in controls. This suggests that degranulation occurs at early stages but is halted as cytolysis proceeds.     

Cloning and expression of a cDNA encoding a maize glutathione-S-transferase in E. coli.

The isolation and characterization of a family of maize glutathione-S-transferases (GST's) has been described previously. These enzymes are designated GSTs I, II and III based on size, substrate specificity and responsiveness to safeners. GST III has been shown to act on the herbicide alachlor as well as the commonly used substrate 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB). Clones were isolated from a maize cDNA library in lambda gt10. Three clones contained the entire coding region for GST III. The sequences of these clones were consistent with the known amino terminal GST III protein sequence. Moreover, expression of one of these clones in E. coli resulted in a GST activity as measured with both CDNB and alachlor, proving that at least one of the clones encodes an active GST III species. With the enzyme expressed in E. coli it will become possible to study enzyme structure-function relationships ex planta. While a number of different GST proteins are present in maize tissue the GST III gene is present in single or low copy in the genome.     

Refolding of serine proteinases

Bovine trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen were successfully refolded as the mixed disulfide of glutathione using cysteine as the disulfide interchange catalyst. The native structures were regenerated with yields of 40%-50% at pH 8.6 and 4 degrees C, and the half-time for the refolding was approximately 60-75 min. We then refolded threonine-neochymotrypsinogen, which is a two-chain structure held together by disulfide bonds and produced on cleavage of Tyr 146-Thr 147 in native chymotrypsinogen [Duda CT, Light A, J Biol Chem 257 9866-9871, 1982]. Neochymotrypsinogen was denatured and fully reduced, and the thiols were converted to the mixed disulfide of glutathione. The two polypeptide fragments, representing the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains, were separated on Sephadex G-75. Mixtures of the polypeptide fragments varying in the ratio of their concentration from 1:5 to 5:1 were refolded with yields of 21-28%. The lack of dependence on the concentration of either fragment and the relatively high yields suggest independent folding of the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains. When the globular structures of the domains formed, they then interacted with one another and produced the native intermolecular disulfide bridge and the proper geometry of the active site.     

Physiology of F-Pilin Synthesis and Utilization

Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was used to study the synthesis and turnover of F-pilin in membrane preparations of Escherichia coli K-12 under conditions which have been reported to affect the production of F-pili. Incorporation of [³⁵S]methionine into membrane F-pilin by cells in log phase was barely detectable at 25°C, but increased with temperature. The labeled pilin band was prominent in membranes from 37°C cultures and even more prominent if the growth temperature was raised to 42°C. The appearance of other tra products in the membranes was similarly temperature dependent. In cultures grown in glucose minimal medium at 37°C, the relative amount of membrane pilin and traT product synthesis remained unchanged from early log phase through early stationary phase; provision of glycerol or arabinose as a substitute carbon source had no obvious effect. Turnover of traT product and membrane F-pilin, as assessed in an Flac tra mutant strain which is incapable of elaborating pili, was not rapid. Both traT product and pilin subunits labeled in mid-log phase cells were still apparent in the membranes after growth of the cells to stationary phase. The relative amount of labeled pilin decreased with prolonged incubation in stationary phase, but the relative amount of traT product did not decrease even after the culture was incubated for 24 h. When wild-type Flac piliated cells were used, a similar result was obtained, but in this case, loss of F-pilin from the preparations could be acclerated by blending the cells. Although intermittent blending during culture growth caused a slow depletion of the labeled pilin pool, continuous blending resulted in the rapid disappearance of this pool from our preparations. Loss of other membrane polypeptides was not accelerated by our blending procedure, and blending did not affect the turnover of the pilin pool of the Flac tra mutant. Our data are consistent with a model in which pilin subunits are assembled transiently into pili, conserved by retraction, and made available for subsequent reassembly. Growth in 0.01% sodium dodecyl sulfate did not accelerate loss of pilin from the Flac strain compared with the Flac tra strain, and we suggest that in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate at this concentration, F-pili are not elaborated from cell surfaces.     

Evidence for androgen independence of male mounting behavior in white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii)

Previous experiments have shown that expression of mounting behavior in sexually inexperienced, adult male white-crowned sparrows does not require elevated plasma levels of androgen; adult males maintained on nonstimulatory short days mount sexually receptive females. The experiments reported here demonstrate that (1) sexually inexperienced, prepubertal males maintained on nonstimulatory short days show very low mounting rates in response to female sexual displays; (2) these males exhibit high mounting rates when exposed to stimulatory long days but androgen treatment on short days is ineffective in stimulating high mounting rates; and (3) prepubertal castration has no effect on the expression of mounting behavior by photostimulated adult males. Thus, there is no evidence that mounting behavior of adult male white-crowned sparrows depends on androgen.     

Convenient,laboratory procedure for producing solid d-arabino-hexos-2-ulose (d-glucosone)

The production of solid d-arabino-hexos-2-ulose (d-glucosone) from d-glucose by use of an enzyme, pyranose-2-oxidase (EC 1.1.3.10), is described. The enzyme is extracted from the mycelia of Polyporus obtusus, partially purified, and then immobilized on activated CH-Sepharose 4B. The enzymic conversion of d-glucose into d-glucosone is simple and convenient, and provides a product free from residual d-glucose. Lyophilization of the filtered reaction-solution yields the product, solid d-glucosone. Assay methods have been developed for monitoring the enzymic reaction and evaluating the purity of the final product.