Effect of temperature on the growth,total lipid content and fatty acid composition of recently isolated tropical microalgae Isochrysis sp., Nitzschia closterium,Nitzschia paleacea,and commercial species Isochrysis sp. (clone T.ISO)

The effect of temperature from 10 °C to 35 °C on the growth, total lipid content, and fatty acid composition of three species of tropical marine microalgae, Isochrysis sp., Nitzschia closterium, N. paleacea (formerly frustulum), and the Tahitian Isochrysis sp. (T.ISO), was investigated.Cultures of N. closterium, Isochrysis sp. and T.ISO grew very slowly at 35 °C, while N. closterium did not grow at temperatures higher than 30 °C or lower than 20 °C. N. paleacea was low-temperature tolerant, with cells growing slowly at 10 °C. N. paleacea produced the highest percentage of lipids at 10 °C, while the other species produced maximum amounts of lipid at 20 °C. None of the species maintained high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) at high growth temperature and there was a significant inverse relationship between the percentage of PUFAs and temperature for N. paleacea. A curved relationship was found between temperature and percentage of PUFA for N. closterium and tropical Isochrysis sp., with the maximum production of PUFA at 25 °C and 20 °C, respectively. The two Nitzschia species produced higher levels of the essential fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid [20:5(n-3)] at lower growth temperatures, but the two Isochrysis species had little change in percentage of 20:5(n-3) with temperature. Only T.ISO had the highest percentage of 22:6(n-3) at lowest growth temperature (11.4% total fatty acids at 10 °C).School of Mathematical and Physical SciencesAuthor for correspondence     

Vasoactive properties of urotensins I and II in a columbiform and three galliform birds, and a bioassay for urotensin I

Summary Crude extracts ofGillichthys urophyses and chromatographically purified urotensin I (UI) and urotensin II (UII) (fromCatostomus urophyses) were injected intravenously intoCoturnix coturnix japonica, Colinus virginianus, Alectoris graeca (Galliformes) andColumba livia (Columbiformes). Changes in arterial blood pressure were monitored. UI elicited dose-dependent vasodepressor responses in all birds. Thioglycollate treatment abolished the depressor action of arginine vasotocin but not that of UI (in all birds). UII was a pressor agent inCoturnix andColinus, both members of the Galliformes. However, the hormone had no pressor activity inColumba, a member of the Columbiformes, and in another member of the Galliformes,Alectoris. The pressor effect of UII was also dose-dependent. Injection of crude urophysial extract intoColinus andCoturnix, therefore, elicited biphasic responses. UII effects can be abolished by prior incubation with carboxypeptidase A. Intravenous injection of the -adrenoceptor blocker, phenoxybenzamine, prior to urotensin injections had no effect on the responses to urotensins. As the chukar,Alectoris graeca, is sensitive to UI and resistant to anesthesia and surgery, and does not readily develop tachyphylaxis to repeated UI injections, its use is recommended as a routine bioassay animal for UI.     

An in vitro comparison of Trypanosoma spp. (subgenus Schizotrypanum) from bats

Summary Epimastigotes of Trypanosoma vespertilionis from diphasic blood agar cultures were on the average longer and the distance between the nucleus and kinetoplast greater than epimastigotes of T. hedricki, T. myoti and T. dionisii. Also, no yellow granules were seen in the epimastigotes of T. vespertilionis whereas they were obvious in the other three species. Long thin trypomastigotes which are characteristic of T. hedricki, T. myoti and T. dionisii cultures were not seen in T. vespertilionis. T. dionisii was much less infective to fibroblasts from mice and did not develop in fibroblasts from chicken, as did T. hedricki and T. myoti. Blood trypomastigotes were seen in chicken embryos inoculated with blood agar cultures of T. hedricki and T. myoti, but none was seen in embryos infected with T. dionisii.The cultural characteristics examined could not be used to differentiate T. hedricki from T. myoti. ac]19810317     

Mitotic arrest and enhanced nuclear protein phosphorylation in human leukemia K562 cells by okadaic acid, a potent protein phosphatase inhibitor and tumor promoter.

We investigated the effects of the non-phorbol tumor promoter okadaic acid on human leukemia K562 cells. It was found that okadaic acid potently and reversibly inhibited cell growth, with a nearly complete inhibition of thymidine uptake seen at about 10 nM. The cytotoxicity of okadaic acid was characterized by a marked mitotic arrest of the cells exhibiting scattered chromosomes and abnormal anaphase-like structures, a phenomenon distinct from the typical metaphase arrest caused by colchicine. Okadaic acid (10-1,000 nM) greatly stimulated phosphorylation of a number of nuclear proteins in K562 cells. Phosphorylation of many of the same proteins was also stimulated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-O-acetate, a protein kinase C activator. The present findings, consistent with recent reports that okadaic acid is a potent inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A (PP1 and PP2A) shown to be essential for normal mitosis, provided evidence for the first time that okadaic acid inhibition of PP1/PP2A resulted in enhanced nuclear protein phosphorylation and subsequent mitotic arrest.     

NMR relaxation characteristics of rubidium-87 in perfused rat salivary glands.

Rubidium is a good substitute for potassium in many biological systems, and it has been suggested that rubidium-87 nuclear magnetic resonance (87Rb-NMR) spectroscopy could be used to measure K+ fluxes across membranes in intact tissues. To evaluate this possibility, isolated rat mandibular salivary glands were perfused with solutions containing Rb+ in place of K+. The 87Rb signals arising from the intra- and extracellular compartments were first separated by spectral subtraction and then subjected to line-shape analysis. The narrow extracellular signal was a single Lorentzian (line-width 156 Hz), whereas the broader intracellular signal consisted of two Lorentzian components (ca. 530 and 3080 Hz). Double-quantum filtering of the 87Rb signal from the glands revealed two components of transverse relaxation in antiphase (rate constants 1.8 and 13.3 ms-1), showing the probable involvement of quadrupolar interactions in the relaxation of intracellular Rb+. We conclude, therefore, that both line-shape analysis and double-quantum filtering could provide a basis for the measurement of unidirectional K+ fluxes in intact tissues.     

Source of prolactin in human follicular fluid.

To analyze whether prolactin (PRL) in human follicular fluid (FF) is synthesized locally or derived from the circulation, PRL concentrations of plasma and FF were determined in the patients after ovarian stimulations. The amounts of PRL messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in the follicular tissues during different menstrual phases were also determined. The FF PRL concentration was correlated positively with plasma PRL and highest estradiol levels during the stimulatory cycle. No PRL mRNA sequence was detected in the RNAs extracted from follicles at any stage in the menstrual cycle, although beta-actin mRNA was detected in all samples. In a comparison with pituitary RNA, the PRL mRNA concentration in ovarian follicular tissues seemed to be 10,000 times less than that in the pituitary. These results suggest that FF PRL may not be synthesized locally, but derived from the pituitary via the circulation through passive diffusion, and thus regulated by estrogen.     

Compound heterozygosity in nonphenylketonuria hyperphenylalanemia: the contribution of mutations for classical phenylketonuria

Hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) results from defective hydroxylation of phenylalanine in the liver, in most cases because of defective phenylalanine hydroxylase. HPA is highly variable, ranging from moderate elevation of plasma phenylalanine with no clinical consequences to a severe disease, classical phenylketonuria (PKU). Non-PKU HPA was found in excess of PKU in Israel, while the opposite is true in Europe. To study the genetic basis of non-PKU HPA, we performed haplotype analysis at the phenylalanine hydroxylase locus in 27 families with non-PKU HPA. All individuals with this condition were compound heterozygotes. In six of these families, in which both PKU and non-PKU HPA were segregating, haplotype analysis showed that non-PKU HPA resulted from compound heterozygosity for a PKU mutation and a second mutation, with milder effect, which is probably expressed only when it interacts with the severe mutation. The involvement of PKU mutations in non-PKU HPA was further demonstrated in Jewish Yemenite families with non-PKU HPA, in which the individuals with this condition were carriers of the single PKU allele which exists in this community. In addition, two previously known PKU point mutations (R261Q and R408W) were found in individuals with non-PKU HPA. These mutations are associated, in our population, with the same haplotypes as those with which it is associated in Europe. Based on the above-mentioned genetic model for non-PKU HPA, successful prenatal diagnosis of this condition was performed in one family.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)