The effect of increasing glucose in CPD on the quality of stored blood

Changes in quality of blood units containing one and a half or double amounts of glucose, stored at +4 degrees C for three weeks were analysed. An experimental preservative containing glucose and fructose (1 : 1) was also used. No other additives (purine or purine-nucleoside) were applied. A standard CPD preservative of the National Inst. of Haematology and Blood Transfusion was used as control. The pH, plasma free haemoglobin, K+ content, red blood cell (RBC) ATP and 2,3-DPG content, and RBC fragility index were determined in each sample. Increase of glucose concentration, the addition of fructose had a beneficial effect on blood pH, and on plasma free haemoglobin and K+ concentration. 150% glucose improved the 2,3-DPG maintenance in stored blood.     

Free Edges in Epithelial Cell Sheets Stimulate Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling

The ability of epithelia to migrate and cover wounds is essential to maintaining their functions as physical barriers. Wounding induces many cues that may affect the transition to motility, including the immediate mechanical perturbation, release of material from broken cells, new interactions with adjacent extracellular matrix, and breakdown of physical separation of ligands from their receptors. Depending on the exact nature of wounds, some cues may be present only transiently or insignificantly. In many epithelia, activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a central event in induction of motility, and we find that its continuous activation is required for progression of healing of wounds in sheets of corneal epithelial cells. Here, we examine the hypothesis that edges, which are universally and continuously present in wounds, are a cue. Using a novel culture model we find that their presence is sufficient to cause activation of the EGFR and increased motility of cells in the absence of other cues. Edges that are bordered by agarose do not induce activation of the EGFR, indicating that activation is not due to loss of any specific type of cell–cell interaction but rather due to loss of physical constraints.     

Induction of porphobilinogen oxygenase and porphobilinogen deaminase in rat blood under conditions of erythropoietic stress

Porphobilinogen is the substrate of two enzymes: porphobilinogen deaminase and porphobilinogen-oxygenase. The first one transforms it into the metabolic precursors of heme and the second diverts it from this metabolic pathway by oxidizing porphobilinogen to 5-oxopyrrolinones. Rat blood is devoid of porphobilinogen-oxygenase under normal conditions while it carries porphobilinogen-deaminase activity. When the rats were submitted to hypoxia (p_O2 = 0.42 atm) for 18 days, the activity of porphobilinogen-oxygenase appeared at the tenth day of hypoxia and reached the maximum at the 14–16th day. It decreased to a half after 2 days (half-life of the enzyme) and disappeared after 4 days of return to normal oxygen pressure. Porphobilinogen-deaminase activity increased after the first day of hypoxia, reached a maximum at the 14–16th day and did not decrease to normal values until the 15th day after return to normal oxygen pressure. The activities of both prophobilinogen-oxygenase and porphobilinogen-deaminase were induced by administration of erythropoietin. When rats were made anaemic with phenylhydrazine, porphobilinogen-oxygenase activity also appeared in the blood cells. Although the reticulocyte concentration was higher when compared to that obtained under hypoxia, the activities of the oxygenase obtained under both conditions were comparable. Porphobilinogen-deaminase activity was always closely related to the reticulocyte content. The appearance of porphobilinogen-oxygenase under the described erythropoietic conditions was due to a de novo induction of the enzyme, as shown by its inhibition with actinomycin D and cycloheximide. Porphobilinogen-oxygenase as well as porphobilinogen-deaminase were present in the rat bone marrow under normal conditions. Their activities increased in phenylhydrazine treated rats. The properties and kinetics of porphobilinogen-oxygenase from the rat blood and bone marrow were determined and found to differ in several aspects.     

Ultrastructure of Weddellomyces epicallopisma (Dothideales, Dacampiaceae, Ascomycota), especially of its ascospores]

An ultrastructural study of Weddellomyces epicallopisma (ascomata wall, asci, ascospores and vegetative hyphae), the first done on the family Dacampiaceae, confirms most of the observations made in light microscopy. Moreover it shows that ascospores are provided with an endospore (not visible in light microscope) and that the structure of the ascospore septum is more complex. The similarity of the wall structure between the ascospore and the hyphoid appendages, developed on the upper part of the ascoma, is emphasized.     

Low responsiveness of six-rowed genotypes to androgenesis in barley does not have a pleiotropic basis.

A heterozygous mutant for the two- and six-rowed character was isolated in the barley cultivar Igri through application of sodium azide to isolated microspore cultures and posterior regeneration. Six-rowed and two-rowed homozygotic plants were subsequently identified in the self-pollinated M2 progenies of the original heterozygous M1. Detailed molecular markers confirmed the isogenic nature of this recovered mutant and the original cultivar Igri. A comparative study of the anther culture response of this six-rowed induced mutant vs. diploid 'Igri' was performed to assess whether the two- or six-rowed gene influences anther culture response in barley through a pleiotropic effect or via linkage disequilibrium. No significant differences for any of the recorded variables throughout the in vitro regeneration process were detected between the 'Igri' six-rowed mutant and any of their two-rowed isogenic lines. This suggests that row-type association with anther culture response in barley cultivars is due to the effect of a tight linkage with other genes directly responsible for androgenic response.     

Tn10 mutagenesis in Azotobacter vinelandii

Summary The tetracycline-resistant transposon Tn10 and its high-hopper derivative Tn10HH104 were introduced into the Azotobacter vinelandii genome using suicide conjugative plasmids derived from pRK2013. Several types of mutants induced by either of these elements are described. Nif^- mutants (deficient in nitrogen fixation) were easily isolated, whereas the isolation of other mutant types (auxotrophs, sugar non-users) required special selection conditions. The characterization of the mutations as transposon insertions was often complicated and sometimes required a combination of genetic and physical tests. A common source of complication, the existence of double inserts, was found among the mutants induced by Tn10HH104 but not among those induced by Tn10. Both the high-hopper and the wild-type element proved to undergo secondary transpositions, albeit at different frequencies. Another type of complication, the existence of heterozygotes, occurred because of the high level of redundancy of the A. vinelandii genome.     

Calcium in hippocampus following lidocaine induced seizures: an electron cytochemical study

The effect of lidocaine seizures on cellular accumulation of calcium was studied in hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA3 and the dentate gyrus of rats, using the combined oxalate-pyroantimonate method. The specificity of the reaction was ascertained by EGTA treatment and X-ray microanalysis. In control rats, calcium was visualized between myelin lamellae of axons, in synaptic vesicles and in some lysosomes. Two hours after onset of lidocaine seizures selective neuronal degenerations appeared in hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA3 but not in the dentate gyrus. Calcium deposits were present in numerous mitochondria of pyramidal cells and, occasionally, also of neuroglial cells. Many of these mitochondria exhibited ultrastructural alterations. Calcium uptake was most prominent in the CA3 sector but was also present in the CA1 subfield as well as the dentate gyrus. Intracellular calcium uptake, in consequence, is not the unique attribute of selectively vulnerable hippocampal neurons.     

Serum cortisol level changes in the maternal-fetoplacental unit between the 28th-40th weeks of pregnancy

Changes in the serum cortisol level of maternal venous, umbilical venous and umbilical arterial blood were studied separately between the 28th-36th weeks in cases of preterm deliveries (n = 74) and in the 40th week in cases of term delivery (n = 34). Results indicate that between the 28th-40th weeks of pregnancy the cortisol concentration increased only in the serum of the umbilical artery; the "umbilical arterial/umbilical venous concentration X100" quotient rose from a value of 86% measured at 28th-32nd weeks to 103% in the 40th week of pregnancy. Positive correlation was found between the cortisol concentration of the three samples. On the basis of these results the authors believe that fetal adreno-cortical activity increases before birth.