LONG-TERM ORGAN CULTURE OF THE SALAMANDER HEART

Beating salamander hearts were maintained in tissue culture for periods ranging from 1 to 6 months. After 1, 3, or 6 months of culture, six hearts, along with six control hearts, were fixed for electron microscopy. In control tissue, the sarcoplasmic reticulum usually demonstrated the normal pattern of paired, linearly arranged membranes, although in some cases, the reticulum showed a variation from these membranes to a series of small vesicles. There was no evidence of a T-system of tubules in any of the material examined. Desmosome-Z band complexes were observed in almost all sections of both control and experimental material. A possible role of these complexes in the excitation-contraction mechanism is discussed. In 3 month cultured material, alterations in normal myofibrillar pattern occurred. Small segments of myofibrils branched from one Z band to join the Z band of an adjacent myofibril, or appeared to be fraying out into the sarcoplasm. In 6 month cultured material, myofibrils were fragmented into short segments from which myofilaments frayed out into the sarcoplasm. This filamentous material may be remnants of myofilaments. Despite the morphological changes in myofibrils, the heart pulsation rate, established at the beginning, was maintained throughout the culture period. It is suggested that the alterations, observed in the experimental material, occurred in elements not essential for heart beat maintenance, or that these alterations have not yet progressed to a critical point of affecting the heart beat.     

Developmental mechanisms in heterospory

The megasporangium of Selaginella sulcata (Desv.) Spring contains approximately equal numbers of megasporocytes of two kinds that can be distinguished on size and ultrastructure. These are called viable and non-viable. During the prophase of meiosis the non-viable megasporocytes degenerate by a process corresponding to cellular autophagy. One viable megasporocyte completes the meiotic cycle and the others persist, presumably as diploid cells, in the post-meiotic megasporangium; and it is shown that in S. plana (Desv.) Hieron an exine is formed on these. The possible significance of the particular disposition of the mitochondria and of intranuclear vesicles in the viable megasporocytes is discussed.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for stochastic first order reactions

Small sample properties of the maximum likelihood estimator for the rate constant of a stochastic first order reaction are investigated. The approximate bias and variance of the maximum likelihood estimator are derived and tabulated. If observations of the system are made at timesiτ,i=1, 2, ...,N; τ>0, the observational spacing τ which minimizes the approximate variance of the maximum likelihood estimator is found. The non-applicability of large sample theory to confidence interval derivation is demonstrated by examination of the relative likelihood. Bartlett’s method is employed to derive approximate confidence limits, and is illustrated by using simulated kinetic runs.     

Rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase. Purification and properties

Alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.1) from the rat liver supernatant fraction has been purified 200-fold and partially characterized. The isolation procedure involved ammonium sulphate fractionation, DEAE-Sephadex chromatography and gel filtration. The purified enzyme behaved as a homogeneous preparation as evaluated by cellulose acetate and polyacrylamide-gel disc electrophoresis. Sulphoethyl-Sephadex chromatography and immunoelectrophoresis with rabbit antiserum indicated the presence of a minor component. Rat liver alcohol dehydrogenase appears to contain 4mol of zinc/mol, has an estimated molecular weight of 65000 and consists of two subunits of similar molecular weight. Heavy-metal ions, thiol-blocking reagents, urea at concentrations below 8m, low pH (5.5) and chelating agents deactivate the enzyme but do not dissociate it into subunits. Deactivated enzyme could not be reactivated. The enzyme is strictly specific for NAD(+) and has a broad specificity for alcohols, which are bound at a hydrophobic site. Inhibition occurred with the enzyme equilibrated with Zn(2+) at concentrations above 0.1mm.     

SPRING MIGRATION OVER PUERTO RICO AND THE WESTERN ATLANTIC, A RADAR STUDY

Migration over Puerto Rico was recorded by time-lapse filming of the display of a long-range surveillance radar on 40 days and 37 nights in the period 2 March-29 May 1971. Moderate density movements occurred every night; low density movements occurred on most days. Many birds, primarily passerines, took off from Puerto Rico each evening at 20–45 minutes after sunset.
Almost all birds flew to the west, NW or north. Birds were seen approaching from the direction of the Windward Islands and Venezuela, over Puerto Rico, and departing towards the Bahamas and eastern coast of the U.S. Uni- and multivariate analyses showed that the number of birds departing W-N each evening was positively correlated with following winds.
There is less night-to-night variation in the amount of migration at Puerto Rico than in eastern North America. However, this is apparently the result of less variable weather in the tropics, not the result of any lesser degree of meteorological selectivity by the migrants.
The tracks of the birds were correlated with wind direction. Birds moved WNW-NW with NE side winds but NW-NNW with SE following winds. The tracks were rarely exactly downwind. The variance amongst the directions of individual birds at any given time was usually small and not correlated with cloud cover or magnetic disturbances. The estimated headings of the birds varied from day to day in a pattern suggesting adjustment of headings to compensate at least partially for lateral wind drift.
In autumn many birds approach Puerto Rico from the north or even east of north; in spring few birds moved in the opposite directions. This difference in routes takes advantage of prevailing wind patterns.     

The accumulation of 65Zn and other Radionuclides by Tubificid Worms

Tubificid worms did not accumulate radionuclides bound to sediments, but did accumulate dissolved radionuclides. The level of accumulation of dissolved ⁶⁵Zn by the worms was dependent upon temperature and concentration of the radionuclide. This paper is based on work performed under United States Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1)-1830. This paper is based on work performed under United States Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1)-1830.