The in vivo incorporation of linolenic acid into neuronal and glial cells and myelin

Abstract— Neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and myelin were prepared from 21-day-old rat brain at various times after intracerebral injection of [1-¹⁴C]linolenate. Comparisons of phospholipid specific radioactivity demonstrated that the oligodendrocytes were much more active than neuronal, astroglial, or myelin fractions. This is consistent with the concept that the oligodendrocyte is responsible for synthesis of the relatively large mass of myelin sheath. Initially the phosphatidylcholine fraction was more active than the phosphatidylethanolamine fraction, but during the 36 h after injection the former decreased in radioactivity while the latter fraction showed an increase. Fatty acid elongation occurred rapidly. Within 2h after injection, 2/3 of the label had been converted to elongated products (20:4. 20:5, 22:5 and 22:6). All three cell types apparently contained the enzymes necessary to incorporate, elongate, and desaturate linolenic acid and this occurred at similar rates in each cell type. No direct precursor-product relationship was found between the lipids of oligodendrocytes and myelin. There was, however, a lag in the appearance of elongated fatty acids in the phosphoglycerides of myelin. indicating that the polyunsaturated fatty acids in myelin were synthesized elsewhere and transported into the myelin sheath.     

Clonal abortion of bone marrow T cell precursors: T cells acquire specific antigen reactivity prethymically

Lethally irradiated (900 R) mice were reconstituted with bone marrow cells from syngeneic donors that had been tolerized 2 to 3 wk earlier to either DNP or TNP compounds. Five weeks after reconstitution, these animals were tested for their ability to mount a delayed hypersensitivity (DH) response to the tolerizing haptens. Recipient mice were specifically tolerant to the hapten that was used to induce tolerance in the marrow donor. Mixing experiments in which mice were reconstituted with marrow from DNP-tolerant and TNP-tolerant donors showed no indication of active suppression or effective antigen carry-over in this system. This observation held true even in experiments in which mice were reconstituted with a mixture of marrow from tolerant and normal donors at a ratio of 5:1. Thus the reduced responsiveness in recipient mice seemed to be due to the functional elimination of hapten-responsive T cell precursor (pre-T) clones. Recipient unresponsiveness was also shown to be MHC restricted. Maintenance of unresponsiveness appeared to be due to the restricted access of regenerating pre-T cell clones to the maturational influence of the recipient's thymus.     

Significance of partial pre-acidification of glucose for methanogenesis in an anaerobic digestion process

Summary The effect of partial pre-acidification of carbohydrate containing wastewaters on anaerobic digester performance was investigated. The influent was a 1% (w/v) glucose solution in a mineral salts medium imposing carbon-limited growth conditions. Up to 13% of the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) was added as volatile fatty acids (VFA).In all cases, addition of VFA to the glucose medium resulted in significant increases in the maximum specific COD-conversion rates of the sludge (both with respect to continuous feeding and following a shock loading), as compared with values found on digestion of glucose media alone.     

Capsular contracture and steroid-related complications after augmentation mammaplasty. A preliminary study.

Ninety-one patients who had had augmentation mammaplasties were evaluated retrospectively. The intra-implant use of steroids appeared to reduce the incidence of breast firmness--at least over the short follow-up period--but there were complications from this which appear to be dose related (mg of Solu-Medrol/100 cc saline). A long-term evaluation of such patients is desirable. Meanwhile, our limited data strongly suggest that the intra-implant use of steroids should be used only with caution as to the dose and with a careful follow-up.     

Regulation of meiotic recombination and prophase I progression in mammals.

Meiosis is the process by which diploid germ cells divide to produce haploid gametes for sexual reproduction. The process is highly conserved in eukaryotes, however the recent availability of mouse models for meiotic recombination has revealed surprising regulatory differences between simple unicellular organisms and those with increasingly complex genomes. Moreover, in these higher eukaryotes, the intervention of physiological and sex-specific factors may also influence how meiotic recombination and progression are monitored and regulated. This review will focus on the recent studies involving mouse mutants for meiosis, and will highlight important differences between traditional model systems for meiosis (such as yeast) and those involving more complex cellular, physiological and genetic criteria.     

Regulation of Apterous activity in Drosophila wing development.

Apterous is a LIM-homeodomain protein that confers dorsal compartment identity in Drosophila wing development. Apterous activity requires formation of a complex with a co-factor, Chip/dLDB. Apterous activity is regulated during wing development by dLMO, which competes with Apterous for complex formation. Here, we present evidence that complex formation between Apterous, Chip and DNA stabilizes Apterous protein in vivo. We also report that a difference in the ability of Chip to bind the LIM domains of Apterous and dLMO contributes to regulation of activity levels in vivo.     

Models of the Na-K pump in cardiac muscle predict the wrong intracellular Na+ activity

The Na-K pump in cardiac Purkinje strands has been carefully studied with voltage clamp and Na+-selective microelectrodes. In three of these studies both the rate of change of intracellular Na+ activity, a(Nai), after pump blockade, and the time constant of reduction of a(Nai) after an Na+ load were measured. These two parameters can be employed with a formalism relating pump activity to a(Nai) in order to predict the a(Nai) in the steady state. Several formalisms were tested: (a) a first-order dependence on a(Nai); (b) a model based on the assumption of a single, saturable, Na+-binding site that must be occupied for transport to occur; (c) a model based on n equivalent, saturable, Na+ binding sites per pump molecule all of which must be occupied for transport to occur. The first two models predicted an a(Nai) that is far below the value of about 6 mM that is experimentally obtained. The third model would work for n greater than or equal to 4. These results suggest that either the cardiac Na-K pump is not well described by available Na-K pump models for n less than 4 or that the measured Na+ influx rate, extrusion rate or a(Nai) are in error.     

Photosynthetic action spectra and adaptation to spectral light distribution in a benthic cyanobacterial mat

We studied adaptation to spectral light distribution in undisturbed benthic communities of cyanobacterial mats growing in hypersaline ponds at Guerrero Negro, Baja California, Mexico. Microscale measurements of oxygen photosynthesis and action spectra were performed with microelectrodes; spectral radiance was measured with fiber-optic microprobes. The spatial resolution of all measurements was 0.1 mm, and the spectral resolution was 10 to 15 nm. Light attenuation spectra showed absorption predominantly by chlorophyll a (Chl a) (430 and 670 nm), phycocyanin (620 nm), and carotenoids (440 to 500 nm). Blue light (450 nm) was attenuated 10-fold more strongly than red light (600 nm). The action spectra of the surface film of diatoms accordingly showed activity over the whole spectrum, with maxima for Chl a and carotenoids. The underlying dense Microcoleus population showed almost exclusively activity dependent upon light harvesting by phycobilins at 550 to 660 nm. Maximum activity was at 580 and 650 nm, indicating absorption by phycoerythrin and phycocyanin as well as by allophycocyanin. Very little Chl a-dependent activity could be detected in the cyanobacterial action spectrum, even with additional 600-nm light to excite photosystem II. The depth distribution of photosynthesis showed detectable activity down to a depth of 0.8 to 2.5 mm, where the downwelling radiant flux at 600 nm was reduced to 0.2 to 0.6% of the surface flux.