Pancreatitis-associated protein in bile acid-induced pancreatitis of the rat

Experimental pancreatitis was induced in rats by intraductal injection of 0-4% Na-taurocholate. After 0-21 days the glands were removed and amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin were measured in pancreatic homogenates. The enzyme activities decreased within 48 h to 5-20% of the control values. When 0-1% Na-taurocholate was used, the values tended to increase after 10-21 days. In pancreatic tissue, 12 h after induction of pancreatitis a 'pancreatitis-associated protein' (PAP) was found, which persisted for 4-7 days. A correlation could be found between the severity of pancreatitis and the amount of PAP in pancreatic homogenates.     

Effects of a carotene-deficient diet on measures of oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase activity in adult women

The effect of consuming a low carotene diet (≈60 μg carotene/day) on oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in women living in a metabolic research unit was evaluated. The diet had sufficient vitamins A, E, and C. The women ate the diet supplemented with 1500 μg/day β-carotene for 4 days (baseline), then the unsupplemented diet for 68 days (depletion), followed by the diet supplemented with > 15,000 μg/day carotene for 28 days (repletion). Production of hexanal, pentanal, and pentane by copper-oxidased plasma low density lipoproteins from carotene-depleted women was greater than their production of these compounds when repleted with carotene. Erythrocyte SOD activity was depressed in carotene-depleted women; it recovered with repletion. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in plasma of carotene-depleted women were elevated and diminished with repletion. Dietary carotene seems to be needed, not only as a precursor of vitamin A, but also to inhibit oxidative damage and decrease oxidation susceptibility.     

Detection byin-situ fluorescence of short,single-copy sequences of chromosomal DNA

Short single-copy probes have been widely used in plant molecular biology. However, they have rarely been effective in plant research usingin situ hybridization techniques, possibly due to limitations imposed by the cell wall. We recently developed two fluorescencein situ hybridization protocols for the single-copy sequence detection in soybean. By enzymatically removing the cell wall, single-copy sequences as short as 1 kb were detected by probes using standard fluorescencein situ hybridization or PCR-primedin situ hybridization (PCR-PRINS). Such technology is useful for genome analysis, in plant molecular, cellular, and biotechnological research.