Aspirin enhances evaporation in hydrated and dehydrated rats

The effect of acetysalicylic acid (aspirin) on thermoregulation in a warm environment was studied in hydrated and dehydrated adult rats to test the hypothesis that dehydration hyperthermia can be modified by an antipyretic drug. Metabolic rate (MR), evaporative water loss (EWL), and deep body temperature (Tb) were measured during 2 h of exposure to an ambient temperature of 36 degrees C after the rats had received an oral pellet of aspirin (100 mg.kg-1) or placebo. The dehydrated placebo group had a higher Tb and lower EWL than the hydrated placebo group. Aspirin increased MR and EWL in both hydrated and dehydrated animals. Aspirin did not affect Tb in hydrated rats, but reduced Tb by 0.2 degree C in dehydrated rats during the heat exposure. The elevation in EWL appears to be a thermoregulatory response to increased heat production in both hydrated and dehydrated animals after aspirin treatment. The possibility that aspirin may act in dehydrated animals to restore central thermosensitivity toward hydrated levels needs to be tested further.     

Synthesis and evaluation of a series of 1-(3-alkyl-2,3-dideoxy-alpha,beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)thymines

A series of 1-(3-alkyl-2,3-dideoxy-alpha,beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl)thymines (3'-alkyl-3'-deoxythymidines) has been prepared from 5-O-(tert-butyldiphenylsilyl)-2,3-dideoxy-D-glycero-pent-2- enono-1,4-lactone ((S)-5-[(tert-butyldiphenylsilyl)oxymethyl]-2(5H)- furanone) by Michael addition of the appropriate organocopper reagent, followed by reduction of the lactone, acetylation of the resulting hemiacetal, and trimethylsilyl triflate-catalyzed coupling with 2,4-di-O-(trimethylsilyl)thymine. The protected nucleosides were desilylated by using tetrabutylammonium fluoride to give anomeric mixtures of the free nucleosides. The unsubstituted 2',3'-dideoxynucleoside analog was similarly prepared from 5-O-(tert-butyldiphenylsilyl)-2,3-dideoxy-D-glycero-pentono- 1,4-lactone ((S)5-[(tert-butyldiphenylsilyl)-oxymethyl]-dihydro-2(3H)-fu r anone).     

The effect of salts in fermenting mashes on the microbiological assay ofl-lysine

During a study of the effects of high concentrations of NaCl, NaNO₃ and KC1 on the production of lysine bySaccharomyces cerevisiae during the fermentation of glucose (Richmond 1980) it was learned that amounts of salt greater than 0.6 M in the microbiological assay sample could change the apparent concentration of lysine in the sample. This could be corrected by adding to the lysine assay broth sufficient salt to match the concentration in the sample tube and then developing a revised standard curve. The additional salt, in turn, required that the microbiological assay time be lengthened.     

The effect of pH on yields of hydroxyl radicals produced from superoxide by potential biological iron chelators

The efficiency of conversion of superoxide to hydroxyl radicals was measured by determining the yields of fluorescent hydroxybenzoates. A variety of iron-containing catalysts were tested. Citrate was the only organic salt which showed catalytic activity at neutral pH. Adenine nucleotides had little or no activity under similar conditions. Heme proteins were inactive and any catalytic activity measured with transferrin, lactoferrin, and conalbumin could be explained by free Fe3+ released by the former two at acid pH. Many of the potential catalysts tested showed maximum activity near pH 4.8, where the rate of dismutation of O2-. is highest. This suggests that in most systems the rate-controlling step in the superoxide-driven Fenton process was the formation of H2O2. It was concluded that, with the exception of citrate, none of the biological compounds tested were able to assist the conversion of O2-. to HO. with significant efficiency at neutral pH in homogeneous solutions.     

Reversion and immobilization of phage Mud1 cts (Apr lac) insertion mutations in Salmonella typhimurium

Summary Phage Mud1 cts (Ap^r lac), or Mud1, insertion mutations may be accompanied by adjacent deletion formation which can complicate use of lac fusions generated with this phage for gene regulatory studies. As for phage Mu insertion mutations, phage Mud1 insertions fail to revert at significant frequency (whether or not accompanied by an adjacent deletion). We describe isolation of revertible (X mutant) derivatives of phage Mud1 in Salmonella typhimurium. The X mutant derivatives allow use of reversion as a simple test to determine whether a Mud1 insertion has occurred precisely without an adjacent deletion that may have fused the lac genes to a promoter outside of the gene of interest. In addition, a simple method for stabilizing Mud1 generated lac fusions against subsequent transposition is described.     

Transient Activation of Plasmalemma K Efflux and H Influx in Tobacco by a Pectate Lyase Isozyme from Erwinia chrysanthemi

A purified pectate lyase isozyme derived from Erwinia chrysanthemi induced rapid net K⁺ efflux and H⁺ influx in suspension-cultured tobacco cells. Comparable fluxes of other ions (Na⁺, Cl⁻) were not observed. The K⁺ efflux/H⁺ influx response began within 15 minutes after addition of enzyme to cell suspensions and continued for approximately 1 hour after which cells resumed the net H⁺ efflux exhibited prior to enzyme treatment. The response was not prolonged by a second enzyme dose 1 hour after the first. The K⁺/H⁺ response was characterized by saturation at low enzymic activity (2 × 10⁻³ units per milliliter), and inhibition by the protonophore, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, and was not associated with membrane leakiness caused by structural cell wall damage. The total K⁺ loss and H⁺ uptake induced by enzyme was one-fourth to one-third that induced by Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi and did not reduce cell viability. These results indicate that pectate lyase induces a K⁺ efflux/H⁺ influx response in tobacco similar to but of shorter duration than that induced by P. syringae pv. pisi during the hypersensitive response. Pectate lyase or other cell wall degrading enzymes may therefore influence the induction of hypersensitivity.     

Brain peptides and glial growth. I. Glia-promoting factors as regulators of gliogenesis in the developing and injured central nervous system

Glia-promoting factors (GPFs) are peptides of the central nervous system which accelerate the growth of specific glial populations in vitro. Although these factors were first discovered in the goldfish visual system (Giulian, D., Y. Tomozawa, H. Hindman, and R. Allen, 1985, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 83:4287-4290), we now report similar peptides are found in mammalian brain. The cerebral cortex of rat contains oligodendroglia-stimulating peptides, GPF1 (15 kD) and GPF3 (6 kD), as well as astroglia-stimulating peptides, GPF2 (9 kD) and GPF4 (3 kD). The concentrations of specific GPFs increase in brain during periods of gliogenesis. For example, GPF1 and GPF3 are found in postnatal rat brain during a peak of oligondendroglial growth while GPF2 and GPF4 are first detected at a time of astroglial proliferation in the embryo. Stab wound injury to the cerebral cortices of rats stimulates astroglial proliferation and induces marked elevations in levels of GPF2 and GPF4. Our findings suggest that two distinct classes of GPFs, those acting upon oligodendroglia and those acting upon astroglia, help to regulate cell growth in the developing and injured central nervous system.     

Increased Acetylcholine Synthesis and Release in Brains of Cats with GM1 Gangliosidosis

Cholinergic processes were measured in motor cortex, hippocampus, and striatum of cats in the terminal stages of GM1 gangliosidosis and compared to those of control cats. The greatest difference observed was elevation in the rate of K+-stimulated release of acetylcholine (ACh) from brain slices prepared from affected cats. The K+-stimulated release of endogenous ACh was increased by 31-43% and of newly synthesized ACh by 19-80% in brain slices from different brain regions. All regions that were examined were affected but the greatest effects occurred in cortex. The rate of synthesis of ACh was elevated in cortical and hippocampal slices. Choline acetyltransferase activity in brain regions of cats with GM1 gangliosidosis was not significantly different from that in controls, whereas high-affinity choline transport in cortical synaptosomes was elevated. Muscarinic receptor binding sites were reduced in the cortex, hippocampus, and striatum of GM1 mutant cats, whereas the apparent affinity was not altered. These results indicate that there are major alterations of cholinergic function in the brains of cats with GM1 gangliosidosis.     

Characteristics of the β-Adrenoreceptor from Neuronal and Glial Cells in Primary Cultures of Rat Brain

The cellular characteristics of the beta-adrenoreceptor in glial and neuronal cells from the newborn rat brain were determined by (-)-[125I]iodocyanopindolol binding. In membranes from both cell types, the binding was saturable and from competition assays the potency series of (-)-isoproterenol greater than (-)-epinephrine = (-)-norepinephrine greater than (+)-isoproterenol was observed. 5'-Guanylyl-imidodiphosphate reduced the affinity of (-)-isoproterenol for the beta-adrenoreceptor from glial cells but had no effect on agonist affinity in neuronal cells. Chronic treatment of both cell types with (-)-isoproterenol reduced the receptor content and the capacity of the agonist to increase the cellular cyclic AMP content. However, the receptor recovery after chronic agonist treatment was faster in glial cells (72 h) than neuronal cells (120 h) and was blocked by cycloheximide. Treatment of both types with the irreversible beta-blocker bromoacetylalprenololmentane (2 microM) reduced the receptor content by 78% but no receptor recovery was observed for 120 h after the initial receptor loss. The data indicated that the majority of beta-adrenoreceptors in both cell types are the beta-1 subtype, but show some differences in receptor-agonist interactions. Furthermore, these CNS cells may be useful models for regulatory studies on the beta-adrenoreceptor.     

Dilute acid hydrolysis of paper birch: kinetics studies of xylan and acetyl-group hydrolysis

Batch hydrolysis kinetics of paper birch (Betula papyrifera) xylan and its associated acetyl groups in dilute sulfuric acid have been measured for acid concentrations of between 0.04 and 0.18M and temperatures of between 100 and 170 degrees C. Only 5% of the cellulose was hydrolyzed for up to 85% xylan removal. Rate data were correlated well by a parallel reaction model based on the existence of reactive and resistant xylan portions. The resulting rate equation predicts the experimental xylan concentrations in the residue to within 10%. Hydrolysis of xylan-associated acetyl groups was found to occur at the same rate as that of xylan, except at 100 degrees C, where acetyl is released preferentially. No effect of acid concentration on the rate of acetyl removal relative to that of xylan was evident.