RNA and DNA in developing retinae: comparison of a normal with the degenerating retinae of C3H mice

Abstract— The Nucleic acids were measured in developing retinae of normal (DBA) mice and those afflicted with an inherited degenerative disease (C3H). The content of RNA in normal and C3H retinae increased to a maximum at 5 days of postnatal age. Thereafter, that of C3H retinae declined to a value lower than the normal. The content of DNA in normal and C3H retinae was maximal at 10 and 5 days of postnatal age, respectively. By 20 days, it declined in both retinae to nearly adult values. The DNA/RNA ratio of normal adult retinae was about 3, while that of C3H adult retinae was nearly 1–5. It is proposed that the photoreceptor cells possess a smaller cytoplasmic volume and a larger DNA/RNA ratio than the cells of the inner retina. The loss of DNA in developing normal and C3H retinae appears to result from cellular death. It was calculated that approximately 1 million cells in normal and 6 million cells in C3H retinae disappear during development. Cellular death in C3H retinae may not be restricted to the photoreceptor population.     

Intestinal Coccidiosis in a Patient with Alpha-chain Disease

During an ultrastructural study of small-intestinal mucosa from a patient suffering from alpha-chain disease organisms were identified within the epithelial cytoplasm which showed the fine structural features of the coccidian group. Though coccidiosis is well recognized as causing a diarrhoeal and often lethal illness in animals it has been neglected as a cause of disease in man. Thus this finding may be significant and warrants further investigation into its possible role in the pathogenesis of alpha-chain disease.     

Effects of 1-ethynylpyrene and related inhibitors of P450 isozymes upon benzo[a]pyrene metabolism by liver microsomes

The effects of three aryl acetylenes, 1-ethynylpyrene (EP), 2-ethynylnaphthalene (EN) and 3-ethynylperylene (EPE), upon the metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) by microsomes isolated from rat liver were investigated. These aryl acetylenes all inhibited the total metabolism of BaP. Formation of BaP 7,8-dihydrodiol and BaP tetrol products by microsomal preparations from rats that had been pretreated with 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) were preferentially inhibited. The effects of EP upon the metabolism of BaP 7,8-dihydrodiol by microsomes from rat liver were also studied. This aryl acetylene strongly inhibited the formation of BaP tetrols from BaP 7,8-dihydrodiol by liver microsomes both from untreated rats and from rats pretreated with 3MC, but enhanced the conversion of the BaP dihydrodiol into other metabolites.