The chick oviduct in tissue culture. I. Initial characterization of growing primary oviduct tissue cultures

A simple three-enzyme treatment of collagenase, dispase and hyaluronidase on finely minced chick oviduct yields clumps of 50-150 cells. These cells attach to collagen-treated dishes and survive in culture for at least 2 weeks without subculturing. Oviduct cell cultures can also be induced to grow. Estradiol or epidermal growth factor (EGF) induce a 40% increase in cells in 4 days when cultures are grown in serum levels that do not support growth. Serum from estrogen-stimulated chicks promotes rapid cellular proliferation (doubling times of 1-2 days). Sera from estrogen withdrawn chicks, laying hen or horse do not support as rapid proliferation. The oviduct growth-promoting factors in serum from estrogen-stimulated chicks are not steroids or fibroblast growth factors (FGF). Removal of steroids from these sera by charcoal treatment or delipidization does not decrease the rate of growth. The addition of 1-100 nM estradiol does not increase a serum's ability to promote growth. Purified FGF or platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) do not induce oviduct proliferation. These results were reproduced in oviduct cell cultures started from estrogen-stimulated and withdrawn chicks as well as laying hens. Thus the factors in serum from estrogen-stimulated chicks that promote rapid oviduct growth are induced by estrogen treatments in vivo, but do not seem to be only steroids.     

Hormonal effects on the development changes of mouse small intestinal glycolipids

The composition of intestinal glycosphingolipids during normal and hormone-perturbed development was investigated. The concentrations of glycosphingolipids of mouse small intestine were affected by the injection of thyroxine or cortisone during suckling and weaning periods. GDla was reduced by the hormonal treatment among major gangliosides, GM3, GM1 and GD1a, of mouse small intestine during the suckling period. In contrast, asialo GM1 was precociously produced by the treatment, which scarcely found in control suckling mouse small intestine. The results showed that these hormones were related to developmental alteration of small-intestinal glycolipids.     

The states of tyrosyl and tryptophyl residues in a protein proteinase inhibitor (Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor

The states of tyrosyl and tryptophyl residues of a dimeric protein proteinase inhibitor, Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (Sato, S & Murao, S. (1973), Agric. Biol. Chem. 37, 1067) were studies by solvent perturbation difference spectroscopy with methanol, ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, and deuterium oxide as perturbants, and by spectrophotometric titration at alkaline pH. It appeared that all three tyrosyl residues per monomer of the inhibitor were exposed on the surface of the molecule, and their apparent pK values were estimated separately to be 9.58, 11.10, and 12.42. The single tryptophyl residue per monomer of the inhibitor appeared to be partially buried in the protein molecule.     

Effects of exogenous soluble dextrans on insoluble glucan synthesis by Streptococcus mutans glucosyltransferase

Production of water-insoluble glucan (ISG) from sucrose by cell-free Streptococcus mutans AHT glucosyltransferase (GTF) first rapidly increased, and then sharply declined, as the amounts of water-soluble Dextrans T20 approximately T500 present, were increased. The decline of ISG synthesis was accompanied by an increased synthesis of the water-soluble fraction (SG). Prolonged incubation, however, induced enhanced synthesis of ISG even at higher dextran concentrations. The concentration of dextran required to stimulate or suppress ISG synthesis depended on the amounts of GTF used, but the extent of the stimulation was almost identical for the same GTF/dextran ratio. Thus, ISG synthesis is stimulated by the presence of dextrans at relatively low concentrations, but retarded at higher concentrations by being shifted to SG synthesis. ISG produced in the presence of dextrans contained higher proportions of alpha-1,6 glucosidic linkage and lower molecular size fractions, and possessed lower viscosity. These ISG products did not exhibit the coalescence of two component fibrils as observed with control ISG. These changes combined may contribute to the reduction of ISG-dependent adherence to glass of S. mutans cells by the presence of soluble dextrans, irrespective of their molecular size and concentration.     

Location of Lyb-2 on mouse chromosome 4

TheLyb-2 locus responsible for the B-lymphocyte alloantigen system Lyb-2 is located on chromosome 4 at a distance of 20.6±4.9 map units fromPgm-2. A three-point cross indicated the orderLyb-2: Mup-1b Pgm-2.     

Isolation of citrate-positive variants of Escherichia coli from domestic pigeons, pigs, cattle, and horses.

Twenty-seven isolates of citrate-positive variants of Escherichia coli were obtained from domestic pigeons, pigs, cattle, and horses. With the exception of citrate utilization, all isolates closely resembled typical E. coli in their biochemical reactions. These isolates were multiply resistant to antibiotics in in vitro susceptibility tests. Transfer experiments of multiple-drug resistance to the E. coli K-12 strain showed that all citrate-positive isolates from domestic pigeons, pigs, and cattle, resistant to three or more drugs, carried R plasmids showing temperature-sensitive transfer.     

Analysis of dansyl amino acids by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

All 24 dansyl amino acids were separated by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on Develosil C8-5, using a linear gradient made from Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.75) and methanol. A linear relationship between the amount of sample and peak area was found over the range of 6 to 300 ng (0.02–1 nmol) of dansyl derivatives. An application of this method to the NH₂-terminal analysis of lysozyme is described.