Oral administration of antigen does not influence the proliferation and IFN-γ production of responsive CD8+ T cells but enables to establish T cell clones with different lymphokine production profile.

Feeding of a whole casein diet, which abolished the α_s1-casein-specific proliferation and IFN-γ productivity of CD⁴⁺ T cells, did not affect the proliferative response of CD8⁺ T cells with regard to the antigen dose response, cell dose response, kinetics of the proliferation and epitope specificity, as well as IFN-γ production. To assess the characteristics of the CD8⁺ T cells, we established α_s1-casein-specific CD8⁺ T cell clones from both casein-fed and control mice. The established clones produced different amount of IFN-γ and IL-10, and one clone derived from the casein-fed mice produced a remarkable amount of IL-10. The clones from casein-fed mice produced considerable amounts of TGF-β, while those from control mice produced only small amounts. The possible role of CD8⁺ T cells in oral tolerance is discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characterizations and constructions of reverberating networks

Consider the family $\text{G}$_n of all n neuron networks whose dynamical behaviors are described by Caianiello's neuronic equations, and also its subfamily $\text{R}$_n of all reverberating networks each of whose neuronic equations have only periodic solution (states), i.e., without having any transient states. This paper is specifically concerned with characterizations of the subfamily $\text{R}$_n. First, we show that $\text{R}$_n is contained in a subfamily $\text{S}$_n of $\text{G}$_n consisting of all self-dual networks. We introduce Chow's matrix corresponding to each network of $\text{S}$_n, using Chow parameters and some algebraic operations {$\text{2}$_α} applied to the coefficient matrix of the network in $\text{S}$_n, such as interchanges of coefficients between two neurons or changes of their signs. Then we give some necessary conditions on Chow's matrix under which any network in $\text{S}$_n belong to $\text{R}$_n, and a necessary and sufficient condition on the coefficient matrix. We also discuss relations between Chow's matrix and the maximum period of reverberations. In particular, it is shown that Chow's matrix of a network in $\text{R}$_n is symmetric if and only if the maximum period of reverberations is less than three. By virtue of these results, we propose two methods of construction of networks in $\text{R}$_n. The first method is an inductive construction. The second is based on the algebraic operations.     

Gas chromatographic method for the determination of urinary acetylpolyamines

A gas chromatographic method was developed for the determination of monoacetylputrescine, monoacetylcadaverine, N¹-acetylspermidine and N⁵-acetylspermidine in human urine. The amines were isolated from urine by silica gel column chromatography. 1, 10-Diaminodecane was used as internal standard. The amines were reacted with ethyl chloroformate in aqueous medium to four ethyloxycarbonyl derivatives prior to application to gas chromatography using a flame ionization detector. Separation and determination of the derivatives were carried out on a Uniport HP column (1.0 m) impregnated with 0.5% SP-1000 under temperature-programmed conditions. The monoacetylpolyamines could be measured accurately at the nanomole level. The method was used for the determination of the monoacetylpolyamines in urine of healthy volunteers. The values obtained were in the range of the published data.     

Purification and properties of the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus liberated from polyhedra by dissolution with silkworm gut juice

Occluded virions of the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus were efficiently liberated from polyhedra by dissolution with the silkworm gut juice. The liberated virions were purified by sucrose density gradient centrifugation and the bands of enveloped virions were observed in the gradients. There was no functional difference between the gut juice-liberated and the carbonate-liberated virions. Disruption of enveloped virions by the gut juice was observed, but the formation of nucleocapsids from the degradation of the occluded virions was not detected. High yields of the enveloped virions from the polyhedra dissolved by the gut juice was obtained by separating the virions through sucrose density gradient centrifugation immediately after the dissolution of the polyhedra. Many factors, e.g., rearing seasons, silkworm strains, and rearing conditions, affect the polyhedra-dissolving property of the larval gut juice.     

Genetic polymorphisms of blood proteins in the troops of Japanese macaques,Macaca fuscata: IV. Erythrocyte esterase polymorphism inMacaca fuscata

Genetic variation at the locus controlling A₁ band of erythrocyte esterase was found in the Japanese macaque,Macaca fuscata. Existence of four alleles,Es-A ₁ ¹ ,Es-A ₁ ² ,Es-A ₁ ³ , andEs-A ₁ ⁴ , controlling the mobility of the band and codominance relation between them were postulated. A majority of the troops examined were monomorphic inEs-A ₁ 1-1 phenotype, and the variant phenotypes were observed to occur only in Yugawara-Ihama, Arashiyama, and Koshima areas.     

Development of microbodies in Candida tropicalis during incubation in a n-alkane medium

Development of microbodies in Candida tropicalis pK 233 was studied mainly by electron microscopical observation. The yeast cells, precultured on malt extract, scarcely contained microbodies and showed very low catalase activity. When the precultured cells were transferred to a n-alkane medium and incubated with shaking, the number of microbodies increased and concomitantly the activity of catalase was enhanced. That is, both the area ratio of microbodies in the cell and the ratio of microbodies to cytoplasm in area increased significantly during the utilization of n-alkanes for 8 hrs. Localization of catalase in the microbodies was demonstrated cytochemically by use of 3,3'-diaminobenzidine, but other organella in the cell, except for vacuoles appearing in the early growth phase and mitochondria, were not stained with this reagent. Microbodies seemed to grow by division. Biogenesis of microbodies in the yeast cells is also discussed.     

Induction of the differentiation of human HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cell line by succinoyl trehalose lipids

Four analogs of succinoyl trehalose lipid-3 (STL-3)with saturated even-number or odd-number carbonchains, and unsaturated or halogenated fatty acidswere examined for their ability to inhibit the growthand induce the differentiation of HL-60 humanpromyelocytic leukemia cells. The optimalconcentration of STL-3 at which such activities wererecognized was closed to the critical micelleconcentration of STL-3. Analog of STL-3 witheven-number or odd-number carbon chain and unsaturatedfatty acids strongly inhibited growth and induced thedifferentiation of HL-60 cells, as evaluated in termsof nitroblue tetrazilium-reducing activity and theappearance of the CD36 antigen. An analog of STL-3with halogenated fatty acids significantly inhibitedproliferation but only induced the differentiation ofHL-60 cells. Our results indicate that the effects ofSTL-3 and its analogs on HL-60 cells depend on thestructure of the hydrophobic moiety of STL-3.These authors contributed equally to this work