ADVENTURES IN THE STUDY OF BREATHING

Perfect coordination is required between the amount of air breathed to ventilate the air cells of the lungs and the amount of blood pumped through them by the heart.Over-ventilation often accompanies severe emotional disturbances with far-reaching effects on the functions of the brain and other organs. Of particular interest are the effects of altering breathing upon angina pectoris.In conditions with under-ventilation the effects are serious because the carbon dioxide which accumulates acts as a narcotic on the nerve centers which control breathing. If oxygen is given to such patients they may be made much worse and become unconscious. Morphine and other narcotics also make matters worse.Under-ventilation in patients with over-distention of the air cells of the lungs results in a chronic form of carbon dioxide poisoning, so that the lungs may fail in ventilatory function. Recent work by Whittenberger has shown how to combat this situation by mechanical over-ventilation. As the excess of carbonic acid is removed the narcotic effect of the gas is lessened and the nerve center governing breathing resumes more normal operation under which the effect of oxygen is no longer deleterious.     

Purification of a non-dopaminergic and non-GABAergic prolactin release-inhibiting factor (PIF) in sheep stalk-median eminence

Prolactin release-inhibiting factor (PIF) extracted from 1200 sheep stalk-median eminences was purified by gel filtration on a Sephadex G-25 column (4.5 X 150 cm). PIF activity was determined by measuring the inhibition of prolactin release from dispersed anterior pituitary cells of adult male or estrogen-primed, ovariectomized rats. Using this system, PIF was detected in tube fractions 122-127 (volume = 20 ml/tube). These fractions also contained LHRH and somatostatin; however, these peptides had no prolactin-inhibiting activity in the quantities present. No dopamine or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was detected in the active fractions by radioenzymatic assay and fluorophotoenzymatic assay, respectively. Furthermore, receptor blockers for dopamine or GABA did not interfere with the PIF activity. These findings indicate that the PIF activity cannot be attributed to either dopamine or GABA, both of which are known to inhibit prolactin release, and provide evidence for the presence of a non-dopaminergic and non-GABAergic PIF within the hypothalamus.     

Biosynthesis of Ubiquinone in Escherichia coli K-12: Location of Genes Affecting the Metabolism of 3-Octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoic Acid and 2-Octaprenylphenol

Two genes (ubiB and ubiD) concerned with two successive reactions in ubiquinone biosynthesis in Escherichia coli were mapped and found to be closely linked. Mutant strains of E. coli carrying the ubiB(-) and ubiD(-) alleles were shown to accumulate 2-octaprenylphenol and 3-octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid, respectively. These compounds were isolated and identified by using nuclear magnetic resonance and mass and infrared spectroscopy. Cell extracts from the mutant strain carrying the ubiD(-) allele lack 3-octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoate decarboxylase activity.     

Methyl Green as a Cartilag Setain; Human Embryos

The development of this technique derived from a need to demonstrate the sites of developing cartilage in the human embryo. The basic procedure was that of Yntema (1970), which used methyl green on turtle embryos. However, the thickness of the soft tissues in human embryos of 90-125 mm crown-rump (CR) length and the opacity caused by pigments in this tissue when the specimen was cleared necessitated the modification of the original procedure; specifically, the introduction of bleaching. The altered procedure is given below.     

Plasmodium berghei: inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase block exoerythrocytic schizogony

DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine and DL-alpha-monofluoromethyldehydroornithine methyl ester, inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase, blocked exoerythrocytic schizogony of Plasmodium berghei in mice and in cultured human hepatoma cells. These effects were reversed by exogenous administration of the polyamine, spermidine. The antimalarial drug, primaquine, the side chain of which is structurally analogous to a natural polyamine, did not enhance the activity of alpha-difluoromethylornithine or alpha-monofluoromethyldehydroornithine methyl ester. These results extend previous observations that polyamines influence the malaria parasite's schizogony outside the red blood cell but not within it.