Characteristics of a circadian pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus

Summary The nature of the circadian rhythms of the SCN in a hypothalamic island was examined in male rats by recording multiple unit activity from the SCN for longer durations. Successful continuous recording lasted up to 35 days. Neural activity of the SCN inside the island showed free-running rhythms whose periods were slightly longer than 24 h (Figs. 2, 3, Table 1). When the retino-hypothalamic pathway was spared, re-entrainment to a displaced light and dark cycle was attained following a transition period of a few days (Fig. 4). Phases of the rhythms shifted in a phase-dependent manner in response to single light pulses interrupting constant darkness (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6). These results suggest an endogenous nature of the circadian rhythm of the SCN within the hypothalamic island. Thus, neurons or neuronal networks in the SCN may have not only an inherent ability to generate a circadian rhythm, but also an intricate machinery to regulate its phase. Simultaneous recordings from the left and right SCN showed a slight but visible discrepancy in their phases between the two rhythms in 3 out of 12 cases (Fig. 7).Abbreviations LL constant light - LD light-dark - DD constant darkness - SCN Suprachiasmatic nucleus     

Direct infection of hepatocytes by sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei

To identify the unknown liver cell type initially invaded by sporozoites of mammalian malaria, young rats were inoculated intravenously with large numbers of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites obtained from infected Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes. Fine structural studies of liver specimens obtained from the rats within 2 min after inoculation demonstrated the presence of morphologically unaltered sporozoites in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. Many sporozoites were also observed undergoing cytolysis within the lysophagosomes of Kupffer cells, as well as other phagocytic cells. These observations strongly suggest direct infection of the hepatocyte by the sporozoite.     

Interrelation of Two Forms of Ferredoxin-NADP+ Reductase with Different Molecular Weights

The heavier form of ferredoxin-NADP⁺ reductase was extractedfrom spinach leaves or chloroplasts and isolated as the majorfraction at high ionic strengths with ammonium sulfate or sodiumchloride. At low ionic strengths, the form with the higher molecularweight was relatively unstable and was converted gradually intothe lower form. We concluded that the enzyme exists in vivoas the form with the higher molecular weight. ¹Present address: Market Development Department, Shionogi &Co. LTD., 5-Sagisu, Fukushima-ku, Osaka 553, Japan. (Received December 16, 1980; Accepted January 19, 1981)     

Inhibition of Ouabain-binding to (Na+ + K+)ATPase by antibody against the catalytic subunit but not by antibody against the glycoprotein subunit

Antibodies against purified ($\text{Na}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+}\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{)}\text{ATPase}$ from the rectal gland of Squalus acanthias, as well as against its catalytic subunit, inhibited ouabain binding by as much as 50%. However, antibodies against the glycoprotein subunit did not inhibit ouabain binding. These data suggest that binding of antibody against the catalytic subunit to the enzyme either covers the ouabain binding site or destroys its conformation, while binding of antibody against the glycoprotein has no such effect.     

Some observations on the morphological evidence for mechanism of the bile secretion

The morphological evidence of the intracellular route of bile secretion was investigated in the liver of goldfish (Carassius auratus) as revealed by electron microscopy. Smooth surfaced tubules or cisterns within or adjacent to the Golgi apparatus showed linear saccular forms and contained sparse particulate or cloudy materials of low electron density. The isolated vacuoles were restrictedly found between the Golgi apparatus and the intracellular bile canaliculus or hepatocytic side at the zone of transition. These vacuoles showed no reaction for acid phosphatase activity, and contained only a few cloudy materials similar to those found in the saccular tubules and within the bile canaliculus. Some of these vacuoles fused with the luminal cytolemmas of the bile canaliculus. Bases on these findings, it was assumed that these vacuoles are structures participating in transport and secretion of bile constituents and derive from the linearly sacculated tubules or cisterns in the Golgi zone. Duct cells showed no morphological evidence to suggest bile secretion.     

Cellular tumorigenicity in nude mice. Role of susceptibility to natural killer cells

The athymic nude mouse is a useful animal model for assaying the neoplastic growth potential in vivo of animal cells transformed in vitro. Despite the demonstrated absence of thymus-dependent immunological functions, however, the nude mouse has now been shown to reject transplants of certain highly malignant heterologous tumors. In addition, a few transformed mammalian cell lines that exhibit all or most of the cellular phenotypes usually associated with malignancy fail to grow as tumors when injected into nude mice. In a continuing study to identify the in vitro phenotypes associated with tumor-forming ability in vivo, we investigated the role of cellular susceptibility to the naturally occurring, thymus-independent lymphocytes (natural killer or NK cells) in determining tumor induction by animal cells in nude mice. A representative collection of animal cells (ranging from normal human diploid cell strains to highly tumorigenic clonal cell lines, either transformed in vitro or derived from experimental tumors) was tested to see if the ability of cells to form tumors is consistently correlated with their susceptibility to NK cell-mediated lysis measured in vitro with splenic leukocytes from nude mice. If the physiological role of the NK cells in vivo were to recognize, and possibly to destroy, incipient tumor cells in situ, a direct association between cellular tumorigenicity and susceptibility to NK activity, might be expected. If, on the other hand, the formation of growing tumors by animal cells in nude mice depended on their ability to escape the cytolytic activity of NK cells, cellular tumorigenicity would be associated with cellular resistance to NK cells. Results obtained in this study failed to confirm either of these associations. Thus, cellular suscepbibility to NK cells, at least as determined by direct cytotoxicity assay in vitro, is not a useful predictive indicator of cellular tumorigenicity in nude mice.     

Retention of endocrine function by an insulin-secreting pancreatic islet cell tumour from Syrain hamster through serial transplantation in nude mice.

An insulin-secreting islet cell tumour of the Syrian hamster has been transplanted serially in the congenitally immune-deficient nude mouse, in order to test the potential usefulness of this mouse mutant as a graft carrier of heterologous tumours with stable differentiated phenotypes. The incidence of tumour growth was very high, and the hamster tumour retained its functional and histologic characteristics during consecutive passages in nude mice. These results show that nude mice may be useful carriers of differentiated tumours from non-inbred species including man, and for the isolation of cell lines from such tumours.     

The role of C3 as an opsonin in the early stages of infection.

In order to investigate the role of C3 in host defense in vivo, normal AKR/J mice, genetically deficient in C5, were depleted of serum C3 by the injection of purified cobra venom factor (CoVF). Concurrent with their C3 depletion, their serum opsonizing activity decreased to a level less than 20% of normal. When these mice were challenged with an intraperitoneal injection of pneumococci 2 hr after the CoVF treatment, the LD50 was from 30 to 80 times lower than the LD50 in saline-treated control animals. When the CoVF was given only 6 hr after the pneumococcal challenge, the LD50 was the same as in the control mice. If the pneumococci were first preopsonized in vitro and then injected into CoVF-treated animals, the LD50 was the same as that in control animals. These experiments demonstrate that C3 plays a significant role in vivo in the host's defense against infection and that a major part of that role is through its action as an opsonin. Furthermore, these experiments demonstrate that the role of C3 is most significant during the early stages of bacterial invasion.     

基于SPEI指数的淮河流域干旱时空演变特征及影响研究

运用淮河流域149个气象站1962—2016年逐日气温、降水资料以及历史旱情资料,基于SPEI、EOF和M-K等方法分析淮河流域的干旱时空特征,研究干旱的时空演变规律并揭示其对农业生产的影响。结果表明:(1)基于SPEI得到的干旱频次与受灾、成灾面积的相关性通过了0.1的显著性水平检验,表明SPEI在淮河流域具有较好的适用性;(2)淮河流域干旱发生时间差异明显,干旱次数呈现波动变化,发生重旱和特旱次数占总干旱的比重是20.0%,其中重旱和特旱在1960s比重最大(24.8%),其次是2010s(15.8%),在1980s比重最低(10.0%);(3)干旱的空间分布差异大,淮河流域干旱频率在27.76%—36.04%之间,西北部和东南部发生干旱强度较西南部、东北部及中部低;(4)淮河流域总体呈干旱化的趋势,从中部到四周呈现由高到低递减的趋势变化,且空间模态表现为全区一致型、南北相反型和东西相反型。