Toxicity and partial structure of a hepatotoxic peptide produced by the cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena Mertens emend. L575 from New Zealand.

A clonal isolate, termed L575, of the filamentous brackish-water cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena Mertens emend. was found to produce a potent hepatotoxic peptide (50% lethal intraperitoneal dose for the mouse, 60 micrograms/kg) with chemical and toxicological properties similar to those of the hepatotoxic heptapeptides produced by other freshwater planktonic cyanobacteria. The isolate was made from a water sample collected in Lake Ellesmere, New Zealand, in 1980. The toxin, isolated and purified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and analyzed by HPLC amino acid analysis, contained glutamic acid, beta-methyla-spartic acid, and arginine units in equivalent amounts. The fast-atom-bombardment mass spectrum of the toxin indicated the molecular weight to be 824. Batch cultures of strain L575 showed that the toxin content varied between 1.96 and 2.99 mg/g of cells and that a positive correlation between toxin content and chlorophyll a, but not biomass, was present.     

Kinetic evidence for a critical rate of protein synthesis in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell cycle

The kinetics of cell cycle initiation were measured at pH 2.7 for cells that had been arrested at the "start" step of cell division with the polypeptide pheromone alpha-factor. Cell cycle initiation was induced by the removal of alpha-factor. The rate at which cells completed start was identical to the rate of subsequent bud emergence. After short times of prearrest with alpha-factor (e.g. 5.2 h), the kinetics of bud emergence were biphasic, indicative of two subpopulations of cells that differed by greater than 10-fold in their rates of cell cycle initiation. The subpopulation that exhibited a slow rate of cell cycle initiation is comprised of cells that resided in G1 prior to start at the time of removal of alpha-factor, whereas the subpopulation that initiated the cell cycle rapidly is comprised of cells that had reached and become blocked at start. A critical concentration of cycloheximide was found to reintroduce slow budding cells into a population of 100% fast budding cells, suggesting that the two subpopulations differ with respect to attainment of a critical rate of protein synthesis that is necessary for the performance of start. Cycloheximide and an increase in the time of prearrest with alpha-factor had opposite effects on both the partitioning of cells between the two subpopulations and the net rate of protein synthesis per cell, consistent with this conclusion. Cell cycle initiation by the subpopulation of fast budding cells required protein synthesis even though the critical rate of protein synthesis had been achieved during arrest. It is concluded that alpha-factor inhibits the synthesis of and/or inactivates specific proteins that are required for the performance of start, but alpha-factor does not prevent attainment of the critical rate of protein synthesis.     

M?ssbauer spectroscopic studies of the cores of human, limpet and bacterial ferritins

Ferritin cores from human spleen, limpet (Patella vulgata) haemolymph and bacterial (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) cells have been investigated using 57Fe M?ssbauer spectroscopy. The M?ssbauer spectra were recorded over a range of temperatures from 1.3 to 78 K, all the spectra are quadrupole-split doublets with similar quadrupole splittings and isomer shifts, characteristic of iron(III), while at sufficiently low temperatures the spectra of all the samples show well-resolved magnetic splitting. At intermediate temperatures, the spectra from the human ferritin exhibit typical superparamagnetic behaviour, while those from the bacterial ferritin show behaviour corresponding to a transition from a magnetically ordered to a paramagnetic state. The spectra from the limpet ferritin show a complex combination of the two effects. The results are discussed in terms of the magnetic behaviour of small particles. The data are consistent with magnetic ordering temperatures of about 3 and 30 K for the bacterial and limpet ferritin cores, respectively, while the data indicate that the magnetic ordering temperature for the human ferritin cores must be above 50 K. These differences are interpreted as being related to different densities of iron in the cores and to variations in the composition of the cores. The human ferritin cores are observed to have a mean superparamagnetic blocking temperature of about 40 K, while that of the limpet ferritin cores is about 25 K. This difference is interpreted as being due not only to different mean numbers of iron atoms in the two types of core but also to the higher degree of crystallinity in the cores of the human ferritin.     

CD of nucleic acids: III. Calculated CD of RNAs from new A, U, G, and C transition-moment parameters

New adenine (A) and uracil (U) π → π* transition-moment parameters have been derived from a recently developed semiempirical procedure. Using conformational energy probabilities based on the Boltzmann equation, the new parameters were assigned by optimizing the calculated CD of cyclic nucleotides against measured CD. The derived A-and U-parameters (along with guanine and cytosine parameters derived previously by the same procedure) have been assessed in CD spectral calculations of some polyribonucleic acid sequences, in assumed A-class geometries. Comparisons have been made between CD spectra calculated from the newly derived parameters and those calculated from parameters obtained from a combination of crystal optical measurements and quantum-mechanical calculations. Although some spectral differences do occur, for the RNA sequences considered, no major disagreements were found in CD spectral signs and shapes, between measurements and calculations. Overall, the results indicate that the newly derived A-, U-, G-, and C-parameters show better agreement between theory and experiment than those used in previous nucleic acid CD calculations.     

The receptors responsible for heat production in brown adipose tissue in the young rabbit

It is known that adrenergic agonists stimulate thermogenesis in the brown fat of the young rabbit but the receptors responsible for mediating the response have not been identified. The infusion of either noradrenaline or isoproterenol (1-2 micrograms . kg-1 X min-1) produced an increase in subcutaneous temperature (0.93 +/- 0.15 and 1.22 +/- 0.10 degrees C, respectively over the interscapular brown fat. At low doses (0.4 microgram . kg-1 X min-1) only isoproterenol was effective. The thermogenic response to isoproterenol was blocked by atenolol, a beta 1-adrenergic antagonist. Neither salbutamol or terbutaline, both beta 2-agonists, produced a temperature increase. Collectively, these data suggest that stimulation of beta 1-adrenoceptor is primarily responsible for the thermogenic activity of brown fat in the rabbit. However, it was found that 53% of the increase in temperature could be blocked by prazosin, an alpha 1-antagonist. Phentolamine was not effective as a blocker. Although a maximal brown fat thermogenic response can be achieved by stimulating the beta-adrenoceptors, the alpha-adrenoceptors appears to play at least an auxiliary role in young rabbit.     

Arylsulphatase activity associated with phenanthrene induced digestive cell deletion in the marine mussel Mytilus edulis

Summary The acid hydrolase arylsulphatase has been localized at the ultrastructural level in digestive cells of the marine musselMytilus edulis for control and phenanthrene-treated (200µg/l) animals. In untreated mussels the activity was generally restricted to the lysosomal—vacuolar system and the Golgi apparatus. It was associated with all types of vesicle, although not all individual vesicles were reactive. In heterolysosomes which were filled with precipitate the reaction product was most densely associated with the limiting membranes. Lipid inclusions commonly occurred in the digestive cells; these sometimes showed limited reaction for enzyme activity. The striking difference between normal and phenanthrene-treated samples was the presence in all treated animals of reaction product in the inter-cellular spaces and varying degrees of cytoplasmic activity in a number of digestive cells. This is interpreted as a sign of impending cell deletion. Sections for morphological examination showed evidence of increased digestive cell deletion in phenanthrene-treated mussels. The process results in release of membrane-bound bodies into the tubule lumen.     

Is the insulin resistance of patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus secondary to insulin deficiency?

Defects in both insulin secretion and action have been documented in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), leading to the suggestion that both fasting hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in NIDDM are secondary to insulin deficiency. In order to test this hypothesis, insulin secretion (plasma insulin response to oral glucose) and insulin action (insulin clamp) were determined in 25 patients with NIDDM. The results documented relationships between incremental plasma insulin response to glucose and degree of fasting hyperglycemia (r = -.045, P less than 0.05) and insulin-stimulated glucose utilization (r = 0.25, P = NS). These data indicate that differences in insulin secretory response accounted for only approximately 20% of the variance in fasting plasma glucose level and 6% of the variance in insulin resistance in NIDDM. Thus, differences in insulin-secretory response contribute modestly to magnitude of glycemia, and not at all to variations in insulin resistance in NIDDM, permitting rejection of the hypothesis that insulin resistance is secondary to insulin deficiency.     

Correlation between immunoreactive vasotocin in optic tectum and seasonal changes in reproductive behaviors of male rough-skinned newts

Previous studies have shown that intracranial administration of the amphibian neuropeptide arginine vasotocin (AVT) to male rough-skinned newts (Taricha granulosa) can stimulate masculine sexual behaviors. The present study was conducted to determine whether concentrations of endogenous AVT in specific brain areas are correlated with seasonal changes in sexual behavior. Immunoreactive (ir) AVT was measured in the dorsal preoptic area and in the optic tectum throughout the course of the reproductive cycle. In the optic tectum, irAVT levels were low throughout the summer, fall, and winter, but rose over fivefold in the spring when sexual behaviors are most prevalent in male newts. In contrast, irAVT levels in the dorsal preoptic area were high in the summer, but declined in the fall and fluctuated widely during the winter and spring. Thus, there are site-specific changes in irAVT concentrations in the brain of male newts during the seasonal reproductive cycle. The finding that irAVT concentrations in the optic tectum are seasonally correlated with newt sexual behaviors provides further evidence that AVT in this brain area may be important in the expression of sexual behavior.     

Development of aortic and mitral valve continuity in the human embryonic heart

The anatomic relationship of the aortic and mitral valves is a useful landmark in assessing congenital heart malformations. The atrioventricular and semilunar valve regions originate in widely separated parts of the early embryonic heart tube, and the process by which the normal fibrous continuity between the aortic and mitral valves is acquired has not been clearly defined. The development of the aortic and mitral valve relationship was studied in normal human embryos in the Carnegie Embryological Collection, and specimens of Carnegie stages 13, 15, 17, 19, and 23, prepared as serial histologic sections cut in the sagittal plane, were selected for reconstruction. In stage 13, the atrioventricular valve area is separated from the semilunar valve area by the large bend between the atrioventricular and outflow-tract components of the single lumen heart tube created by the left interventricular sulcus. In stages 15 and 17, the aortic valve rotates into a position near the atrioventricular valves with development of four chambers and a double circulation. In stage 19, there is fusion of aortic and mitral endocardial cushion material along the endocardial surface of the interventricular flange, and this relationship is maintained in subsequent stages. Determination of three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates of the midpoints of valve positions shows that, while there is growth of intervalvular distances up to stage 17, the aortic to mitral distance is essentially unchanged thereafter. During the period studied, the left ventricle increases in length over threefold. The relative lack of growth in the saddle-shaped fold between the atrioventricular and outflow tract components of the heart, contrasting with the rapid growth of the outwardly convex components of most of the atrial and ventricular walls, may be attributed to the different mechanical properties of the two configurations. It is postulated that the pathogenesis of congenital heart malformations, which characteristically have failure of development of aortic and mitral valve continuity, may involve abnormalities of rotation of the aortic region or malpositioning of the fold in the heart tube.     

Quinone toxicity in hepatocytes without oxidative stress

The toxicity of quinones is believed to be mediated via redox cycling involving formation of semiquinone radicals which autoxidize to form active oxygen species. However, when the cytotoxicity of benzoquinones was compared using freshly isolated rat hepatocytes, benzoquinones which did not mediate oxidative stress were highly toxic. Thus, the benzoquinone analogs in decreasing order of cytotoxicity were 2-CH3-, 2-Br-, unsubstituted, 2,6-(CH3)2-, 2,5-(CH3)2-, and 2,3,5-(CH3)3-benzoquinone. Cellular thiols were rapidly depleted and glutathione (GSH) was converted to a quinone conjugate without oxidation to glutathione disulfide. No increase in cyanide-resistant respiration was observed and benzoquinone-induced cytotoxicity was not enhanced by inactivation of catalase or glutathione reductase. In contrast, duroquinone [2,3,5,6-(CH3)4-benzoquinone], which stimulated cyanide-resistant respiration and GSH oxidation, was only cytotoxic when catalase or glutathione reductase was inactivated. These results suggest that alkylation and/or oxidative stress may be important mechanisms in the cytotoxicity of benzoquinone derivatives.