Salicylate reduces serum insulin concentrations in the rat

Administration of sodium salicylate (50–500 mg/kg, i.p.) reduced serum insulin concentrations in nonfasted rats. This treatment also suppressed the rise in serum insulin that followed oral administration of glucose (by stomach tube) to fasted rats; this effect is only partly attributable to the blunted increase in serum glucose concentrations.     

Radioimmunoassay studies of intestinal calcium-binding protein in the pig. I. Identification of intestinal calcium-binding protein in blood and response to a low calcium diet.

We have developed a radioimmunoassay for porcine intestinal calcium-binding protein (CaBP) and have used it to detect CaBP in pig plasma. Plasma CaBP is identical to intestinal CaBP on the basis of immunological activity, molecular size, and molecular charge properties. The plasma CaBP concentration was greater in the portal blood than in mixed venous blood, suggesting that blood CaBP originates in the gut. Two of four 15-week-old littermate pigs were placed on a low calcium diet (0.15% calcium, 0.65% phosphorus) and two on a control diet (0.65% calcium, 0.65% phosphorus). After 2 weeks, the entire small intestine was removed and divided into nine 1.8-m segments. CaBP was assayed in both plasma and intestinal mucosa. When the two pigs on a low calcium diet were compared with two control pigs, there was a general increase in immunoreactive CaBP in both plasma and intestinal mucosa. However, there was no increment in immunoreactive CaBP in the first 1.8-m segment of small intestine. Seventy-one percent of the increment in CaBP occurred distal to the first two segments. The largest fractional low calcium diet effect occurred in the ileum. The mean CaBP concentration for the total small intestine increased by a factor of 1.9. The plasma CaBP concentration increased by a factor of 2.6. In these pigs, plasma CaBP was a more reliable indicator of change in CaBP status than was the measurement in the proximal gut segment which contained the duodenum. The assay of CaBP in blood is convenient and may obviate the sampling errors inherent in intestinal biopsy.     

Isolation and properties of a ferredoxin from Anabaena Flos-Aquae

Ferredoxin was isolated from the blue-green alga Anabaena flos-aquae. Its homogeneity was shown by conventional and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gel columns, the latter indicating a pI at ca pH 3·7. The absorption spectrum had, in the oxidized state, maxima at 462, 421, 327 and 276 nm, with a shoulder at 284 nm, a spectrum characteristic of plant-type ferredoxins. The 421 : 276 nm absorbance ratio was typically 0.49. The ferredoxin effectively mediated the photoreduction of NADP⁺ by barley chloroplasts depleted of native ferredoxin. The MW obtained by sedimentation-equilibrium and sedimentation velocity-diffusion coefficient studies was ca 12 000 daltons, a value somewhat higher than suggested by amino acid composition data. The ferredoxin contained 2Fe and 2S per molecule.     

Effect of ethylmethanesulfonate on Chlamydomonas reinhardi

Summary Ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS) is known to cause a considerably high mutation rate in higher plants. In our experiments with Chlamydomonas reinhardi however, the mutagenic effect was unexpectedly low, whereas the toxic effect was quite remarkable. It is supposed that the reason for the low rate of mutants is the high toxicity, since non-toxic EMS concentrations induce no mutants. The toxic effect on Chlamydomonas cells is caused not only by the products of hydrolysis of the EMS, but also by the EMS itself. The damaged cells begin to bleach, furthermore they are not able to deliver their daughter cells. To a certain degree both effects are reversible. Finally it was found that the sensivity to EMS was higher in cells of the mating type — than it was in those of the+mating type.