Correlation between serum enzymes and serum unsaturated vitamin B12 binding proteins in primary liver carcinoma

The serum unsaturated vitamin B12-binding capacity (UBBC), unsaturated transcobalamin (UTC) I, UTC II, UTC III levels, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase activities and bilirubin concentration were estimated in 61 patients with liver diseases (31 with hepatoma, 30 with viral hepatitis). The levels of serum cobalamin, UTC I, UTC III, UBBC, alanine and aspartate aminotransferases, and bilirubin were raised in both hepatoma and viral hepatitis patients. Serum UTC II was reduced in both conditions. Alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly increased in hepatoma. Four significant correlations were observed among these parameters in the hepatoma patients while only one significant correlation was observed in viral hepatitis.     

Microscopic and submicroscopic anatomy of the parabronchi, air sacs, and respiratory space of the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus)

The normal microscopic and submicroscopic structure of the lower respiratory tract of the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) is described and compared with other birds and mammals. Granular (type II) pneumocytes are confined to linings of air sacs, parabronchi, and their atria; however, their secretions (surfactant) cover the surfaces of the infundibula and respiratory space. Infundibula extend from the atria and give rise to the air capillaries, which branch and anastomose freely with those of adjacent infundibula and other parabronchi (interparabronchial septa are not found). Infundibula and the respiratory labyrinth are lined by a continuous epithelium of squamous pneumocytes, whose perikarya are concentrated in the infundibula and whose peripheral cytoplasm is markedly attenuated. The squamous pneumocytes of the respiratory labyrinth share a basal lamina with the blood capillaries that they envelop.     

Aromatase activity in human skin fibroblasts: characterization by an enzymatic method

Human skin fibroblasts were incubated for 24 h with 10(-6) M androstenedione and the estrone + estradiol released in the culture medium were measured by an enzymatic assay. Aromatase activity was expressed as pmol (estrone + estradiol) formed in the medium per mg cell protein per day. Using this method we were able to investigate the kinetic properties of aromatase in different cell strains and its stimulation by dexamethasone. Values of 92 nM and 9.1 pmol/mg protein/day were obtained respectively for Km and Vmax in cultured fibroblasts derived from genital skin of normal prepubertal subjects. In patients with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome CAIS, the Km was 156 nM and the Vmax 42 pmol/mg protein/day. Aromatase activity varied from 7.9 +/- 1.2 pmol/mg protein/day (mean +/- SD; n = 19) in normal prepubertal boys to 24.5 +/- 4.7 pmol/mg protein/day (mean +/- SD; n = 11) in those from normal postpubertal boys. The values were even higher in fibroblasts cultured from genital skin of prepubertal patients with CAIS. Cell concentrations did not modify the pattern of estrogen formation and aromatase activity did not vary with serial subcultures. The stimulatory effect of dexamethasone on aromatase activity in cultured fibroblasts was measured after preincubation of the cells for 48 h with dexamethasone, by determining estrogen formation after 24 h incubation of the cells with androstenedione 10(-6) M using this enzymatic method. This data suggest that aromatase activity measured in cultured fibroblasts could be a useful tool for studying extraglandular estrogen formation in physiological and pathological conditions.     

Assay of mephenytoin metabolism in human liver microsomes by high-performance liquid chromatography

The metabolism of mephenytoin to its two major metabolites, 4-OH-mephenytoin (4-OH-M) and 5-phenyl-5-ethylhydantoin (nirvanol) was studied in human liver microsomes by a reversed phase HPLC assay. Because of preferential hydroxylation of S-mephenytoin in vivo, microsomes (5-300 micrograms protein) were incubated separately with S- and R-mephenytoin. After addition of phenobarbital as internal standard, the incubation mixture was extracted with dichloromethane. The residue remaining after evaporation was dissolved in water and injected on a 60 X 4.6-mm reversed-phase column (5 mu-C-18). Elution with acetonitrile/methanol/sodium perchlorate (20 mM, pH 2.5) led to almost baseline separation of mephenytoin, metabolites, and phenobarbital. Quantitation was performed by uv-absorption at 204 nm by the internal standard method. Propylene glycol was found to be the best solvent for mephenytoin, but inhibited the reaction noncompetitively. 4-OH-M and nirvanol could be detected at concentrations in the incubation mixture as low as 40 and 80 nM, respectively. The rates of metabolite formation were linear with time and protein concentration. The reaction was found to be substrate stereoselective. At substrate concentrations below 0.5 mM S-mephenytoin was preferentially hydroxylated to 4-OH-M, while R-mephenytoin was preferentially demethylated to nirvanol at all substrate concentrations tested (25-1600 microM). These data provide a mechanistic explanation for the stereospecific pharmacokinetics in vivo. The dependence of both metabolic relations on NADPH and the inhibition by CO suggest that they are mediated by cytochrome P-450-type monooxygenases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Kinetics of oxygen and carbon monoxide binding to liver fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) hemoglobin. An extreme case?

The kinetics of oxygen and carbon monoxide binding to the monomeric liver fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) hemoglobin have been studied. The ligand association rates are approximately 1 X 10(8) and approximately 3 X 10(8) M-1 s-1, respectively, for CO and O2 and show no pH dependence. On the contrary the ligand dissociation rates decrease by lowering the pH below 7, the pK of the transition being around 5.5. These findings, together with spectroscopic properties of the protein, are discussed in relation to the fact that, in this hemoglobin, the distal histidine is replaced by a glycine.     

Autolysis of cell walls in pea epicotyls during growth. Enzymatic activities involved

Pisum sativum L. (cv. Lincoln) epicotyl cell walls show autohydrolysis and release into the incubation medium up to 120 μg of sugar per mg of cell wall dry weight in 30 h. Cell walls from younger epicotyls with high growth capacity showed higher auto-lytic capacity than older epicotyls. This suggests that both processes, growth and au-tolysis, are related. The proteins responsible for autolysis were extracted from the wall fraction with high saline solution (3 M LiCl) and enzymatic activities associated with the proteins were studied. The highest activity corresponded to α-galactosidase; lower activities were found for β-galactosidase, a-arabinosidase and exoglucanase. Changes in enzymatic activities and changes in the proportion of sugars released in autolysis by cell walls during the growth of epicotyls support the notion that α-galac-tosidase is one of the enzymes involved in the process of autolysis, and that the liberation of arabinose and galactose in this process occurs as arabinogalactan.     

Effects of Undernutrition and Thyroid State on the Ontogenetic Changes of D1, D2, and D3 Brain-Specific Proteins in Rat Cerebellum

Abstract: Disturbances in metabolic balance brought about by alterations in thyroid state and undernutrition during early life had a marked effect on the concentrations of the brain-specific proteins, D1, D2, and D3 in the developing rat cerebellum. In normal rats, the concentrations of D1 and D3 increased and that of D2 decreased during the first 3 weeks after birth. In the hyperthyroid state a small but consistent advancement was observed in the developmental curves of these proteins. The hypothyroid state caused a marked retardation in the maturational pattern of D1 and D2 but not of D3. In undernutrition, at 6 days the concentrations of D1 and D3 proteins were higher than in controls, but thereafter the developmental increase was markedly delayed for D1 only. The concentration of D2 was normal at 6 days, but after the first week a marked retardation was observed in the maturational pattern of this protein in undernourished rats. In addition, the "anodic-immature"form of D2 predominated in 6-day-old controls, but this was gradually replaced by a "cathodic-mature"form which progressively became the dominant form of D2 in 35-day-old rat cerebellum. The developmental switch in terms of the two forms was also advanced in hyperthyroidism and retarded in thyroid deficiency and undernutrition. Furthermore, daily treatment of hypothyroid rats with physiological doses of thyroxine from birth restored the concentrations of D1 and D2 to normal, but that of D3 was increased above control levels, indicating differences between the proteins in their sensitivity to mechanisms of control by thyroid hormone. Also, the overall effects of undernutrition were markedly different from those of hypothyroidism.     

Queuosine modification of the wobble base in tRNAHis influences ''in vivo'' decoding properties.

The 'in vivo' decoding properties of four tRNAHis isoacceptors, two from Drosophila melanogaster and two from brewer's yeast, were studied after their microinjection, along with turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) coat protein mRNA, into Xenopus laevis oocytes. The two Drosophila isoacceptors are identical besides containing either a guanosine (G) or the hypermodified nucleoside queuosine (Q) in the wobble position. The brewer's yeast isoacceptors differ by four bases in the anticodon stem, and by one base in the amino acceptor stem. Our results show that, under competing 'in vivo' conditions, the Drosophila tRNAHis with the anticodon GUG clearly prefers the histidine codon CAC to the codon CAU, whereas little preference is observed for the tRNAHis with the anticodon QUG for the codon CAU, and no preference for either codon by the two yeast isoacceptors. Hence, it can be concluded that the presence of the Q-base clearly affects the choice of the codon. This is the first demonstration of an 'in vivo' codon preference by tRNA isoacceptors differing in the modification of the wobble base during the elongation step of protein synthesis. These results imply that one function of the Q-base is at the translational level.     

Astrocytes support incomplete differentiation of an oligodendrocyte precursor cell.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes, but not neurons or fibroblasts, support the differentiation of an oligodendroglial precursor cell expressing O4 antigen and vimentin into an O4 antigen-positive, but vimentin-negative oligodendrocyte. Further maturation into galactocerebroside (O1)-positive oligodendrocytes is, however, not achieved under the culture conditions used, neither in the presence of astrocytes nor neurons.     

Antigenic variation is associated with DNA rearrangements in a relapsing fever Borrelia

Borrelia hermsii, an agent of relapsing fever, undergoes antigenic variation in its host. Surface-exposed proteins with differing primary structures determine the serotype of each organism. Using amino acid sequence data from two of these variable proteins, we synthesized two mixed-sequence oligonucleotides and then used the oligonucleotides to probe mRNA and DNA of three isogenic serotypes of B. hermsii. In Northern blots the probes were specific for the mRNA of the homologous serotype. Southern blots revealed two classes of hybridizing fragments: those common to the three serotypes and those specific for a particular serotype. A serotype-specific DNA fragment, which had hybridized to both oligonucleotide probes, was cloned. Subsequent use of the cloned fragment as a probe provided further evidence that antigenic variation in B. hermsii is associated with DNA rearrangements and with occurrence of expression-linked copies of all, or part, of an antigen-specifying gene.