Clinical adaptation of a high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the assay of pyridoxal 5′-phosphate in human plasma

Vitamin B6, measured as pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP), is a co-enzyme in the transsulfuration pathway of homocysteine metabolism. Since depletion of PLP has been suggested as an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, PLP is frequently measured to guide patient care. By a change and utilization of an Aquasil C18 column and the addition of an acetonitrile clean-up gradient to the potassium phosphate, with sodium perchlorate and bisulfite buffer between samples we report the modification of a previously described method for analysis of PLP. The result is a more practical, efficient, reliable and robust method for daily clinical use. We also determined and report that it is critical to protect freshly prepared standard PLP samples from light exposure during assay preparation.     

Automated Food-Procuring Movement-Related Neuronal Activity in the Basolateral Amygdala of the Rat

We studied the impulse activity of neurons of the basal and lateral amygdalar nuclei generated when experimental animals (rats) performed fast stereotyped food-procuring movements by the forelimb. Within the basolateral amygdala, there are neurons whose activity is related to different stages of getting off the food, and according to the characteristics of their spiking these neurons should be divided into a number of subpopulations. Activation forestalling the movement initiation by 0.5-1.0 sec was observed in most neurons of the basolateral amygdala; this is considered a manifestation of excitation related to a motivation component of the food-procuring behavior. Activation of amygdalar neurons following movement initiation can result from generation in this structure of additional excitation necessary for successful performance of a complete food-procuring motor cycle.     

A process optimization for bio-catalytic production of substituted catechols (3-nitrocatechol and 3-methylcatechol

Background  

Substituted catechols are important precursors for large-scale synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other industrial products. Most of the reported chemical synthesis methods are expensive and insufficient at industrial level. However, biological processes for production of substituted catechols could be highly selective and suitable for industrial purposes.     

Involvement of the galactosyl-1-phosphate transferase encoded by the Salmonella enterica rfbP gene in O-antigen subunit processing.

rfbT of Salmonella enterica LT2 was previously thought, together with rfaL, to be involved in the ligation of polymerized O antigen to core-lipid A, and three mutants were known. We report the mapping of the mutations to rfbP, the galactosyl-1-phosphate transferase gene, which is now shown to encode a bifunctional protein. The mutations which have the former rfbT phenotype are referred to as rfbP(T). We also show that rfbP(T) mutants are not blocked in the ligation step as previously believed but in an earlier step, possibly in flipping the O-antigen subunit on undecaprenyl pyrophosphate from the cytoplasmic to periplasmic face of the cytoplasmic membrane.     

Immunosuppressive activity of T cell clones generated from human T cells stimulated with autologous TPHA cells

T cell clones were generated from human T cells stimulated with autologous phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-activated T (TPHA) cells. Characterization of three T cell clones originated from donor SF and one from donor JM showed that they proliferated when stimulated with autologous TPHA cells, non-T cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells, but did not proliferate when stimulated with allogeneic TPHA cells, non-T cells, and mononuclear cells, with autologous and allogeneic resting T cells, and with PHA. These results in conjunction with the blocking of the proliferation by anti-histocompatibility leukocyte antigen class II monoclonal antibodies indicate that these class II antigens are involved in the proliferation of T cell clones stimulated with autologous lymphoid cells. The four T cell clones are cytotoxic neither to autologous lymphoid cells nor to a panel of cultured human cell lines. The four T cell clones display immunosuppressive activity, since they inhibit the proliferation of autologous and allogeneic cells stimulated with antigens and mitogens and the secretion of immunoglobulin by B cells stimulated with pokeweed mitogen in presence of T cells. Furthermore, the four T cell clones display differential inhibitory activity on the proliferation of cultured human cell lines. The immunosuppressive activity is species-specific, since the T cell clones do not inhibit the proliferation of murine cells. The suppression is mediated by a factor(s) with an apparent m.w. of 13,000 to 16,000. The suppressor activity is labile at alkaline pH and is lost following incubation with pronase (100 U/ml) for 30 min at 37 degrees C.