Neural coding of speech sound in the telencephalic auditory area of the mynah bird

Summary The responses of neurons in field L in the auditory neostriatum of the mynah bird, Gracula religiosa, were recorded during presentation of intact or manipulated mimic voices. A typical mimic voice konnichiwa elicited responses in most of the neurons. Neurons in the input layer (L2) of field L showed many peaks on peristimulus time histograms while those in other layers (L1 and L3) exhibited only one or two peaks. Several neurons in L1 and L3 responded only to the affricative consonant /t/ in the intact mimic voices. They did not respond to the affricative consonant in the isolated segment or to the one in the playbacked voice in reverse. Forty-five percent of the neurons (33/ 73) decreased in firing rates at the affricative consonant in the isolated segment compared with in the intact voice. Some of these neurons, in which neither the affricative consonant in the isolated segment nor bursts of noise alone elicited responses, exhibited clear phasic responses to /t/ in the case when bursts of noise with particular central frequencies preceded the affricative consonant. The responsiveness of these neurons appears to receive temporal facilitation. These results suggest that these neurons code the temporal relationship of speech sound.Abbreviations HVc hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudale - TFN temporally facilitated neuron - TSN temporally suppressed neuron     

Seasonal variations in the responses of glycolytic intermediates of human erythrocytes to acute cold exposure

Seven male students were studied to observe the effects of acute cold exposure (at 10°C for 60 min) on erythrocyte concentrations of glycolytic intermediates in summer and in winter. The subjects shivered slightly but frankly in both experiments. Significant decreases were observed in the concentrations of pyruvate and lactate during body cooling in summer, but not in winter. The lactate concentration remained significantly reduced 15 min after cold exposure. After 60 min of cold exposure in summer, a negative crossover point appeared to exist between phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate and erythrocyte pyruvate kinase activity showed a significant decrease. No seasonal difference was observed in the initial control values of the intermediates measured. From these results and the fact that glucose, pyruvate and lactate are evenly distributed between erythrocytes and plasma, it is likely that erythrocytes and skeletal muscles need less fuel substrate, glucose during cold exposure in winter than in summer, suggesting that an increased economy of energy for homeostasis is achieved.     

Maternal inheritance of deleted mitochondrial DNA in a family with mitochondrial myopathy

Skeletal muscles from a mother and her daughter both with chronic progressive ophthalmoplegia were analyzed. Histological and biochemical analyses of their muscle samples showed typical features of this type of mitochondrial myopathy. Southern blot analysis revealed that, in both patients, there were two species of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): normal one and partially deleted one. The sizes of the deletion were different; the mutant mtDNAs from the mother and the daughter had about 2.5- and 5-kilobase deletions, respectively. The two mutant mtDNAs shared a common deleted region of 1.2-kilobase. However, both the start and the end of deletion were different between them, implying a novel mode of inheritance. This is the first report that the mutant mtDNA is responsible for the maternal inheritance of a human disease.     

The usefulness of alkaline solutions for clearing the uterus and staining implantation sites in rats

The alkaline solution method for detecting uterine implantation sites (metrial glands or spots after delivery), which indicate the position of the embryo, was compared with conventional methods using Turnbull blue (Salewski's technique) and benzyl benzoate (Orsini's technique) in rats. When rat uteri were immersed directly in 2% sodium hydroxide [NaOH], potassium hydroxide [KOH] solution or one of several other alkaline solutions for one hour, the uteri were cleared. Then the metrial glands could be observed without further staining, and the spots after delivery with further staining. After alkaline treatment, unstained metrial glands appeared as yellowish-white degenerated masses and stained spots after delivery appeared as yellowish-brown patches covered with yellowish-white lumps. These yellowish-brown or yellowish-white sites were probably stained by the iron in hemosiderin deposits in the placental scar or in a vestige of the metrial glands left over from pregnancy. Formalin-fixed uteri were not cleared by immersion in a high concentration of NaOH, KOH or other alkaline solutions, but the spots after delivery were stained by this treatment. Turnbull blue did not stain the metrial glands, which contain no iron. Benzyl benzoate cleared fixed or unfixed uteri and allowed observation of the metrial glands and spots after delivery although the entire process required a few days and the specimens became hard and shriveled. The best and most convenient solution for clearing the rat uterus and for staining implantation sites was 2% NaOH or KOH.     

Clinical significance of serum bone Gla protein and urinary gamma-Gla as biochemical markers in primary hyperparathyroidism

The serum bone Gla-protein (BGP) and urinary gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (gamma-Gla) levels were determined in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP). The mean serum BGP and urinary gamma-Gla levels were 18.6 +/- 2.34 ng/ml and 65.5 +/- 4.62 nmoles/mgCr, respectively, for the 11 patients with the skeletal type of PHP, 5.13 +/- 0.85 ng/ml and 45.2 +/- 1.33 nmoles/mgCr for the 4 with the chemical type, and 7.91 +/- 2.43 ng/ml and 43.2 +/- 3.47 nmoles/mgCr for the 5 with the renal type. Thus, patients with skeletal-type PHP had significantly higher serum BGP and urinary gamma-Gla levels than those with the other type of PHP. Serum BGP levels had significant positive correlations with serum Ca (r = 0.64, P less than 0.005), serum A1-p (r = 0.77, P less than 0.001) and serum PTH (r = 0.45, P less than 0.005). Urinary gamma-Gla levels also had significant positive correlations with serum Ca (r = 0.50, P less than 0.05), serum A1-p (r = 0.67, P less than 0.005), serum 1,25(OH)2D (r = 0.62, P less than 0.02), and serum BGP (r = 0.72, P less than 0.001). Mineral content in the left radius had significant negative correlations with serum BGP levels (r = -0.73, P less than 0.001) and urinary gamma-Gla levels (r = -0.59, P less than 0.01). As these data show, serum BGP and urinary gamma-Gla levels clearly reflect the abnormal bone metabolism and can therefore be useful biochemical markers in PHP.     

Allyl alcohol toxicity in isolated renal epithelial cells: protective effects of low molecular weight thiols

The toxicity of allyl alcohol was studied in freshly isolated renal epithelial cells prepared from male and female rats. Cells from female rats demonstrated a greater susceptibility to allyl alcohol toxicity as assessed by glutathione depletion and loss of cell viability. The sensitivity of female rat renal cells appears to relate to the higher activity of alcohol dehydrogenase found in the female rat kidney, which metabolizes allyl alcohol to the highly reactive aldehyde, acrolein. Pyrazole, an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase, abolished the cytotoxic effects of allyl alcohol whereas inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase by disulfiram treatment was found to increase the sensitivity of renal cells to the effects of allyl alcohol. The toxicity of allyl alcohol was decreased by a number of treatments which resulted in increased levels of glutathione or other low molecular weight thiols. These results indicate that acrolein is the toxic metabolite responsible for the renal cell injury following exposure to allyl alcohol, and unless immediately inactivated acrolein interacts with critical nucleophilic sites of the cell and initiates cell injury. These studies demonstrate that freshly isolated kidney cells represent a convenient model system for studies of thiol-mediated protective mechanisms against toxic renal cell injury.     

Diffusion of extracellular hydrogen peroxide into intracellular compartments of human neutrophils. Studies utilizing the inactivation of myeloperoxidase by hydrogen peroxide and azide

It is well known that catalase is transformed to nitric oxide-Fe2+-catalase by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plus azide. In this report, we show that myeloperoxidase is also inactivated by H2O2 plus azide. Utilizing this system, we studied the presence and source of intracellular H2O2 generated by activated neutrophils. Stimulation of neutrophils with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 100 ng/ml) plus azide (5 mM) for 30 min completely inactivated intragranular myeloperoxidase and reduced cytosolic catalase to 35% of resting cells. This intracellular inactivation of heme enzymes did not occur in normal neutrophils incubated with either PMA or azide alone or in neutrophils from patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CDG) which cannot produce H2O2 in response to PMA. Incubation of neutrophils with azide and a H2O2 generating system (glucose-glucose oxidase) inactivated 41% of neutrophil myeloperoxidase. Glutathione-glutathione peroxidase (GSH-GSH peroxidase), an extracellular H2O2 scavenger, totally protected neutrophil myeloperoxidase from inactivation by azide plus glucose-glucose oxidase. In addition, when a mixture of normal and CGD cells was stimulated with PMA in the presence of azide, 90% of the myeloperoxidase in CGD neutrophils was inactivated. Therefore, H2O2 released extracellularly from activated neutrophils can diffuse into cells. In contrast, myeloperoxidase in normal polymorphonuclear leukocytes stimulated with PMA in the presence of azide and GSH-GSH peroxidase was 75% inactivated. Thus, the results indicate that a GSH-GSH peroxidase-insensitive pool of H2O2 is also generated, presumably at the plasma membrane, and this pool of H2O2 can undergo direct internal diffusion to inactivate myeloperoxidase.     

An oxygen-evolving complex with a simple subunit structure - ‘a water-plastoquinone oxidoreductase” - from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp.

An oxygen-evolving complex has been highly purified from the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. The complex, which reproducibly showed 5 major polypeptide bands of 47, 40, 35, 30 and 9 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and contained 3.2 Mn per Q_A, had an oxygen-evolving activity of 300–400 μmol/mg chl per h in the presence of 5 mM MnCl₂; or CaCl₂. The complex most likely represents a minimum functional unit of the photosynthetic oxygen evolution.