Corticofugal influences on neurons of the main trigeminal sensory nucleus

The effects of stimulation of the ipsilateral sensomotor cortex were studied on 88 neurons in the region of the main trigeminal sensory nucleus of a cat. The cortex was stimulated via a coaxial electrode by single impulses. Stimulation of the cortex caused the appearance of EPSPs and action potentials in these neurons; a small number of these responses were monosynaptic. The polarity of the impulse applied to the cortex had a significant effect on the magnitude of the latent period of the response and the postsynaptic reaction, which is apparently caused by the stimulation of different types of cortex neurons. Apparently, corticofugal pulsation regulates the level of sensitivity of the trigeminal sensory neurons.A. A. Bogomolets' Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 47–53, July–August, 1969.     

Noncomplementarity in base sequences between the cohesive ends of coliphages 186 and lambda and the formation of interlocked rings between the two DNA's

The half molecules of 186 DNA have been isolated by the Hg(II)–Cs₂SO₄ density gradient centrifugal ion technique. The buoyant densities of the two halves in CsCI at 25°C. are 1.713 and 1.709 g./cm.³, corresponding to GC contents of 54% and 50%, respectively. Similarly, 5-bromouracil labeled λ DNA halves were separated. The isolation of the four DNA halves made it possible to test for homology in base sequences between the cohesive ends of λ and those of 186. There was no indication of any significant homology in base sequences between the cohesive ends of the two DNA's, as indicated by the absence of a band with intermediate buoyant density in CsCI when either half of 186 DNA was annealed with either half of 5-bromouracil labeled λ DNA and then centrifuged. The lack of cohesion between the two DNA's made it possible to demonstrate unequivocally the formation of interlocked rings (catenanes) between the two DNA's. The existence of a dimeric catenane is evidenced by the formation of a species of intermediate buoyant density when 5-bromouracil labeled λ DNA is cyclized in the presence of cyclic 186 DNA of a relatively high concentration. The molecular weight of one DNA relative to the other can be calculated from the position of the dimeric catenane in a density gradient by using the method of Baldwin. The result was in complete agreement with our previous measurements from the sedimentation coefficients and by electron microscopy. The probability of dimeric catenane formation when one DNA is cyclized in the presence of another DNA is discussed. The experimental results agree with the theoretical expectation.