Body weight deficit in the absence of reduction in cerebrum weight and nucleic acid content in progeny of swine restricted in protein intake during pregnancy

Fifty-six castrated male progeny of crossbred (Chester White x Landrace x Large White x Yorkshire) dams fed an adequate diet (control, C), a control diet fed at one-third of C (restricted, R), or diets severely deficient in protein (PF) or restricted in nonprotein calories (RCal) were killed at age 25 weeks. Dams were fed their respective diets in the following regimens: C, 1.8 kg (6000 kcal daily) throughout pregnancy; R, 0.6 kg of C diet daily for 70 days, then 1.8 kg of C daily to parturition at about 114 days; PF, 1.8 kg of a "protein-free" diet (less than 0.2% protein) throughout pregnancy; RCal, 0.6 kg daily (2000 kcal) of a diet containing three times the concentration of protein, minerals, and vitamins provided by the C diet for 70 days, then 1.8 kg of C daily to parturition. All dams were fed an adequate diet ad libitum through a 28-day lactation. Castrated male progeny were assigned to one of two replicates based on birth date and fed a corn-soybean meal diet ad libitum from weaning to age 25 weeks, supplemented from age 10 to 12 weeks with 0, 110, or 220 mg/kg of thyroprotein (iodinated casein). Cerebrum weight was unaffected by maternal diet, despite a significant (P less than 0.001) reduction in body weight of progeny of PF dams compared with other groups, resulting in a higher relative cerebrum weight in progeny of PF dams than in progeny of C, R, and RCal dams. Absolute and relative weights of RNA, DNA, and total protein in cerebrum were unaffected by maternal diet. Thyroprotein supplementation to the diet of the progeny had no effect on cerebrum weight or its protein or nucleic acid content. It is concluded that maternal protein deprivation but not restriction of feed or nonprotein calorie intake to one-third of recommended allowance during gestation results in stunting of body weight in young adult progeny but does not affect cerebrum weight, cerebrum cell number (DNA), or protein synthetic activity (RNA), or RNA-to-protein ratio.     

Adipose tissue,the immune system and exercise fatigue: how activated lymphocytes compete for lipids

Adipose depots that contain lymph nodes, and probably intermuscular fat in skeletal and cardiac muscle, are specialized to provision adjacent tissue in a paracrine mode. Perinodal adipocytes respond selectively to various cytokines and incorporate proportionately more polyunsaturated fatty acids. Lipolysis in the adipocytes of node-containing depots can be stimulated via inflammation of the enclosed lymph nodes. Repeated immune stimulation elicits properties characteristic of perinodal adipocytes in those elsewhere in the same depot, and hours later in other node-containing depots, but not in nodeless depots. Such site-specific properties of adipose tissue enable partitioning of dietary and metabolic supplies of fatty acids between competing tissues. Local interactions emancipate the peripheral immune system from competing with other tissues for lipids during immune responses, and may be especially important during periods of high demand, such as strenuous exercise. Biopsies of subcutaneous adipose tissue from sites remote from lymph nodes do not adequately represent the composition of fatty acids available to the immune system in situ, and perhaps that supplied to other tissues. Intermuscular fat in skeletal and cardiac muscle may also indicate paracrine relationships between adipocytes and "end-user" tissues. The concept of paracrine interactions between certain adipocytes and "user" tissue may account for the widespread contiguity between these tissues in vivo.     

SUB-CHROMATID REARRANGEMENTS IN TRILLIUM ERECTUM. I. ORIGIN AND NATURE OF CONFIGURATIONS INDUCED BY IONIZING RADIATION

Wilson , G. B. (Michigan State U., East Lansing.), A. H. Sparrow , and Virginia Pond . Subchromatid rearrangements in Trillium erectum. I. Origin and nature of configurations induced by ionizing radiation. Amer. Jour. Bot. 46(4): 309–316. Illus. 1959.—Microsporocytes of Trillium erectum were x-irradiated with 25 r at various stages of meiotic prophase and at first metaphase. Analysis of these cells at the following first and second anaphase revealed that post-pachytene irradiation produces 2-side-arm bridges which are indicative of half-chromatid exchanges. The occurrence of these bridges and knowledge of the structure and spatial relationship of chromatid strands in T. erectum have led to certain conclusions regarding the target and the number of strands broken by a single event: (1) the most likely target for primary effects is the 4 associated half-chromatids of a half-bivalent. The results of irradiation experiments suggest that the half-bivalent is effectively as well as structurally quadripartite at stages following pachytene. (2) Consideration of the configurations which would result from breakage and rejoining of 2, 3 or all 4 strands of the half-bivalent indicates that only 2 of the 4 half-chromatids are broken by a single event. Exchanges between 2 half-chromatids of sister chromatids will produce two recognizable types of 2-side-arm bridges: one with a true dicentric half-chromatid and one in which the bridge results merely from an interlocking of coils. Whether a 2-side-arm bridge appears at first or second meiotic anaphase is determined by the position and number of chiasmata between the point of breakage and the kinetochore. No 2-side-arm bridges have been detected at microspore anaphase following meiotic prophase irradiation. The types of configurations which might be expected at microspore metaphase as a result of broken 2-side-arm bridges are noted.     

The effects of exercise and feeding on the activity of lipoprotein lipase in nine different adipose depots of guinea pigs.

1. The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) was measured in whole adipose tissue from 9 identified adipose depots of sedentary, fasting adult guinea pigs and following 30 min of exercise or voluntary ingestion of chow, and in adipocyte and stromal-vascular fractions from exercised specimens. 2. In sedentary, fasting specimens, LPL activity was up to 4 times higher in the small intermuscular depots than in the perirenal and epididymal depot (Table 1). 3. LPL activity increased significantly after feeding only in the large superficial depot, groin, and in the perirenal depot. LPL activity decreased after exercise only in the 2 intermuscular depots and in small anterior superficial depots. These effects of exercise were consistently greater in males than in females (Table 3). 4. Following exercise, there was up to twice as much LPL in the adipocytes as in the stromal-vascular fraction of the intermuscular depots, about 50% more in adipocytes from the minor superficial depots and about equal quantities in the 2 fractions of the intra-abdominal and groin depots (Table 2). 5. The data demonstrate the physiological inhomogeneity of both superficial and internal adipose depots, and are consistent with the hypothesis that LPL originating from adipose tissue may enter the circulation.     

A revision of Aceratherium blanfordi Lydekker, 1884 (Mammalia: Rhinocerotidae) from the Early Miocene of Pakistan: postcranials as a key

Rhinocerotids are particularly abundant and diversified in Neogene deposits of the Indian subcontinent, but their systematics is far from being well defined. Based on the revision of old collections and new findings from the Early Miocene of the Bugti Hills and Zinda Pir, Pakistan, ‘Aceratherium blanfordi Lydekker, 1884’ is a chimera, consisting of two dentally convergent but postcranially distinct rhinocerotid taxa: Pleuroceros blanfordi and Mesaceratherium welcommi sp. nov. Postcranial features appear to be much more diagnostic than craniodental morphology in this case. A phylogenetic analysis based on 282 morphological characters scored for 28 taxa (four outgroups and ingroup including both taxa of interest and a ‘branching group’) strengthens this statement and supports Pleuroceros and Mesaceratherium as monophyletic genera within Rhinocerotinae. Both genera are recognized for the first time outside Europe. In the Bugti Hills, P. blanfordi and M. welcommi are part of an exceptionally diversified rhinocerotid fauna, with up to nine species associated in the same locality (Kumbi 4f). This rhinocerotid assemblage confirms the earliest Miocene age (Agenian/Aquitanian) of the upper member of the Chitarwata Formation as a whole. Coeval homotaxic rhinocerotid faunas from Europe (France, Czech Republic) and East Africa (Uganda, Kenya) support broad and sustainable rhinocerotid interchanges amongst South Asia, Europe, and Africa under compatible environmental conditions throughout earliest Miocene times. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 160 , 139–194.     

The relationship between sea surface temperature and population change of Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo breeding near Disko Bay,Greenland

Arctic seas have warmed and sea ice has retreated. This has resulted in range contraction and population declines in some species, but it could potentially be a boon for others. Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo have a partially wettable plumage and seem poorly suited to foraging in Arctic waters. We show that rates of population change of Cormorant colonies around Disko Bay, Greenland, are positively correlated with sea surface temperature, suggesting that they may benefit from a warming Arctic. However, although Cormorant populations may increase in response to Arctic warming, the extent of expansion of their winter range may ultimately be limited by other factors, such as sensory constraints on foraging behaviour during long Arctic nights.     

Changes in lymphokine receptor expression and fatty acid composition of phospholipids and triacylglycerols in rat adipocytes associated with lymph nodes following a transient immune challenge

Single-photon counting fluorimetry was used to record the time course of the expression of interleukin-10 receptors labelled with fluorescent antibodies on the surface of adipocytes over 24h, following an immune challenge to the rat popliteal lymph node. Homologous perinodal and remote-from-node samples from the stimulated and unstimulated popliteal depots were compared in rats fed on plain chow and chow supplemented with 10% w/w suet, fish or vegetable oils. Receptor expression was maximal 6 h after stimulation, and returned to baseline after 24 h, and was similar in the stimulated and unstimulated depots. Fewer receptors were elicited in tissues from rats fed lipid-supplemented diets compared with the control diet, with fewest of all following the fish oil diet. These data suggest that interleukin-10 is involved in local interactions between perinodal adipocytes and lymph node lymphoid cells. Both triacylglycerols and phospholipids contained more polyunsaturates and fewer saturates in perinodal adipose tissue than in samples from sites not associated with lymphoid tissue. These data are consistent with paracrine interactions between perinodal adipocytes and activated lymphoid cells.     

Characterization of Caedibacter endonucleobionts from the macronucleus of Paramecium caudatum and the identification of a mutant with blocked R-body synthesis

Cytology, DNA and host-symbiont relationships of x-like endosymbionts from Paramecium caudatum are described. The symbionts (Caedibacter caryophila, sp. nov.) live in the macronuclei of their hosts. They confer the killer trait upon their hosts and appear well adapted to their endonucleobiotic way of life. R bodies (proteinaceous ribbons associated with killing) are produced, but differ significantly from any of the four R-body classes previously described. C. caryophila and their R bodies were isolated. DNA was extracted from purified symbionts and used to demonstrate that one P. caudatum line harbors a natural mutant which is deficient in R-body production. Melting studies indicate a GC content of 34.6%. No sequence homology between the C. caryophila DNA and the coding sequence for type 51 R-body production was observed. C. caryophila is parasitic, causing the death of its hosts in starving cultures.