Measurement of brain tyrosine hydroxylase concentrations by quantitative autoradiography after transfer of soluble proteins to nitro-cellulose

An improved quantitative immunochemical determination of tyrosine hydroxylase brain concentrations was designed by using direct transfer into nitro-cellulose from 20 micro-m thick brain sections followed by immuno-detection and quantitative radioautography.     

PDR-1/hParkin negatively regulates the phagocytosis of apoptotic cell corpses in Caenorhabditis elegans

Apoptotic cell death is an integral part of cell turnover in many tissues, and proper corpse clearance is vital to maintaining tissue homeostasis in all multicellular organisms. Even in tissues with high cellular turnover, apoptotic cells are rarely seen because of efficient clearance mechanisms in healthy individuals. In Caenorhabditis elegans, two parallel and partly redundant conserved pathways act in cell corpse engulfment. The pathway for cytoskeletal rearrangement requires the small GTPase CED-10 Rac1 acting for an efficient surround of the dead cell. The CED-10 Rac pathway is also required for the proper migration of the distal tip cells (DTCs) during the development of the C. elegans gonad. Parkin, the mammalian homolog of the C. elegans PDR-1, interacts with Rac1 in aged human brain and it is also implicated with actin dynamics and cytoskeletal rearrangements in Parkinsons''s disease, suggesting that it might act on engulfment. Our genetic and biochemical studies indicate that PDR-1 inhibits apoptotic cell engulfment and DTC migration by ubiquitylating CED-10 for degradation.     

New data on the physiology of the olivo-cochlear efferent systems

The medial part of the olivocochlear efferent tract seems to be involved in two distinct phenomena. The crossed part is involved in the masking function and the uncrossed one in the control, through a tonic action, of the cochlear micromechanics.