Expression of a beta thalassemia gene with abnormal splicing.

Expression of a cloned human beta thalassemia gene with a single base change at position 5 of IVS 1 has been analyzed 48 hours after transfer of the gene into HeLa cells (transient expression). Little or no normal beta globin mRNA accumulates in the presence of the abnormal beta gene in contrast to significantly more normal beta mRNA produced with other mutations at this same position. By contrast, large amounts of an abnormal beta globin mRNA are present; this is due to the use of a cryptic 5' splice site in exon 1 rather than the normal 5' splice site of IVS 1. The results indicate the variability of the effect on RNA splicing of different single base defects within IVS.     

Immunocytochemical localization of lactoferrin in human neutrophils

Summary The subcellular localization of lactoferrin in human neutrophils was studied by an electron-microscopic immunoperoxidase method. This molecule was detected in small granules of blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes. A morphometrical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the mean size between lactoferrin-positive and myeloperoxidase-negative granules. In contrast, the mean size of myeloperoxidase-positive granules was significantly larger than that of lactoferrin-positive granules. This indicates that lactoferrin is contained in the myeloperoxidase-negative, secondary, granules of human neutrophils. In immature bone marrow mononuclear neutrophils, lactoferrin was present in cytoplasmic granules of somewhat larger size than lactoferrin-positive granules of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. A morphometrical study showed that the mean size of lactoferrin-positive granules was significantly greater in immature bone marrow cells than in polymorphonuclear leucocytes. This indicates that lactoferrin-positive granules decrease in size as the cells mature. Besides cytoplasmic granules, lactoferrin was demonstrated in the Golgi complex and a part of the rough endoplasmic reticulum of immature bone marrow neutrophils, probably myelocytes and early metamyelocytes. These results show that lactoferrin is synthesized and packed into secondary granules in immature bone marrow neutrophils and therefore that the secondary granules are a type of secretory granule.     

Phenobarbital: a locus of action on spike broadening and potassium inactivation

1. The effect of phenobarbital on frequency-dependent spike broadening and potassium inactivation was studied in snail neurons. 2. The amount of spike broadening was significantly depressed by the application of 10(-3) M phenobarbital but the time course of broadening was unaffected. 3. In voltage clamped neurons, this concentration of phenobarbital significantly depressed the amount of potassium current inactivation without altering its time constant. 4. A possible locus of phenobarbital's anticonvulsant action is through a decrease in synaptic efficacy resulting from a depression of presynaptic spike broadening.     

Hydrolysis of N3-methyl-2'-deoxycytidine: model compound for reactivity of protonated cytosine residues in DNA

Protonation of cytosine residues at physiological pH may occur in DNA as a consequence of both alkylation and aberrant base-pair formation. When cytosine derivatives are protonated, they undergo hydrolysis reactions at elevated rates and can either deaminate to form the corresponding uracil derivatives or depyrimidinate generating abasic sites. The kinetic parameters for reaction of protonated cytosine are derived by studying the hydrolysis of N3-methyl-2'-deoxycytidine (m3dC), a cytosine analogue which is predominantly protonated at physiological pH. Both deamination and depyrimidimation reaction rates are shown to be linearly dependent upon the fraction of protonated molecules. We present here thermodynamic parameters which allow determination of hydrolysis rates of m3dC as functions of pH and temperature. Protonation of cytosine residues in DNA, as induced by aberrant base-pair formation or base modification, may accelerate the rate of both deamination and depyrimidation up to several thousand-fold under physiological conditions.     

Physiological integration in Cassia fasciculata Michx.: inflorescence removal and defoliation experiments

Summary In the annual herb Cassia fasciculata virtually every leaf subtends an axillary inflorescence. We examined the degree to which these leaf-inflorescence units (reproductive nodes) were physiologically independent of each other in the production of flowers, fruits, and seeds. Removal of up to 4 of every 5 inflorescences resulted in substantial increases in fruit and seed production by remaining, intact reproductive nodes. These increases nearly compensated for and manipulated reproductive nodes were associated with different vascular strands. When 2 of every 3 leaves were removed, fruit and seed production were reduced at both intact and defoliated reproductive nodes. Taken together, these results suggest that neighboring reproductive nodes in C. fasciculata are not physiologically independent of one another, and that competition among fruits and seeds for parental resources occurs over several reproductive nodes.Scientific contribution no. 1595 from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station     

Critics of perfection

"In praise of imperfection" means to Rita Levi-Montalcini, Nobel prize for Medicine (1986), praise of man, as an unique being mixed of good and evil, whose greatness and dynamism is in its imperfection. Levi-Montalcini confesses her tendency to exclude herself, avoiding social contacts (a tendency she also improperly attributes to J. Watson). However, how can this be reconciled with a view such as that of Kundera: "Existence is not what has happened... Once again, existing means 'being in the world"'?     

Accumulation and regulation of elastin in the rat uterus

The relative levels of elastin-specific mRNA were used as a measure of tropoelastin expression in uteri from pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats. The levels of elastin-specific mRNA were also correlated with values for net tropoelastin production and net deposition of mature, crosslinked elastin. The total content of uterine elastin increased throughout gestation, reaching maximal levels at Day 19 of gestation, which were three times those of nongravid tissue. Following involution, the elastin content decreased rapidly to near baseline values by 5 days postpartum. The content of soluble elastin, estimated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, paralleled in part the increase in elastin deposition and elastin mRNA levels. Uterine elastin metabolism appears to be unlike that in other elastic tissues, e.g., lung and large blood vessels. In most elastin containing tissues, the protein is synthesized during discrete developmental periods and is not readily degraded. However, uterine elastin is continuously expressed, and appears to be in a continual cycle of degradation and replacement.     

Behavioral endocrinology of male rats with periodic sexual contacts with exclusive or varied females

Sexual contact keys a profound series of acute and chronic changes in males that, presumably, are orchestrated by acute pulsatile release of hormones. An experimental paradigm is reported in which male rats were paired periodically with either the same or different estrous females to receive identical amounts of copulatory experiences. Results confirmed the hypothesis that exposure to an unfamiliar female would induce a different endocrine response which would be reflected in various androgen-sensitive systems. The "successively polygynous" males showed more sexual behavior than "monogamous" males, and their respective females solicited the males differently, as well. Circulating levels of testosterone were higher immediately after sexual contact with an unfamiliar than with a familiar female partner. There were no differences in testosterone titers among the groups when the animals were killed at either 2 or 7 weeks after the final copulatory experiences. Yet, necropsies at 2 weeks postcopulation revealed that primary and secondary sex structures from polygynous males clearly were larger. Differences between the two experimental groups were reduced after 7 weeks of sexual rest, yet, polygnous males continued to show a different structural profile than the other groups. Conclusions were that males may experience greater activation of androgen-sensitive behavior and physiology following qualitatively different sexual contacts.