Correlation between the neural noise in the thalamus after cerebrovascular disease and computerized tomography. A case report.

The case is presented of a 45-year-old man who suffered from a sudden attack of unconsciousness with right hemiplegia and later developed a spastic hemiparesis accompanied by involuntary movement of the right upper limb. CT scan revealed an old putaminal hemorrhage and almost intact thalamus, but neural noise recordings during the stereotactic thalamotomy of this case showed marked decrease of the neural activity in the thalamus suggesting some functional changes.     

The R-banded karyotype of Felis catus

Representative haploid R-banded karyotypes of the domestic cat (Felis catus) and a diagrammatic representation of the banding patterns at the 400 band level are presented.     

Improved fixation and cobalt-glucose oxidase-diaminobenzidine intensification for immunohistochemical demonstration of corticotropin-releasing factor in rat brain

An optimal fixation method and intensification procedure may be required in brain immunohistochemistry to obtain intense and widespread staining for a specific antigen, in cases where ordinary fixation and conventional immunohistochemistry result in only partial demonstration of the antigen. In the present study of localization of corticotropin-releasing factor immunoreactivity (CRFI) in rat brain, the importance of such intensification is shown. We describe a fixation procedure in which perfusion of rat brain with Bouin's solution is followed by a PBS wash and a further perfusion with either Zamboni's fluid or 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), for subsequent investigation of the detailed localization of CRFI in cerebral cortex and subcortical structures. The cobalt-glucose oxidase-diaminobenzidine (Co-GOD) intensification method has been modified to increase the sensitivity of immunostaining by reducing the concentration of glucose oxidase, which is added to the final incubation solution as a generator of hydrogen peroxide. The use of cobalt acetate instead of cobalt chloride appears to slightly suppress background staining in the Co-GOD method. Combination of the two modified procedures was applied to visualize intense and widespread CRFI in a variety of rat brain regions, including median eminence, cerebral cortex, and central amygdaloid nucleus.     

Deoxyribonucleic acid strand breaks during drying of Escherichia coli on a hydorohobic filter membrane.

Cells of Escherichia coli mounted on a hydrophobic filter membrane were dried under various vapor pressures. A mutant defective in deoxyribonucleic acid repair (uvrA recA) was more sensitive to drying at a water activity of 0.53 or below than the parent strain but not at a water activity of 0.75 and above. Sucrose gradient studies showed that single- and double-strand breaks of deoxyribonucleic acid occurred at a water activity of 0.53 or below, but no breaks could be observed at a water activity of 0.75 or above. These results were observed in all cells rehydrated with 0.03 M tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane-hydrocholoride buffer solution at 0 or 37 degrees C, in the presence or absence of oxygen, with saturated water vapor or with a hypertonic solution followed by a gradual dilution. Freezable water was detected in the cells only at a water activity above 0.75 by differential scanning calorimetry. Removal of unfreezable water of cells in the drying, therfore, might induce deoxyribonucleic acid strand breaks.     

The high resolution R-banded karyotype of the domestic pig, Sus scrofa domestica L

A representative haploid R-banded karyotype of the domestic pig, and a diagrammatic representation of the banding patterns at the 550 band level are presented.     

Localization of γ-melanocyte stimulating hormone (γMSH) immunoreactivity in rat brain and pituitary

γ-Melanocyte stimulating hormone (γMSH) is a possibly biologically active material discovered in the cryptic N-terminus of the pro-opiocortin precursor by recombinant DNA analysis of bovine pituitary mRNA. Well-characterized antisera to synthetic bovine γ-3MSH (γ₃MSH) were used to localize immunoreactive sites in sections of formaldehyde-fixed rat brain and pituitary by the indirect immunoperoxidase technique. Specificity for staining was established by absorption with the synthetic antigen peptides or their fragments; staining was not blocked by absorption with synthetic replicates of other natural peptides that contain redundant amino acid sequences, with those of γMSH such as corticotropin or β-MSH. The general patterns of staining within adenohypophysis, intermediate lobe, and central nervous system closely followed the previously described patterns of β-endorphin immunoreactivity. Corticotrophs, all intermediate lobe cells and neuronal perikarya in the ventro-basal hypothalamus exhibited immunoreactivity for γ₃MSH as they do for β-endorphin. Furthermore, the general distribution of immunoreactive nerve fibers and terminals within the diencephalon and pons was quite similar to endorphin immunoreactivity patterns as well. In series of alternating sections, prepared for either γ₃MSH β-endorphin immunoreactivity, the same specific terminal fields were found to exhibit very similarly shaped varicose axons and probable terminal bouton configurations. However, the density of the innervation by fibers exhibiting immunoreactivity for the two peptides varied among the common target areas. Furthermore, the perikarya exhibiting γ₃MSH immunoreactivity were fewer in number, smaller in size, and more medially clustered than those exhibiting immunoreactivity for β-endorphin. These results demonstrate that γ₃MSH also occurs in rat brain and in pituitary cells which were already known to contain endorphin immunoreactivity. However, γ₃MSH-immunoreactive neurones may not be coexistent with all endorphin-immunoreactive neurons, and these cells project with varying intensity to common target fields. Such observations are in agreement with the proposal of different processing of a common precursor in different cells.     

The regional distribution of gamma 3-melanotropin-like peptides in bovine brain is correlated with adrenocorticotropin immunoreactivity but not with beta-endorphin

Immunoreactive (IR)-gamma 3-melanotropin (MSH), -adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and -beta-endorphin in various areas of bovine brain were measured with their respective radioimmunoassays (RIA). The concentrations of IR-gamma 3-MSH were almost the same as those of IR-ACTH in most areas. Furthermore, in all brain regions, the concentrations of both peptides were lower than those of IR-beta-endorphin. The highest concentration of IR-gamma 3-MSH was found in hypothalamus, followed by thalamus, midbrain and striatum. Gel permeation chromatographic studies showed that the main gamma 3-MSH-like peptide in the hypothalamus, striatum and midbrain was a small form, whose molecular weight is about 4500. These brain gamma 3-MSH-like peptides were also found to be glycosylated.     

The NIK protein kinase and C17orf1 genes: chromosomal mapping, gene structures and mutational screening in frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17

Full exon-intron structures are presented for the NIK serine/threonine protein kinase gene and a novel gene termed C17orf1. By in situ hybridisation and radiation hybrid mapping, a cosmid (cDD-Z) that contains regions of both of these genes has been localised between markers D17S800 and D17S791 at chromosome 17q21. The two genes are thus positional candidates for the mutant locus underlying frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17), a disease for which NIK is also a good biological candidate. Using exon-intron maps, a genomic DNA sequencing based mutation screen has been performed for the NIK and C17orf1 genes in a chromosome 17-linked FTDP-17 pedigree. Two silent single-base variations were detected in C17orf1. No alterations were restricted to DNA samples from patients, thus excluding the C17orf1 and NIK genes as likely sites of mutation FTDP-17. Received: 23 December 1997 / Accepted: 23 June 1998