Increased plasma corticosterone levels in bovine growth hormone (bGH) transgenic mice: Effects of ACTH,GH and IGF-I onin vitro adrenal corticosterone production

Previous work from our laboratory provided evidence for increased plasma corticosterone levels in mice transgenic for human and bovine growth hormone (GH). Corticosterone was elevated in both sexes, under both basal and ether-induced stress conditions. The objectives of the present study were to investigate thein vitro adrenal sensitivity to ACTH, GH and/or IGF-I in normal and bGH transgenic mice, to examine plasma corticosterone levels at different times of the day, and to determine plasma levels of ACTH in these animals. For the measurement of plasma corticosterone and ACTH levels, transgenic and normal siblings were housed 2 per cage and decapitated simultaneously within 20 seconds of the first disturbance of the cage. The corticosterone production byin vitro adrenal incubations did not differ between adrenals from normal and transgenic mice at the basal level or in the presence of different doses of ACTH. Growth hormone or IGF-I did not have any effect on corticosterone productionin vitro when given alone, and did not modify the effects of ACTH on the accumulation of corticosterone in the media. Plasma corticosterone concentrations were higher in transgenic than in normal animals in both morning and evening. Plasma concentrations of ACTH in animals killed in the morning were sharply increased in transgenic males as compared with their normal siblings. The results indicate that increased circulating levels of corticosterone in transgenic mice are not due to a potentiation of ACTH actions by GH or IGF-I, but rather to a chronic increase in plasma ACTH levels. The increase in ACTH is presumably a reflection of GH actions in the hypothalamic-pituitary system.     

Esterase and malate dehydrogenase isozyme polymorphisms in 15 Artemia populations.

1. Starch gel electrophoresis of adult brine shrimps from 15 populations revealed little intrapopulation polymorphism in NAD-dependent malate dehydrogenase (MDH) isozymes or in the two fastest esterases (demonstrated with alpha-naphthyl propionate as substrate). 2. Interpopulation differences could be summarized as three different electrophoresis band patterns for the five- to seven-banded MDH isozymes and another three patterns for the two fastest esterases. 3. These differences in electrophoresis patterns divide the 15 Artemia populations into four categories (each containing one to seven populations) which may be distinguished by isozyme content and which are congruent with categories established by the criterion of reproductive isolation in an earlier study.     

Inoculation of millet with azospirillum

Summary Millet plants (Pennisetum glaucum) were grown at three levels of nitrogen fertilization with and without an inoculum of live nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum cells. The highest average rate of nitrogen fixation as estimated from acetylene reduction by excised preincubated roots was only 23g N₂ fixed per ha per day and occurred after treatment with low levels of nitrogen amendment. The average rates of acetylene reduction for intact plants at all treatments were also low. The lack of significant nitrogen fixation due to an Azospirillum-millet association in this study was substantiated by plant dry weight analysis, and determination of the nitrogen content of plants, pot leachate, and soil. There was significant correlation between the total nitrogen content of the plants per pot at the termination of the experiment and the amount of nitrogen fertilizer added initially, but there was no effect of inoculum on final total nitrogen content.     

CITRATE AS THE PRECURSOR OF THE ACETYL MOIETY OF ACETYLCHOLINE

Abstract— Rat brain cortex slices were incubated with glucose labeled with either ³H or ¹⁴C in the 6-position. The ³H/¹⁴C ratios and the incorporation of radioactivity into lactate, citrate, malate and acetylcholine were determined. While the ³H/¹⁴C ratio of lactate was close to that of glucose, the ratios in the acetyl moiety of acetylcholine and the acetyl (C-4,5) portion of citrate decreased in a similar proportion. This was interpreted as indirect evidence for the participation of citrate as a precursor to the acetyl moiety of acetylcholine. Two inhibitors of the citrate cleavage pathway: n -butylmalonate, an inhibitor of citrate transport and (-)-hydroxycitrate, an inhibitor of ATP-citrate lyase were studied for their effect on acetylcholine synthesis. N -butylmalonate (10 mM) and (-)-hydroxycitrate (7.5 mM) led to a decrease in the per cent of ¹⁴C recovered as acetylcholine. In each instance the ³H/¹⁴C ratio in acetylcholine was higher in the presence of inhibitor while the corresponding ratios in lactate and citrate (C-4.5) remained unchanged. From the results, it is suggested that citrate is involved in the transport mechanism of acetyl units from its site of synthesis in mitochondria to the site of acetylcholine synthesis in the cytosol.     

Erythrocyte membrane alterations induced by Plasmodium simium infection in Saimiri sciureus: relation to Schüffner's dots.

The nature of erythrocyte membrane alterations in Plasmodium simium infections was determined employing light microscopy, carbon replication and transmission electron microscopy. Light microscopy of Giemsa stained preparations shows that infected cells initially acquire a faint stippling (schuffnerization) which becomes pronouced with subsequent parasite development. Enlargement of the host cell usually accompanied stippling. Both phenomena appear to depend on host cell age since infected mature erythrocytes were neither stippled nor enlarged. Carbon replicas show numerous indentations over the outer membrane surface of most infected cells. Their distribution suggests that they account for Schuffner's granules. The surface indentations are manifest as small infundibular which open to the infected cell's surface. Cytoplasmic microvesciles in the infected cell's stroma frequently are observed adjacent or catenated to the surface infundibula. Images suggest their funsion with the surface infundibula thus adding membrane to the cell's surface and accounting for host cell enlargement.