Gastrointestinal pH measurement in rats: influence of the microbial flora, diet and fasting

The pH of the rat intestinal tract was decreased by the presence of a microbial flora, but its influence in the forestomach is less clear. Stomach pH values varied according to the amount of food present at the time of measurement. Fasting increased the pH of the gastrointestinal tract in conventional rats but had little effect in germfree rats. In the conventional rat, feeding a purified diet compared with a commercial diet resulted in a lower pH in the forestomach and a higher pH in the caecal contents. Magnesium trisilicate promoted gastric emptying in conventional rats and its antacid effect was observed only in the caecum and colon.     

A chronic implant for recording of cochlear potentials in primates

A new technique for the continuous recording of peripheral bioelectrical activity in the auditory system of primates is described. Because of basic differences in the anatomy of the temporal bone, the approach to the round window of the cochlea is more difficult in most primates than in lower animals. A relatively simple surgical approach, which made possible the placement of an electrode into the perilymph of the inner ear via the well-demarcated horizontal semicircular canal was therefore developed and is described in detail. The bared tip of a Teflon-coated wire was cemented into the canal opening with carboxylate cement, and the wire attached to a permanent electrical connector on the skull. Cochlear microphonic and action potentials of 50 to 100 μV amplitude were thus recorded on a continuing basis at the same time that behavioral studies of primate auditory acuity were conducted.     

Retention of bone cell viability in mouse calvarial explants after cryopreservation

Newborn mouse calvaria, cyropreserved at -196 degrees C in serum-free medium containing dimethyl-sulfoxide, were compared to unpreserved explants for bone cell viability by [3H]thymidine uptake. Other explants were studied using autoradiography to compare the histological appearance of the cryopreserved and control unpreserved explant sites of cellular localization of [3H]thymidine. After short-term cryopreservation, calvarial bone cells, including less differentiated osteoprogenitor cells, survived as indicated by their incorporation of the DNA precursor. With culture continuing for up to 24 hr after thawing and in the continuous presence of [3H]thymidine, additional labeled thymidine was incorporated, indicating that the proliferative ability of explant cells persists after cryopreservation. Cryopreserved bone explants did not, however, incorporate the same amount of labeled thymidine as did controls at each time point studied. These events, as measured quantitatively and observed by autoradiography of the tissue, indicate that newborn calvarial bone cell proliferation in vitro continues after cryopreservation. The large surface:mass ratio of the tissue and its proportionate volume of calcified matrix apparently permits it to behave as an isolated cell population with regard to the diffusion of the cryoprotectant and thermal conductivity, thus permitting the retention of explant viability.     

Computerized topographical analysis of functionally homogeneous neuronal sets.

A computer-assisted analysis of the spatial distribution of neurons having homogeneous characteristics is described in this paper. The camera lucida drawings of sections of a brain nucleus and the points representing the neurons labeled on the basis of a specific behavior of discharge rates were digitized on a personal computer Amiga 2000 or IBM compatible. Our software provided: a) the computerized, stereotaxically oriented reconstruction of the stored sections and of the plotted neurons; b) the identification within each section of the mass center (MC) of the units sharing a given behavior and of the area where the density of such neurons was maximal (MDA). The routine was tested on the spatial distribution of neuronal responses to serotonin in the lateral vestibular nucleus.     

Carotenoid synthesis in Streptomyces setonii ISP5395 is induced by the gene crtS, whose product is similar to a sigma factor

In many species of actinomycetes, carotenogenesis can be photoinduced. The capacity to respond to photoinduction is, however unstable and, in various strains of Streptomyces, is lost at a relatively high frequency. In Streptomyces setonii ISP5395, which normally produces no carotenoids, carotenoid-producing mutants can be obtained following protoplast regeneration. We report here the characterization of a gene, crtS, which was isolated from one such mutant and can confer on wild-type S. setonii ISP5395 cells the capacity to synthesize carotenoids. Sequence analysis of crtS reveals an open reading frame, which shows homology to genes that encode alternative sigma factors in Bacillus subtilis. We propose that crtS encodes a sigma factor which is necessary for the expression of a cryptic gene(s) for carotenoid biosynthesis in S. setonii ISP5395.