The cell content of peritoneal exudates following the injection of neutral thiol protease into guinea pigs.

The cell content of the peritoneal exudate was examined 4 days after an intraperitoneal injection of glycogen in uninfected and Paragonimus westermani-infected guinea pigs. In uninfected animals a reduction in macrophage count and an accumulation of granulocytes in the exudate were observed at 3 and 6 hr after an intraperitoneal injection of purified neutral thiol protease from P. westermani metacercariae. No such effect occurred after the enzyme was injected into infected animals. At 9 hr after enzyme injection, vacuoles were found in the cytoplasm of macrophages in uninfected animals.     

Expression of human pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) cDNA in CHO cells and characterization of the products.

cDNA encoding human PACAP precursor was expressed in non-neuroendocrine Chinese hamster ovary cells, CHO-K1, The cells were transfected with expression vector (pTS705) containing the human PACAP cDNA by electroporation. A cell line which produced more than 80 ng/ml of immunoreactive PACAP (ir-PACAP) into the conditioned medium was established. RP-HPLC analysis of culture medium of this established cell line exhibited the presence of two types of PACAP, i.e. PACAP38 and PACAP27. At the same time, it was also revealed that immunoreactive PACAP-related peptide (ir-PRP) was secreted into the cultured medium. The ir-PACAPs were confirmed to ahve biological activities such as induction of cAMP and neurite outgrowth in rat pheochromocytoma PC12h cells.     

Detection of immunologically related Kunitz and Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitors expressed during potato tuber development

Antiserum against a potato Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitor (PKPI) expressed in Escherichia coli was produced. In immunoblotting assays of proteins from potato tubers cultured in vitro, three proteins reacted to the antiserum, two of 20 kDa and one of 10 kDa. Their N-termini were sequenced. While the 20 kDa proteins showed 59 and 90% identity to PKPI, the 10 kDa one had 65% identity to soybean C-II proteinase inhibitor. Characterization of the temporal expression of these proteins showed that both could be detected from 10 days after induction of tuberization (DAI) in vitro, but the times when maximum amounts of PKPI and 10 kDa protein could be detected were different, corresponding to 22 and 32 DAI, respectively. The amounts of these proteins decreased in the following stages, and no positive reaction of the antiserum with mature tuber proteins could be found. The 20 kDa proteins were also detected in early stages of development of potato tubers grown in the field, indicating that these proteins are expressed during normal tuber development, and differ from the PKPIs reported previously.     

Significance of exercise and bed rest in pregnancy--pregnancy and walking (1)

Prior to evaluating the significance of bed rest in managing obstetric diseases, characteristics of physiology of pregnant women were examined on the basis of 24 hours heart rate changes in eight pregnant women at the third trimester and also distances covered in walking by a total of 53 multiparas and of 87 primiparas during free-living daily activities were measured by means of a pedometer. A significantly higher mean heart rate was observed in those pregnant women even during sleep than in non-pregnant control. The primiparas showed significant decreases in the pedometer readings in all stages except for 15-27 weeks of gestation, while the multiparas of less than 28 weeks exhibited no decrease as compared with non-pregnant control. The decrease in the pedometer readings were marked in both primiparas and multiparas, the value being much lower than that of any other week of gestation. However, the equation of weight x distance covered in walking remains rather constant throughout gestation.     

Solution conformation of endothelin determined by nuclear magnetic resonance and distance geometry

The solution conformation of endothelium-derived vasoconstrictor peptide, endothelin, has been determined by two-dimensional 1H-NMR spectroscopy and distance geometry. Conformation in the N-terminal core region (residues 1-15) is well-defined and a characteristic is the helix-like conformation in the segment from Lys9 to Cys15. Contrarily, the C-terminal tail region (residues 16-21) does not assume a defined conformation and there are no specific interactions between the core and the tail regions.