Proliferation and differentiation of chick skeletal muscle cells cultured in a chemically defined medium

By using the technique of nuclear transplantation in Paramecium [1], amicronucleate and renucleate clones were prepared in P. caudatum. The major differences between amicronucleate and micronucleate cells in the vegetative stage are elongation of cell cycle time, decrease in food vacuole formation, and shortening of the buccal cavity in the amicronucleate cells. These characteristics of amicronucleate cells are closely related with the absence of micronucleus, because all of these abnormalities were cured when the micronucleus was transplanted again into the amicronucleate. It is evident that the germinal micronucleus plays an important role not only during the sexual cycle but also in vegetative growth. Elongation of the cell cycle time in amicronucleates was also observed in P. bursaria and P. jenningsi.     

The presence or absence of light during flotation restricted environmental stimulation: Effects on plasma cortisol,blood pressure,and mood

This study examined the effect of light on relaxation associated with flotation restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST), as measured by plasma cortisol, mean arterial pressure, and psychometric parameters. Twenty-one subjects were paired by baseline cortisol levels into two groups: one experiencing flotation REST in the presence of light (REST-L) and one experiencing flotation REST in the absence of light (REST-D). Subjects were 15 male and 6 female students aged 22–28 in normal health who had not experienced REST. Repeated flotation REST (8 sessions) either with light or without light was associated with a decrease in plasma cortisol and a decrease in mean arterial pressure, with no differences in effectiveness between groups. The psychometric assessment of mood, using the POMS scale, before and after sessions 1 and 8 revealed mood state improvement in both REST-L and REST-D groups. These data suggest that the presence of light did not compromise the flotation REST experience, as evidenced by the lack of difference between REST-L and REST-D groups.     

Modelling ultraviolet exposures in a school environment.

A technique has been developed to represent erythemally effective ultraviolet radiation exposure within a school environment. The technique models the erythemally effective exposure onto a horizontal plane representation of a mapped school environment located in Hervey Bay (25 degrees S, 153 degrees E), Australia. The input parameters used to model the ultraviolet exposures received within the school playground included the measured sky view, ground albedo and standing surface albedo. Estimates of the erythemally effective ultraviolet exposure received within the school playground during morning tea and lunch time meal breaks during a winter and summer school day are presented. The influence of tree shade and building structure was found to vary significantly with solar zenith angle modelled over the winter and summer school meal break times with horizontal plane exposures predicted to vary from between 0 and 7 SED at different locations within the playground. The technique presented provides a method that can be followed to examine the effect of surrounding buildings and surface structures of real environments on the predicted horizontal plane ultraviolet exposure.     

A developmental study of rat sperm and testis selenoproteins

Essentially all of the selenium in the rat spermatozoon is bound to a polypeptide of Mr 15,000-17,000 confined to the capsule that surrounds the sperm mitochondria. Isoelectric focussing of isolated 75Se-labelled, carboxymethylated mitochondrial capsule protein (MCP) reveals the presence of at least four radioactive components, with a predominant charge isomer at pI4.6. The sperm selenoprotein appears to be identical with MCP, as judged by the exact coincidence of radioactivity and protein stain during two-dimensional electrophoresis. The temporal pattern of 75Se-labelling of rat caput epididymal spermatozoa after intratesticular 75Se injection suggests that maximum incorporation of 75Se into MCP occurs in step 7-step 12 spermatids and that 75Se uptake ceases during step 15 of spermiogenesis. The developmental appearance of sperm selenoprotein in rat testis therefore appears to lag several days behind that reported for MCP in mouse testis, suggesting the presence of selenium-free MCP in immature germ cells. SDS gel electrophoretic analysis of testis subcellular fractions 24 h after 75Se injection into rat testis at 21, 28 and 90 days of age indicates that sperm selenoprotein first appears in very low concentration during late meiosis and that its concentration increases sharply during early spermiogenesis. Additional 75Se-labelled polypeptides were detected on the gels, most of them of higher molecular weight than MCP. At least two of these (Mr 47,000 and 54,000) displayed a marked decrease in labelling between 5 and 24 h after injection into adult testis, coincident with a comparable increase in 75Se-labelled MCP, indicating that they may be precursors of MCP.     

Synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol and 24,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol by calvarial cells. Characterization of the enzyme systems.

The synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1,25(OH)2D3] and 24,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [24,25(OH)2D3] from 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D3] has previously been shown to occur in cells isolated from bone. The main findings of the present study are that the enzyme systems which catalyse these syntheses are: (1) active at 'in vitro' substrate concentrations over the range of 2-50 nM; (2) regulatable in a complex way by 1,25(OH)2D3, 24,25(OH)2D3, 25,26-dihydroxycholecalciferol and 25(OH)D3, but not by cholecalciferol ('vitamin D3'); and (3) have relatively short half-lives (approx. 5 h).     

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) shares a common carbohydrate determinant with the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) of the African Trypanosoma brucei

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) is an integral membrane protein that inhibits amplification of the complement cascade on the cell surface. We and other investigators have shown that DAF is part of a newly characterized family of proteins that are anchored to the cell membrane by phosphatidylinositol (PI). The group includes the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) of African trypanosomes, the p63 protein of Leishmania, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), alkaline phosphatase, Thy-1, 5'-nucleotidase, and RT6.2--an alloantigen from rat T cells. The structure of the membrane anchor has been best characterized for VSG, but chemical studies of the membrane anchors of AChE and Thy-1 suggest that similar glycolipid moieties anchor these proteins to the cell surface. In the VSG, the membrane anchor consists of an ethanolamine linked covalently to an oligosaccharide and glucosamine; the entire complex is anchored to the cell membrane by PI. Immunologically, this glycolipid defines an epitope, the cross-reacting determinant (CRD), that is only revealed after removal of the diacyl glycerol anchor by a phospholipase C. By Western blotting, we show here that DAF-S (DAF released from the membrane by PI-specific phospholipase C [PIPLC]) also contains CRD. Using a newly developed immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) in which the solid-phase capturing antibody is a monoclonal antibody to DAF and the second antibody is anti-CRD, we have been able to quantitate DAF-S. By IRMA, we show that the reaction between anti-CRD and DAF-S is specific, since the binding is competitively inhibited only by the soluble form of the VSG. These observations further support the concept that the glycolipid anchors of this new family of proteins have similar structures. DAF is also found as a soluble protein in various tissue fluids as well as in Hela cell supernatants. No evidence for the presence of the CRD epitope was found on these proteins, suggesting that these forms of DAF are not released from the surface of cells by endogenous phospholipases.