Effect of calcium depletion and subsequent repletion on parathyroids,parafollicular (C) cells and bone in the growing pig

Summary The ultrastructure of the chief cells of the parathyroid gland and thyroid parafollicular (C) cells and the morphology of bone in calcium depletion and subsequent repletion were examined in young growing pigs. A low calcium diet resulted in osteopenia, increased removal of the cartilaginous core, osteoclasia and osteocytic osteolysis. Subsequent repletion quickly returned bone to normal. In pigs fed the low calcium diet, there was a marked depletion of secretory granules but a striking increase in the number of microtubules in chief cells. Increasing the calcium content of the diet to normal quickly returned the ultrastructural appearance of chief cells to apparent normal. In the initial response to calcium repletion, chief cells exhibited large number of lysosomes and occasionally prominent paracrystalloid bodies. Electron microscopic examination of parafollicular (C) cells of the thyroid gland failed to reveal differences in ultrastructure between test and control pigs. These findings support the view that bone resorption following calcium deficiency may be the result of a secondary hyperparathyroidism rather than of calcium deficiency per se.Supported by U.S.P.H.S. Grant A.M. 12957 from the Division of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases     

Effects of pH and salt concentration on the hydrolysis of a benzo[alpha]pyrene 7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide catalyzed by DNA and polyadenylic acid

The time-dependent absorbance change that occurs when benzo[alpha]pyrene 7,8-diol-9,10-epoxide is added to solutions of calf thymus DNA has been shown, by an unequivocal chromatographic method, to correspond to DNA-catalyzed hydrolysis of the diol-epoxide. At 25 degrees C and mu = 0.10, the kinetics of the reaction of the diol-epoxide with polyadenylic acid or DNA are consistent with preequilibrium formation of a non-covalent complex between the diol-epoxide and the polynucleotide or DNA, followed by hydrolysis of the bound epoxide by a process that is first-order in hydronium ions. Cacodylic acid also catalyzes the hydrolysis of the epoxide bound to polyadenylic acid. The rate of the DNA-catalyzed hydrolysis exhibits little or no enantiomeric selectivity for the diol-epoxide. DNA catalyzed hydrolysis of the diol-epoxide is extraordinarily sensitive to the salt concentration in the reaction medium: the rate of hydrolysis of the bound epoxide at pH 7 is retarded by a factor of approximately 45 in the presence of 0.1 M sodium chloride compared to a 1 mM buffer containing no added salt. Thus, studies of the interactions of DNA with carcinogenic diol-epoxides must take into account the ionic environment of DNA within the cell.     

Studies on the effects of intracerebral actinomycin D implants on estrogen-induced receptivity in rats

Ovariectomized female rats were injected with estrogen and progesterone and actinomycin D was implanted into different brain areas. Implants of actinomycin D inhibited estrogen-induced lordosis behavior when applied to the preoptic region within 12 hr of estrogen treatment regardless of whether the interval between implantation and testing was 29, 38, or 68 hr. Implants 21 hr after estrogen treatment were ineffective. Attempts to localize the site of action showed that implants into the preoptic region were effective even when the implant cannulae did not pierce the ventricles, that implants into the caudate nucleus were ineffective even if the cannulae pierced the lateral ventricles, and that implants into the third ventricle were highly effective in inhibiting lordosis behavior.     

Transductional Instability of Tn5-Induced Mutations: Generalized and Specialized Transduction of Tn5 by Bacteriophage P1

Generalized transduction is commonly used to move transposon-induced mutations among bacterial strains by selecting for inheritance of a transposon-encoded resistance determinant. Although complete cotransduction of the resistance determinant and the chromosomal mutation might be expected, it is often found that when Tn5(Kan) insertion mutations are transduced by bacteriophage P1 most of the nonmutant kanamycin-resistant transductants area due to specialized transduction of Tn5. Such P1::Tn5 specialized transducing phage are not found when a mutant Tn5 element lacking a functional transposase is employed.