Preliminary clinical experience with the antiarrhythmic effect of PGF2a

A total dosage up to 1 mg PGF_2a as i.v. infusions of 10–40 μg/min. was investigated on patients with arrhythmias of several kinds. We found therapeutic effects in 5 of 6 patients with constant extrasystoles and in one patient with digitalis - induced partial AV-block respectively. In 3 of 4 patients with acute tachyarrhythmias the results were not convincing, probably due to a dosage not high enough. An increase of the diastolic stimulation threshold usually seen with other antiarrhythmics was not to be observed in 3 patients. The mechanism of action of PGF_2a has not yet been clarified.     

A silver impregnation method for embedded central nervous tissue of the rat

A simple and yet reliable silver impregnation method, using potassium ferrocyanide, for demonstrating nervous tissue of the rat central nervous system embedded in paraffin or paraplast is described. The method reported here is compared and discussed with earlier techniques using potassium dicyanoargentate, potassium ferrocyanide and potassium ferricyanide.     

Getting a grip on the intertidal: flow microhabitat and substratum type determine the dislodgement of the crab Pachygrapsus crassipes (Randall) on rocky shores and in estuaries

Hydrodynamic forces can affect survival as well as limit the movement of motile benthic animals. An animal's danger of dislodgement depends on the hydrodynamic forces it experiences in its microhabitat relative to the force required to dislodge it (tenacity) from the substratum. We measured water flow and substratum characteristics in two different habitats of the shore crab Pachygrapsus crassipes: a wave-swept rocky shore and an intertidal mudflat. The maximum water velocities and accelerations in the microhabitats of the crabs at the wave-swept site were three times and two times greater, respectively, than at the mudflat site. In the laboratory, we measured the tenacity of crabs of various sizes on different substrata, and also measured their drag, lift and added-mass coefficients. Using these data, we calculated the flow conditions under which crabs would be overturned or sheared off the substratum in their two habitats. The net horizontal force (drag plus acceleration reaction) required to dislodge a crab on a rugose rock substratum was an order of magnitude greater than on smooth rock and two orders of magnitude greater than on mud. Our calculations indicate that, under non-storm conditions, crabs will not be dislodged from the substratum in either the mudflat or the wave-swept habitat when grasping the substratum with maximum tenacity. Moving crabs have lower tenacity and our calculations predict that hydrodynamic forces will restrict the mobility of large crabs more than that of small ones on smooth, but not on rugose rock.     

Additive stimulation of hepatic putrescine production by glucagon and insulin after partial hepatectomy in rats

When rats received glucagon or insulin every 2 h after partial hepatectomy (Hx), hepatic putrescine content was increased above control levels at 6 and 12 h, respectively. When the two hormones were combined, the increased levels were additive. Hepatic ornithine decarboxylase activity was above control levels at 12 h after insulin treatment. Hepatic spermidine N1-acetyltransferase activity was enhanced at 6 h only when glucagon was dosed. Putrescine administration from 0 to 4 h or from 6 to 10 h increased hepatic DNA synthesis to similar levels 22 h after Hx. These results suggest that glucagon and insulin additively stimulate hepatic putrescine production after Hx. This may explain the cooperative stimulation of liver regeneration by both hormones.