Complement Requirement of Neutralizing Antibodies in Different Classes of Immunoglobulin Appearing in Rabbits and Guinea Pigs after Primary and Booster Immunizations with Herpes Simplex Virus

Rabbits and guinea pigs were immunized with herpes simplex virus and bled periodically. The sera were fractionated into slow IgG, fast IgG and IgM by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, and complement-requiring (CRN) and nonrequiring neutralizing (N) antibody activities were estimated. In early sera of rabbits, the two IgG and IgM fractions possessed about equal CRN activities, although some animals showed a slightly lower activity in fast IgG. In guinea pigs, the early CRN activity resided mainly in slow IgG (7 S γ₂). The early IgG antibody of guinea pigs differed from that of rabbits in that it resembled IgM in resistances to heating at 70 C and to 2-mercaptoethanol. The level of CRN IgM antibody in rabbits declined following a peak reached in 2 to 3 weeks, whereas such a decline was never observed in guinea pigs. N IgG antibody was developed a few weeks after the first immunization in rabbits and much retarded in guinea pigs. In both species, booster immunization quickly evoked N antibody in the two IgG fractions and also CRN IgM antibody, but in the case of rabbits the IgM antibody disappeared soon. It is concluded that IgG plays an important role in humoral immunity from the initial stage of the immunization course.     

Effect of propranolol on glucose-induced insulin response in rats with insulinomas

This paper describes an inhibitory effect of propranolol on insulin secretion in rats with pancreatic islet cell tumors which have been induced by streptozotocin (65 mg/kg body weight) and nicotinamide (500 mg/kg). Following glucose ingestion (3 g/kg), propranolol (4 mg/kg) was injected into the tumor-bearing rats. Plasma insulin decreased paradoxically despite an increase in blood glucoses. In contrast, propranolol did not suppress insulin secretion in normal rats. The drug was found to have no effect on glucagon secretion in either experimental or control animals during glucose load. This may suggest that the experimentally induced insulinoma in hypersensitive to propranolol for inhibiting insulin secretion.     

Acentric chromosome ends are prone to fusion with functional chromosome ends through a homology-directed rearrangement

The centromeres of many eukaryotic chromosomes are established epigenetically on potentially variable tandem repeats; hence, these chromosomes are at risk of being acentric. We reported previously that artificially created acentric chromosomes in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe can be rescued by end-to-end fusion with functional chromosomes. Here, we show that most acentric/functional chromosome fusion events in S. pombe cells harbouring an acentric chromosome I differed from the non-homologous end-joining-mediated rearrangements that result in deleterious dicentric fusions in normal cells, and were elicited by a previously unidentified homologous recombination (HR) event between chromosome end-associated sequences. The subtelomere repeats associated with the non-fusogenic ends were also destabilized in the surviving cells, suggesting a causal link between general subtelomere destabilization and acentric/functional chromosome fusion. A mutational analysis indicated that a non-canonical HR pathway was involved in the rearrangement. These findings are indicative of a latent mechanism that conditionally induces general subtelomere instability, presumably in the face of accidental centromere loss events, resulting in rescue of the fatal acentric chromosomes by interchromosomal HR.     

A new species: Gerres microphthalmus (Perciformes: Gerreidae) from Japan with notes on limited distribution, included in the “G. filamentosus complex”

 Gerres microphthalmus sp. nov., described on the basis of the holotype and 38 paratypes, has a limited distribution in Japan, including Tanega Island, southeastern Kyushu, southern Shikoku, and southern Kii Peninsula, central Honshu. It has not been recorded from the Ryukyu Islands. The species is the fourth member of the “G. filamentosus complex,” characterized by an elongated second dorsal fin spine, the others being G. filamentosus, G. infasciatus, and G. macracanthus. Gerres microphthalmus sp. nov. is most similar to G. filamentosus in overall body appearance, but differs from the latter in having smaller eyes (8%–11% of standard length vs. 10%–16% in the latter), a higher orbit diameter ratio (as % of snout length) (93%–143% of snout vs. 71%–104% of snout), and fewer pored lateral line scales (40–43 vs. 43–46). The limited distribution pattern of the new species is discussed with G. equulus and Lates japonicus (Centropomidae) having a limited distribution similar to that of the new species. Received: June 28, 2001 / Revised: November 13, 2001 / Accepted: December 10, 2001     

Antioxidants from Lespedeza homoloba (II).

The stems of Lespedeza homoloba yielded fifteen new isoflavonoids and a new stilbenoid having antioxidative activity. Their structures were determined by analysis of spectroscopic evidence.     

Histopathological effects of larval digenea on the digestive epithelia of the marine prosobranch Cerithidea californica: Fine structural changes in the digestive gland

The effects of natural infections by rediae of the heterophyid Euhaplorchis californiensis on the digestive gland cells of Cerithidea californica (Gastropoda: Prosobranchiata) were studied through the use of light and electron microscopy. Pathological changes in secretory and digestive cells, including the disruption of digestive vacuoles and cell-cell junctions, the deformation of lumenal microvilli, the lysis of distal plasma membranes, and nuclear polymorphism, usually accompany the migration of larval trematodes into the digestive gland. Degenerating secretory cells are further characterized by Golgi complexes which assume an inflated appearance and a reduction of rough endoplasmic reticulum in the cell's perinuclear region. Finally, an increase in excretory and autophagic activities in the digestive gland cells of infected snails may be considered possible mechanisms by which the host is able to compensate for adverse metabolic or nutritional stresses of trematode parasitism.