MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL CORRELATES OF CEREBRAL MICROSOMES : I. Isolation and Chemical Characterization

Microsomal fractions, both homogeneous in appearance and functionally operative, were isolated from a homogenate of rat cerebral cortex by fractionation in water. The preparations thus obtained contain the membranous elements of the endoplasmic reticulum, synaptic vesicles, and ribosomes. Esterase, ATPase, and glutamine synthetase were found to be present and fully functional in the microsomal fractions isolated in water. The contamination of the water-isolated microsomal fractions by mitochondria and lysosomes was found to be considerably lower than in microsomal pellets isolated in sucrose. The contamination by nerve ending particles, as judged by electron microscopy and by the levels of soluble lactic dehydrogenase entrapped in the cytoplasm of the particles, was also low. Most of the contamination by mitochondria and nerve ending particles could be removed by treatment of the microsomal pellet with 150 mM NaCl. Resistant to elution by this treatment is the lysosomal contamination as well as microsomal esterase and ATPase. Glutamine synthetase, on the other hand, was almost totally solubilized. Microsomal preparations isolated in water are also shown to contain amounts of protein, RNA, phospholipid, and ganglioside comparable to those found in microsomal preparations isolated in sucrose.     

Die Ausdrucksbewegungen der Sichelente,Anas falcata L.

Zusammenfassung Die Ausdrucksbewegungen der Sichelente,Anas (Eunetta) falcata Georgi, werden beschrieben, soweit möglich vorläufig analysiert und mit denen nächstverwandter Arten, vor allem denen vonAnas (Nettium) crecca crecca L.,Anas (Chaulelasmus) strepera L. undAnas (Mareca) penelope L. verglichen. Dieser Vergleich ergibt, genau wie der morphologischer Merkmale des Gefieders und der Knochentrommel, eine systematische Stellung vonfalcata genau zwischen den drei genannten Arten, näher den beiden erstgenannten als der dritten. Die Verteilung der Merkmal-Gemeinsamkeiten einerseits mitcrecca, andererseits mitstrepera, läßt den Schluß zu, daß die drei Arten divergent aus einer gemeinsamen Ahnenform entstanden seien. Keine gemeinsamen Merkmale, die bei anderen Arten fehlen, verbinden die drei genannten Formen zu einer Gruppe.Beim Gesellschaftsspiel der Sichelerpel sind, im Gegensatz zu dem aller anderen bisher daraufhin untersuchten Schwimmentenarten, alle beteiligten Bewegungsweisen, einschließlich des einleitenden Schüttelns, zur Ente hin orientiert, die hier, wie beicrecca undstrepera, am Spiel der Erpel sehr regen Anteil nimmt. Dagegen fehlen solche Bewegungen, die durch Ritualisierung aus Angriffsverhalten entstanden sind, beim Gesellschaftsspiel völlig, spielen aber eine große Rolle, analog dem Triumphgeschrei der Gänse und Tadorninen, beim Zusammenhalt der bereits verpaarten Tiere.     

DECREASE IN NUCLEAR FEULGEN-POSITIVE MATERIAL (DNA) UPON AGING IN IN VITRO STORAGE OF BOVINE SPERMATOZOA

The Feulgen-DNA content of sperm cells from 5 bulls was studied by means of microspectrophotometry after storage at 5°C for 2, 3, 5, and 10 days in a yolk-citrate diluent permitting slow aerobic metabolism. A subsample of sperm cells from each bull was subjected to the Feulgen technique on each of the storage days selected. The cells sampled on each of these days received a standard 12 minute, 60°C hydrolysis. Absorption measurements at 546 mµof the individual cells indicated a marked progressive decrease in the Feulgen-DNA content of the stored spermatozoa. The loss of 30 per cent of the initial DNA at the end of 5 days' storage was highly significant statistically. This decrease approximately parallels the known decrease in fertility of stored sperm cells, as well as the increase in apparent embryonic mortality resulting from the use of similarly aged spermatozoa for artificial insemination.     

Electron Microscope Study of the Human Neuromuscular Junction

A preliminary electron microscope study of human neuromuscular junction is presented. The biopsy material was taken from the palmarus longus, and fixed routinely in osmium tetroxide and embedded in methacrylate. The structure of the motor endings and the relationship of the synaptic vesicles to the axolemmal membrane are described. The synaptic clefts are filled with an homogeneous material in continuity with the basement membrane covering the muscle fiber. The subneural apparatus is described, and special attention is paid to a vesicular component present in the sarcoplasm of the junctional area, which differs from synaptic vesicles and is presumed to be a derivate of the sarcoplasmic reticulum.     

Ueber den stand der Agrarmeteorologischen Forschung in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The inconsistencies of present-day mathematical-physical methods pertaining to current generators in volume conductors used in electrocardiography

The present-day practices of electrocardiography and vectorardiography are based upon the theory that the surface potential differences can be assumed to be due to a single dipole inside the body. It is shown in this paper that a dipole cannot account for all the surface potentials due to realistic current generators, and hence the determination of the current generator from surface potential measurements based upon such a theory will lead to inconsistent representations of the heart for one and the same subject. To demonstrate this point two eccentric dipoles of different strengths and locations representing two muscle fibers are taken to be the current generator in a homogeneous spherical conductor. The exact surface potentials are then expressed by means of the “interior sphere theorem” of the authors. With these expressions the magnitude, direction, and location of the resultant dipole are determined by the method of D. Gabor and C. V. Nelson (J. App. Physics,25, 413–16, 1954). The surface potentials due to this resultant dipole are again exactly expressed by means of the “interior sphere theorem” and compared with those due to the eccentric dipoles assumed. It can be seen that the differences can be considerable. It is suggested that the multipole model of the authors (Bull. Math. Biophysics,20, 203–16, 1958) be used as a more accurate and the only unique representation of the heart. This investigation was supported by the National Heart Institute under a research grant H-2263(c).