Behavioral and biochemical assessment of time-related changes in globus pallidus and striatal dopamine induced by intranigrally administered neurotensin

Microinjection of neurotensin (NT; 2 and 5 μg) into the substantia nigra zona compacta caused an increase in dopamine (DA) and DA metabolites in the rodent globus pallidus and striatum which persisted for at least 20 hours after peptide administration. Similar NT treatments given unilaterally into the nigra caused circling away from the injected side in amphetamine-pretreated rats, but were without effect when microinjected into saline-pretreated animals. Circling also occurred when the animals were given amphetamine 20 hours after intranigral NT administration. Contralateral rotation was observed with unilateral intranigral injections of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB; 400 μg) or with lower intranigral GHB doses (250 μg) in amphetamine-pretreated animals. The effects of GHB and NT differed in the manner in which the animals rotated as well as in the profile of DA and DA metabolite changes induced by these drugs. These studies indicated that: (1) dopaminergic functions of the globus pallidus are influenced, like the striatum, by manipulations of the substantia nigra; (2) NT and GHB likely act via different mechanisms to effect nigral dopamine-containing cells; and (3) NT was capable of inducing changes in dopamine neurons which had long term consequences.     

Digestion of prey in foraminifera is not anomalous: A correlation of light microscopic, cytochemical, and hvem technics to study phagotrophy in two allogromiids

Correlative light, high-voltage electron and conventional electron microscopic methods were used to investigate digestion in two allogromiid foraminiferans, Allogromia sp., strain NF, and A. laticollaris Arnold. Microscopic observations showed that bacterial prey are phagocytosed by reticulopodia and are transported to the allogromiid cell body within blister-like phagosomes. Larger prey (algae, diatoms) are transported along the reticulopodial surface and are either stored extrathalamously or phagocytosed at the oral opening (peduncle). Studies of allogromiids optimally fixed and labeled with an extracellular-space label (colloidal thorium) showed that phagocytosed prey are completely enclosed by a plasma membrane envelope; this finding was corroborated by a serial-section three-dimensional reconstruction of the oral zone of one allogromiid. Cytochemical staining for acid phosphatase showed that lysosomes are absent from reticulopods but abundant in the cell body, particularly in the oral zone cytoplasm. We conclude that digestion in allogromiid foraminiferans is accomplished by a vacuole-based digestive apparatus and not by extracellular digestion within a lacunary system, as has been suggested in earlier studies.     

Development of a high-frequency transforming vector for Aspergillus nidulans

The pyr4 gene of Neurospora crassa, which codes for orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase, is capable of transforming an Aspergillus nidulans pyrG mutant by chromosomal integration, despite low homology between the transforming DNA and the recipient genome. Integration of pFB6, a plasmid carrying pyr4 and capable of replication in Escherichia coli, was not observed at the pyrG locus. The efficiency of transformation was considerably enhanced (50-100 fold) by inclusion in the transforming vector of a 3.5-kb A.nidulans chromosomal sequence, ans1. Although this sequence was isolated on the basis of replicating activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, there was no evidence for such activity in A.nidulans. Part of the ans1 fragment appears to be reiterated in the A.nidulans genome, though it is not yet clear whether this is directly responsible for the high transformation frequency. The efficiency of transformation of A.nidulans by plasmids bearing ans1, using an improved protocol, was approx. 5 X 10(3) stable transformants per microgram of plasmid DNA.     

Identification of a tumor inhibitory factor in rat ascites fluid

A polypeptide which inhibits the growth of human carcinoma cells has been characterized from Novikoff rat ascites fluid. This tumor inhibitory factor co-purified with transforming growth factor activity through acid/ethanol extraction and Bio-Gel chromatography. The two activities were completely separated by reverse phase HPLC. The tumor inhibitory factor is heat stable and requires disulfide bonds for bioactivity. This factor inhibited the anchorage independent growth of the more differentiated human colon carcinoma cell lines but did not affect the less differentiated carcinoma cells. The presence of stimulatory and inhibitory activities in the same extracts suggests that the relative concentrations of these factors may be important in the control of cell growth.     

Highly potent and specific inhibitors of human renin

We designed aldehyde derivatives of small peptides representing the C-terminal portion of angiotensin I sequence as an inhibitor of human renin. Among compounds that we synthesized, benzyloxycarbonyl (Z)-Phe-His-Leucinal (compound V), Z-Pro-Phe-His-Leucinal (Compound IV) and Z-[3-(1'-naphthyl)Ala]-His-Leucinal (compound VII) markedly inhibited human renin (IC50, 7.5 X 10(-7), 3.2 X 10(-7) and 8.0 X 10(-8) mol/l, respectively). Compound VII was shown to be noncompetitive (Ki = 2.4 X 10(-7) mol/l). It did not inhibit either cathepsin D or pepsin. Compound V had slight or no inhibitory effect at the concentration of 10(-5) mol/l on six animal renins except for monkey and rabbit renins. Results obtained show that these aldehyde compounds are highly selective and species specific inhibitors for human and monkey renins.     

Triterpenes from Periandra dulcis roots

Three oleanane triterpenes were isolated from the roots of Periandra dulcis,and identified as 3β-hydroxy-25-al-olean-18-en-30-oic acid (periandric acid I), 3β-hydroxy-25-al-olean-12-en-30-oic acid (periandric acid II) and 3-oxo-25-hydroxy-olean-12-en-30-oic acid. The former two compounds (periandric acids I and II) were identical with the aglycones obtained by hydrolysis of periandrin I and II, respectively and the latter one was a new triterpene.     

Phytase production byAspergillus ficuum on semisolid substrate

Summary Phytase production byAspergillus ficuum was studied using solid state cultivation on several cereal grains and legume seeds. The microbial phytase was used to hydrolyze the phytate in soybean meal and cotton seed meal. Wheat bran, soybean meal, cottonseed meal and corn meal supported good fungal growth and yielded a high level of phytase when an adequate amount of moisture was present. The level of phytase production on solid substrate was higher than that obtained by submerged liquid fermentation. Higher levels of phosphorus (more than 10 mg Pi/100 g substrate) in the growth medium (static culture) inhibited phytase synthesis, and the degree of phosphorus inhibition was less apparent in semisolid medium than in liquid medium. A static cultivation on semisolid substrate produced a higher level of phytase (2-20-fold) than that obtained by agitated cultivation. The minimal amount of water required for growth and enzyme production on those substrates was about 15%, while the optimum level for phytase production was between 25 and 35% and that for cell growth was above 50%. Optimum pH for phytase production was between 4 and 6.A ficuum grew well on raw (unheated) substrate containing a minimal amount of water and produced as much phytase as on heated substrate. About half of the phytic acid in soybean meal and cottonseed meal was hydrolyzed by treatment withA. ficuum phytase.     

Enzymes metabolizing dimethylamine, trimethylamine and trimethylamine N-oxide in the yeast Sporopachydermia cereana grown on amines as sole nitrogen source

Abstract Sporopachydermia cereana , an ascosporogenous yeast, grew on dimethylamine, trimethylamine or trimethylamine N -oxide as sole nitrogen sources and produced mono-oxygenases for dimethylamine and trimethylamine that were significantly more stable than the corresponding enzymes found in Candida utilis . No trimethylamine mono-oxygenase activity was found in S. cereana grown on dimethylamine. In cells grown on trimethylamine N -oxide (but not on the other nitrogen sources), evidence for an enzyme metabolizing the N -oxide, possibly an aldolase, but more probably a reductase was obtained. All these activities showed a similar requirement for the presence of FAD or FMN in the extract buffer during isolation to retain activity. Amine mono-oxygenase activities showed a similar sensitivity to inhibitors, including proadifen hydrochloride and carbon monoxide as the corresponding enzymes in C. utilis . The trimethylamine N -oxide-dependent oxidation of NADH was more sensitive to inhibition by EDTA, N -ethylmaleimide and β-phenylethylamine than the mono-oxygenases, and less sensitive to KCN, and activity was significantly higher with NADPH than was observed with the 2 mono-oxygenases.     

Triphosphoinositide breakdown and dense body release as the earliest events in thrombin-induced activation of human platelets

The activation by thrombin of human platelets prelabelled with 32P induced a 30-40% decrease in 32P-triphosphoinositides (TPI) in the first 10 sec; the decrease in the other 32P-labelled phosphoinositides occurred by 20-30 sec. At 10 sec., the intensity of these effects was maximum with 0.2-0.4 U/ml thrombin. Under these conditions, 53, 20 and 15% of the dense granule, alpha-granule and lysosome constituents, respectively were released and thromboxane B2 synthesis reached only 10% of its maximum. Together with experiments carried out with chlorpromazine - or PGE1 - treated platelets, our results suggest the existence of a close relationship between TPI-breakdown and dense body release which appear to be the earliest events resulting from the activation of human platelets by thrombin.     

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases in larval brain of wild type and dunce mutant strains of Drosophila melanogaster: isoenzyme pattern and activation by Ca2+/calmodulin

Like adult heads and whole flies, larval brains of wild type Drosophila melanogaster contain two major soluble cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, forms I and II. Larval brains of the learning-defective mutant strain, dunceM11, contain only the form I enzyme. In both wild type and dunce strains the form I enzyme is activated by Ca2+/calmodulin. A time-dependent loss of this Ca2+ activation was observed.