Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid processing. Effect of membrane filtration preparation on neutrophil recovery

Two common methods for the preparation of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid for cytologic examination, cytocentrifugation and membrane filtration, have been found to yield different results in the quantitation of lymphocytes. To compare these two methods for the quantitation of neutrophils, the differential counts from 640 consecutive clinical specimens were analyzed retrospectively. The percentage of neutrophils resulting from the preparation of the BAL fluids by the two methods were highly correlated (r2 = .72). However, cytocentrifugation yielded consistently higher neutrophil percentages than did membrane filtration (means for all samples: 18.5 +/- 1.0% vs. 14.7 +/- 0.9%; P less than .001). To investigate the source of the variation in neutrophil quantitation by the two methods, two series of mixing experiments were performed in which neutrophil-rich cell suspensions were added to BAL fluids. Determination of the cellular differentials before and after mixing the cell suspensions demonstrated that membrane filtration preparation tends to lose neutrophils while cytocentrifugation accurately recovers neutrophils. Thus, accurate quantitation of the two cells recovered by BAL may require use of both cytocentrifugation and membrane filtration.     

cGMP production in bacteria

Production of cGMP in bacteria has been studied since the early 1970s. From the beginning on it proved to be a challenging topic. In Escherichia coli the cGMP levels were two orders of magnitude lower than the corresponding cAMP levels. Furthermore, no specific cGMP receptor protein was identified in the bacterium and a physiological role of cGMP in the bacterium was not substantiated. Consequently in 1977, compelling evidence was given that cGMP is a by-product of E. coli adenylate cyclase in vivo. This may be the reason why also work on cGMP in other bacteria like Bacillus licheniformis and Caulobacter crescentus was not pursued any further. However, recent study on cGMP and guanylate cyclase in the cyanobacterium Synechocysis PCC 6803 brought cGMP signaling in bacteria back to attention. In Synechocystis cGMP levels are of similar magnitude as those of cAMP and deletion of the cya2 gene markedly reduced the amount of cGMP without affecting cAMP. A few months ago the Cya2 gene product has been biochemically and structurally characterized. It behaves as a specific guanylate cyclase in vitro and a single amino acid substitution transforms the enzyme into a specific adenylate cyclase. These data point toward the existence of a true bacterial cGMP-signaling pathway, which needs to be explored and established by future experiments.     

多重聚合酶链反应与荚膜肿胀试验对肺炎链球菌血清分型的比较研究

为评估多重聚合酶链反应（PCR ）对肺炎链球菌血清分型的可行性,分别采用多重PCR和荚膜肿胀试验对568株肺炎链球菌进行血清分型,并对分型结果进行比较分析。结果显示,568株肺炎链球菌中,213株通过荚膜肿胀试验分出16个血清群,主要有血清群19（23．1％,131／568）、6（5．3％,30／568）、23（1．6％,9／568）、14（1．4％,8／568）、9（1．1％,6／568）、15（1．1％,6／568）等,分型率为37．5％（213／568）;356株通过多重PCR分出21个血清群,主要有血清群19（27．8％,158／568）、23（8．5％,48／568）、6（7．4％,42／568）、14（4．4％,25／568）、3（4．2％,24／568）、15（3．5％,20／568）等,分型率为62．7％（356／568）。荚膜肿胀试验鉴定出血清群4和18,但多重PCR未能鉴定;多重PCR鉴定出血清群5、12、35、16、17和22,但荚膜肿胀试验未能鉴定。多重PCR与荚膜肿胀试验对19F、19A血清型的鉴定无显著差异。结果提示,这2种方法对肺炎链球菌血清分型结果有差别,多重PCR的分型率高于荚膜肿胀试验。对来源复杂的标本进行肺炎链球菌血清分型,2种方法可相互补充,以提高分型率。     

增溶抽提β－银环蛇毒素结合蛋白及某些突触前毒素对其结合的抑制作用

β－银环蛇神经毒素阻遏神经肌肉接头递质释放的作用机理,可能与它结合于一种突触前的电压依赖的Ｋ~＋通道有关。本文报告了从大鼠膈肌膜组分中用去垢剂ＴｒｉｔｏｎＸ－１００增溶抽提β－银环蛇毒素结合蛋白的结果。这种结合蛋白抽提液的比结合活性为２００－４００ｆｍｏｌ／ｍｇ蛋白,比膜制备物的比结合活力提高约一倍。抽提得率为５０％－７０％。抽提液与~（１２５）Ｉ标记的β－银环蛇毒素的结合可被曼巴蛇神经毒素（ｄｅｎｄｒｏｔｏｘｉｎ）完全抑制,其ＩＣ_（５０）约８×１０~（－８）ｍｏｌ／Ｌ。但另一种β型神经毒素,β－蝮蛇神经毒素（β－ａｇｋｉｓｔｒｏｄｏｔｏｋｉｎ）却完全不能抑制这种结合。这提示,β－蝮蛇毒素与β－银环蛇毒素具有不同的作用位点。     

我国微茎类吸虫研究:ⅩⅢ.微茎类吸虫成虫结构特征排序

对我国52种微茎类吸虫的18项成虫形态学特征进行主成分分析,结果表明:卵巢位置、子宫延伸位置等7项性状对第一主成分贡献较大,提示描述器官位置的指标是重要的分类依据。52个虫种在前三个主成分上的排序图显示应将其划分成4个亚科。