Randomised controlled trial of enalapril and beta blockers in non-diabetic chronic renal failure.

OBJECTIVE--To compare the ability of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and beta blockers to slow the development of end stage renal failure in non-diabetic patients with chronic renal failure. DESIGN--Open randomised multicentre trial with three year follow up. SETTING--Outpatient departments of six French hospitals. PATIENTS--100 hypertensive patients with chronic renal failure (initial serum creatinine 200-400 mumol/l. 52 randomised to enalapril and 48 to beta blockers (conventional treatment). INTERVENTIONS--Enalapril or beta blocker was combined with frusemide and, if necessary, a calcium blocker or centrally acting drug in patients whose diastolic pressure remained above 90 mm Hg. RESULTS--17 patients receiving conventional treatment and 10 receiving enalapril developed end stage renal failure. The cumulative renal survival rate was significantly better in the enalapril group than in the conventional group (P < 0.05). The slope of the reciprocal serum creatinine concentration was steeper in the conventionally treated patients (-6.89 x 10(-5)l/mumol/month) than in the enalapril group (-4.17 x 10(-5)l/mumol/month; P < 0.05). No difference in blood pressure was found between groups. CONCLUSION--In hypertensive patients with chronic renal failure enalapril slows progression towards end stage renal failure compared with beta blockers. This effect was probably not mediated through controlling blood pressure.     

Transport of amino acids in the splanchnic bed by blood plasma and blood in the preruminant calf]

Three preruminant calves were fitted with catheters in portal and hepatic veins and in a mesenteric artery. Two electromagnetic flowmeter probes were clipped around the portal vein and the hepatic artery. The calves were fed either a diet with a low (L) or a high (R) abomasal emptying rate for dietary proteins. Blood flow and free amino acid levels in plasma (P) and blood (S) were determined before the morning meal and during the following 7 h. In the portal vein, for most amino acids P/S ratios were correlated to the net amino acid balance of the digestive tract measured in plasma. By contrast in the hepatic vein, these ratios were mainly correlated to hepatic balance measured in whole blood. Correlations between digestive tract and hepatic balance calculated using either plasma or whole blood pool were different for some amino acids. This suggests that amino acid exchange between plasma and blood cells is low and absorbed amino acids are mainly transported to the liver by plasma, whereas whole blood rather than plasma is concerned in amino acid exchanges in the liver.     

6(5)CARBOXYFLUORESCEIN AS A TRACER OF PHLOEM SAP TRANSLOCATION

6(5)carboxyfluorescein (6(5)CF), a polar fluorescein with an apparent pK of 6.3, was introduced, as a pH 6.3 solution, into the apoplast of lamina or petioles of mature soybean leaves. Freehand sections were prepared at various times and immediately observed with a fluorescence microscope. 6(5)CF-associated fluorescence appeared in all sink organs, from shoot apex to roots. It was strictly confined to the phloem regions, even after 4 days. Its transport into young leaves ceased at approximately the time they underwent sink-to-source transition. It was never transported between two leaflets of the same leaf. Its transport was interrupted by phloem destruction. All these transport characteristics were highly reproducible, and were paralleled by those of ¹⁴C transport after application of (¹⁴C)sucrose to leaf surfaces. In contrast with 6(5)CF, fluorescein was transported between mature leaves, and between leaflets of the same leaf. It was not restricted to phloem, and often appeared in the xylem region. These results indicate that 6(5)CF can be used to monitor phloem sap translocation in real time, in short- and long-term experiments.     

Directional fixation of mutations in vertebrate evolution

Summary We have made pairwise comparisons between the coding sequences of 21 genes from coldblooded vertebrates and 41 homologous sequences from warm-blooded vertebrates. In the case of 12 genes, GC levels were higher, especially in third codon positions, in warm-blooded vertebrates compared to cold-blooded vertebrates. Six genes showed no remarkable difference in GC level and three showed a lower level. In the first case, higher GC levels appear to be due to a directional fixation of mutations, presumably under the influence of body temperature (see Bernardi and Bernardi 1986b). These GC-richer genes of warm-blooded vertebrates were located, in all cases studied, in isochores higher in GC than those comprising the homologous genes of cold-blooded vertebrates. In the third case, increases appear to be due to a limited formation of GC-rich isochores which took place in some cold-blooded vertebrates after the divergence of warm-blooded vertebrates. The directional changes in the GC content of coding sequences and the evolutionary conservation of both increased and unchanged GC levels are in keeping with the existence of compositional constraints on the genome.     

Endocytosis of α1-acid glycoprotein variants and of neoglycoproteins containing mannose derivatives by a mouse hybridoma cell line (2C11–12). Comparison with mouse peritoneal macrophages

Macrophages from various origins are known to express membrane lectins that mediate the endocytosis of mannose-bearing glycoconjugates. Most macrophage tumor cell-lines lack such receptors. In this paper we show by flow cytometry analysis that a newly generated macrophage hybridoma (2C_11–12), which displays several macrophage characteristics, also expresses mannose membrane lectins, resulting in the internalization of fluoresceinylated neoglycoproteins into acidic compartments.Thioglycolate elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages and the 2C_11–12 hybridomas were compared by flow cytometry with regard to the binding and endocytosis of ₁-acid glycoprotein (AGP) variants separated by affinity chromatography on immobilized concanavalin A. AGP C eluted specifically with methyl -mannopyranoside, which contains two bi-antennary oligosaccharides, was endocytosed as mannosylated serum albumin (Man-BSA). In both types of macrophages, the fluoresceinylated ligands were internalized in acidic compartments as demonstrated by the fluorescence intensity increase upon monensin post-incubation. However the behaviour of the internalized ligands was found to be quite different. AGP C and Man-BSA were rapidly degraded by thioglycolate elicited peritoneal macrophages and excreted in the medium as small peptide fragments; conversely they remained a longer time in the 2C_11–12 hybridoma.     

Characterization of antigen receptor response elements within the interleukin-2 enhancer.

T-cell activation and induction of interleukin-2 (IL-2) expression in human T lymphocytes require both interaction of foreign antigen with the T-cell antigen receptor and protein kinase C (PKC) stimulation. Agents such as phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) that stimulate PKC augment the effects of antigen but are not sufficient for IL-2 activation. By analysis of deletion mutants, we identified three DNA sequences extending from -73 to -89, -217 to -255, and -263 to -279, designated IL-2 sites A, D, and E, respectively, that are required for maximal induction of IL-2 expression. One of these regions, site E, interacted with a protein (NF-IL-2E) present only in the nuclei of cells which have been stimulated. The other two sequences interacted with a protein (NF-IL-2A) that is constitutively expressed in T cells. When multiple tandem copies of either the E site or the A site were placed upstream of the gamma-fibrinogen promoter, they activated expression via this promoter in response to signals initiated at the antigen receptor but not following PMA stimulation. For this reason, we denoted them antigen receptor response elements. The uncoupling of antigen receptor and PKC requirements in these studies indicates that these signal pathways are, at least in part, distinct and integrated at the level of the gene.     

The radiation response of asynchronous cells at low dose: evidence of substructure

Flow cytometry and cell sorting techniques have been used together with repeated measurement in an attempt to define better the radiation survival response of asynchronously dividing Chinese hamster V79-171 cells under aerobic and hypoxic conditions. Although the first two decades of cell inactivation have been examined, particular attention has been given to the low-dose range of a few grays, as used in individual radiation therapy treatments. A single linear-quadratic dose-response function was consistently unable to fit both the low-dose and high-dose data satisfactorily, suggesting a two-component response. Separate fitting of the low-dose and high-dose portions of the response yielded alpha and beta values which differed significantly (P = 0.001 to 0.002). The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the observed substructure simply reflects the presence of subpopulations of sensitive (G1-, G2-phase) and resistant (late S-phase) cells, which are resolved in these measurements. These results may have significance for certain situations in radiation therapy and in biophysical modeling of the radiation response.     

Male sterility and restored fertility in annual mercuries, relations with sex differentiation

The paper summarizes the researches conducted on male sterility in Mercurialis annua. Totally sterile individuals are very scarce in the dioecious species showing as the other Mercuries, unisexual flowers devoid of rudiments of the opposite sex. From one sterile male mutant, a ‘sterile series’ was conducted and genetics was studied. Sterile, semisterile, restored fertile male lines were constructed as well as female lines containing the inducer gene of male sterility, both fertility restorers and the sensitive cytoplasm. Morphology and ontogeny of these isogenic lines were presented. Male sterile anthers (empty) present a splitted tapetum and an abnormal meiotic end. Restored fertile male lines were normal. The relative abundance of auxin and cytokinins was studied. A specific cytokinin pathway measured as a background in fertile lines, the cis-oxidized pathway characterised the ‘sterile series’. Restoration of normal meiosis and tapetum appeared for the highest quantities of cis-zeatin (669 ng instead of 192 ng/100 g fresh weight in totally sterile). Auxin quantities were abundant compared with the normal males. Gene expression in the ‘sterile series’ was also compared with the fertile lines. t-RNAs specific for normal females were expressed in the male ‘sterile series’. Hybridization kinetics and in vitro translations pf poly(A)⁺RNAs demonstrate specific sequences for each line. Comparisons between identical organs (normal fertile male/restored fertile male or normal female/female of the ‘sterile series’) exhibited nearly 10% differences. The results suggest that for stamen development, a cascade of regulators probably exists: sex genes acting on the induction of stamen or pistil, then genes for sterility/restoration of fertility acting in anthers. Fertility-sterility regulators control the synthesis of a specific cytokinin pathway. The new hormonal signals are linked to several specific genes expressed in the floral morphology characterizing each line of the ‘sterile series’.     

Agonist-induced production of inositol phosphates in human airway smooth muscle cells in culture.

Smooth muscle cells (SMC) from human bronchi were isolated by elastase treatment, subcultured, and characterized by their positive reaction with a monoclonal antibody against alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha SMA). In each cell line tested, at least 95% of the cells were positively stained. The functional properties of these cells were examined by measuring the metabolism of inositol phosphates (IPs). For that purpose, cells were incubated for 3 days before reaching confluency in the presence of myo-[3H]inositol in order to label the phosphoinositide pool, and the various [3H]IPs were separated by HPLC on a SAX column with a phosphate gradient. IP1 isomers were separated in three peaks; IP2, IP3, IP4, IP5 and IP6 (phytic acid) were each eluted as single peaks. The identity of the [3H]peaks was verified with corresponding [3H]IP standards. The accumulation of [3H]IPs was measured by incubating cells up to 30 min in the presence of 10 mM LiCl, with or without a bronchoconstrictor agent (carbachol, histamine, PGF2 alpha). Histamine, 10(-4) M, elicited a four times larger IP accumulation than carbachol, 10(-4) M, and than PGF2 alpha, 5 10(-5) M. Dose-response curves were established for histamine and carbachol in the range 10(-7)-10(-4) M. At 10(-7) M, carbachol was more effective than histamine in stimulating the IP metabolism. Atropine blocked the response to carbachol, and diphenhydramine inhibited the effect of histamine, indicating the specificity of the response to the agonists. These results indicate that cultured human bronchial SMC are a suitable preparation for studying physiological aspects of membrane transduction in the airways.