Studies on a leukocyte elastase inhibitor present in the culture medium of inflamed synovial tissue

The spent medium of cultured inflamed synovial tissue contains a potent inhibitor of leukocyte elastase. This leukocyte elastase inhibitor has no effect on leukocyte cathepsin G and pancreatic elastase is only marginally affected. The inhibitor is a glycoprotein, stable to heat, acid and reductive alkylation. Pretreatment of the inhibitor with either trypsin or chymotrypsin results in its inactivation.     

A numerical model of expired flow in a monoalveolar lung model subjected to pressure ramps

A numerical investigation of pulmonary flow properties was carried out in a monoalveolar model composed of a balloon and a compliant tube in series, subjected to pressure ramps. The flow is shown to become quickly limited by a wave-speed mechanism, occurring at the peak flow. The critical point then travels upstream, while the main part of the exit flow rate is provided by the tube collapse. After the critical flow period, the flow becomes subcritical and viscous effects are predominant in the deeply collapsed tube.     

Physiological and Environmental Requirements for Poplar (Populus deltoides) Bark Storage Protein Degradation

In poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr. ex Marsh), a 32-kD bark storage protein (BSP) accumulates in the bark during autumn and winter and declines during spring shoot growth. We investigated the physiological and environmental factors necessary for the degradation of poplar BSP. Poplar plants were exposed to short-day (SD) photoperiods for either 28 or 49 d. Plants exposed to short days for 28 d formed a terminal bud but were not dormant, whereas exposure to short days for 49 d induced bud dormancy. BSP accumulated in bark of plants exposed to both SD treatments. The level of BSP declined rapidly when nondormant plants were returned to long days. BSP levels did not decline in dormant plants that were exposed to long-day (LD) conditions. If dormant plants were first treated with either low temperatures (0[deg]C for 28 d) or with 0.5 M H2CN2 to overcome dormancy and then returned to long days, the level of BSP declined. Removal of buds from non-dormant or dormant plants in which dormancy had been overcome inhibited the degradation of BSP in LD conditions. BSP mRNA levels rapidly declined in plants exposed to long days, irrespective of the dormancy status of the plants or the presence or absence of buds. These results indicate that the buds of poplars are somehow able to communicate with bark storage sites and regulate poplar BSP degradation. These results further support an association of BSP mRNA levels with photoperiod because short days stimulate BSP mRNA accumulation, whereas long days result in a decline of BSP mRNA abundance.     

The Human Obesity Gene Map: The 1996 Update

An update of the human obesity gene map up to October 1996 is presented. Evidence from Mendelian disorders exhibiting obesity as a clinical feature, single-gene mutation rodent models, quantitative trait loci uncovered in crossbreeding experiments with mouse, rat, and pig models, association and case-control studies with candidate genes, and linkage studies with genes and other markers is reviewed. All chromosomal locations of the animal loci are converted into human genome locations based on syntenic relationships between the genomes. A complete listing of all these loci reveals that only 4 of the 24 human chromosomes are not yet represented, i.e., 9, 18, 21, and Y. Several chromosome arms are characterized by the presence of several putative loci. The following arms include at least three such loci: 1p, 1q, 3p, 4q, 6p, 7q, 8p, 8q, 11p, 11q, 15q, 20q, and Xq. Studies with negative association and linkage results are also reviewed.     

Chromosome analyses of children after ecological lead exposure

In the present work chromosome analysis was performed in a group of 30 children living in a town with a lead plant. Due to the emission of the smelter the individual lead uptake through food, drinking water and inhalation was increased. They were selected out of 1600 children whose blood lead level, delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity in the erythrocytes and erythrocyte porphyrine level was measured. In the investigated group of children the values of these parameters showed to be indicative for a significant lead exposure. A total of 10,000 cells was scored after 48 h culture time. Despite a significantly increased lead load as compared with two groups of 10 children from a suburb and the isle of Helgoland there was neither evidence for a higher number of cells with structural chromosome aberrations, nor for an increased aberration yield.     

Variability in the transmission efficiency of potyviruses by different clones ofAphis gossypii

A sample of seventy-twoAphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae) clones was collected in south-eastern France. The efficiency of these clones to transmit a potyvirus (papaya ringspot virus T-strain) was assessed in controlled conditions. In a first screening, the virus was transmitted by all clones and a 3.5-fold difference between the most and least efficient clones was obtained. During subsequent trials, which were carried out to confirm the differences in the transmission efficiency of these clones, only one clone proved to be more efficient than the others. This difference appeared consistent over a 1-year period, and was also confirmed with 4 other related potyviruses.

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Résumé Un échantillon de 72 clones deA. gossypii a été collecté dans le Sud-Est de la France. L'efficacité de transmission d'un potyvirus (PRSV-T) a été mesurée en conditions contr?lées pour chacun de ces clones. Un premier screening a permis de montrer que tous les clones transmettaient ce virus, et qu'un rapport de 3,5 existait entre l'efficacité de transmission du clone le plus efficace et celle du clone le moins efficace. Au cours des essais ultérieurs destinés à confirmer ces différences, un seul clone s'est montré significativement plus efficace que les autres. Cette différence s'est maintenue pendant la période d'essais (1 an). Elle s'est reproduite avec 4 autre potyvirus apparentés.

     

Muscarinic receptor binding in rat brain using the agonist, [3H]cis methyldioxolane

Muscarinic receptor binding was measured in rat forebrain preparations using the muscarinic agonist, [³H]cis methyldioxolane ([³H]CD). The results of equilibrium binding studies using [³H]CD concentrations between 0.5–64 nM showed that [³H]CD binding did not saturate in this concentration range, although the binding isotherm was concave downward. Nonlinear regression analysis of the binding data revealed the presence of two populations of muscarinic receptors having dissociation constants of 1.83 and 123 nM and binding capacities of 85 and 1320 fmol/mg protein, respectively. Competitive inhibition experiments showed that [³H]CD binding was readily displaced by several muscarinic agonists and antagonists. The stereospecificity of [³H]CD binding was demonstrated in competitive inhibition experiments using the stereoisomers of benzetimide and acetyl-β-methylcholine. Dexetimide was 10,000 times more potent than levetimide and l-acetyl-β-methylcholine was 520 times more potent than d-acetyl-β-methylcholine. A variety of nonmuscarinic cholinergic drugs were not effective at inhibiting [³H]CD binding at a concentration of 10 μM.     

Evolutionary temperature compensation of carbon fixation in marine phytoplankton

The efficiency of carbon sequestration by the biological pump could decline in the coming decades because respiration tends to increase more with temperature than photosynthesis. Despite these differences in the short‐term temperature sensitivities of photosynthesis and respiration, it remains unknown whether the long‐term impacts of global warming on metabolic rates of phytoplankton can be modulated by evolutionary adaptation. We found that respiration was consistently more temperature dependent than photosynthesis across 18 diverse marine phytoplankton, resulting in universal declines in the rate of carbon fixation with short‐term increases in temperature. Long‐term experimental evolution under high temperature reversed the short‐term stimulation of metabolic rates, resulting in increased rates of carbon fixation. Our findings suggest that thermal adaptation may therefore have an ameliorating impact on the efficiency of phytoplankton as primary mediators of the biological carbon pump.     

Taxol suppresses dynamics of individual microtubules in living human tumor cells

Microtubules are intrinsically dynamic polymers, and their dynamics play a crucial role in mitotic spindle assembly, the mitotic checkpoint, and chromosome movement. We hypothesized that, in living cells, suppression of microtubule dynamics is responsible for the ability of taxol to inhibit mitotic progression and cell proliferation. Using quantitative fluorescence video microscopy, we examined the effects of taxol (30-100 nM) on the dynamics of individual microtubules in two living human tumor cell lines: Caov-3 ovarian adenocarcinoma cells and A-498 kidney carcinoma cells. Taxol accumulated more in Caov-3 cells than in A-498 cells. At equivalent intracellular taxol concentrations, dynamic instability was inhibited similarly in the two cell lines. Microtubule shortening rates were inhibited in Caov-3 cells and in A-498 cells by 32 and 26%, growing rates were inhibited by 24 and 18%, and dynamicity was inhibited by 31 and 63%, respectively. All mitotic spindles were abnormal, and many interphase cells became multinucleate (Caov-3, 30%; A-498, 58%). Taxol blocked cell cycle progress at the metaphase/anaphase transition and inhibited cell proliferation. The results indicate that suppression of microtubule dynamics by taxol deleteriously affects the ability of cancer cells to properly assemble a mitotic spindle, pass the metaphase/anaphase checkpoint, and produce progeny.