Alterations in high-affinity binding characteristics and levels of opioids in invertebrate ganglia during aging: Evidence for an opioid compensatory mechanism

In Mytilus and Leucophaea the high-affinity binding site density is significantly lower in old animals than in young animals, whereas the low-affinity site density remains unchanged. In Mytilus the estimated met-enkephalin and met-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 levels are significantly higher in old than in young animals. In Leucophaea only the met-enkephalin level can be determined, and it is also higher in old animals. The decrease in the high-affinity binding site density and the corresponding increase in endogenous enkephalin levels suggest the existence of an opioid compensatory mechanism associated with the aging process. In Mytilus there is a demonstrated decrease with age in intraganglionic dopamine levels in response to applied opiates. In addition, the inhibition of dopamine-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity by opiates also decreases in older animals. In Leucophaea the sex difference in opioid binding densities diminishes with age.     

Seraspenide (acetylSDKP): phase I-II trial study of inhibitor of hematopoiesis protects against toxicity of aracytine and ifosfamide monochemotherapies]

Seraspenide, a synthetic tetrapeptide, inhibits cell cycle entry of normal hematopoietic stem cells. In mice it protects hemopoiesis against the damage caused by cytarabine, cyclophosphamide and carboplatin. Seraspenide has been given to 53 cancer patients undergoing monochemotherapy with cytarabine and ifosfamide in a double-blind cross-over randomized study. A significant protection of peripheral blood cells has been observed. Seraspenide has been devoided of toxicity.     

Metabolism of caffeine by mouse liver microsomes: GSH or cytosol causes a shift in products from 1, 3, 7-trimethylurate to a substituted diaminouracil

Incubation of [¹⁴C] caffeine with hepatic microsomes from male AKR/J mice resulted in the formation of several metabolites including 1, 3, 7-trimethylurate and 6-amino-5-(N-formylmethyl-amino)-1, 3-dimethyluracil. These two compounds comprised about 60% of products and are major urinary metabolites in several animals. When cytosol was included during incubation, there was a 14-fold increase in yield of the uracil at the expense of the urate; the combination of the two metabolites remained about 60% of total products. Cytosol alone was catalytically inert. Glutathione and other sulfhydryl compounds reproduced the effect of cytosol, and the action of cytosol was accounted for quantitatively by its sulfhydryl content. We propose that an oxidized intermediate of caffeine en route to trimethylurate is reduced by glutathione to the ring-opened uracil derivative.     

Altered Intracellular Localization of SOD1 in Leukocytes from Patients with Sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Several lines of evidence support the hypothesis of a toxic role played by wild type SOD1 (WT-SOD1) in the pathogenesis of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (SALS). In this study we investigated both distribution and expression profile of WT-SOD1 in leukocytes from 19 SALS patients and 17 healthy individuals. Immunofluorescence experiments by confocal microscopy showed that SOD1 accumulates in the nuclear compartment in a group of SALS subjects. These results were also confirmed by western blot carried out on soluble nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions, with increased nuclear SOD1 level (p<0.05). In addition, we observed the presence of cytoplasmic SOD1 aggregates in agreement with an increased amount of the protein recovered by the insoluble fraction. A further confirmation of the overall increased level of SOD1 has been obtained from single cells analysis using flow cytometry as cells from SALS patients showed an higher SOD1 protein content (p<0.05). These findings add further evidence to the hypothesis of an altered WT-SOD1 expression profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with ALS suggesting that WT-SOD1 species with different degrees of solubility could be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.     

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN PHYLOGENY AND MORPHOLOGY OF SNOWELLA SPP. AND WORONICHINIA NAEGELIANA,CYANOBACTERIA COMMONLY OCCURRING IN LAKES1

In this study, the first reported isolates of the genera Snowella and Woronichinia were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and morphological analysis. Phylogenetic studies and sequences for these genera were not available previously. By botanical criteria, the five isolated strains were identified as Snowella litoralis (Häyrén) Komárek et Hindák Snowella rosea (Snow) Elenkin and Woronichinia naegeliana (Unger) Elenkin. This study underlines the identification of freshly isolated cultures, since the Snowella strains lost the colony structure and were not identifiable after extended laboratory cultivation. In the 16S rRNA gene analysis, the Snowella strains formed a monophyletic cluster, which was most closely related to the Woronichinia strain. Thus, our results show that the morphology of the genera Snowella and Woronichinia was in congruence with their phylogeny, and their phylogeny seems to support the traditional botanical classification of these genera. Furthermore, the genera Snowella and Woronichinia occurred commonly and might occasionally be the most abundant cyanobacterial taxa in mainly oligotrophic and mesotrophic Finnish lakes. Woronichinia occurred frequently and also formed blooms in eutrophic Czech reservoirs.