老年大鼠的海马神经元对微量注射Ach的敏感性

本工作观察了老年大鼠海马神经元对微量注射Ach(10μg/0.5μl)的敏感性。 实验在6只老年大鼠(大于30月龄)和5只年青大鼠(4～5月龄)上进行。结果表明:年青大鼠和老年大鼠的海马神经元对Ach的主要反应模式有所不同,前者多出现神经元放电明显增加的兴奋反应。后者多出现抑制反应,神经元的放电明显减少。此外,老年大鼠的海马神经元对Ach反应的持续时间(包括兴奋和抑制反应)也明显长于年青大鼠。本文对海马神经元敏感性和适应能力的改变可能是影响老年记忆的重要因素进行了讨论。     

Defects in neurofibromatosis 2 protein function can arise at multiple levels

Neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) is an inherited cancer syndrome resulting from mutations in the NF2 tumor suppressor gene. Analysis of NF2 mutations has revealed some general genotype-phenotype correlations. Severe disease has been associated with mutations that produce a premature termination while more mild disease has been associated with missense mutations. Here, we provide experimental proof for these genotype-phenotype correlations by demonstrating that nonsense mutations fail to produce stable merlin protein while missense mutations result in the generation of merlin proteins defective in negative growth regulation. This inability to suppress cell growth may result from defects in the function of merlin at several levels, including failure to form an intramolecular complex. Based on these findings, we propose a model for merlin growth suppression that provides a framework for analyzing NF2 patient mutations and merlin function.      

Comparison of the structure of human intervertebral discs in the cervical,thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine

Posterior and anterior heights, cross-sectional area and shape were measured for all the intervertebral discs in four spines from elderly human cadavers. Disc height was a minimum at the T4-5 level; thoracic discs were less wedge-shaped than those in the cervical and lumbar regions. Cross-sectional area increased from the cranial to caudal extremity; at the L5-S1 level the nucleus pulposus occupied a high proportion of this area. Cervical discs tended to have an elliptical cross-sectional shape, thoracic discs were more circular and lumbar discs tended to have an elliptical cross-section which was flattened or re-entrant posteriorly. This shape distribution was quantified by defining a shape index which had a maximum value of 1 for a circular cross-section. Orientations of the reinforcing fibres in the outer lamellae of the anterior annulus fibrosus were measured from 27 discs by X-ray diffraction. For these measurements, C3-4, T7-8 and L2-3 were chosen as representative of cervical, thoracic and lumbar discs. The fibre tilt, with respect to the axis of the spine, was significantly less in the cervical discs (at 65 degrees) than in the thoracic and lumbar discs (about 70 degrees). These findings are interpreted in relation to differing functional requirements and possible mechanisms of failure in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine in the light of current knowledge on the biomechanics of the intervertebral disc.     

Construction of cosmid contigs and high-resolution restriction mapping of the Huntington disease region of human chromosome 4

The gene responsible for Huntington disease (HD) has been localizedto a 2.2 million base pair (Mbp) region between the loci D4S10and D4S98 on the short arm of human chromosome 4. As part ofa strategy originally designed to clone the gene based on itschromosomal location, we and others previously identified overlappingyeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones covering most of thisregion. While these YAC clones were useful for initially obtaininglong-range clone continuity, a number of features of the YACsindicated that smaller clones are generally more useful in thesubsequent steps of the positional cloning strategy. In thispaper, we use these YAC clones to generate sets of overlappingcosmid clones covering most of the HD region. We Isolated alarge number of cosmids by screening a chromosome 4-specificcosmld library with labeled DNA from a minimal overlapping setof YAC clones. These cosmid clones were further analyzed byrestriction mapping and hybridization experiments, leading tothe assembly of 185 cosmids Into eleven contigs covering morethan 1.65 Mbp and to a fine-structure restriction map of theregion. Nine of these contigs cover 90 percent of the 1.7 Mbpsubregion between loci D4S125 and D4S98 where the HD gene isnow known to lie. The detailed restriction map and the cosmidclones should facilitate the identification and localizationof cDNAs and polymorphic markers, and they provide reagentsfor large scale DNA sequencing of this region of the human genome.Our results suggest that this strategy should be generally usefulfor converting YAC clones into cosmid contigs and generatinghigh-resolution restriction maps of genomioc regions of interest.     

Detecting pre-ovulatory luteinizing hormone surges in urine

The study objectives were to determine (i) if pre-ovulatory luteinizing hormone (LH) surges, undetected in urine by two immunoradiometric assays (IRMA), were detectable by an ultrasensitive immunofluorometric assay (IFMA) and (ii) the influence of creatinine adjustment on the detection and timing of the urinary LH surges. Daily urine specimens were contributed by healthy 25-36 year old volunteers during 14 ovulatory menstrual cycles for an epidemiological study conducted in 1983-1985. Specimens were selected as having been previously assayed by two IRMA without consistently detecting LH surges. These urine specimens were remeasured using an IFMA and adjusted for creatinine concentration. IFMA measurements revealed unambiguous LH surges in all cycles. Adjusting IRMA urinary LH values for creatinine concentrations revealed previously undetected LH surges in four of eight cycles. Creatinine adjustment also altered the timing of IRMA and IFMA LH surges by 1-5 days. These results demonstrate an IFMA that detects pre- ovulatory LH surges in unpreserved, frozen urine from cycles where such surges were previously undetectable. Further, creatinine adjustment can markedly affect detection and timing of the onset and peak of the urinary LH surge. While our analysis suggests that this adjustment improves the validity of the LH measure, this requires further investigation.      

Simultaneous measurements of temperature and pH in vivo using NMR in conjunction with TmDOTP5-

NMR techniques for temperature and pH measurements have attracted increasing interest in recent years, motivated in part by the growing importance of medical hyperthermia for the treatment of cancer. The chemical shifts of thulium 1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-1, 4, 7, 10-tetrakis(methylene phosphonate) (TmDOTP5-) have been studied as a function of temperature and pH. The results demonstrate that TmDOTP5- resonance shifts are highly sensitive to temperature (approximately 1.0 ppm/degrees C) and pH (approximately 3.2 ppm/pH unit) at clinically relevant field strengths. A new method is presented which utilizes two magnetically non-equivalent protons in TmDOTP5- for simultaneous NMR measurements of both temperature and pH. The difference in the chemical shift values of pairs of 1H resonances provides a temperature sensitivity of about 1.6 ppm/ degrees C. The technique is demonstrated in live rats undergoing ultrasound-induced hyperthermia therapy.     

血小板衍生生长因子致大鼠血管的收缩作用

目的：观察血小板衍生生长因子-BB (PDGF-BB) 对大鼠主动脉血管环的收缩作用。 方法： 采用离体灌流SD大鼠胸主动脉血管环标本，观察不同浓度的PDGF-BB对其收缩作用，与去甲肾上腺素对比，并观察异搏定、吲哚美辛、酚妥拉明和普萘洛尔等药物对PDGF-BB缩血管作用的影响。 结果： PDGF-BB对大鼠胸主动脉有明显的收缩作用，阈浓度为2×10-10 mol/L，且呈现出浓度效应关系；与去甲肾上腺素相比，PDGF-BB对血管的收缩幅度低于去甲肾上腺素，但其收缩血管的活性高于去甲肾上腺素。吲哚美辛、酚妥拉明对PDGF-BB的收缩血管反应无明显影响，异搏定及普萘洛尔可明显抑制PDGF-BB的收缩血管反应。 结论： PDGF-BB对大鼠胸主动脉有明显的收缩作用，且呈现浓度效应关系，异搏定及普萘洛尔可抑制PDGF-BB的收缩反应。     

纯化的结核杆菌多肽抗原刺激人γδT细胞的效应分析

目的：探讨从结核杆菌多肽抗原(Mtb-Ag)纯化的多肽(C主肽)对人新鲜外周血γδT细胞的促增殖效应以及对已活化扩增的T细胞再次刺激的激活效应。方法：采用不同剂量的C主肽体外刺激健康人外周血PBMC，培养10天时经流式细胞仪检测细胞表型；另外以γδT细胞活化标志分子CD69的表达为指标，分析C主肽对已被Mtb-Ag激活扩增13天的γδT细胞再次刺激的激活效应。同时以MTT法检测C主肽的再刺激对已活化扩增的γδT细胞的促增殖活性。结果：结核杆菌C主肽对人新鲜的γδT细胞具有显著扩增效应；当C主肽再刺激已经活化的γδT细胞时，可使其显著表达CD69分子，同时对γδT细胞具有显著促增殖活性。结论：结核杆菌C主肽可能是Mtb-Ag发挥特异性激活人γδT细胞的有效成分。