Localisation of embryonic prealbumin in formalin-fixed human fetal and adult tissue.

The presence of embryonic prealbumin (EPA) has been confirmed in fetal fibroblasts, chondrocytes, and distal tubular epithelial cells by an indirect immunoperoxidase technique. EPA has often been found also in the stromal cells of benign and malignant mesodermal tumours, but not in the epithelial cells of benign and malignant epithelial tumours. That EPA is not an exclusive product of neoplastic mesodermal cells is demonstrated by our finding of EPA in fibroblasts of granulation tissue, irradiated fibroblasts, and in distal tubular epithelial cells of miscellaneous adult kidneys.     

Effects of amiloride on the response of human platelets to bovine alphathrombin

We have examined the effect of amiloride, a drug known to block the passive movement of Na⁺ across cell membranes, on the response of the platelet to thrombin stimulation. Preincubation of platelets with 10^?4 M or 10^?3 M amiloride causes proportional degrees of inhibition of platelet aggregation and release in response to low (≤0.01 U/ml) levels of bovine α-thrombin. The inhibition is overcome by high concentrations of α-thrombin. It can be shown that 10^?4 M amiloride inhibits the decrease in platelet trans-membrane potential induced by thrombin and that 10^?3 M amiloride leads to an increase in that potential, implying that the depolarization observed to occur in response to thrombin stimulation is due to increased membrane permeability to Na⁺. We conclude that such a change in membrane permeability plays a role in the platelet's response to low levels of thrombin, but not in the response to higher levels. In addition to the above effect we can demonstrate that amiloride inhibits the active transport of serotonin, whose transport is Na⁺ dependent, into the platelet.     

ATPase and GTPase Activities Associated with a Specific 5S RNA-Protein Complex

An RNA-protein complex consisting of 5S RNA and two ribosomal proteins, B-L5 and B-L22, was isolated from Bacillus stearothermophilus ribosomes and found to be active in GTP hydrolysis. This activity was not influenced by elongation factor G. Further analysis of this complex showed that it was also able to hydrolyze ATP. Inhibition studies revealed that ATP was a noncompetitive inhibitor of GTP and that GTP was also a noncompetitive inhibitor of ATP, indicating that two different enzymatic sites were involved. Differences in pH optimum and optimal temperature also point to a twosite enzyme complex. Both enzymatic hydrolyses were inhibited by thiostrepton and fusidic acid, which are known inhibitors of protein synthesis.     

Cerebral blood flow in hypertensive patients with cerebrovascular disease: technique for measurement and effect of captopril

Nineteen patients with unilateral cerebrovascular disease underwent cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements; ten had been receiving conventional therapy and then were studied after treatment with captopril without or with a diuretic and nine on conventional therapy were studied twice as a control group. CBF (ml min-1) was measured after an intravenous injection of 99Tcm-labelled patient's red cells with a computer linked gamma camera over the vertex and a probe over the aorta. With deconvolution analysis regional CBF is given by regional cerebral volume divided by regional mean transit time. Results in the captopril group showed on average a 10% fall in mean blood pressure and a 10% rise in blood flow to the affected hemisphere. In the control group there was on average a 4% fall in pressure, together with an 11% fall in CBF to the affected hemisphere. Captopril appears to maintain autoregulation in cerebrovascular disease.     

Adaptive evolution of cytochrome c oxidase: Infrastructure for a carnivorous plant radiation

Much recent attention in the study of adaptation of organismal form has centered on developmental regulation. As such, the highly conserved respiratory machinery of eukaryotic cells might seem an unlikely target for selection supporting novel morphologies. We demonstrate that a dramatic molecular evolutionary rate increase in subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) from an active-trapping lineage of carnivorous plants is caused by positive Darwinian selection. Bladderworts (Utricularia) trap plankton when water-immersed, negatively pressured suction bladders are triggered. The resetting of traps involves active ion transport, requiring considerable energy expenditure. As judged from the quaternary structure of bovine COX, the most profound adaptive substitutions are two contiguous cysteines absent in approximately 99.9% of databased COX I sequences from Eukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteria. This motif lies directly at the docking point of COX I helix 3 and cytochrome c, and modeling of bovine COX I suggests the possibility of an unprecedented helix-terminating disulfide bridge that could alter COX/cytochrome c dissociation kinetics. Thus, the key adaptation in Utricularia likely lies in molecular energetic changes that buttressed the mechanisms responsible for the bladderworts' radical morphological evolution. Along with evidence for COX evolution underlying expansion of the anthropoid neocortex, our findings underscore that important morphological and physiological innovations must often be accompanied by specific adaptations in proteins with basic cellular functions.     

Respiratory control and arousal in sleeping infants

Control of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems undergoes rapid maturation during infancy. Sleep is at a lifetime maximum during this period and has a marked influence on cardiorespiratory function. The mechanisms leading to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) may include a failure in the neural integration of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, with a concomitant failure to arouse from sleep. Studies have shown that sleep states exert a marked influence on respiratory control and arousability. Infants are more arousable in active sleep compared with quiet sleep from both somatosensory and respiratory stimuli. Post-natal and gestational age at birth also have a marked influence on arousability. Arousability is depressed by the major risk factors for SIDS (prone sleeping, maternal smoking, prematurity and recent infection) and is increased by factors that decrease the risk for SIDS (e.g. use of dummies, breastfeeding).     

Mitotic catastrophe constitutes a special case of apoptosis whose suppression entails aneuploidy

A conflict in cell cycle progression or DNA damage can lead to mitotic catastrophe when the DNA structure checkpoints are inactivated, for instance when the checkpoint kinase Chk2 is inhibited. Here we show that in such conditions, cells die during the metaphase of the cell cycle, as a result of caspase activation and subsequent mitochondrial damage. Molecular ordering of these phenomena reveals that mitotic catastrophe occurs in a p53-independent manner and involves a primary activation of caspase-2, upstream of cytochrome c release, followed by caspase-3 activation and chromatin condensation. Suppression of caspase-2 by RNA interference or pseudosubstrate inhibitors as well as blockade of the mitochondrial membrane permeabilization prevent the mitotic catastrophe and allow cells to further proceed the cell cycle beyond the metaphase, leading to asymmetric cell division. Heterokarya generated by the fusion of nonsynchronized cells can be driven to divide into three or more daughter cells when Chk2 and caspases are simultaneously inhibited. Such multipolar divisions, resulting from suppressed mitotic catastrophe, lead to the asymmetric distribution of cytoplasm (anisocytosis), DNA (anisokaryosis) and chromosomes (aneuploidy). Similarly, in a model of DNA damage-induced mitotic catastrophe, suppression of apoptosis leads to the generation of aneuploid cells. Our findings delineate a molecular pathway through which DNA damage, failure to arrest the cell cycle and inhibition of apoptosis can favor the occurrence of cytogenetic abnormalities that are likely to participate in oncogenesis.