Nonreceptor binding of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG): detection of hCG or a related molecule bound to endometrial tissue during pregnancy using labeled monoclonal antibodies that bind to exposed epitopes on the hormone

When hCG adsorbs to surfaces, including membranes from tissues that lack specific hCG receptors, it adsorbs with a particular orientation. Some sites on the alpha- and beta-subunits project away from the surface and can be detected with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies. Other epitopes, which are located on a region on the hormone that presumably contacts the surface, lose their ability to bind antibody. Using antibodies specific for epitopes on hCG which remain exposed and can be detected when the hormone is adsorbed to rat brain homogenates, we found hCG or closely related substances bound to progestational decidual tissues. Immunologically reactive material adsorbed to the decidual tissue increased and decreased in parallel with the serum levels of hCG throughout pregnancy. Binding of labeled monoclonal antibody to substances similar or identical to hCG in other tissues, including placenta and fetal lung, but not red cells, also was identified. Unlike material adsorbed to decidual tissues, receptor-bound hCG was not recognized by any of our alpha-subunit-specific antibodies. This finding suggests either that the adsorbed hormone has a different orientation than receptor-bound hormone or that the adsorbed hormone has dissociated into subunits. These studies represent the first detection of nonreceptor binding of hCG or related molecules to tissues lacking receptors or presumed not to synthesize the hormone. The role of nonreceptor-bound hCG, if any, is unknown. Other than its effects on stimulation of luteal steroidogenesis during early pregnancy, the role of hCG during most of pregnancy has not been determined. Conceivably, the nonreceptor binding we identified is related to a role for hCG in pregnancy that is not associated with an action on the ovarian LH receptor.     

The platelet interactivity phenotype of Streptococcus sanguis influences the course of experimental endocarditis.

A strain of Streptococcus sanguis that induced rabbit platelets to aggregate in vitro (Agg+ phenotype) was hypothesized to be a more virulent pathogen than an Agg- strain in experimental endocarditis in rabbits. A left ventricular catheter was implanted, and then an Agg+ or Agg- strain was inoculated intravenously. Vegetations formed on the aortic semilunar valves but were unaffected by the duration of implantation of the catheter. Vegetations enlarged by accumulating platelets and their mass increased directly with the duration of endocarditis. Inoculation of the Agg+ strain consistently caused endocarditis with significantly larger vegetations, a more severe clinical course (including febrile episodes, hematological changes, and signs of myocardial ischemia), more gross lesions in major organs, and greater mortality than inoculation with the Agg- strain, saline, or the Agg+ strain pretreated with monospecific rabbit immunoglobulin G or Fab fragments against its platelet aggregation-associated protein (PAAP; class II). In experimental endocarditis, PAAP expressed by Agg+ S. sanguis appeared to be an important virulence factor.     

Elevated extracellular potassium is associated with a reduced extracellular space in rat neural lobe in vitro

Summary Increased neural activity of neurosecretory cells is accompanied by large increases in extracellular K⁺. The possibility that elevations of this ion might involve fluid redistribution and thus affect the size of the extracellular space and the relationship between pituicytes and axons in the rat neural lobe was explored using rapid freezing and freeze-substitution. Neural lobes were incubated for 15 min before freezing either in a normal medium or one containing a 10 mM increase in KCl (high KCl), a 10 mM increase in KCl balanced by an equimolar reduction in NaCl (high KCl-low NaCl), or only a 10 mM reduction in NaCl (low NaCl). A quantitative assessment of the region of good fixation was made to determine the relative fractions occupied by axons, pituicytes and the extracellular space near the neurohaemal contact zone. In addition, the percentage of basal lamina contacted by pituicytes and axons was calculated, as was the degree of enclosure of axons by pituicytes.In neural lobes incubated in normal medium, the extracellular space accounted for approximately 30% of the cross-sectional area of the neuropil and could be divided into two domains: an extended perivascular space (28–29% of total area); and a narrow (approximately 24 nm; approximately 1% of total) space between closely apposed neurosecretory processes or between these processes and pituicytes. Pituicytes occupied almost 60% of the basal lamina at the neurohaemal contact zone, while axons occupied approximately 20%. Neural lobes incubated in either the high KCl solution, or in the high KCl-low NaCl solution, exhibited a significantly reduced extracellular space, to about 20% of the total area, or a reduction from controls of about one-third. The reduction was complemented by an increased area occupied by axons plus pituicytes. In the high KCl group, the contribution of the narrow spaces (22–24 nm) between apposed processes to the total extracellular space was greatly increased. The group exposed to low NaCl showed high variability in the size of extracellular space, and was thus not significantly different from any other group. No changes in any group were observed in the enclosure of axons by pituicytes, or in the relative amounts of axon and pituicyte apposition to the basal lamina.The subsequent buffering of K⁺ and other ions during periods of increased neuronal activity may be affected by changes in the extracellular space, thereby influencing stimulus-secretion coupling. A shrinkage of the extracellular space and the relative increase in the narrow spaces between processes initiated by elevated K⁺ could also alter the diffusion properties of the neural lobe.     

Mothers' and children's intakes of vitamin A in rural Bangladesh.

The vitamin A intake of 370 mothers and 183 children 3-27 mo of age in rural Bangladesh was ascertained monthly from January to July in 1986. For mothers, dark green leafy vegetables and fruits were the main sources of vitamin A. Vitamin A from vegetables, the single most important source, did not show consistent associations with wealth or with the other socioeconomic indicators. In May and June, fruits provided wealthier (and more educated) mothers with significantly higher vitamin A intakes than poor mothers, whereas in January the poorer mothers had higher intakes. When breast milk was included, average intakes for children came close to 100% of the recommended dietary allowance; the only other significant source of vitamin A for children was seasonally available mangoes. Fourteen children who had stopped breast-feeding by the end of the study were at very high risk of vitamin A deficiency when fruits were not plentiful.