Maternal effects in infant and adult phenotypes of 5HT1A and 5HT1B receptor knockout mice

The influence of the pre- and postweaning maternal environment on the offspring's phenotype was examined in 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptor knockout mice (KO1A and KO1B, respectively). We have previously shown that, when born to and raised by homozygous dams of the same genotype, adult KO1A are more anxious than wild-type (WT) mice, and adult KO1B are hyperactive and slightly less anxious than WT mice. We extend our studies here to the behavioral results of the offspring's own genotype, when the dam's genotype is constant, and the effects of the dam's genotype when the offspring's genotype is constant. In Experiments 1 and 2, KO1A-/- pups produced less ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) than controls in an isolation test on postnatal Day 7 when born to and reared by KO1A dams, either -/- or +/-. Heterozygous F1 pups reared by KO1A-/- dams produced more USV and were less anxious in the plus-maze at 2 to 3 months of age than F1 pups born to and reared by WT dams (Experiment 3). F1 pups reared by KO1B-/- dams produced less USV and were more anxious in the plus-maze than F1 pups reared by WT dams (Experiment 4). The results support a role for maternal effects that may comprise direct effects such as the dam's behavior and nutritional care of the pup, and possibly more complex indirect effects through the establishment of idiosyncratic dam-pup dyadic interactions. We recommend that breeding techniques that rely on same genotype (mutant-mutant or WT-WT) breeding pairs not be used to generate offspring when the focus of research is the study of gene function, but rather when familial effects need to be studied.     

Yellow fever virus strains Asibi and 17D-204 infect human umbilical cord endothelial cells and induce novel changes in gene expression

Yellow fever (YF) is a zoonotic infection with more than 200,000 cases reported annually. Relatively little is known about YF pathogenesis in humans. In this study, we demonstrate that human vascular endothelial cells are susceptible to infection with wild-type and vaccine strains of the YFV and that these infections lead to a differential cellular response to infection. The infection of endothelial cells with either virus resulted in a significant induction of interferon-inducible genes p 78 and Cig 5 while wild-type virus induced a much more pronounced IL 6 and Bc l2 response than did the vaccine strain. Both viruses induced RANTES gene expression, but only the wild-type virus had corresponding increases in RANTES protein expression. The results demonstrate that the wild-type and vaccine strains of YFV elicit significantly different responses to infection in endothelial cells, despite being nearly identical genetically. These differences may account for the attenuated phenotype of the YFV vaccine strain, though the mechanism remains unclear. These data also point to a role for vascular endothelial cells in YF hemorrhagic fever and also suggest that IL 6 may play a role in increased viral pathogenesis, perhaps by influencing coagulation via release of coagulation co-factors such as fibrin or fibrinogen.     

Early recognition of newborn goat kids by their mother: II. Auditory recognition and evidence of an individual acoustic signature in the neonate

The vocal recognition of newborn kids by their mother at 2 days postpartum and the possible existence of interindividual differences in the voice structure of newborn kids were investigated in two separate studies. The ability of goats to discriminate between the bleats of their own versus an alien kid was tested at 2 days postpartum in mothers being prevented access to visual and olfactory cues from the young. Goats spent significantly more time on the side of the enclosure from which their own kid was bleating, looked in its direction for longer, and responded more frequently to the bleats of their own than to those of the alien kid (p < 0.05). In the second study, the sonograms of 13 kids, studied from Days 1 to 5, showed significant interindividual differences for the five variables taken into account and on each of the 5 days (duration of bleat, fundamental frequency, peak frequency, and numbers of segments and of harmonics). The potential for individual coding ranged between 1.1 and 4.1, indicating that for some variables variations between individuals were greater than intraindividual variations. Furthermore, when considering the five parameters together, the discriminating scores showed an average of 95% in the 78 combinations of any 2 kids for any given day. Finally, some significant intraindividual differences also were found between days, suggesting ontogenic changes in the characteristics of the kid's voice in early life. Therefore, mother goats are likely to recognize the vocalizations of their 48-hr-old kids, as they show sufficient interindividual variability to allow the existence of individual vocal signatures, even though some of the characteristics of the bleats change rapidly over time.     

Effect of antipyretics on the formation of leukocytic pyrogen by granulocytes

The effect of sodium salicylate, acetylsalicyclic acid, aminopyrine, and phenazone on the ability of granulocytes to produce endogenous pyrogen was studied. Experiments in vitro with verification of the viability of the leukocytes showed that of these antipyretics only sodium salicylate inhibited pyrogen formation.Department of General Pathology, Scientific-Research Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of MedicalSciences of the USSR, Leningrad. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR P. N. Veselkin.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 88, No. 8, pp. 166–168, August, 1979.     

新疆出血热病毒核蛋白基因的高效表达及其在诊断中的初步应用

目的　克隆并测定了克里米亚 刚果出血热病毒 (CCHFV)中国分离株 (新疆出血热病毒 ,XHFV)BA8816 6株核蛋白 (NP)基因的序列并实现其在细菌中的高效表达与临床诊断的应用。方法　病毒RNA经RT PCR扩增出完整的NP基因。将扩增产物进行序列分析并克隆至融合表达载体pET32a ,使重组质粒在大肠杆菌BL 2 1中高效表达。将融合蛋白经初步纯化后包被ELISA板用于抗体检测。结果　XHFVBA8816 6株NP基因序列以及推导的氨基酸序列与其它XHFV的NP基因和蛋白序列同源性较高 ,在进化树上形成独立的分支。BA8816 6株NP基因编码 4 82个氨基酸的核蛋白 ,推测的相对分子质量 (Mr)约为 5 4× 10 3。在细菌中表达的融合蛋白经印迹试验证明具有良好的抗原性。以所建立的ELISA方法检测疫区人和动物血清的结果与IFA一致 ,并与临床诊断有很好的符合率。结论　BA8816 6株与其它XHFVBA6 6 0 19、BA84 0 2的NP基因在进化上关系密切 ,综合M基因的序列分析结果 ,人源分离株BA8816 6可能是来自蜱的BA84 0 2变异株。表达于细菌中的核蛋白可作为安全的诊断性抗原用于临床检测及流行病学调查 ,所建立的方法准确、特异、简便、快速     

Immunotherapy of tree pollen allergy with a modified alginate conjugated birch pollen extract compared to an aluminium adsorbed extract

The safety and efficacy of two birch pollen extracts, one chemically conjugated to alginate (Anjuvac) the other adsorbed to aluminium hydroxide (Alutard), were investigated in an open multicentre comparative study of 63 birch pollen allergic patients. Both extracts decreased the nasal symptoms during the birch pollen season. The changes in specific IgE and IgG were much the same in both treatment groups. The adverse reactions recorded were mild in both groups, but more frequent in the Anjuvac group, probably because of a more aggressive dose schedule though there were twice as many asthmatics in the Anjuvac group. The two investigated allergen extracts were useful alternatives for immunotherapy.     

Functional vulnerability of developing central nervous system to maternal thiamine deficiencies in the rat

Thiamine deficiency (B1 vitamin) was induced during three periods of rat central nervous system (CNS) ontogenesis. Females were fed a thiamine deficient diet such that developing offspring were exposed either to pre-, peri-, or postnatal thiamine deficiency. To control the effects of undernourishment generated by different thiamine deficiencies, every treatment group had its own pair-fed control pup from a non drug-treated but undernourished dam. Seven different developmental abilities (exploratory activity, emotional reaction, hind paws lifting reflex, wire grasping times, crawling and leap execution latencies, and nociception) were recorded in the offspring from the 10th to the 45th postnatal day. The vulnerability of developing brain to the specific lack of B1 vitamin increases from prenatal (28%) to perinatal (43%) and postnatal periods (57%).