60Co radiation-induced transformation to anchorage independence of fibroblast from normal persons and patients with inherited predisposition to retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma (RB), cancer of the retina, occurs in an inherited form which not only predisposes the patient to bilateral RB, but also to the risk of developing secondary tumors of mesenchymal origin (osteosarcomas and fibrosarcomas). These tumors often arise in areas that were exposed to ionizing radiation during therapy and fibroblasts derived from patients with hereditary RB have been reported to be more sensitive than normal to the killing effects of ionizing radiation. Therefore, we compared diploid fibroblast cell lines derived from two hereditary RB patients (aged 1 and 3 years) with those of three normal persons (two newborns and a 2 year old) for their sensitivity to ionizing radiation-induced transformation to anchorage independence. The target cells were exposed to 60Co radiation (1.0-3.5 Gy), allowed to undergo an expression period (4-5 population doublings in 5 days), and assayed for ability to form colonies in 0.33% agar. There was no detectable difference between the RB cells' and the normal cells' response to the transforming action of the 60Co. Both kinds of cells showed a linear, dose-dependent increase in anchorage-independent cells from 100 to 800/10(6) cells assayed.

Electrophysiological interactions of isomers of cyclazocine with the phencyclidine antagonist metaphit in rat cerebellar Purkinje neurons

Metaphit, 1-(1-(3-isothiocyanatophenyl) cyclohexyl) piperidine, an analog of phencyclidine (PCP) has been shown previously to selectively block PCP receptors and to irreversibly antagonize the depressant effect of PCP in cerebellum. In this study, we examined the electrophysiological interactions of metaphit and naloxone with stereoisomers of cyclazocine, an agent known to have analgesic and psychotomimetic activity in behavioral studies, effects that have been ascribed to opiate and PCP receptor activity. A dose-dependent and reversible slowing of Purkinje neuron discharge was seen with local application of (+)- or (-)-cyclazocine. We found that the blockade of (-)-cyclazocine effects required both high doses of naloxone and the presence of metaphit, whereas the responses to (+)-cyclazocine were blocked by metaphit alone on most cerebellar Purkinje neurons. These findings suggest that the depressant reaction of (+)-cyclazocine in cerebellar Purkinje neurons is primarily mediated through PCP receptors. (-)-Cyclazocine responses, on the other hand, appear to be due to activity at both PCP and kappa opioid receptors.

Methylation patterns of HLA-DR alpha genes in six mononuclear cell lines

The relationship between DNA methylation and HLA-DR alpha gene expression was investigated in six mononuclear cell lines. RPMI-4265 (B cell) and HUT-78 (T cell) constitutively express HLA-DR. HL-60 (myelomonocyte) and U-937 (monocyte) can be induced to express HLA-DR. Jurkat and Molt-4 (T cells) do not and cannot be induced to express HLA-DR. Based on the known nucleotide sequence of the HLA-DR alpha gene, methylation-sensitive restriction endonucleases Msp I, Hpa II, Hha I, Ava I, Hae II, and Sma I were used to detect the CpG methylation in three regions of the HLA-DR alpha gene: the 5'flanking region, the exon 1 region, and the coding region containing exons 2, 3, 4, and 5. This precise mapping of CpG methylation yielded no correlation between DNA hypomethylation and HLA-DR alpha gene expression. In all cell lines, exon 1 region is hypomethylated, whereas 5' and coding regions are hypermethylated. Whereas hypermethylation of the coding region does not block transcription, hypomethylation of the exon 1 region may be essential but is clearly not sufficient for HLA-DR alpha gene transcription. This exon 1 region demethylation may result in an open (deoxyribonuclease I hypersensitive) chromatin conformation around the promoter where trans-acting regulatory factors presumably bind and initiate HLA-DR alpha transcription. In the course of this study, a novel Msp I polymorphism in the intron 1 of the HLA-DR alpha gene was found.

Phosphate inhibition of the copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase: a reexamination

Phosphate was reported to be an inhibitor of copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase (SOD) [de Freitas, D.M., & Valentine, J.S. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 2079-2082]. Thus SOD activity, in 50 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) (pH 7.4), was decreased by approximately 50% when the assay was made 10 mM in phosphate, and the ionic strength was adjusted with sodium fluoride. The inhibitory effect of phosphate was attributed to the neutralization of the positive charge on the guanidino residue of Arg-141. We have reexamined the effects of phosphate inhibition of SOD and found that the enzyme has identical activity in phosphate or HEPES buffer when the ionic strength is adjusted with NaBr. The putative inhibitory effect of phosphate appears to have been due to fluoride inhibition of the superoxide generating system of xanthine/xanthine oxidase. We have confirmed this result by using a photochemical generation of O2- in addition to the enzymatic generation of O2-. Chemical modification of the lysine residues to homoarginines does not affect the activity of the enzyme and does not impart a phosphate sensitivity. Chemical modification with phenylglyoxal caused approximately 80% inactivation of the native enzyme and 90% inactivation of the O-methylisourea-modified enzyme. Our results suggest that phosphate does not inhibit the copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD) beyond the expectations of its effect on ionic strength.

Functional changes in rat-liver mitochondria during the early phase of burn injury

Using succinate as a substrate, the respiratory control ratios of liver mitochondria from burned male Sprague-Dawley rats with full skin thickness burns covering 20 per cent of the body surface area were increased at 15, 30, 45 and 60 min after burn, the peak being at 30 min post-burn. A sham group acted as control. In comparison with the sham group, the specific activity of succinic dehydrogenase was slightly decreased and the activities of cytochromes b and c + c were decreased significantly 30 min after burning. All the results suggest a lack of increased metabolic activity during the early phase of burn injury.

Fibroblasts from patients with inherited predisposition to retinoblastoma exhibit normal sensitivity to the mutagenic effects of ionizing radiation

Retinoblastoma (RB) is a cancer of the retina which characteristically occurs in early childhood. Bilateral RB is an inherited form of this disease. Such patients are at greatly increased risk of subsequently developing second tumors in mesenchymal tissue, especially in areas exposed to ionizing radiation therapy. Fibroblasts from bilateral RB patients have been reported to be more sensitive than normal fibroblasts to the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation. Because xeroderma pigmentosum patients have a hereditary predisposition to UV-induced cancer and the cells of such patients are abnormally sensitive to the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of UV radiation, we compared fibroblasts from 6 bilateral RB patients and 3 normal individuals for their sensitivity to the mutagenic effects of cobalt 60, using resistance to 6-thioguanine (TG) as the genetic marker. The results showed no statistically significant difference between the two types of cell lines. The slope of the weighted least squares line representing the frequency of TG-resistant cells induced in the RB populations as a function of dose was 17 +/- 6 (S.E.)/10(6) cells/Gy with an intercept of 0.09 Gy; that for the normal cells was 17 +/- 7/10(6) cells/Gy with an intercept of 0.14 Gy. We also compared 8 bilateral RB cell lines and 9 age-matched normal cell lines for their sensitivity to the cytotoxic effect of 60Co, using survival of colony-forming ability. The cloning efficiency of the unirradiated RB cell lines ranged from 22% to 76% with an average of 52%; that of the normal cell lines from 21% to 89% with an average of 64%. The results showed the RB cells were somewhat more sensitive than the normal cells. The mean D0 for the RB cell lines ranged from 0.99 +/- 0.01 (S.E.) to 1.69 +/- 0.04 Gy with a weighted average of 1.44 +/- 0.08 Gy; that of the normal cell lines ranged from 1.42 +/- 0.17 to 2.24 +/- 0.10 Gy, with a weighted average of 1.79 +/- 0.11 Gy. The difference in means was estimated to be 0.34 +/- 0.14. The mean for the RB cell lines is statistically significantly lower than the mean for the normal cell lines, at a significance level ca. 1%.

Multiple phosphorylation sites of rat liver glycogen synthase

Rat liver glycogen synthase was purified to homogeneity by an improved procedure that yielded enzyme almost exclusively as a polypeptide of Mr 85,000. The phosphorylation of this enzyme by eight protein kinases was analyzed by cleavage of the enzyme subunit followed by mapping of the phosphopeptides using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of SDS, reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and thin-layer electrophoresis. Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, phosphorylase kinase, protein kinase C and the calmodulin-dependent protein kinase all phosphorylated the same small peptide (approx. 20 amino acids) located in a 14 kDa CNBr-fragment (CB-1). Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase C also modified second sites in CB-1. A larger CNBr-fragment (CB-2) of approx. 28 kDa was the dominant site of action for casein kinases I and II, FA/GSK-3 and the heparin-activated protein kinase. The sites modified were all localized in a 14 kDa species generated by trypsin digestion. Further proteolysis with V8 proteinase indicated that FA/GSK-3 and the heparin-activated enzyme recognized the same smaller peptide within CB-2, which may also be phosphorylated by casein kinase 1. Casein kinase 1 also modified a distinct peptide, as did casein kinase II. The results lead us to suggest homology to the muscle enzyme with regard to CB-1 phosphorylation and the region recognized by FA/GSK-3, which in rabbit muscle is characterized by a high density of proline and serine residues. A striking difference with the muscle isozyme is the apparent lack of phosphorylations corresponding to the muscle sites 1a and 1b. These results provide further evidence for the presence of liver- and muscle-specific glycogen synthase isozymes in the rat. That the isozymes differ subtly as to phosphorylation sites may provide a clue to the functional differences between the isozymes.

Epidemiological studies on hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in China

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) has been reported from greater than 20 provinces in China. The number of reported cases has increased markedly in recent years and surpassed 80,000 human cases in 1983. All of the cases reported before 1981 were from rural areas and were attributed to Apodemus rats. In 1981, outbreaks of cases associated with house rats were first reported. Cases associated with Apodemus agrarius were more severe than those associated with the house rat Rattus norvegicus. The rate of inapparent infection in the rural population of areas endemic for Apodemus-associated disease was lower than that of Rattus-associated urban disease. After the onset of the disease, IgG antibody levels increase rapidly, peak after one week, and persist for as long as 25 years. Lung tissues from 16 species of rodent, from two species of sorex, and from cats and weasels in the epidemic areas have been found to carry antigen. A. agrarius, Apodemus peninsulae, and R. norvegicus serve as the main reservoirs of HFRS in rural areas, forest areas, and urban areas, respectively.

Developmental differences in the effect of natural feeding on early enteric mucosal growth of guinea pigs

In contrast to observations in other species, neither enteric mucosal weight, protein content, nor DNA content of either the suckled or artificially fed guinea pig changes over the first 24 h following term birth. In guinea pigs delivered 5 days prematurely, however, statistically significant increases in proximal enteric mucosal mass (38%), protein content (51%), and DNA content (35%) occur in suckled animals over the first 24 h of life but not in artificially fed animals. These observations illustrate that the enteric mucosal hyperplasia secondary to natural feeding, quantitatively and temporally, is species-specific and suggest that this effect is manifested only during a finite period of intestinal development. They raise doubts, therefore, concerning the importance of early enteric mucosal hyperplasia in adaptation of all species to extrauterine life.

Electrogenic h-pumping pyrophosphatase in tonoplast vesicles of oat roots

A H(+)-translocating inorganic pyrophosphatase (H(+)-PPase) was associated with low density membranes enriched in tonoplast vesicles of oat roots. The H(+)-PPase catalyzed the electrogenic transport of H(+) into the vesicles, generating a pH gradient, inside acid (quinacrine fluorescence quenching), and a membrane potential, inside positive (Oxonol V fluorescence quenching). Transport activity was dependent on cations with a selectivity sequence of Rb(+) = K(+) > Cs(+); but it was inhibited by Na(+) or Li(+). Maximum rates of transport required at least 20 millimolar K(+) and the K(m) for this ion was 4 millimolar. Fluoride inhibited both DeltapH formation and K(+)-dependent PPase activity with an I(50) of 1 to 2 millimolar. Inhibitors of the anion-sensitive, tonoplast-type H(+)-ATPase (e.g. a disulfonic stilbene or NO(3) (-)) had no effect on the PPase activity. Vanadate and azide were also ineffective. H(+)-pumping PPase was inhibited by 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole and N-ethylmaleimide, but its sensitivity to N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide was variable. The sensitivity to ions and inhibitors suggests that the tonoplast H(+)-PPase and the H(+)-ATPase are distinct activities and this was confirmed when they were physically separated after Triton X-100 solubilization and Sepharose CL-6B chromatography. H(+) pumping activity was strongly affected by Mg(2+) and pyrophosphate (PPi) concentrations. At 5 millimolar Mg(2+), H(+) pumping showed a K(m(aPP) ) for PPi of 15 micromolar. The rate of H(+) pumping at 60 micromolar PPi was often equivalent to that at 1.5 millimolar ATP. The results suggest PPi hydrolysis could provide another source of a proton motive force used for solute transport and other energy-requiring processes across the tonoplast and other membranes with H(+)-PPase.

Interactions of phencyclidine with hippocampal circuitry: evidence for neuronal heterogeneity

The discovery of phencyclidine (PCP) receptors has stimulated the search for specific PCP antagonists. A direct product of this research is metaphit, an irreversible PCP ligand, which has recently been synthesized. In this study we examined the effects of metaphit on the responses of hippocampal neurons to PCP. On the basis of unfiltered action potential durations, hippocampal cells were divided into two groups, complex-spike cells and theta neurons. Local application of PCP caused inhibitions of the spontaneous firing rates of complex-spike cells. Metaphit, locally applied, antagonized approximately 50% of these responses, while the remaining responses were unaffected. In contrast, PCP caused increases in the spontaneous firing rates of theta cells and in almost all cases, these responses to PCP were attenuated by metaphit administration. These effects of metaphit were specific for PCP as the responses to locally applied norepinephrine were not altered by metaphit. The data suggest two mechanisms of action of PCP in the hippocampus. In addition, these mechanisms may be localized in part to different cell types.

Antagonism of phencyclidine action by metaphit in rat cerebellar Purkinje neurons: an electrophysiological study

Metaphit (1-[1-(3-isothiocyanatophenyl)-cyclohexyl]piperidine), a derivative of the psychotomimetic drug phencyclidine (PCP), is postulated to bind irreversibly to PCP receptors. We examined here the electrophysiological interactions of metaphit with PCP in rat cerebellar cortex, since a specific effect of PCP on cerebellar neuronal circuitry has been shown. Metaphit, applied locally to Purkinje neurons by micropressure ejection through multibarreled micropipettes, has a reversible depressant action lasting for 5-20 min. Following this, PCP-induced inhibition is blocked with no recovery despite repeated applications of PCP for over an hour. This blockade was not seen unless the dose of metaphit was sufficient to transiently depress Purkinje neuron discharge. Metaphit does not antagonize inhibitory effects of locally applied norepinephrine or gamma-aminobutyric acid. This electrophysiological data suggests that metaphit is an irreversible antagonist of PCP in the cerebellum.

The role of metaphosphate in the activation of the nucleotide by TPS and DCC in the oligonucleotide synthesis

The course of the activation of 3'-acetylthymidine 5'-phosphate by TPS and DCC were followed up by 31P FT nmr. The fact that the "metaphosphate" (delta-5.1) first becomes detectable only at later stage of the activation and does coexist with pyrophosphate and triphosphate suggests that the pyridinium derivative of "metaphosphate" is most probably not directly formed from the hypothetical mixed anhydride or active "pseudourea" right at the beginning of the reaction of pdTac with TPS or DCC, but rather formed at later stage of the activation reaction from the degradation of the pyro- and triphosphates by the activating agent. The mixed anhydride or the active "pseudourea" is most possibly the active key intermediate.

Distribution of ATPase-positive Langerhans cells in normal adult human skin

The distribution of ATPase-positive Langerhans cells (LC) was investigated in 117 specimens of normal adult human skin and mucosa taken from different areas of the body. Although there were significant variations in the numbers of LC in each area examined, skin from the face and neck contained the highest density of cells (976 +/- 30.93/mm2). The densities of LC in trunk skin (740 +/- 28.97/mm2), scalp (693 +/- 69.56/mm2) and arm or leg skin (640 +/- 40.95/mm2) were similar. Buccal mucosa had significantly fewer LC (567 +/- 42.94/mm2) than trunk skin, and sacrococcyx skin and palm and sole skin displayed the smallest number of these cells (267 +/- 56.14/mm2 and, 189 +/- 19.15/mm2 respectively). No ATPase-positive LC were detected in the centre of two corneal specimens.

Antifertility effect of polyvinylpyrrolidone-gossypol and gossypol in male rats

Thirty-nine adult male Wistar rats were administered 20 mg/kg or 24.3 mg/kg polyvinylpyrrolidone-gossypol (PVP-G) and 20 mg/kg gossypol acetic acid (G-A) 6 times a week for 6 weeks. Mating test was taken to evaluate the antifertility effect. Caudal sperm count, body weight, sex and accessory sex organ weights were recorded. At the end of 6 weeks treatment, the recovery period of 6 weeks was investigated. The results showed that the onset of antifertility action and recovery with PVP-G are faster than with G-A.