Isolation and characterization of 21 novel expressed DNA sequences from the distal region of human chromosome 4p

We have established an approach to the isolation of expressed DNA sequences from a defined region of the human chromosome. The method relies on the direct screening of cDNA libraries using pooled single-copy microclones generated by a laser chromosome micro-dissection in conjunction with a single unique primer polymerase chain reaction (SUP-PCR) procedure. We applied this method to the distal region of human chromosome 4p (4p15-4pter), which contains the Huntington disease (HD) and the Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) loci. Twenty-one nonoverlapping and region-specific cDNA clones encoding novel genes were isolated in this manner. Ten of 21 clones were subregionally assigned to 4p16.1-4pter, and the remainder mapped to the region proximal to 4p16.1. Northern blot and reverse transcription followed by the PCR (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that 16 of these 21 clones detected transcripts in total RNA from human tissues. Our method is applicable to other chromosomal regions and is a powerful approach to the isolation of region-specific cDNA clones.

[Effects of maternal food intake on the total protein, fat, lactose and calcium concentrations in human milk]

The concentrations of total protein, fat, lactose and calcium (Ca) in human milk were measured in 68 lactating women who were 14-425 days postpartum. Relationships of those concentrations in human breast milk with maternal food intake frequency, and the amount of dairy milk intake were investigated. Quantification theory III statistical analysis was applied to analyze food intake patterns. The concentrations of total protein at 2-5 months postpartum, fat and Ca at 1-5 months postpartum were low in milk obtained from mothers with low frequency of consumption of meat, egg, dairy products and food prepared with oil, while having a high frequency of consumption of rice, vegetables, beans and seaweed. The concentration of Ca in milk from mothers who habitually had no dairy milk intake was significantly lower compared to that from mothers who had more than 300 ml intake of dairy milk per day. Lower frequency or no intake of animal food and dairy milk appeared to affect the quality of mother's milk.

[Dietary and life-style characteristics and physical condition of school children]

Dietary and life-style characteristics and the presence of 13 subjective symptoms were surveyed by a questionnaire in 2869 school children, 9 and 11 years old, in urban and rural districts in Kyoto Prefecture. 1. School children in the urban districts consumed a greater variety of foods than those in the rural districts, with the 9 years old having a greater variety than the 11 years old. 2. There appeared to be no difference in the number of subjective symptoms between the two districts. The 11 years old children complained of more subjective symptoms than the 9 years old. 3. Children consuming less varieties of foods or with undesirable dietary and life-style characteristics generally complained of many subjective symptoms. The obese children seemed to take juice, instant-foods, meats, foods cooked with oil more frequently than the non-obese children. From these results, the need for desirable dietary and life-style characteristics for maintaining school children in the good physical condition is apparent.

Involvement of nitric oxide and free radical (O2-) in neuronal injury induced by deprivation of oxygen and glucose in vitro

Nitrix oxide (NO) is a free radical that has been recently proposed as a messenger molecule in the central nervous system. Since its involvement in glutamate neurotoxicity in vitro has been recently reported, using rat cortical cultures, we tested the hypothesis that NO also plays a role in neuronal injury induced by deprivation of oxygen and glucose. About 80-90% of neurons were killed in less than 12 h after a 4-6 h period of oxygen and glucose deprivation. N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA), an inhibitor of nitric oxidase synthase (NOS), significantly ameliorated this neuronal injury in a dose dependent manner. Since it has been suggested that NO is inactivated in a short time period by interaction with superoxide anions (O2-), which are generated during ischemia-reperfusion in vivo, we further evaluated the effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on neuronal injury in this test system. SOD failed, however, to protect against neuronal death. Furthermore, concomitant addition of SOD and L-NNA rather reduced the beneficial effects of L-NNA. Our results suggest therefore that NO, at least in part, mediates neuronal injury secondary to deprivation of oxygen and glucose in vitro and that superoxide anions may have a protective role by inactivating NO.

R2D5 antigen: a calcium-binding phosphoprotein predominantly expressed in olfactory receptor neurons

R2D5 is a mouse monoclonal antibody that labels rabbit olfactory receptor neurons. Immunoblot analysis showed that mAb R2D5 recognizes a 22-kD protein with apparent pI of 4.8, which is abundantly contained in the olfactory epithelium and the olfactory bulb. We isolated cDNA for R2D5 antigen and confirmed by Northern analysis and neuronal depletion technique that R2D5 antigen is expressed predominantly, but not exclusively, in olfactory receptor neurons. Analysis of the deduced primary structure revealed that R2D5 antigen consists of 189 amino acids with calculated M(r) of 20,864 and pI of 4.74, has three calcium-binding EF hands, and has possible phosphorylation sites for Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II) and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A kinase). Using the bacterially expressed protein, we directly examined the biochemical properties of R2D5 antigen. R2D5 antigen binds Ca2+ and undergoes a conformational change in a manner similar to calmodulin. R2D5 antigen is phosphorylated in vitro by CaM kinase II and A kinase at different sites, and 1.81 and 0.80 mol of Pi were maximally incorporated per mol of R2D5 antigen by CaM kinase II and A kinase, respectively. Detailed immunohistochemical study showed that R2D5 antigen is also expressed in a variety of ependymal cells in the rabbit central nervous system. Aside from ubiquitous calmodulin, R2D5 antigen is the first identified calcium-binding protein in olfactory receptor neurons that may modulate olfactory signal transduction. Furthermore our results indicate that olfactory receptor neurons and ependymal cells have certain signal transduction components in common, suggesting a novel physiological process in ependymal cells.

Endogenous nitric oxide blocks calcium influx induced by glutamate in neurons containing NADPH diaphorase

Change in cytosolic calcium ion level ([Ca2+]) after glutamate exposure was evaluated using fluo-3 on rat cortical neurons. The result showed that neurons that contain nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) were capable of blocking glutamate-induced rise in [Ca2+]. However, with the inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, NADPH-d-positive cells lost their ability to regulate [Ca2+], suggesting a possible role of nitric oxide in protecting this distinct class of neurons from glutamate neurotoxicity by inhibiting glutamate-induced calcium influx.

Effects of percutaneous transluminal mitral valvuloplasty on plasma catecholamine levels during exercise

Elevation of plasma catecholamine levels during exercise in patients with mitral stenosis correlated with the severity of the disease. We investigated the plasma norepinephrine changes in six patients before and after percutaneous transluminal mitral valvuloplasty (PTMV) during continuously graded ergometer exercise. Peak exercise intensity was increased from 65.8 W to 87.5 W after PTMV. Plasma norepinephrine level at 60 W workload intensity was decreased from 2308 +/- 864 pg/ml to 841 +/- 233 pg/ml after PTMV (p < 0.05). We concluded that PTMV decreased the plasma norepinephrine level during exercise in the patients with mitral stenosis. Percutaneous transluminal mitral valvuloplasty is a novel procedure for the improvement of symptoms in patients with mitral stenosis.

1,4:3,6-Dianhydrohexitol nitrate derivatives. I. Synthesis and antianginal activity of alkylpiperazine derivatives

A series of 5-deoxy-5-(4-substituted piperazin-1-yl)-1,4: 3,6-dianhydro-L-iditol 2-nitrates was prepared and evaluated for oral anti-ischemic activities. Inhibition of lysine-vasopressin-induced T-wave elevation in the electrocardiogram (ECG) of rats (angina pectoris model) served as a primary assay. Optimum activity was observed for the compounds with the aryl-heteroatom (O,S, or N)-propyl group. Among them, the phenylthiopropyl-substituted compound 13 exhibited the most potent activity. Furthermore, intraduodenal administration (i.d.) of 13 tended to decrease left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in a propranolol-induced heart failure model (dogs) and showed a potent protective effect against reperfusion arrhythmia in rats. Thus, 13 (KF 14124) is under further study as an orally active nitrate.

A linkage study with DNA markers (D4S95, D4S115, and D4S111) in Japanese Huntington disease families

Attempts to isolate the Huntington disease (HD) gene based on its position have been frustrated by apparently contradictory recombination events in HD pedigrees that have predicted two non-overlapping candidate regions: 100 kb at the telomere of the short arm of chromosome 4, and a 2.2 Mb region located internally at 4p16.3. The proximal location is also supported by the detection of a linkage disequilibrium between HD and some restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at the D4S95, D4S98, and D4S127 loci. In the present study, a proximal marker D4S95 showed tight linkage to the disease locus in Japanese pedigrees (Zmax = 3.31, theta max = 0.00), while distal markers D4S115 and D4S111 did not. Particularly, a two point linkage analysis between D4S111 and HD yielded a lod score -2.01 for theta = 0.015. This result leads to the exclusion, as a possible region of localization of the HD gene, of more than 3 cM of the genome around D4S111 locus. At the same time our results favor aforementioned proximal location as a candidate location for the HD gene.

1,4:3,6-Dianhydrohexitol nitrate derivatives. II. Synthesis and antianginal activity of aryl- or arylcarbonylpiperazine derivatives

A series of 5-(4-aryl- or 4-arylcarbonylpiperazin-1-yl)-5-deoxy-1,4: 3,6-dianhydro-L-iditol 2-nitrates was prepared in order to obtain orally active, nitrate-type vasodilators with reduced side effects. Our drug design was based on a small reduction in the lipophilicity compared to that of 5-deoxy-5-[4-(3-phenylthiopropyl)piperazin-1-yl]-1,4: 3,6-dianhydro-L-iditol 2-nitrate (1, KF14124). Compounds 4h (aryl = benzimidazol-2-yl), 4i (arylcarbonyl = nicotinoyl), and 4w (arylcarbonyl = 3-furoyl) showed potent anti-ischemic activity in a lysine-vasopressin-induced angina pectoris model (rats), and their structure-activity relationships are discussed. Compound 4i exhibited potent vasodilation of the coronary artery in anesthetized dogs and also exhibited potent preload reduction in a heart failure model (dogs) as compared with isosorbide dinitrate (2), nicorandil (3), and KF14124 (1). Furthermore, 4i showed much weaker acute lethal toxicity and less central nervous system depression than 1 in mice. Thus, 4i (KW-3196) is under development as a vasodilator and a drug for treating angina pectoris.

Generation of high-density DNA markers from yeast artificial chromosome DNA by single unique primer-polymerase chain reaction

We have developed a method for the whole sequence amplification of yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) DNA excised from preparative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis using single unique primer-polymerase chain reaction procedures. We used seven contiguous YAC clones, which span 2 Mbp of the Huntington disease gene region on 4p16.3, to amplify the YAC DNAs. The average size of the amplified DNA was approximately 300 bp long, and 12 DNA markers located on the YAC clones positively hybridized with these amplified products, implying that the sequences of the YAC clones were comprehensively amplified by our procedures. These amplified YAC DNAs greatly facilitate the characterization of YAC clones, leading to the detailed analysis of the defined chromosomal region.

Peritumoral cerebral edema in meningiomas: the role of the tumor-brain interface

We investigated the role of the tumor-brain interface in the production of peritumoral cerebral edema in meningiomas by analysing the size, shape, histological type and location of the tumor, and radiological and operative findings. Our results suggest that changes of the boundary zone between the tumor and the brain such as the disappearance of the subarachnoid space, cortical thinning or loss, and possibly partial loss of the arachnoid membrane are the most important factors in edema production, and that multiple other factors determine the morphological changes which occur at the tumor-brain interface.

[A report of four cases of intrathoracic meningocele]

Intrathoracic meningocele is regarded as an uncommon pathological entity frequently associated with von Recklinghausen's disease. In this paper, four cases of intrathoracic meningocele, treated between 1966 and 1986, are presented. There were three males and one female, all between the ages of 40 and 50. These were referred to our clinic for further evaluation of an asymptomatic lesion which had been seen on a routine chest roentgenogram. There was definite evidence of von Recklinghausen's disease in three cases: two males and one female. All four cases had no pain, dyspnea or neurological disorder. Chest and vertebral tomograms revealed masses in the posterior mediastinum and enlarged vertebral canals at the location of the lesion which varied from T-3 to T-11; three on the left side and one on the right side. None of them revealed scoliosis or kyphosis of the spine. In three cases, myelography was performed and showed an egg-shaped mass dorsolaterally. In two cases, metrizamide computed tomographic myelography was carried out and demonstrated deformity of the vertebral bone and passage of the contrast material through the enlarged vertebral canal into the paravertebral mass. Furthermore, magnetic resonance imaging was performed in two cases, and showed a homogeneous low signal intensity paravertebral mass communicating with the spinal canal on T1-weighted image. In two cases, the meningoceles were ligated or wrapped surgically. Postoperatively one presented a paraparesis and severe meningitis, and died; the other had an uneventful postoperative course. Two patients were followed conservatively without developing any symptoms or signs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Evidence for increased calcium influx across the choroid plexus following brief ischemia of gerbil brain

Following 5 min ischemia of gerbil brain, unidirectional transfer of calcium from plasma to cerebrospinal fluid was measured quantitatively with 45CaCl2 at 4 days postischemic recirculation. 45Ca influx across the choroid plexus increased significantly from 0.0101 +/- 0.001 min-1 measured in sham-operated animals (n = 15) to 0.0294 +/- 0.002 min-1 determined in ischemic animals (n = 21; P less than 0.05). Histological examination of choroid plexus was carried out in Cresyl violet-stained sections from gerbils subjected to 5 min ischemia followed by 4 days (n = 6) and 7 days (n = 7) postischemic recirculation. Increased calcium transfer to cerebrospinal fluid was associated with cell damage of choroid plexus observed at 4 days postischemia. Endothelial choroid plexus injury was still detectable at 7 days after the ischemic insult suggesting a long-lasting pathomorphological process. Postischemic alterations in choroid plexus functions apparently expose brain tissue to much higher calcium influx into cerebrospinal fluid which, in turn, may contribute to calcium-related cell damage of the central nervous system.

[Effects of food intake, dietary habits and life style on health status as determined by clinical blood tests of adult men]

A survey of the frequency of various kinds of foods, dietary habits, life style, and health status was performed on 2,049 men aged from 40 to 59 living in an urban area who were participants in a "human dock" medical checkup. The relationships between these factors and health status were studied in order to identify a particular life style associated with good health status. The instrument utilized in this survey was a special form of a structured questionnaire. The results are summarized below. 1. The frequency of various kinds of foods were correlated with the kind of breakfast eaten, dietary habits, physical exercise habits, daily physical activity, smoking, and occupation. The strongest correlation to frequency of various kinds of foods was found to be with the kind of breakfast eaten and dietary habits. 2. Dietary habits were also correlated to various aspects of life style: smoking, drinking, the frequency of various kinds of foods, kind of breakfast eaten, daily physical activity, sleeping hours, habits related to physical exercise, and the frequency of meals eaten away from home. Dietary habits correlated most closely with the frequency of various kinds of foods and daily physical activity. The frequency of various kinds of food and dietary habits were found to correlate with various aspects of life style, and those subjects with good overall life styles were also found to have desirable dietary life styles. The correlation of desirable dietary habits, food intake and a suitable life style with good health status was confirmed by the results of clinical blood tests used as an index of health status.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Maximum stress-volume index ratio of the left ventricle in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

To evaluate the left ventricular contractile state in patients with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), we analyzed the maximum stress-volume index ratio (MSVR) using catheter-tip cineangiography in 11 patients with HCM and 16 normal subjects. The value of the MSVR in normal subjects was 6.48 +/- 1.25 kdyn/cm5/m2 (mean +/- SD) and we defined the range of the mean +/- 2 SD as the normal MSVR range. Six patients with HCM placed inside the normal MSVR range (IN), but the other 5 patients placed outside and to the right of the normal range (RIGHT). This suggests that the contractile states of the patients of the RIGHT group were depressed. Compared with IN, the end-diastolic and end-systolic volume indices of RIGHT were larger (EDVI; 69.3 +/- 6.9 vs. 96.1 +/- 11.1 ml/m2, p less than 0.01, ESVI; 18.2 +/- 3.2 vs. 29.1 +/- 8.3 ml/m2, p less than 0.05), but the ejection fraction did not differ (IN 73.5 +/- 5.7 vs. RIGHT 69.6 +/- 8.3%, NS). End-diastolic pressure of IN and RIGHT was higher than that of normal subjects (IN 16.5 +/- 4.5, RIGHT 16.7 +/- 4.6 vs. 8.3 +/- 2.5 mm Hg, both p less than 0.05), but there was no difference between the two groups in HCM. End-systolic pressure did not differ among the three groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Responses of atrium and ventricle to sustained sympathetic nerve stimulation

To determine whether chronotropic and atrial inotropic responses to sympathetic nerve stimulation are maintained longer than ventricular inotropic response, the present study was performed with control and acute reserpinized dogs. We stimulated the right stellate ganglion of both groups supramaximally for 60 min and compared right atrial responses (chronotropism and inotropism) with left ventricular (LV) dP/dtmax. In the control group, heart rate (HR) immediately increased and was only slightly attenuated with 60 min of stimulation, and right atrial (RA) inotropic response was less attenuated than was LV response (7% in HR, 33% in RA dP/dtmax, 50% in LV dP/dtmax, P less than 0.01, from the peak value of each response). RA and LV norepinephrine (NE) content was decreased by the stimulation but remained higher than the LV control value. In the reserpinized group, NE content in the RA was low before the stimulation and was further decreased by the stimulation. In this group, HR response was attenuated (27% in HR, P less than 0.01) as was LV dP/dtmax, and the difference in contractile responsiveness between atrium and ventricle disappeared (58% in RA dP/dtmax vs. 61% in LV dP/dtmax, NS). The results indicate that the chronotropic response was only slightly attenuated and that the atrial contractile response was attenuated less than the ventricular response, with sustained sympathetic nerve stimulation in the normal heart. This can be ascribed to the much higher NE content in the RA than that in the LV.

Influence of reduced presynaptic myocardial norepinephrine stores on left ventricular contractility

Many investigators have reported that myocardial norepinephrine content is decreased in congestive heart failure. However there have been no studies of how decrease in myocardial norepinephrine might influence myocardial contraction. To clarify whether decreased myocardial norepinephrine per se affects myocardial contraction, we observed the change in left ventricular contractility during 30 min of left stellate ganglion stimulation in control and acutely reserpinized dogs. We obtained left ventricular max dp/dt and left ventricular end-systolic pressure-segment length relationships as indicators of left ventricular contractility. Both parameters decreased after left stellate ganglion stimulation in reserpinized dogs (left ventricular max dp/dt: 2064 +/- 200 to 1608 +/- 168 mmHg/s, left ventricular end-systolic pressure-segment length slope 117 +/- 22 to 79 +/- 14 mmHg/mm, n = 8, P less than 0.05), while they did not change in controls. In reserpinized dogs, left ventricular norepinephrine content decreased to one-third that of controls before the stimulation, and further decreased after stimulation. These data indicate that lowered myocardial norepinephrine itself may be responsible for the negative effect on left ventricular contractility in congestive heart failure.

[Distribution of glycoconjugates in gerbil hippocampal neurons--histochemical study with lectins]

Paraffin-embedded sections of gerbil hippocampus were made and stained by use of lectins with different sugar specificities: Concanavalin A (Con A), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), Ricinus communis agglutinin (RCA), Phaseolus vulgaris agglutinin (PHA-E), peanut agglutinin (PNA), soybean agglutinin (SBA), and Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA) to investigate the distribution of glycoconjugates in this brain region. Nuclear membranes of all the neurons in the hippocampus were positively stained with Con A and PHA-E, whereas WGA revealed definite staining of cell membranes. Endothelial cells of blood vessels were intensely positive to RCA, suggesting its usefulness as a marker of endothelial cells. With SBA and VVA, a few neurons in Ammon's horn were positively stained, while no positive cells were observed in the dentate gyrus. CA2 and the medial part of the CA1 were also positive bilaterally with SBA and VVA. Some neurons in Ammon's horn and dentate gyrus were selectively stained on the surface of their cell bodies with PNA. The present results show that lectins used distinguish different subpopulations of hippocampal neurons, indicating a new possible classification of hippocampal neurons based on their differences in glycoconjugates.

Topographical gradient in expression of R2D5 antigen in superior olivary nuclei and hippocampal dentate gyrus of the cat

An immunohistochemical analysis of the cat central nervous system revealed that a monoclonal antibody which recognizes a soluble cytosolic protein, R2D5, bound two regions in a prominent spatial gradient. In the medial and lateral superior olivary nuclei of the brainstem, R2D5 immunoreactivity appeared as a gradient across a population of topographically ordered principal neurons. The spatial gradient corresponded to the tonotopic organization in the superior olivary nuclei: i.e., R2D5 immunoreactivity tended to occur more frequently and intensely in low-frequency neurons than in high-frequency neurons. Granule cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus also had a pronounced spatial gradient in R2D5 immunoreactivity expression, and this gradient corresponded to the septotemporal axis of the hippocampus. Granule cells of the temporal (ventral) portions of the hippocampus were labeled intensely with R2D5 antibody, while those located in progressively more septal (dorsal) portions had gradually less immunoreactivity. These results suggest that in both the superior olivary nuclei and the hippocampal dentate gyrus, neurons differ in intrinsic properties by their position along specific axes. They suggest also that the hippocampus has an intrinsic functional organization related to the spatial gradient along its septotemporal axis.

[Relationships between the amount of total protein in human milk, the volume of produced milk and food intake]

The concentration of total protein in human milk on the 5th or 6th day after full-term, normal delivery was measured in 145 women, and the amount of protein per 24 hours was calculated by multiplying protein concentration by 24-hour milk production for the same day. Relationships between the concentration and amount of protein, milk volumes and food intake during the latter period of the pregnancy were investigated. Quantification theory III statistical analysis was applied to analyze food intake patterns. While no individual food item was shown to be effective in improving quality and quantity of mother's milk, the results suggest that mothers who consumed meat, fish, food prepared with oil, seaweed, cow's milk and fruits frequently, and rarely used coffee; or mothers who consumed confectioneries and food prepared with oil frequently, rarely used coffee and alcohol beverages and disliked spices produced greater volumes of milk or milk containing a greater amount of protein.