Ultrastructure of peripheral lymphocytes in generalized ceroid-lipofuscinosis. Report of a case

Electron microscopic observation was made on the peripheral blood cells obtained from a 4-year-old boy with generalized ceroid-lipofuscinosis (GCL), and two kinds of significant inclusions were found in the cytoplasm of lymphocytes. One was ceroid-lipofuscin accompanied with the fingerprint pattern, and the other was a lamellar body which showed the concentric lamellar structure or the myelin figure. Ceroid-lipofuscin was found in 40% of peripheral lymphocytes. It is important in diagnosing GCL that ceroid-lipofuscin can be detected with high incidence in lymphocytes of peripheral blood.

Preservation and visualization of actin-containing filaments in the apical zone of cochlear sensory cells

The fine filamentous structure in the apical zone of cochlear sensory cells of the guinea pig was investigated under transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using various fixation methods. The true form of this structure, which is that of a dense core of sensory hairs and cuticular plates containing hair rootlets, has been hitherto unknown because of the selectively destructive effect of ordinary fixatives. We revealed the fine filamentous structure in great detail by fixing the specimens in tannic acid or by the modified glutaraldehyde--osmium fixation method, which can preserve action filaments during the procedures required to prepare the specimen for TEM. The filamentous structure gives the impression of a negatively stained image when prepared in this way. Filaments were packed regularly and tightly into dense cores which projected down deep into the cuticular plate as hair rootlets. Cross-striations were seen at intervals of 360 +/- 28 A along the packed filaments, a distance which is comparable to the periodicity of an actin paracrystal. The overall diameter of each filament was 83 A. In fact, the structure of dense cores and hair rootlets proved to be composed of actin paracrystals, probably containing some regulatory proteins. Cross-sectioned actin filaments in the paracrystal were arranged in an extremely regular hexagonal pattern. The characteristic filamentous texture in the cuticular plate was best seen in tissues that were pretreated with EDTA, and then fixed by tannic acid. It is probable that the greater part of the cuticular plate is composed of actin filaments and actin monomers, both containing Ca2+-dependent regulatory proteins. Utilizing the above ultrastructural findings, some functional models of this zone are proposed.

Tryptophan fluorescence of human hemoglobin. II. Effect of inositol hexaphosphate on the T-R transition

Fluorescence spectra of tryptophan residues of human hemoglobin in the absence and presence of inositol hexaphosphate were measured at room temperature. The tryptophan fluorescence intensity of deoxy HbA was observed to decrease in accordance with the binding with inositol hexaphosphate. The fluorescence intensity of HbA, Hb Kempsey (beta 99 Asp-Asn), Hb Chesapeake (alpha 92 Arg-Leu) and NES-des-Arg Hb (des-141 alpha Arg and beta 93 Cys-N-ethylsuccinimide derivative) in the presence of inositol hexaphosphate exhibits a considerable decrease in the deoxy to oxy transition, while no or slight fluorescence intensity change was observed in the deoxy to oxy transition of Hb Kempsey and NES-des-Arg Hb in the absence of inositol hexaphosphate. The tryptophan fluorescence behavior suggest that the inositol hexaphosphate-induced structural change in these hemoglobins is attributable to the formation of a different T type of structure from that of the normal T-R transition.

[Studies on acid glycosaminoglycans in rabbit uterine cervix and body (author's transl)]

We aimed to identified cervical ripening at term pregnancy by measuring acid glycosaminoglycans (aGAG) in nonpregnant and immediately postpartum rabbits cervix and body. aGAG was extracted from the uterine tissues by the modified method of K. Anno (1964) and determined by the carbazole method (Bitter, 1962). Components of aGAG were separated by two dimensional electrophoresis (0.1M pyridine-0.47M formic acid in the first and 0.1M calcium acetate buffer in the second) using acetate cellulose strips. aGAG were separated five spots that were identified hyaluronic acid, heparan sulfate, chondroitin sulfate A, dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate C. These results were confirmed by method of hyaluronidase, chondroitinase AC and ABC digestion test.

Metabolic detoxication of bis-(2-hydroxy-3, 5-dichlorophenyl)-sulfoxide in man

The metabolic detoxication of bis(2-hydroxy-3, 5-dichlorophenyl)sulfoxide (BTS) in man was investigated. Bis(2-hydroxy-3, 5-dichlorophenyl)sulfide (BT) was identified in beta-glucuronidase treated urine following the administration of BTS by thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, ultraviolet spectrum and quantitative analysis. No other metabolites were detectable. BT-glucuronide was also identified in urine. It was assumed that BTS was reduced to BT and successively conjugated with glucuronide in man, and excreted as BT-glucuronide in the urine.

Nucleotide sequences of mouse genomic loci including a gene or pseudogene for U6 (4.8S) nuclear RNA

We have isolated four clones which hybridize with U6 (4.8S) nuclear RNA, a mammalian small nuclear RNA(nRNA), from DNA of BALB/C mouse liver. Their restriction maps are totally different from each other, indicating that they derived from different loci in the mouse genome. The nucleotide sequences around the hybridizing region in the three clones have been determined. One clone gives a gene that is co-linear with the U6 RNA. There is a sequence TATAAAT beginning 31 nucleotides upstream of the gene, which may suggest that the U6 RNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase II. The other two clones contain a pseudogene for the U6 RNA which has 7 or 9 nucleotide changes from the RNA. The pseudogenes are surrounded by radically different sequences from those surrounding the gene, and they are closely linked to a pseudogene for another snRNA, 4.5S-I RNA, or a part of highly repetitive an interspersed sequence B1.

Radioimmunoassay of human plasma somatostatin

Human plasma somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) is heterogeneous. Moreover, human plasma contains a somatostatin-binding protein, enzymes that degrade the peptide, and other poorly characterized substances that interfere in radioimmunoassays of the peptide. Previously described extraction methods only partially circumvent these problems and generally result in less than adequate recovery. The present studies were therefore undertaken to determine whether gel filtration of plasma could be used to avoid these difficulties and provide a means for radioimmunoassay of plasma somatostatin in man. Gel filtration (Sephadex G25) of human plasma and subsequent radioimmunoassay of column eluates using five different antisera uniformly demonstrated two fractions of SLI in plasma. One fraction (peak I) eluted in the void volume and had an apparent molecular weight in excess of 150,000 daltons; this material comprised most of the plasma SLI, did not dilute in parallel with synthetic somatostatin, and decreased immunoprecipitability of both N-tyrosine- and tyrosine-11-125I somatostatin. The second fraction (peak II) coeluted with synthetic somatostatin (apparent mol. wt. 1600 daltons), diluted in parallel with synthetic somatostatin, and did not appreciably degrade either 125I-tyrosylated analogue. Synthetic somatostatin added to plasma was recovered nearly completely (95 ± 3%) in peak II SLI. Infused synthetic somatostatin increased peak II SLI but did not alter peak I SLI. These results demonstrate that gel chromatography of human plasma before assay can be used to circumvent problems of immunoheterogeneity, 0degradation, and nonspecific interference while providing adequate recovery. With this method, mean plasma somatostatin concentrations (peak II SLI) in postabsorptive normal volunteers ranged from approximately 40 to 100 pg/ml, depending on the antibody system used. These concentrations (3–6 × 10−11 M) are of similar magnitude to thosereported to affect reputed target tissues of somatostatin in vitro and are thus consistent with a possible hormonal function for the peptide.

Novel models for RNA splicing that involve a small nuclear RNA

Nucleotide sequences of mammalian small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) have been analyzed with a computer program for complementarity with sequences around a splice junction of various eukaryotic mRNA precursors (pre-mRNAs). A region in U2 RNA or some other snRNAs can form base pairs with both exons surrounding an intron of certain pre-mRNAs and, thereby, can align the two junctions leading to correct splicing of the pre-mRNA. These findings suggest that a snRNA such as U2 can be involved in splicing certain pre-mRNAs by pairing with exons, which we we call an "exon model" for splicing, as compared with the model involving U1 RNA presented by Lerner et al. [Lerner, M. R., Boyle, J. A., Mount, S. M., Wolin, S. L. & Steitz, J. A. (1980) Nature (London) 283, 220-224]. We constructed a secondary structure model of U1 RNA and studied the capacity of base pairing with pre-mRNAs on the basis of both primary and secondary structures of U1 RNA. We present an alternative model for splicing that involves U1 RNA, which assumes base pairing of noncontiguous regions of U1 RNA with an intron of a pre-mRNA. Pairing of an snRNA with exons could explain correct matching of the two junctions that bound one and the same intron, which is not explained by pairing with consensus sequences at the ends of an intron as proposed by Lerner et al. Pairing of an intron with U1 RNA and pairing of the surrounding exons with another snRNA such as U2 RNA could take place at the same time to insure specificity of splicing.

[Studies on acid glycosaminoglycans in rabbit uterine cervix and body (author's transl)]

We aimed to measure acid glycosaminoglycans (aGAG) and its composition in nonpregnant and immediately postpartum rabbits uterine cervix and body. aGAG was extracted from the uterine tissues by the modified method of K. Anno (1964) and determined by the carbazole method (Bitter, 1962). Component of aGAG were separated and identified by electrophoresis (0.3 M calcium acetate, veronal buffer, 0.1 M veronal -0.15 M ammonia water, 0.2 M ZnSO4) using acetate cellulose strips. aGAG from uterine cervix and body were separated in three bands which we considered to be hyaluronic acid, heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate. Hyaluronic acid was dominant in the cervix, on the other hand the components of aGAG without hyaluronic acid were dominant in the body. This compositional changes were also demonstrated by histochemical digestion test and metachromasia method. We considered these changes as a sign of cervical ripening at term pregnancy.

Functional evaluation of a bioartificial pancreas using isolated islets perifused with blood ultrafiltrate

A new bioartificial pancreas, in which rat islets within a Millipore chamber are perifused with blood ultrafiltrate (polyacrylonitrile membrane), has been developed and its function evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Use of ultrafiltration (instead of diffusion) permitted rapid transmission of changes in blood glucose to the islet compartment (less than 10 min). To determine whether ultrafiltrate of Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer (KRBB) and blood could support normal islet Bcell function, insulin secretion of freshly isolated islets in response to a 20-mM glucose challenge was examined during perifusion with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate produced either from KRBB itself or from blood of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. In the latter case, perifusate was reinfused to the animals, whose plasma glucose and insulin were then measured.

Insulin responses to glucose were virtually identical when the same islets were perifused with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate of KRBB (47 ± 12 versus 41 ± 9 ng/100 islets/24 min), or when islets were perifused with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate produced from blood of normal rats (69 ± 6 versus 73 ± 11 ng/100 islets/24 min). When five diabetic rats were connected to the device containing 600 islets, their plasma glucose decreased from 19.8 ± 1.2 to 6.1 ± 0.5 mM (P < 0.001) within 120 min without overshoot hypoglycemia, and remained normal for up to 6 h. Plasma insulin increased from 2.0 ± 0.1 to 11.4 ± 1.4 ng/ml (P < 0.02) at 30 min and then decreased to 2.9 ± 0.6 ng/ml. After intravenous glucose administration (0.5 g/kg, N = 4), plasma insulin increased twofold within 15 min, and glucose disappearance rates were identical to those obtained in four normal rats (K = 2.13 ± 0.18 versus 2.23 ± 0.09, NS).

These results indicate that ultrafiltrate of KRBB and blood can acutely support normal islet B-cell function, and that ultrafiltration can provide satisfactory glucose-insulin kinetics for an implantable closed-loop insulin delivery system, in which nonsyngeneic islets may be protected against immune rejection.

Predominant T3 synthesis in the metastatic thyroid carcinoma in a patient with T3-toxicosis

A metastatic mixed papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma synthesizing predominantly triiodothyronine (T3) producing thyrotoxicosis is described. There was a concentration of 131I in numerous masses on the lung as well as a mass in the neck. BMR was +38%. Serum T4, T3-RU and T3 were 6.6 microgram/100 ml, 35.1% and 9.0 ng/ml, respectively. Serum TSH was not detectable and was not increased by the injection of 500 microgram of synthetic TRH. Decompressive surgery, performed while the patient was receiving no thyroid medication, yielded tumor tissue for chemical analysis. The mass measured 4.5 cm X 4.0 cm X 3.0 cm. The normal thyroid tissue was found to be atrophic. Sedimentation pattern of the soluble protein revealed a small peak at 18 S without a 27 S peak, suggesting an accelerated hydrolysis of thyroglobulin (Tg). Both the Tg content of the tumor and the degree of iodination of the Tg were low, 0.53% (based on wet weight of tissue) and 0.07%, respectively. DIT-I, MIT-I, T4-I, and T3-I in hydrolysate of the tumor tissue were 17.8%, 29.1%, 7.1%, and 41.7%, respectively. Therefore, the high T3 in the serum in this case seems to arise mainly from the cancer tissue. Possible mechanisms for this predominant T3 production are discussed.

[Fundamental and clinical studies on cefotaxime in the field of obstetrics and gynecology (author's transl)]

Fundamental and clinical studies were made on cefotaxime (HR-756, CTX), a new cephalosporin antibiotic, with the following results. 1. Cefotaxime was given to 22 patients. Efficacy was excellent in 3 cases, good in 17 cases and poor in 2 cases. No side effects were observed in any cases. 2. Following a single intravenous injection of 1.0 or 2.0 g, the transfer of CTX to the internal genital organs was found to be good. The transfer of CTX to exudate of the dead space of pelvis was also good. 3. The above data demonstrated that CTX is a safe and effective drug.