Structure of hydroxymuscopyridine a and hydroxymuscopyridine B, two new constituents of musk

The structural elucidation of hydroxymuscopyridine A ( 3) and hydroxymuscopyridine B ( 5), two new constituents isolated from musk, MOSCHUS MOSCHIFERUS, is reported.

Ozone killing action against bacterial and fungal species; microbiological testing of a domestic ozone generator

The action of ozone generated from a small domestic device was examined with a view to using it in clinical isolation units accommodating immunosuppressed patients. Over a six-hour period in an average size room the device did not generate sufficient ozone to suppress bacterial and fungal growth. A useful bactericidal action, against a variety of human pathogens was achieved with ozone concentrations between 0.3 to 0.9 ppm. Bactericidal ozone concentrations are close to the limit permitted for human exposure however and further experiments are indicated.

Alkaloids of Aconitum barbatum

Nine diterpenoid alkaloids were isolated from the roots of ACONITUM BARBATUM VAR. PUBERULUM. Five of them are known: ranaconitine ( 1) [1], lappaconitine ( 2) [2], septentriodine ( 3) [3], septentrionine ( 4) [3], and lycaconitine ( 5) [4]. The other four are new: puberanine ( 6), puberanidine ( 7), puberaconitine ( 8) and puberaconitidine ( 9).

Reduced frequency of baseline sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes grown in antibiotics and serum-excluded culture medium

Peripheral venous blood from man, muntjac, and cattle were grown in medium (1) containing different serum (human AB+/FCS/autologous), (2) without serum or antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin), or (3) without both serum and antibiotics to investigate to what extent certain essential culture components used in in vitro mammalian cell cultures affect the incidence of spontaneous sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs). The observation that exclusion of only serum from culture medium enhanced the frequency of SCEs whereas exclusion of both serum and antibiotics, which influence the cell cycle kinetics to a great extent, exhibited the lowest frequency of SCEs reported so far for lymphocyte cultures, indicates that the frequency of so-called spontaneous SCEs usually observed in normal lymphocyte cultures grown in medium supplemented with serum and antibiotics is in fact an elevated frequency.

Primary hepatic cryptococcosis

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Blood lymphocyte culture system: quantitative analysis of X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations in man, muntjac and cattle

Peripheral blood lymphocytes of 3 mammalian species, man, muntjac and cattle, which have various amounts of DNA and divergent karyotypes, were exposed to 100-400 rad of X-rays, and frequencies of dicentrics and other aberrations were analysed at first post-irradiation metaphases. During experiments, various preparative or physical and biological factors that could influence the yield of chromosome aberrations were taken into account. The frequency of dicentrics scored at first post-irradiation metaphases showed best fit to both linear and quadratic dose-response curves, y = a + bD and y = bD + cD2 with a high correlation coefficient of 0.98 (P less than 0.001). The frequency of dicentrics obtained at different post-irradiation fixation times did not show significant variation, indicating a homogeneous sensitivity of peripheral lymphocytes to X-irradiation. BrdU incorporation following X-irradiation showed no increase in the frequency of chromosome aberrations. The frequency of dicentrics in man, muntjac and cattle showed a close correlation with their DNA content, but no meaningful correlation was found between the yield of dicentrics and the chromosome arm number or the nuclear volume. The ratio of dicentric yields, 1.00:0.67:1.04 obtained in man, muntjac and cattle were comparable to the ratio of their DNA contents, 1.00: 0.65: 1.07. The base-line frequency of SCEs was similar in the 3 species and no significant variation in SCE frequency was noticed even after administration of 400 rad of X-rays.

Influence of age on the frequency of sister-chromatid exchanges and X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations in muntjac

The BrdU-differential staining technique was used in a study of the frequency of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and X-ray-induced chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes of the same individual muntjacs. Blood was collected periodically from immediately after birth (1 day old) to the adult stage (1 year). The results showed that both the frequency of base-line SCEs and induced chromosome aberrations changed as a function of age. At a young age, the frequency of SCEs was significantly low, whereas a high frequency of chromosome aberrations was observed. But with increase in age of the individuals, an enhanced frequency of SCEs and a decreased frequency of induced chromosome aberrations were observed; and as the age advanced further, the frequencies of both SCEs and chromosomal aberrations came to a steady level.

Culture media and species-related variations in the requirement of 5-bromodeoxyuridine for differential sister-chromatid staining

Various concentrations of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BdrU) ranging from 0.01 to 10.0 microgram/ml were tried for finding the minimal concentration required for differential staining of sister chromatids in lymphocytes of man, muntjac and cattle grown in three commonly used culture media, namely TC 199, Dulbecco's MEM and Ham's F-10. The lymphocytes grown in TC 199 required the lowest concentration of BrdU whereas it was highest for the lymphocytes grown in F-10. The minimal concentration varied for the 3 species studied, and it was not related to their DNA content. The differing amounts of thymidine and folic acid present in the various culture media seemed to account for the difference in the quantity of BdrU required for eliciting differential staining. Staining may also have depended on the intracellular nucleotide pool and/or on the difference in the substitutable dT sites of the genomes.

Enhanced frequency of chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of male compared with female muntjacs after X-ray irradiation in vitro

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the study of radiation-induced dicentrics and other chromosome aberrations in phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated blood lymphocytes of various mammals, including man, with the aim of establishing a proper biological dosimetry for the assessment of genetic radiation hazards in human. These studies have revealed that the radiosensitivity of lymphocytes differs between species and even between individuals of the same species, but the cause(s) of these variations still remains unclear. The life-shortening response to whole-body X-ray irradiation is influenced by both age and sex of the individuals, but although age has been shown to have effects on chromosome aberration yields, in vitro, the influence of sex on the sensitivity of lymphocyte chromosomes to radiation-induced damage has not been reported. It is generally thought that sex does not influence the aberration yield within the limitation of measurements used in such studies. However, we report here a study of X-ray induced chromosome aberration in lymphocytes of Indian muntjac, in which the yield of dicentrics was found to be consistently greater in male than in female lymphocytes.

Release of 1-O-alkylglyceryl 3-phosphorylcholine, O-deacetyl platelet-activating factor, from leukocytes: chemical ionization mass spectrometry of phospholipids

Evidence is presented for the simultaneous release of platelet-activating factor (PAF-acether) and of its deacetylated derivative (lyso-PAF-acether) from hog leukocytes. On the basis of spectroscopy and chemical reactions, the structure of O-deacetyl-PAF is shown to be 1-O-alkylglyceryl 3-phosphorylcholine, an alkyl ether analog of lyso-phosphatidylcholine. Acetylation of lyso-PAF yields a compound with biological activity and chromatographical behavior indistinguishable from those of native PAF. Lyso-PAF may be considered to be either the precursor or the enzymatic degradation product of PAF. The usefulness of chemical ionization mass spectrometry for structural determination of phospholipids is also demonstrated.

The identification of depsipeptides by chemical ionisation mass spectroscopy

The chemical ionisation mass spectra of seven naturally occurring depsipeptides and some of their permethylated derivatives have been measured. The primary ionisation process involves an ester group and not an amide or other functionality. It probably occurs randomly when the molecule contains more than one ester link. Unlike electron impact mass spectra, those obtained under chemical ionisation conditions gave sequence information for all of the depsipeptides examined or their permethylated derivatives. A mechanism for the primary fragmentation is proposed.

Congeners of etamycin produced by Streptomyces griseoviridus

Streptomyces griseoviridus produces in addition to etamycin several related compounds which can be separated by partition chromatography. One of these has been characterized by amino acid analysis and mass spectrometry and shown to have the same structure as etamycin except for replacement of the hydroxyproline residue by proline. Evidence was obtained for additional congeners similarly related to etamycin by amino acid exchange. The relative proportions of such congeners produced by S. griseoviridus depends upon the medium in which the culture is grown. Certain amino acids support good yields of the metabolites and the culture appears to be steered towards the synthesis of congeners containing such amino acids.

Structure of iturine A, a peptidolipid antibiotic from Bacillus subtilis

A mixture of iturines extracted from Bacillus subtilis gave, on column chromatography, iturine A, iturine B, and iturine C. Iturine A has the entire antifungal activity. It is a mixture of two homologous peptidolipids C48,H74N12O14 and C49H76N12O14 (mp 177 degrees C, [alpha]D-1.7 degrees in methanol (c 0.05 g/mL); mol wt 1042 and 1056). The lipid moiety is a mixture of 3-amino-12-methyltridecanoic acid and 3-amino-12-methyltetradecanoic acid. The peptide moiety contains 7 mol of amino acids: D-Asn2, L-Asn, L-Gln, L-Pro, L-Ser, and D-Tyr. A cyclic structure for iturine A with the serine residue linked to the fatty amino acids through a peptide bond has been domonstrated. By mild HCl hydrolysis, lipid-soluble and water-soluble peptides were obtained. They were analyzed by chemical methods and by mass spectrometry. Permethylated and perdeuteriomethylated derivatives of iturine A were also subjected to mass spectrometric analysis. Both chemical analysis and mass spectrometry led to the cyclic structure I for iturine A.