Purification and properties of NADH-ferredoxinTOL reductase. A component of toluene dioxygenase from Pseudomonas putida

Cells of Pseudomonas putida, after growth with toluene, contain a multicomponent enzyme system that oxidizes toluene to (+)-1(S),2(R)-dihydroxy-3-methyl-cyclohexa-3,5-diene. One of these components has been purified to homogeneity and shown to be a flavoprotein that contains FAD as the only detectable prosthetic group. Fad was removed from the enzyme during purification. However, equilibrium dialysis experiments showed that the enzyme can bind one mol of FAD/mol of enzyme protein. The apparent molecular weight of the enzyme is 46,000, as judged by gel filtration and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and mercaptoethanol. The latter result suggests the presence of a single polypeptide chain. The amino acid composition of the enzyme reveals a relatively high content of the hydrophobic amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine and is remarkably similar in composition to the flavoproteins that function in certain monooxygenase enzyme systems. The purified enzyme catalyzes the reduction of dichloroindophenol, nitrobluetetrazolium, ferricyanide, and ferredoxinTOL. Its ability to reduce cytochrome c and to function in the toluene dioxygenase enzyme system is absolutely dependent on the presence of ferredoxinTOL.

Splenic T and B lymphocytes and their mitogenic response in untreated Hodgkin's disease

The splenic T and B cell distribution in 79 patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease was quite similar to that in 15 control patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or carcinoma. The mean T lymphocyte percentage was slightly higher in involved spleens than in uninvolved spleens of patients with Hodgkin's disease. There was no significant difference in the T and B cell distribution between tumor area and tumor-free area of the same spleens of Hodgkin's disease patients. Splenic T and B cell distribution did not correlate well with the clinical features of Hodgkin's disease. The splenic T cell percentage was significantly lower than that of the peripheral blood T cell percentage (P less than 0.05), while the splenic B cell percentage was significantly higher than peripheral blood B cell percentage (P less than 0.01) in 13 patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease. The splenic T lymphocyte response to PHA was significantly higher than the peripheral blood T lymphocyte response (P less than 0.05), and the splenic B lymphocyte response to PHA, in the presence of irradiated autologous splenic T lymphocytes, was also significantly higher than the peripheral blood B lymphocyte response (P less than 0.05) in 8 and 6 patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease, respectively. Since the control splenic cells, utilized in this study were obtained not from patients with non-neoplastic disease, but from patients with neoplastic disease other than Hodgkin's disease, our data are not conclusive, but only suggestive of normal T and B cell distribution and function in uninvolved spleens of patients with untreated Hodgkin's disease.

Managment of thoracic empyema

Over a ten year period, 102 patients with thoracic empyemata were treated at Boston City Hospital. Only three patients died from the pleural infection while twenty-six succumbed to the associated diseases. Priniciples of management include: (1) thoracentesis; (2) antibiotics; (3) closed-tube thoracostomy; (4) sinogram; (5) open drainage; (6) empyemectomy and decortication in selected patients; and (7) bronchoscopy and barium swallow when the etiology is uncertain.

Selective Phagocytosis: A New Concept in Protein Catabolism

The clearance of different metabolic products derived from two plasma proteins, prothrombin and fibrinogen, was studied with the aid of the isolated, perfused rat liver. Active thrombin and fibrin were rapidly cleared by the Kupffer cells. Inactive thrombin and a partially degraded fibrin molecule were also cleared but at much slower rates. This difference in clearance rates suggests the presence of a high degree of selectivity in the clearance of altered plasma proteins.