Production of several substances by medullary carcinoma of the thyroid

Two patients with the typical morphology of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid are reported. Biochemical analysis of the tumor tissue demonstrated the presence of calcitonin, ACTH and MSH, although symptoms referable to these hormones were hardly manifested. Serum CEA levels were elevated and CEA immunofluorescences in the tumor cells were positive. Moreover, in one patient, serotonin concentration was raised in the tumor tissue, and gastrin level was also elevated in the peripheral blood. These results suggest that the tumors may produce several substances.

Comparative chemical studies on the quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) egg ovalbumin

1. Three components of quail ovalbumin were fractionated by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography. 2. These were A1, A2, and A3, of which the major is A2. They contained phosphorus of 3, 2 and 1 residues, respectively. 3. The amino acid composition were higher in Lys, Asp, Ser, Thr and Gly, and lower in Arg, Glu and Ile than chicken ovalbumin. 4. The carbohydrate compositions were slightly higher in hexose and lower in hexosamine than chicken ovalbumin. 5. The molecular weight was determined to be 43,000, and the isoelectric point was pI 4.70.

Calcified mesenteric cyst

Reported is a case of a calcified mesenteric cyst that was causing obstruction of the small bowel. Because only roughly one case occurs per 100,000 hospital admissions, mesenteric cysts are rarely thought of and may be difficult to diagnose. The differential diagnosis includes such critical lesions as aortic aneurysm, pancreatitis, ovarian cysts, omental cysts, and lipomas of the mesentery. The proper treatment of these rare lesions is somewhat influenced by causative factors: embryonic, traumatic, neoplastic, infectious, or degenerative. Surgical excision or enucleation is preferred to internal or external drainage. Ultrasonography is becoming increasingly valuable as a diagnostic tool.

Synthesis of alpha-fetoprotein by human yolk sac tumor transplanted into nude mice

All nude mice bearing primary or secondary transplants of a human yolk sac tumor exhibited a high serum alpha-fetoprotein level. This finding clearly indicates the synthesis of alpha-fetoprotein by the human yolk sac tumor and supports an idea that human yolk sac tumor simulates yolk sac endoderm not only morphologically but also functionally.

Nalidixic acid resistance: a second genetic character involved in DNA gyrase activity

ATP-dependent DNA supercoiling catalyzed by Escherichia coli DNA gyrase was inhibited by oxolinic acid, a compound similar to but more potent than nalidixic acid and a known inhibitor of DNA replication in E. coli. The supercoiling activity of DNA gyrase purified from nalidixic acid-resistant mutant (nalA(R)) bacteria was resistant to oxolinic acid. Thus, the nalA locus is responsible for a second component needed for DNA gyrase activity in addition to the component determined by the previously described locus for resistance to novobiocin and coumermycin (cou). Supercoiling of lambda DNA in E. coli cells was likewise inhibited by oxolinic acid, but was resistant in the nalA(R) mutant. The inhibition by oxolinic acid of colicin E1 plasmid DNA synthesis in a cell-free system was largely relieved by adding resistant DNA gyrase. In the absence of ATP, DNA gyrase preparations relaxed supercoiled DNA; this activity was also inhibited by oxolinic acid, but not by novobiocin. It appears that the oxolinic acid-sensitive component of DNA gyrase is involved in the nicking-closing activity required in the supercoiling reaction. In the presence of oxolinic acid, DNA gyrase forms a complex with DNA, which can be activated by later treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate and a protease to produce double-strand breaks in the DNA. This process has some similarities to the known properties of relaxation complexes.

The in vivo incorporation of [32P]-labeled orthophosphate into pyrophosphatidic acid and other phospholipids of Cryptococcus neoformans through cell growth

Cryptococcus neoformans was cultured in a liquid medium containing [32P]-orthophosphate and harvested at various stages of cell growth. An aliquot of the [32P]-labeled cells was transferred to a nonradioactive medium, and the culture was continued again for some hours. The [32P]-radioactivity composition and the phosphorus composition of individual phospholipids relative to the total phospholipid through the incubation periods were estimated. Although levels of major phospholipids remained constant throughout the cell growth, the distribution pattern of the [32P]-radioactivity of individual phospholipids changed remarkably along with the progress of cell growth. The changing patterns of the specific radioactivities of individual phospholipids through the growth phase demonstrated that phosphatidic acid was one of the most active metabolites in phospholipids and that pyrophosphatidic acid was also metabolically active.

4-Desmethylsgerols in the seeds of Solanaceae

Thirteen 4-desmethylsterols: cholesterol, 24-methylcholesterol, 24-ethylcholesterol, stigmasterol, 24-methylcholesta-5,24-dienol, 24-ethylcholesta-5,24-dienol, 28-isofucosterol, 24-methylenecholesterol, cholestanol, 24-methylcholestanol, 24-ethylcholestanol, cholest-7-enol and 24-ethylcholest-22-enol, were identified in the seeds of solanaceous plants. The distribution of these 4-demethylsterols in the seeds of eleven plants among seven genera of the Solanaceae family was determined.

Persistence of Sendai virus in a mouse breeder colony and possibility to re-establish the virus free colonies

An epizootic of Sendai virus infection occurred in a mouse breeder colony with respiratory signs, mortality, retarded growth in young and prolonged gestation period in adults. Thereafter, the infection persisted in this colony without any clinical signs and with 90 to 100% antibody positivity in adults. Weanlings had maternal antibodies and no pneumonic lesions. Antibodies were hardly detected in 6-week-old mice with high incidence of red hepatization or congestion in their lungs, but mice over 8 weeks of age had antibody without the lesions. After isolating weanlings and pregnant mice with antibodies from the infected colony, the isolated weanlings and offspring from the isolated dams became negative for Sendai virus antibodies.

[Long term surveys on Tyzzer's disease in three rat breeder colonies (author's transl)]

Retired rats of SD strain from three breeder colonies (A, B and C) were monthly monitored for CF antibody to Tyzzer's organism for 2 to 6 years. In colony A, antibody-positive rats were found at frequencies ranging from 5 tp 100% with a single peak during about one year without any detectable signs of apparent disease. However, in colony B, in spite of the outbreak of the disease, antibody-positive animals were only sporadically detected during about 4 years after the outbreak. Thereafter, in this colony, the antibody was not demonstrated in all animals examined for 2 years, and susceptibility to the disease of 3-week-old rats was the same as that of ones from one-infected colony. Cortisone test did not suggest the infection. In colony C, no antibody-positive rats were detected for 3 years.

Studies on serum gastrin of the patients with gastric cancer

In patients with gastric cancer who were to undergo gastrectomy, the fasting serum gastrin concentration in the peripheral vein was estimated by radioimmunoassay. The blood samples were also collected from the gastric veins and artery during the time of operations. These gastrin values were compared with morphological findings in the resected stomach. No significant differences in serum gastrin concentration was found between the patients of gastric cancer and normal subjects. In the patients with mucosal atrophy in the oxyntic gland area but with no atrophy in the pyloric gland area, however, significant increase in serum gastrin concentration was observed. In cases where fundal atrophy was accompanied by atrophy in the pyloric gland area, the increase was not observed. The amount of gastrin content in cancer tissue was negligible. These results indicate that the increase in serum gastrin concentration in some patients with gastric cancer might be due to the accompanied atrophy of oxyntic glands in the stomach.

Effect of prolonged administration of gastrin on experimental carcinogenesis in rat stomach induced by N-methyl-N' -nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine

The effects of gastrin on gastric acid secretion and on the incidence of gastric carcinoma induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoquanidine were investigated in rats. At Week 50 after the start of the experiment, it was found that prolonged administration of gastrin after treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoquanidine resulted in a significant increase in gastric acid secretion and a significant reduction in the incidence of adenocarcinomas of the glandular stomach. The administration of gastrin did not influence the histological appearance of the few gastric adenocarcinomas that did develop.

Occurrence of lanosterol and lanostenol in seeds of red pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Cycloartenol and cycloartanol are the major components of the 4,4-dimethylsterol fraction separated from the seeds of red pepper (Capsicum annuum, Solanaceae). Lanosterol and lanostenol, whose occurrence in higher plants has hitherto been known as extremely rare, are identified in the fraction by gas liquid chromatography, combined gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and isolation as their epoxides.

Effect of fundusectomy on serum and antral gastrin levels in rats

In adult male rats, fundusectomy decreased acid secretion but significantly increased total antral gastrin and both fasting and food-stimulated serum gastrin levels. The rise in fasting serum gastrin could be inhibited by antral acidification, suggesting that decreased acidity caused postfundusectomy hypergastrinemia. The mechanism for the increase in total gastrin in antral tissue is probably the same. These studies provide a useful experimental model for the increasing of antral gastrin and for the production of hypergastrinemia.

Novobiocin and coumermycin inhibit DNA supercoiling catalyzed by DNA gyrase

Novobiocin and coumermycin are known to inhibit the replication of DNA iing of DNA catalyzed by E. coli DNA gyrase, a recently discovered enzyme that introduces negative superhelical turns into covalently circular DNA. The activity of DNA gyrase purified from a coumermycin-resistant mutant strain is resistant to both drugs. The inhibition by novobiocin of colicin E1 plasmid DNA replication in a cell-free system is partially relieved by adding resistant DNA gyrase. Both in the case of coliclls. DNA molecules which are converted to the covalently circular form in thepresence of coumermycin remain relaxed, instead of achieving their normal supercoiled conformation. We conclude that DNA gyrase controls the supercoiling of DNA in E. coli.

Lipid composition of 30 species of yeast

The detailed composition of cellular lipid of more than 23 species of yeast has been determined quantitatively by thinchrography on quartz rods, a method previously used for estimating cellular lipids of seven species of yeast. That data was fortified by neutral and phospholipid quantitations on 30 species of yeast cells. Most of the test organisms contained 7-15% total lipid and 3-6% total phospholipid per dry cell weight, except for the extremely high accumulation of triglycerides in two species of Lipomyces. Qualitatively, 30 species of yeast cells contained similar neutral lipid constituents (triglyceride, sterol ester, free fatty acid, and free sterol) and polar lipid components (phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ehtanolamine, phosphatidyl serine, phosphatidyl inositol, cardiolipin, and ceramide monohexoside) without minor constituents. Based on the quantitative composition of neutral lipids, the 30 species of yeast were divided into two groups , the triglyceride predominant group and the sterol derivative group. These groupings were fairly well overlapped from the standpoint of the distribution characteristics of fatty acid. The relative polar lipid compositions also grossly resembled each other. Only one exception of polar lipid composition in yeast cells was found in Rhodotorula rubra species which contained phosphatidyl ethanolamine as the most abundant phospholipid. Fatty acid distribution patterns in yeast cells consistently coincided with other reports concerning fatty acid composition of yeast cells. Correlation of lipid composition and classification of yeasts are suggested and discussed.

Lymphocyte subpopulation in neoplastic and non-neoplastic thymus and in blood of patients with Myasthenia gravis

The lymphocyte subpopulations in the thymus and in the blood were investigated in ten myasthenic patients who had been thymectomized. Histologically, the thymuses tested comprised three cases of thymoma including two cases with malignant characteristics, five cases of hyperplastic thymus with lymph follicles and germinal centres, and two cases of persistent thymus without lymph follicles. Virtually all lymphoid cells in the three thymomas formed spontaneous rosettes with sheep red blood cells as did normal thymocytes from non-myasthenic patients. There was no significant proportion of immunoglobulin Ig-bearing lymphocytes. While the majority consisted of cells forming spontaneous rosettes with sheep red blood cells, there was a certain proportion (2-17%) of Ig-bearing lymphocytes in four of five hyperplastic thymuses, in one of two persistent thymuses, and in a residual atrophic thymus of a thymoma. The myasthenic patients tested were for the most part normal, as compared with healthy individuals, in the proportion of rosette-forming lymphocytes and Ig-bearing lymphocytes in the blood collected immediately before and one to three months after thymectomy. The presence of Ig-bearing lymphocytes in the thymus was not necessarily related to the appearance of circulating antibody to striated muscle. The antibody to striated muscle was demonstrated in all myasthenic patients with thymoma.