RFLP mapping of the sugary enhancer1 gene in maize

RFLP marker data from an F2∶3 population derived from a cross between a sugary1 (su1) and a sugary enhancer1 (su1, sel) inbred were used to construct a genetic linkage map of maize. This map includes 93 segregating marker loci distributed throughout the maize genome, providing a saturated linkage map that is suitable for linkage analysis with quantitative trait loci (QTL). This population, which has been immortalized in the form of sibbed F2∶3 families, was derived from each of the 214 F2 plants and along with probe data are available to the scientific community. QTL analysis for kernel sucrose (the primary form of sugar) concentration at 20 days after pollination (DAP) uncovered the segregation of seven major QTL influencing sucrose concentration; a locus linked to umc36a described the greatest proportion of the variation (24.7%). Since maltose concentration has previously been reported to be associated with the se1 phenotype, an analysis of probe associations with maltose concentration at 40 DAP was also conducted. The highly significant association of umc36a with maltose and sucrose concentrations provided evidence that this probe is linked to se1. Phenotypic evaluation for the se1 genotype in each F2∶3 family enabled us to map the gene 12.1 cM distal to umc36a. In contrast to previous work where se1 was reported to be located on chromosome four, our data strongly suggest that the sugary enhancer1 locus maps on the the distal portion of the long arm of chromosome 2 in the maize genome.

[Effect of free fatty acid on cholesterol nucleation in model bile]

We studied the effect of free fatty acids on cholesterol nucleation in model bile with a sensitive cholesterol crystal growth assay. Palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid were added to model biles in increasing concentrations from 0.5 to 20 umol/ml. The nucleation time of model bile with free fatty acids decreased to 30%-50% of control bile. The final crystal concentration increased with higher concentrations of palmitic acid. However, we found a decrease in the final crystal concentration with the unsaturated fatty acid-soleic acid, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid. The increase in the maximum crystal growth rate was marked in the model biles as linoleic acid was added. These findings show the effect of non-protein fraction in biles on gallstone formation and support the view that free fatty acids are pro-nucleating factors.

[Autonomic nervous activity at episodes of myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease by heart rate power spectral analysis]

Heart rate power spectral analysis in 44 patients with coronary artery disease was obtained from 24-hour dynamic electrocardiogram. 195 episodes of transient myocardial ischemia that was defined as horizontal or down sloping depression of the ST segment of > or = 0.1 mV and lasted for > or = 2 minutes were studied. The area of low frequency components (LF, 0.02-0.10 Hz) representing predominontly sympathetic tone with some contribution from the parasympathetic tone and that of high frequency components (HF, 0.15-0.40 Hz) representing mainly parasympathetic tone and the value of LF/HF on 4 minute heart rate power spectral graph at the deepest depression of ST segment were compared with that before the episode of myocardial ischemia. The area of HF of fast rate myocardial ischemia occurring in night reduces significantly (P < 0.001), the value of LF/HF increases markedly (P < 0.05) and the area of LF increases slightly. The results suggest that there is a change of autonomic nervous activity during the episode of fast rate myocardial ischemia in night, parasympathetic nervous tone decreases markedly, there may be secondary increase of sympathetic nervous activity.

[Gallbladder contraction and microscopi observation of the gallbladder wall in gallstone patients]

On the basis of oral cholecystography (OCG), we selected gallstone patients for nontoperative intervention. Their gallbladder function was considered as normal when gallbladder contracted over 50%-75% after a fat meal at 1 hour. We collected 99 gallstone patients and 19 normal controls; gallbladder function was normal in 77 patients and poor in 22. After a fat meal gallbladder volumes were calculated by B ultrasonography. The results showed that both fasting and residual volume in patients with so-called normal contraction were significantly greater than that in the controls (P < 0.001), though the contraction rate was not different. The combination of gallbladder contraction rate measurement and residual volume calculation by ultrasonography was superior over traditional OCG.

Establishment and characterization of the tumors of chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell line in nude and SCID mice

A new cell line, designated MO1043, was established from the peripheral blood (PB) of a patient with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Both the PB leukemia cells and MO1043 were found to have an abnormal cytogenetic marker of trisomy 12, the most common cytogenetic abnormality in CLL. In addition, both the PB cells and MO1043 expressed a cell surface phenotype of typical B-CLLs. The MO1043 was efficiently transplanted into X-irradiated athymic nude mice by i.p. inoculation after it was subjected to serial passages in new born (1 week old) and irradiated adult nude mice. The tumor of a CLL cell line (termed CLL tumor) was also generated in the nude mice by s.c. inoculation of the cells. The MO1043 was inoculated i.p. into mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) which had not been subject to any preconditionings. The CLL tumor in the non-conditioned SCID mice was disseminated to various tissues in a manner more analogous to CLL tumors in patients as compared with nude mice, where the CLL tumors were not as widely disseminated. At each of four different tumor doses, i.e. 2 x 10(6), 6 x 10(6), 1.8 x 10(7) and 5.4 +/- 10(7) cells of MO1043, the transplantability was 100%. Titration experiments revealed a reciprocal relationship between survival and the number of tumor cells inoculated. FACS analysis showed that several cell surface markers of the parental MO1043 were maintained in CLL tumors from nude and SCID mice. Fluorescence in situ hybridization with novel DNA probes demonstrated that CLL tumors of both nude and SCID mice maintained trisomy 12. The CLL tumor models developed here, particularly the SCID mouse model, may be very useful for therapeutic studies of CLL.

Interferon-alpha alters spectrin organization in normal and leukemic human B lymphocytes

Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) regulates the growth, differentiation, and recirculation of normal and malignant B lymphocytes. In this report we examine the effects of IFN-alpha on the distribution of the cytoskeletal protein spectrin in peripheral blood B lymphocytes from normal donors and patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Exposure of normal and leukemic B cells to IFN-alpha in vitro was shown by immunofluorescence microscopy to cause a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of cells containing discrete focal accumulations of spectrin, ie, a single large aggregate or cap-like structure near the plasma membrane. Although the magnitude of this effect was variable among individual patient samples, in some experiments IFN-alpha induced a fourfold increase in the percentage of leukemic B cells exhibiting focal accumulations of spectrin. Spectrin reorganization induced by IFN-alpha was abrogated by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. In addition, IFN-alpha increased the total cellular content of spectrin in B-CLL cells by approximately twofold to fourfold. Finally, a role for protein kinase C in mediating the effects of IFN-alpha on spectrin's organization is implicated by studies in which calphostin C inhibited the IFN-induced focal accumulation of spectrin. Taken together, these studies suggest that the immunomodulatory activities of IFN-alpha in normal and malignant B cells involve a change in the organization of the spectrin-based cytoskeleton.

Three new monoclonal antibodies that define a unique antigen associated with prolymphocytic leukemia/non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and are effectively internalized after binding to the cell surface antigen

Prolymphocytic leukemia (PLL) is closely related to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but present with distinctive clinical/laboratory features and associated with much worse prognosis. In this study, we generated three new IgG1-kappa monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), termed SN8, SN8a and SN8b, by use of an unconventional approach, ie, by using an isolated B PLL antigen preparation to immunize mice. These MoAbs, particularly SN8, showed a highly selective reactivity to B PLL and B non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) among various human leukemia-lymphoma specimens tested; eg, SN8 was capable of effectively distinguishing B PLL from B CLL as well as from hairy cell leukemia (HCL) cell specimens. The cell surface antigen defined by the three MoAbs was determined to be a covalently linked heterodimeric glycoprotein complex (gp49/40) consisting of a 49,000 dalton (alpha-chain) and a 40,000-dalton component (beta-chain). Epitope comparison showed that the epitope defined by SN8 (SN8 epitope) is in close proximity to SN8a epitope but in a distant position from SN8b epitope. Western blot analysis showed that both SN8 and SN8a epitopes are on the beta-chain, but SN8b epitope was not detected on either the alpha- or the beta-chain of the reduced antigen in the same analysis. Binding of either SN8 or SN8b to the cell surface gp49/40 did not cause significant downregulation of the antigen expression whereas binding of SN8a to the antigen caused small (approximately 20%) decrease in the antigen expression. Among the various normal peripheral blood cells, only a subpopulation (6.0% to 24.2% among different specimens derived from different donors) of B cells reacted with the SN8 series MoAbs; these MoAbs showed no significant reactivity against T cells, granulocytes, monocytes, erythrocytes, and platelets. Minimal or no significant reactivity (0 to 2.6% among different specimens) was detected against normal bone marrow cells. Ricin A-chain conjugates of the three MoAbs are all strongly effective for specific killing of SN8 antigen-expressing leukemia cells in the absence of any potentiators; furthermore, the addition of 10 mmol/L NH4Cl, a potentiator, enhanced strongly the cytotoxic activities of the SN8, SN8a, and SN8b conjugates. Thus, each of the three MoAbs was effectively internalized after binding to the cell surface antigen.

Distribution of glucose-6-phosphatase activity in normal, hyperplastic, and preneoplastic rat liver

The significance of glucose-6-phosphatase (G6P) expression by bile duct-like cells proliferating during hepatocarcinogenesis in the histogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma is not clear. To this end, we measured the histochemical and biochemical activity of G6P in normal rat liver, and in rat livers in which bile duct-like proliferation was induced by either hyperplastic (bile duct ligation for 14 days or feeding alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate for 28 days) or neoplastic (feeding a choline-devoid diet containing 0.1% ethionine for 60 days) regimens. In normal, hyperplastic, and preneoplastic livers, G6P histochemical activity was confined to the hepatocytes; proliferated bile duct-like cells, like normal bile ducts, did not display visible G6P staining. When the enzyme activity was determined biochemically, however, hydrolysis of glucose-6-phosphate was observed in both parenchymal and nonparenchymal liver cells isolated from all experimental animals. In elutriated nonparenchymal fractions, G6P activity was directly proportional to the number of cells positive for gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and cytokeratin no. 19 (markers of bile duct cells) and inversely proportional to the number of cells positive for vimentin (marker of mesenchymal cells). These results indicate that, while by light microscopy hepatic G6P histochemical activity is detectable only in the hepatocytes, the biochemical activity is also expressed in proliferating bile duct-like cells. However, the nonparenchymal activity is observed during both neoplastic and hyperplastic liver growth, thus indicating that the presence of this enzyme in bile duct-like cells proliferating during hepatocarcinogenesis should not necessarily be construed as supporting their stem cell nature nor their neoplastic commitment.

Clinical significance of monoclonal proteins in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Serum monoclonal proteins were found in 36 of 111 (32%) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients studied using high-resolution agarose gel electrophoresis combined with immunofixation. In contrast, using immunoelectrophoresis (IEP) and serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP), monoclonal proteins were found in 20 and 4% of CLL patients, respectively. The presence of a monoclonal protein was associated with a median survival of 63 months compared to 103 months for individuals without a monoclonal spike (p < 0.012). This was independent of clinical stage. The data also suggests that the presence of a monoclonal protein may define a group of patients at greater risk for disease progression in the low and intermediate risk groups. (Rai stages, 0, I, II). Further follow-up will be required to determine if this is statistically significant.

Antigenic expression of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemic cell lines

A flow cytometric analysis of five B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemic (B-CLL) cell lines was undertaken using 129 unknown reagents from the blind panel (BP) and 72 reagents from the known CD panel obtained from the Fourth International Leucocyte Differentiation Conference and Workshop, B cell section (Vienna, 1989). The five cell lines examined were: SeD (PNAS 75, 5706, 1978), B-CLL-LCL (BLOOD 71, 9, 1988), JVM-HH and JVM-2(INT J CAN 38, 531, 1986), and WR#1 (TH and BD). The reagents were #1-129 (blinded panel) and reagents 1-44 and 53-84 (CD panel with CD23 reagents missing). Positivity was defined as greater than 30% of the cells having a three fold increase or more in mean channel fluorescence. Fourty-three reagents of the blinded panel were negative by these criteria while all remaining reagents were positive on all five lines. SeD showed the lowest reactivity; B-CLL-LCL and JVM-2 showed the most reactivity; JVM-HH and WR#1 were intermediate. The known CD panel confirmed the reactivity of the blinded panel. An average immunophenotype was constructed and compared to published normal EBV lymphoblastoid cell lines and several differences were noted. There was an absence or significant decrease in the expression of CD19, CD21, CD22 and CD37 while there was an increased expression of CD38, CD54, CD74 and CD76. The heterogeneity observed between the B-CLL lines may in part be due to polymorphisms but is more likely to represent the underlying heterogeneity seen in common and familial B-CLL.2+öff

[The use of 6-flavor Rehmannia decoction with additives in the prevention of ototoxic deafness induced by gentamicin in guinea pigs]

The purpose of this study is to discuss the effects of the Chinese medicine six-flavor Rehmannia Decoction with additives on preventing deafness induced by gentamicin (GM) in guinea pig by means of testing the thresholds of Preyer's reflex (PR) cochlear microphonic potential (CM), action potential of the auditory nerve (N1) and scanning electron microscope of inner ear (SEM). The results showed that the medicine is effective in reducing the ototoxic effect of GM on inner ear.