Structure of the 80S ribosome from Saccharomyces cerevisiae--tRNA-ribosome and subunit-subunit interactions

A cryo-EM reconstruction of the translating yeast 80S ribosome was analyzed. Computationally separated rRNA and protein densities were used for docking of appropriately modified rRNA models and homology models of yeast ribosomal proteins. The core of the ribosome shows a remarkable degree of conservation. However, some significant differences in functionally important regions and dramatic changes in the periphery due to expansion segments and additional ribosomal proteins are evident. As in the bacterial ribosome, bridges between the subunits are mainly formed by RNA contacts. Four new bridges are present at the periphery. The position of the P site tRNA coincides precisely with its prokaryotic counterpart, with mainly rRNA contributing to its molecular environment. This analysis presents an exhaustive inventory of an eukaryotic ribosome at the molecular level.

Architecture of the protein-conducting channel associated with the translating 80S ribosome

In vitro assembled yeast ribosome-nascent chain complexes (RNCs) containing a signal sequence in the nascent chain were immunopurified and reconstituted with the purified protein-conducting channel (PCC) of yeast endoplasmic reticulum, the Sec61 complex. A cryo-EM reconstruction of the RNC-Sec61 complex at 15.4 A resolution shows a tRNA in the P site. Distinct rRNA elements and proteins of the large ribosomal subunit form four connections with the PCC across a gap of about 10-20 A. Binding of the PCC influences the position of the highly dynamic rRNA expansion segment 27. The RNC-bound Sec61 complex has a compact appearance and was estimated to be a trimer. We propose a binary model of cotranslational translocation entailing only two basic functional states of the translating ribosome-channel complex.

Alignment of conduits for the nascent polypeptide chain in the ribosome-Sec61 complex

An oligomer of the Sec61 trimeric complex is thought to form the protein-conducting channel for protein transport across the endoplasmic reticulum. A purified yeast Sec61 complex bound to monomeric yeast ribosomes as an oligomer in a saturable fashion. Cryo-electron microscopy of the ribosome-Sec61 complex and a three-dimensional reconstruction showed that the Sec61 oligomer is attached to the large ribosomal subunit by a single connection. Moreover, a funnel-shaped pore in the Sec61 oligomer aligned with the exit of a tunnel traversing the large ribosomal subunit, strongly suggesting that both structures function together in the translocation of proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane.

Serum albumin is a specific inhibitor of apoptosis in human endothelial cells

Excess blood vessels are removed by apoptosis of endothelial cells, however, the signals responsible for this have not been defined. Apoptosis of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells is induced by deprivation of serum or adhesion. In this paper, apoptosis in human umbilical vein and microvascular endothelium was induced by deprivation of serum and or adhesion. Apoptosis was confirmed on the basis of morphology, ultrastructure and internucleosomal cleavage of DNA. Loss of endothelial adhesion was found to be an early event in cultured endothelial cell apoptosis and was exploited to quantitate apoptosis. The effect of: bovine serum albumin; human serum albumin; recombinant human albumin; dithiothreitol reduced human and bovine albumin; CNBr treated human and bovine albumin as well as ovalbumin upon endothelial apoptosis was determined. Native bovine and human albumin as well as recombinant human material inhibited apoptosis at physiological concentrations with identical dose response curves in both umbilical vein and microvascular cells. Dithiothreitol treatment destroyed all protective activity while bovine but not human albumin was partially inactivated by CNBr treatment. The unrelated protein ovalbumin was not protective. Albumin did not inhibit apoptosis if cells were also deprived of adhesion. The data suggest that albumin is a specific inhibitor of human endothelial apoptosis but does not protect cells also deprived of adhesion. Reduced supply of albumin to endothelium in poorly perfused blood vessels may provide a mechanism for the removal of excess blood vessels in remodelling tissues. Also, the failure of albumin to protect endothelial cells deprived of adhesion from apoptosis may reflect the need to remove potentially micro-embolic cells detached due to trauma.

CHEK again: revisiting the development of CHK1 inhibitors for cancer therapy

CHEK1 encodes the serine/threonine kinase CHK1, a central component of the DNA damage response. CHK1 regulates cell cycle checkpoints following genotoxic stress to prevent the entry of cells with damaged DNA into mitosis and coordinates various aspects of DNA repair. Accordingly, CHK1 has become a target of considerable interest in oncology. CHK1 inhibitors potentiate the efficacy of DNA-damaging chemotherapeutics by abrogating CHK1-mediated cell cycle arrest and preventing repair of damaged DNA. In addition, CHK1 inhibitors interfere with the biological role of CHK1 as a principal regulator of the cell cycle that controls the initiation of DNA replication, stabilizes replication forks, and coordinates mitosis. Since these functions of CHK1 facilitate progression through an unperturbed cell cycle, CHK1 inhibitors are being developed not only as chemopotentiators, but also as single-agent therapies. This review is intended to provide information on the current progress of CHK1 inhibitors in pre-clinical and clinical development and will focus on mechanisms of single-agent activity and potential strategies for patient tailoring and combinations with non-genotoxic agents.

Inverse localization of electric dipole current sources in finite element models of the human head

The paper describes finite element related procedures for inverse localization of multiple sources in realistically shaped head models. Dipole sources are modeled by placing proper monopole sources on neighboring nodes. Lead field operators are established for dipole sources. Two different strategies for the solution of inverse problems, namely combinatorial optimization techniques and regularization methods are discussed and applied to visually evoked potentials, for which exemplary results are shown. Most of the procedures described are fully automatic and require only proper input preparation. The overall work for the example presented (from EEG recording to visual inspection of the results) can be performed in roughly a week, most of which is waiting time for the computation of the lead field matrix or inverse calculations on a standard and affordable engineering workstation.

Second and third visual areas of the cat: interindividual variability in retinotopic arrangement and cortical location

1. The cortical location and the retinotopic arrangement of the second (V2) and third (V3) visual areas in the cat have been investigated with single and multiple unit recordings in anaesthetized and immobilized animals.2. V2 and V3 are arranged side by side anterior and medial to V1 and occupy the lateral gyrus and the postlateral sulcus. In addition, V2 spreads to postlateral parts of the lateral sulcus and, occasionally, to the posterior suprasylvian gyrus. The contralateral lower hemifield is represented on the lateral gyrus, the area centralis and the horizontal meridian are found in most animals in the anterior part of the postlateral sulcus, and the representation of the upper hemifield occupies the posterior part of the postlateral sulcus.3. The detailed retinotopic arrangement of the visual field maps shows two characteristic features. First, the retinotopy at the V2/V3 border differs between lower and upper hemifield. In the lower hemifield the periphery of the fields is represented, whereas in the upper hemifield the border between the representations is formed by a sector running along the horizontal meridian about 5-10 degrees in the upper hemifield. Thus the lower field arrangement resembles that of rodents, and the upper field arrangement is similar to that of primates. Secondly, the periphery of a part of the visual field is not continuously represented, but forms patches or islands (Donaldson & Whitteridge, 1977). The islands are bounded by visual field representations closer to the vertical meridian. The way the visual field is represented at the border between V2 and V3 introduces discontinuities into the visual field maps: adjacent parts of the visual field are not represented adjacently in these two prestriate areas.4. Cortical location and detailed retinotopic arrangement vary considerably from animal to animal, so that a representative map of V2 and V3 cannot be constructed. For example, the representation of the periphery of the horizontal meridian may be located either in the anterior portion of the postlateral sulcus or some mm more posteriorly, where the sulcus turns laterally. The representation of the area centralis in V3 is found either at the transition zone between lateral and postlateral sulcus, on the posterior suprasylvian gyrus, or in the posterior part of the postlateral sulcus.5. The entire hemifield is represented in V2 at least in some animals. In V3 the uppermost part of the vertical meridian seems not to be represented. In other animals only a restricted part of the contralateral visual field is represented in V2 or in V3. In these cases the receptive fields cover not more than 50 degrees out in the lower hemifield or on the horizontal meridian. In a few cases the periphery of the horizontal meridian and the upper hemifield are not at all represented in V3, or only in an incomplete manner.6. The magnification factors (Daniel & Whitteridge, 1961) become progressively smaller from V1 to V2 to V3. Hence cortical volume occupied decreases from V1 to V3. In V1 and in V2 the magnification is highest along the lower vertical meridian. In V2 the magnification along the horizontal meridian is the smallest, whereas in V1 the magnification decreases progressively from the lower vertical, to the horizontal and to the upper vertical meridian. The relationship between retinal ganglion cell densities and cortical magnification factors is discussed.

Crystal structures of ribosome anti-association factor IF6

Ribosome anti-association factor eIF6 (originally named according to translation initiation terminology as eukaryotic initiation factor 6) binds to the large ribosomal subunit, thereby preventing inappropriate interactions with the small subunit during initiation of protein synthesis. We have determined the X-ray structures of two IF6 homologs, Methanococcus jannaschii archaeal aIF6 and Sacchromyces cerevisiae eIF6, revealing a phylogenetically conserved 25 kDa protein consisting of five quasi identical alpha/beta subdomains arrayed about a five-fold axis of pseudosymmetry. Yeast eIF6 prevents ribosomal subunit association. Comparative protein structure modeling with other known archaeal and eukaryotic homologs demonstrated the presence of two conserved surface regions, one or both of which may bind the large ribosomal subunit.

Basal and acetylcholine-stimulated nitric oxide formation mediates relaxation of rabbit cavernous smooth muscle

Externally applied acetylcholine (ACh) in human corpus cavernosum has been shown to cause endothelium-dependent smooth muscle relaxation. Changes in isometric tension in rabbit cavernous smooth muscle strips mounted in organ bath chambers were monitored in the presence of blocking agents. Nitric oxide (NO) is known as an endothelium-derived relaxation factor (EDRF). Addition of specific inhibitors of nitric oxide synthesis, such as L-n-monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA) at 5 x 10(-4) mol/l.. or L-n-nitro arginine (L-NOARG) at 2 x 10(-4) mol/l. to strips precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) at 3.16 x 10(-6) mol/l. led to significant increases in tension. In the presence of L-NMMA or L-NOARG, relaxing effects of ACh at 10(-8)-3.16 x 10(-5) mol/l. mediated by muscarinic receptors were almost completely abolished. These data indicate that rabbit cavernous smooth muscle is under the control of basal NO release. They constitute strong evidence that cholinergically induced endothelial formation of NO plays a crucial role in relaxing cavernous smooth muscle.

Nuclear substrates of protein kinase C

Starting from the finding that, for neuronal cells, the nuclear-membrane-associated protein kinase C (PKC) is the so-called 'membrane inserted', constitutively active form, we attempted to identify substrates of this nuclear PKC. For this purpose, nuclear membranes and other subcellular fractions were prepared from bovine brain, and in-vitro phosphorylation was performed. Several nuclear membrane proteins were found, the phosphorylation of which was inhibited by specific PKC inhibitors and effectively catalyzed by added PKC. Combining the methods of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, in-situ digestion, reverse-phase HPLC and microsequencing, two of these nuclear PKC substrates were identified; the known PKC substrate Lamin B2, which serves as a control of the approach and the nucleolar protein B23. Our data suggest, that, for B23, Ser225 is a site of phosphorylation by PKC.

Fast visual evoked potential input into human area V5

Studies of the human visual cortex have demonstrated that an area for motion processing (V5) is located in the lateral occipito-temporal cortex. To study the timing of arrival of signals in V5 we recorded multi-channel visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to checkerboard stimuli. We then applied dipole source analysis which was computed on a grand average of 10 subjects, and on five individual subjects, respectively. We demonstrate an early VEP component with onset before 30 ms and with a peak around 45 ms, located in the vicinity of V5. This early component was independent of a second activity, which started around 50 ms and peaked around 70 ms, and was located within the striate cortex (V1). These results provide further evidence for a very fast input to V5 before activation of V1.

Early and late administration of a PGI2-analogue, ZK 36 374 (iloprost): effects on myocardial preservation, collateral blood flow and infarct size

A number of investigations have reported that prostacyclin or prostacyclin analogues protect the ischaemic myocardium when administered early after myocardial ischaemia. Thus far, there are no reports describing whether these substances exert a cardioprotective effect when administered later than 0.5 h after coronary artery occlusion. Adult cats were subjected to acute coronary artery ligation for 5 h and administered the vehicle or ZK 36 374 (iloprost) (1.19 micrograms X kg-1 X min-1), a prostacyclin analogue, beginning at 0.5, 2 or 4 h. Compared with the MI-vehicle cats, ZK 36 374 prevented a decrease in myocardial creatine kinase specific activity, the loss of free amino nitrogen and the fall in percentage bound cathepsin D in the ischaemic area when infusion was started at 0.5 or 2 h (P less than 0.05). In addition ZK 36 374 started at 4 h still showed a significant protective effect against myocardial creatine kinase specific activity and amino nitrogen concentrations but not against cathepsin D. In a separate group of animals, regional myocardial blood flow and late coronary resistance were determined with radioactive labelled 15 +/- 1 micron microspheres. ZK 36 374 consistently reduced late diastolic coronary vascular resistance and increased coronary blood flow in nonischaemic regions of the myocardium (P less than 0.05) but only attenuated the further increase in late coronary resistance in the ischaemic myocardial regions. The infarcted area (NTB-staining) amounted to 9% of the total left ventricle after 5 h and was not reduced by ZK 36 374 (P greater than 0.05). In conclusion, ZK 36 374 exerted a significant biochemical cardioprotective effect when administered to 0.5, 2 or 4 h. The mechanism of cardioprotection does not appear to be due to increased myocardial perfusion but rather to some direct cellular action whose exact nature has yet to be elucidated.

Fibrinogen, t-PA, and PAI-1 plasma levels in patients with pulmonary hypertension

We measured fibrinogen levels as well as the fibrinolytic parameters tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in plasma samples obtained at basal conditions and after stimulating the fibrinolytic system by venous occlusion (VO). Samples were taken from patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), with secondary thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (SPHTH), with secondary pulmonary hypertension due to congenital heart disease with Eisenmenger's reaction (SPHCD), and from healthy control individuals (CON). Fibrinogen levels were not significantly different between the groups with PPH and SPHTH or between SPHCD and CON. The latter groups, however, exhibited significantly lower fibrinogen plasma levels compared with PPH or SPHTH (p < 0.01). Basal plasma levels of t-PA antigen, t-PA activity, and PAI-1 activity, respectively, did not differ significantly between the study groups. After VO, mean t-PA activity levels increased to a higher extent in control subjects compared with patients with PPH, or SPHTH, or SPHCD, with significant differences only between CON and SPHTH or CON and PPH (p < 0.03). Patients with PPH and SPHTH exhibit both increased fibrinogen plasma levels and a diminished fibrinolytic response compared with healthy subjects. Moreover, the fibrinogen plasma levels in patients with SPHCD are in normal range, and the fibrinolytic response is similar to CON compared with PPH and SPHTH, thus indicating the existence of a comparable prothrombotic situation in patients with PPH and SPHTH.

Nitric oxide mediates relaxation in rabbit and human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle

We investigated in vitro the relaxant effect of exogenous acetylcholine (ACh) and electric-field stimulation (EFS) on rabbit and human corpus cavernosum smooth muscle strips (CC) precontracted with phenylephrine. The effects of EFS and ACh were monitored alone, after muscarinic receptor blockade and after inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) formation with L-N-nitro-arginine (L-NOARG). In rabbit and human CC, both atropine and L-NOARG abolished the relaxant effects of ACh. The relaxant effects of EFS, however, were only slightly reduced by atropine to 97.5 +/- 17.5% in human CC and to 89.0 +/- 6.1% in rabbit CC. L-NOARG further reduced the EFS effects to 0.8 +/- 1.7% in human CC and to 16.2 +/- 8.7% in rabbit CC. In strips obtained from impotent patients with diabetes mellitus, the relaxant effects appeared to be significantly less than in strips from nondiabetic impotent men. Tetrodotoxin blocked the relaxant EFS effects in human and rabbit strips completely. The data indicate the important role of NO in cholinergically induced relaxation of cavernous smooth muscle in rabbits and humans. Our findings support the idea of NO as the nonadrenergic noncholinergic neurotransmitter in penile erection in both species. Rabbit erectile tissue might serve as an in vitro animal model for further investigation.

The influence of skull-conductivity misspecification on inverse source localization in realistically shaped finite element head models

The electric conductivities of different tissues are important parameters of the head model and their precise knowledge appears to be a prerequisite for the localization of electric sources within the brain. To estimate the error in source localization due to errors in assumed conductivity values, parameter variations on skull conductivities are examined. The skull conductivity was varied in a wide range and, in a second part of this paper, the effect of a nonhomogeneous skull conductivity was examined. An error in conductivity of lower than 20% appears to be acceptable for fine finite element head models with average discretization errors down to 3 mm. Nonhomogeneous skull conductivities, e.g., sutures, yield important mislocalizations especially in the vincinty of electrodes and should be modeled.

Properties of advanced headmodelling and source reconstruction for the localization of epileptiform activity

During the last decade multiple work has been done to determine the sources of epileptiform activity by means of dipole source localization based on recordings of the magnetoencephalogram (MEG) or the electroencephalogram (EEG). The actual available advanced volume conductor models and the multiple source reconstruction by regularization may give new impulse to EEG based source analyses in epilepsy patients. This study demonstrates the principal properties of these techniques. We applied two different EEG source reconstruction techniques within different volume conductor models to localize induced spike activity in a selected patient suffering from medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy: 1) single moving dipole solution in a 3-shell spherical model versus individual head models (boundary-element-model, BEM, and finite-element-model, FEM); 2) a regularization technique for current density reconstructions using both BEM and FEM. When compared to findings of invasive recordings no adequate source locations were derived from the moving dipole solution in both the 3-shell head model and BEM. In contrast, a high congruence of source reconstruction and invasive determination of the focus was obtained using the regularization techniques in both BEM and FEM, indicating the high spatial accuracy of this technique in individual head models.

Differential nuclear localization of protein kinase C isoforms in neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells

The protein kinase C (PKC) alpha, beta and epsilon isoforms have distinct nuclear localizations in neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells NG 108-15. We found by immunoblotting that PKC alpha, beta II, delta and epsilon are the predominant isoforms in these cells. In contrast to other neuronal cell lines, none of these isoforms is down-regulated during differentiation. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that in undifferentiated cells PKC alpha is located in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus excluding nucleoli. In differentiated cells PKC alpha was almost exclusively located in the cytoplasm. Stimulation of the cells with phorbol ester resulted in translocation to the plasma membrane. PKC beta II was not detectable in the nuclei. PKC delta was found in the nucleoli and in the cytoplasm, in differentiated cells particularly in the neurites. Phorbol ester failed to induce a translocation to other compartments. PKC epsilon was localized with the nuclear-pore complexes at the nuclear envelope. In differentiated cells after stimulation with phorbol ester, partial translocation to the plasma membrane was observed.

Isolation of deacetoxycephalosporin C from fermentation broths of Penicillium chrysogenum transformants: construction of a new fungal biosynthetic pathway

Deacetoxycephalosporin C (DAOC), a precursor of cephalosporins excreted by Cephalosporium and Streptomyces species, has been produced in Penicillium chrysogenum transformed with DNA containing a hybrid penicillin N expandase gene (cefEh) and a hybrid isopenicillin N epimerase gene (cefDh). DAOC from a P. chrysogenum transformant was identified by ultraviolet light (UV), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrum analyses. P. chrysogenum transformed with DNA containing cefEh without cefDh did not produce DAOC. Untransformed P. chrysogenum produced penicillin V (phenoxymethylpenicillin) but not DAOC. Transformants also produced penicillin V but, in general, less than untransformed P. chrysogenum. The cefEh and cefDh genes were constructed by replacing the open reading frame (ORF) of cloned P. chrysogenum pcbC and penDE genes with the ORF of the Streptomyces clavuligerus expandase gene, cefE, and the ORF of the Streptomyces lipmanii epimerase gene, cefD, respectively. Analyses of representative transformants suggested that production of DAOC occurred via cefEh and cefDh genes stably integrated in the P. chrysogenum genome. DNA from untransformed P. chrysogenum did not hybridize to cefE or cefD gene probes.

Coexpression of band 3 mutants and Rh polypeptides: differential effects of band 3 on the expression of the Rh complex containing D polypeptide and the Rh complex containing CcEe polypeptide

K562 cells were stably transfected with cDNAs encoding the band 3 found in Southeast Asian ovalocytosis (B3SAO, deletion of residues 400-408), band 3 with a transport-inactivating E681Q point mutation (B3EQ), or normal band 3 (B3). Flow cytometric analysis and quantitative immunoblotting revealed that B3SAO expressed alone was translocated to the plasma membrane, at levels similar to B3 or B3EQ. Nine monoclonal antibodies that reacted with extracellular loops of B3 also reacted with B3SAO, although the affinity of most antibodies for the mutant protein was reduced. Both known Wr(b) epitopes were expressed on K562/B3SAO cells, demonstrating that B3SAO interacts with glycophorin A. The growth rates of K562 clones expressing equivalent amounts of B3 and B3EQ were the same, suggesting that the potentially toxic transport function of band 3 may be regulated in K562 cells. The band 3-mediated enhancement of Rh antigen reactivity and the depression of Rh epitopes on SAO erythrocytes were investigated by comparing the coexpression of B3, B3SAO, or B3EQ in K562 clones expressing exogenous RhcE or RhD polypeptides. The results are consistent with an interaction between band 3 and the Rh polypeptide-Rh glycoprotein (RhAG) complex, which may enhance translocation of the complex or affect its conformation in the plasma membrane. The data suggest that the interaction between band 3 and the RhD-RhAG complex is weaker than it is between band 3 and the RhCcEe-RhAG complex.

Concentration of endogenous tPA antigen in coronary artery disease: relation to thrombotic events, aspirin treatment, hyperlipidemia, and multivessel disease

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the major plasminogen activator responsible for dissolving blood clots found in blood vessels. However, elevated concentrations of tPA antigen were found to be related to adverse events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Considerable controversy about the significance of these results exists. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to identify independent determinants for tPA antigen concentrations in patients with CAD, to possibly clarify the above paradoxical relationship. The baseline tPA antigen concentrations of 366 patients with angiographic evidence of coronary sclerosis were determined. Univariate analysis showed that age (P=0.013), angiographic extent of disease (P<0.001), presence of angina at rest (P<0.001), diabetes mellitus (P=0.004), hypercholesterolemia (P=0. 045), hypertriglyceridemia (P=0.015), and chronic intake of nitrates (P<0.001) were significantly and positively related to tPA antigen concentration, while the chronic intake of aspirin was inversely related to tPA antigen (P<0.001). In addition, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) activity was found to be significantly and positively associated with tPA antigen concentration (P<0.001). A multivariate analysis identified chronic low-dose aspirin therapy (P<0.001), PAI-1 activity (P<0.001), hypertriglyceridemia (P=0.005), the type of angina (P=0.026), multivessel disease (P=0.041), and hypercholesterolemia (P=0.043) as significant and independent determinants of tPA antigen. While hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia both are related to the underlying disease, the type of angina and the number of involved vessels are linked to the severity and extent of disease, and all of them are indicators of a prothrombotic state found during the progression of CAD. In contrary, low-dose aspirin rather would decrease the likelihood of thrombotic events. The relation of tPA antigen to PAI-1 activity furthermore underlines the relation between tPA antigen concentration and a prothrombotic state. Therefore, the positive or-in case of aspirin therapy-negative correlation of these parameters with tPA antigen concentration would indicate that thrombus formation and simultaneous endothelial cell activation might be major determinants for tPA antigen concentration in CAD.

Nitric oxide mediates neurogenic relaxation induced in rabbit cavernous smooth muscle by electric field stimulation

We investigated the relaxant effect of electric field stimulation (EFS) on rabbit cavernous smooth muscle strips in vitro precontracted by phenylephrine. Effects of EFS were monitored alone, and following muscarinic receptor blockade, and inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) formation by L-N-monomethylarginine (L-NMMA) or by L-N-nitroarginine (L-NOARG). Atropine only slightly reduced the relaxant effect of EFS to 89.0 +/- 6.1 percent. Additional application of L-NMMA further reduced the relaxant effect to 37.3 +/- 15.3 percent. Substitution of L-NOARG for L-NMMA led to a more pronounced inhibition of relaxant effects to 16.2 +/- 8.7 percent. The results indicate that neurogenically induced relaxation of rabbit cavernous smooth muscle is mediated mainly by NO formation and argue against a substantial role of relaxing peptidergic neurotransmitters, such as vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and calcitonin-gene-related peptide, in penile erection.

Field and action potential recordings in heart slices: correlation with established in vitro and in vivo models

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Action potential (AP) recordings in ex vivo heart preparations constitute an important component of the preclinical cardiac safety assessment according to the ICH S7B guideline. Most AP measurement models are sensitive, predictive and informative but suffer from a low throughput. Here, effects of selected anti-arrhythmics (flecainide, quinidine, atenolol, sotalol, dofetilide, nifedipine, verapamil) on field/action potentials (FP/AP) of guinea pig and rabbit ventricular slices are presented and compared with data from established in vitro and in vivo models.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

Data from measurements of membrane currents (hERG, I(Na) ), AP/FP (guinea pig and rabbit ventricular slices), AP (rabbit Purkinje fibre), haemodynamic/ECG parameters (conscious, telemetered dog) were collected, compared and correlated to complementary published data (focused literature search).

KEY RESULTS

The selected anti-arrhythmics, flecainide, quinidine, atenolol, sotalol, dofetilide, nifedipine and verapamil, influenced the shape of AP/FP of guinea pig and rabbit ventricular slices in a manner similar to that observed for rabbit PF. The findings obtained from slice preparations are in line with measurements of membrane currents in vitro, papillary muscle AP in vitro and haemodynamic/ECG parameters from conscious dogs in vivo, and were also corroborated by published data.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

FP and AP recordings from heart slices correlated well with established in vitro and in vivo models in terms of pharmacology and predictability. Heart slice preparations yield similar results as papillary muscle but offer enhanced throughput for mechanistic investigations and may substantially reduce the use of laboratory animals.

Steroid receptors and proliferative activity in non-neoplastic and neoplastic endometria

In the glands of cyclic endometria, proliferative activity (PA), as revealed by expression of the Ki-67 antigen, is highest in the proliferative phase (P) and early secretory phase (S1). The PA decreases in the middle secretory phase (S2). In the stroma the PA is low during the whole cycle. In P and S1, the oestrogen receptor (ER) and the progesterone receptor (PR) are strongly expressed in glands and stroma. The number of positive cells and the staining intensity decreases in S2, particularly in the glands. In atrophic endometria, fibro-glandular polyps and in endometria with arrested secretion the PA is low in both glands and stroma. ER and PR can be detected in glands and stroma. The PA in atypical hyperplasias is only slightly higher than in cyclic endometria and endometria with simple hyperplasia. The ER and PR levels are comparable to those in proliferative endometria. The PA of endometrial adenocarcinomas is positively and the ER and PR negatively correlated with the degree of de-differentiation. No ER-negative carcinoma displays the PR. Immunohistologically, non-neoplastic receptor positive tissue can be seen in many ER- and PR-negative carcinomas. These structures may falsify the biochemical receptor analysis.