Studies on the DNA of Xenopus laevis oocytes

Development ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-282
Author(s):  
J. Hanocq-Quertier ◽  
E. Baltus ◽  
A. Ficq ◽  
J. Brachet

The existence of substantial amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the cytoplasm of amphibian eggs is no longer a matter of discussion (review, Brachet, 1957). However, their intracellular distribution, role and origin remain controversial. According to Dawid (1965, 1966), the bulk of the egg cytoplasmic DNA in Xenopus is of mitochondrial origin. His method of phenol extraction isolates only high molecular weight DNA. On the other hand, Baltus & Brachet (1962) found that 65% of the DNA of Pleurodeles eggs sediments at low centrifugal speed and suggested that this nucleic acid is localized in the yolk platelets. This conclusion was based on chemical estimations of the total DNA present in the egg; they found values about 10 times higher than those presented by Dawid (1966). Brachet & Ficq (1965) confirmed that, in ovaries of Pleurodeles labelled with 14C-actinomycin, either in vivo or on histological sections, most of the radioactivity detected by autoradiography is concentrated in the yolk.

Author(s):  
James R. Gaylor ◽  
Fredda Schafer ◽  
Robert E. Nordquist

Several theories on the origin of the melanosome exist. These include the Golgi origin theory, in which a tyrosinase-rich protein is "packaged" by the Golgi apparatus, thus forming the early form of the melanosome. A second theory postulates a mitochondrial origin of melanosomes. Its author contends that the melanosome is a modified mitochondria which acquires melanin during its development. A third theory states that a pre-melanosome is formed in the smooth or rough endoplasmic reticulum. Protein aggregation is suggested by one author as a possible source of the melanosome. This fourth theory postulates that the melanosome originates when the protein products of several genetic loci aggregate in the cytoplasm of the melanocyte. It is this protein matrix on which the melanin is deposited. It was with these theories in mind that this project was undertaken.


1973 ◽  
Vol 29 (02) ◽  
pp. 490-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroh Yamazaki ◽  
Itsuro Kobayashi ◽  
Tadahiro Sano ◽  
Takio Shimamoto

SummaryThe authors previously reported a transient decrease in adhesive platelet count and an enhancement of blood coagulability after administration of a small amount of adrenaline (0.1-1 µg per Kg, i. v.) in man and rabbit. In such circumstances, the sensitivity of platelets to aggregation induced by ADP was studied by an optical density method. Five minutes after i. v. injection of 1 µg per Kg of adrenaline in 10 rabbits, intensity of platelet aggregation increased to 115.1 ± 4.9% (mean ± S. E.) by 10∼5 molar, 121.8 ± 7.8% by 3 × 10-6 molar and 129.4 ± 12.8% of the value before the injection by 10”6 molar ADP. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.01-0.05). The above change was not observed in each group of rabbits injected with saline, 1 µg per Kg of 1-noradrenaline or 0.1 and 10 µg per Kg of adrenaline. Also, it was prevented by oral administration of 10 mg per Kg of phenoxybenzamine or propranolol or aspirin or pyridinolcarbamate 3 hours before the challenge. On the other hand, the enhancement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation was not observed in vitro, when 10-5 or 3 × 10-6 molar and 129.4 ± 12.8% of the value before 10∼6 molar ADP was added to citrated platelet rich plasma (CPRP) of rabbit after incubation at 37°C for 30 second with 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 or 100 µg per ml of adrenaline or noradrenaline. These results suggest an important interaction between endothelial surface and platelets in connection with the enhancement of ADP-induced platelet aggregation by adrenaline in vivo.


1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 2317-2325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Hlaváček ◽  
Jan Pospíšek ◽  
Jiřina Slaninová ◽  
Walter Y. Chan ◽  
Victor J. Hruby

[8-Neopentylglycine]oxytocin (II) and [8-cycloleucine]oxytocin (III) were prepared by a combination of solid-phase synthesis and fragment condensation. Both analogues exhibited decreased uterotonic potency in vitro, each being about 15-30% that of oxytocin. Analogue II also displayed similarly decreased uterotonic potency in vivo and galactogogic potency. On the other hand, analogue III exhibited almost the same potency as oxytocin in the uterotonic assay in vivo and in the galactogogic assay.


1962 ◽  
Vol 203 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Necheles

Myeloid marrow was rapidly removed from femurs of fasting young rabbits, sectioned, and incubated in Krebs-bicarbonate-CO2-oxygen buffer with appropriate C14-labeled precursors. All manipulations were designed to preserve the architecture of the tissue. After 1 hr the protein or nucleic acid-adenine was isolated and purified. Insulin, 0.01 U/ml added in vitro, stimulated histidine-2(ring)-C14 incorporation into protein by 26 ± 1.4%; alkali-treated insulin was inactive. Thyroxin elicited a 49.4 ± 2.1% stimulation at an optimum concentration of 10–7 m. Triiodothyronine, but not diiodothyronine, also had a significant effect. Insulin increased incorporation of carbon from adenosine-8-C14 into adenine of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. Thyroxin, on the other hand, was without consistent effect on this process. Thyroxin stimulated significantly the incorporation of C14 of glycine-2-C14 into adenine. The possibility that part of the anabolic effect of thyroxin on bone marrow may arise from a stimulus to incorporation of precursors into purines is suggested.


1978 ◽  
Vol 173 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
T R Butt ◽  
W M Wood ◽  
E L McKay ◽  
R L P Adams

The effects on DNA synthesis in vitro in mouse L929-cell nuclei of differential extraction of DNA polymerases alpha and beta were studied. Removal of all measurable DNA polymerase alpha and 20% of DNA polymerase beta leads to a 40% fall in the replicative DNA synthesis. Removal of 70% of DNA polymerase beta inhibits replicative synthesis by 80%. In all cases the nuclear DNA synthesis is sensitive to N-ethylmaleimide and aCTP (arabinosylcytosine triphosphate), though less so than DNA polymerase alpha. Addition of deoxyribonuclease I to the nuclear incubation leads to synthesis of high-molecular-weight DNA in a repair reaction. This occurs equally in nuclei from non-growing or S-phase cells. The former nuclei lack DNA polymerase alpha and the reaction reflects the sensitivity of DNA polymerase beta to inhibiton by N-ethylmaleimide and aCTP.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 2261-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Soo Park ◽  
Hyun-Joo Kim ◽  
Min-Jung Seol ◽  
Dong-Rack Choi ◽  
Eung-Chil Choi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT DW-224a showed the most potent in vitro activity among the quinolone compounds tested against clinical isolates of gram-positive bacteria. Against gram-negative bacteria, DW-224a was slightly less active than the other fluoroquinolones. The in vivo activities of DW-224a against gram-positive bacteria were more potent than those of other quinolones.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Sautto ◽  
Nicasio Mancini ◽  
Giacomo Gorini ◽  
Massimo Clementi ◽  
Roberto Burioni

More than 150 arboviruses belonging to different families are known to infect humans, causing endemic infections as well as epidemic outbreaks. Effective vaccines to limit the occurrence of some of these infections have been licensed, while for the others several new immunogens are under development mostly for their improvements concerning safety and effectiveness profiles. On the other hand, specific and effective antiviral drugs are not yet available, posing an urgent medical need in particular for emergency cases. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of several infectious diseases as well as in preliminaryin vitroandin vivomodels of arbovirus-related infections. Given their specific antiviral activity as well-tolerated molecules with limited side effects, mAbs could represent a new therapeutic approach for the development of an effective treatment, as well as useful tools in the study of the host-virus interplay and in the development of more effective immunogens. However, before their use as candidate therapeutics, possible hurdles (e.g., Ab-dependent enhancement of infection, occurrence of viral escape variants) must be carefully evaluated. In this review are described the main arboviruses infecting humans and candidate mAbs to be possibly used in a future passive immunotherapy.


1931 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie T. Webster ◽  
Thomas P. Hughes

1. Pneumococci were obtained at one time or another from the nasal passages or throats of 80 per cent of 105 adults and children studied. In adults, they were obtained more frequently from the throat; in children, as often from the nasal passages as from the throat. 2. Of 500 pneumococcus strains studied, 97 per cent proved to be serologically specific. They formed smooth colonies and were for the most part avirulent for mice. Types I and II were obtained from one and two individuals respectively on one occasion only. Type III was obtained from nine individuals; Type XIII from nine individuals; Type XVI and Type XVIII from three individuals, for varying periods in each case. Atypical pneumococci were secured from 13 persons on single and scattered occasions. They varied in colony morphology, did not kill mice, or agglutinate in saline, but flocculated in all types of antipneumococcus sera employed and over a wide pH range in acid buffers. Their occurrence was apparently not associated with any type-transformation or virulence-enhancement process in vivo. 3. Strains of pneumococcus obtained on successive cultures from a given carrier were, with rare exceptions, of the same serological type and were similar in colony morphology, virulence for mice, and other tested biological characteristics. 4. Pneumococci of Types I and II were obtained under conditions suggestive that they lacked a capacity to spread readily; pneumococci of Types III and XIII, on the other hand, were obtained under conditions suggestive that they were spreading from person to person. 5. The persons studied differed consistently with respect to the occurrence of pneumococci. Some were pneumococcus-free, some were transient carriers, some periodic, and some chronic carriers. Data are given which suggest that the differences were due to variations in host resistance. 6. The incidence of pneumococci in all individuals studied underwent a seasonal variation paralleling that of coryza and sore throats in the same persons.


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