Intracellular recordings were performed on the optic tectum of the carp in vitro. Thick brain sections were prepared and the optic tract was electrically stimulated. EPSPs of 72 cells in stratum ...fibrosum et griseum superficiale, stratum griseum centrale and stratum album centrale were examine. Monosynaptic EPSPs were recorded from 19 cells in stratum fibrosum et griseum centrale and stratum griseum centrale, which was consistent with anatomical findings.
The extract from seeds of Aeginetia indica L. (AIL), a parasitic plant, induces potent antitumor immunity against Meth A fibrosarcomas in BALB/c mice. AIL also possesses a thymocyte co-stimulatory ...effect in vitro with suboptimal dose of Con A, a B cell mitogenic effect, and stimulates AIL-primed CD4+ T cells to produce Thl-type cytokines. In this study, we investigated the relationship between mitogenicity and antitumor activity with AIL. When AIL was analyzed by SDS-PAGE, there was strong and diffuse staining in the region between 14 kDa and the bottom of polyacrylamide gel and it was unaffected when AIL was digested with proteinase K (PK) before SDS-PAGE. Some bands with different molecular mass were also found in silver-stained gel and they disappeared completely by incubating AIL with PK before SDS-PAGE. The in vitro thymocyte co-stimulatory and B cell mitogenic effects were not influenced by digesting AIL with PK but were completely suppressed by the oxidation of AIL with sodium periodate before culture. In contrast, the in vivo antitumor activity was completely abolished by PK, but it was not affected by periodate oxidation. We generated mAbs specific for AIL and investigated the influence on the antitumor activity of AIL in vivo. Around 66–80% of tumor-bearing mice failed to recover from a challenge tumor when they were treated with supernatants isolated from mAb-induced precipitation reactions. Immunoblotting (Western blotting) revealed that all the mAbs reacted exclusively with a 50–60 kDa protein and that this reactivity was not influenced after oxidizing the blots with sodium periodate. We demonstrated that AIL contains polysaccharides and proteins. The polysaccharides induced B cell mitogenic and thymocyte co-stimulatory effects in vitro, while the proteins, especially a 50–60 kDa protein containing non-carbohydrate epitopes recognized by the mAbs, mediated antitumor activity in vivo.
It has been demonstrated that the accumulation of alterations in several oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes plays a role in the initiation and progression of esophageal carcinoma. However, to our ...knowledge, very few studies have described the molecular genetic changes of chromosome arm 14q in esophageal carcinoma. In this study, we examined 35 primary esophageal carcinomas for allelic imbalance on 14q32. Analysis of four polymorphic microsatellite markers identified 13 (37%) tumors exhibiting allelic imbalance on 14q32 in at least one locus. In particular, the allelic imbalance of the D14S267 marker that has been reported in various tumors as having a high frequency of deletion was observed in 10 of 26 informative cases (38.5%). The commonly deleted regions were delineated by markers D14S65 and D14S250 on 14q32. In regard to the macroscopic features of tumor, the 14q allelic imbalance rate of protruding type tumors was higher than that of the ulcerative type. These data suggest that potential suppressor loci on 14q32 are related to the development and progression of esophageal carcinoma.
Monamine distribution in a septohypothalamic area was investigated in the Japanese quail using a histochemical fluorescence method. This area includes the subfornical organ (SFO) and the preoptic ...area (POA) which are inferred dipsogenic receptor sites for angiotensin II (AII) in the Japanese quail. Nerve fibers showing yellow-green fluorescence were found between the POA and the SFO. Thwy traversed from the POA to the SFO, and some fibers seemed to terminate on the neurons in the SFO. After a low dose of reserpine, a considerable number of fluorescent perikarya were found in the POA. These fibers and perikarya appeared to be of primary catecholamine judging from the fluorescence color. Following transection of these fibers, fluorescence disappeared from the fibers located on the SFO side of the transection plane, while it became a little more intense on the POA side. After transection, microinjection of AII into the POA was no longer effective in induction of drinking. On the other hand, sham operation or transection in areas other than between the POA and the SFO produced only minute changes in those fluorescent fibers and had little effect on the dipsogenic potency of AII injected into the POA. These results suggest that information of AII perceived at the POA is transferred to the SFO via those primary catecholamine-containing nerve fibers, which effect induced drinking.
Psychophysical studies on masking of sensations induced by sinusoidal mechanical stimuli were conducted in human subjects to characterize the interactions within and between the submodalities of ...flutter and vibration. Using a conditioning-test stimulus paradigm, we found that the threshold of a test stimulus was elevated (masking) when the test stimulus was paired with a twice-threshold conditioning stimulus that activated the same submodality. Detection theory analysis further indicated that the observed elevation in threshold resulted in part from a change in stimulus detectability (i.e.d'). In contrast, when the test stimulus and the twice-threshold conditioning stimulus activated different submodalities, no elevation in test stimulus threshold (no masking) was observed. Thus, for stimuli that activate either flutter or vibration, masking (and the inhibitory operations by which it is presumably mediated) is restricted to a given submodality and not distributed across submodalities. This finding suggests that these submodality channels function independently.
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