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Biomedical subjects

C Miller

Publications and source records attributed to C Miller.

At least 703 records · Page 39Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Isolation and characterization of myosin from cloned rat glioma and mouse neuroblastoma cells.

Myosin has been isolated from the clonal lines of murine neuroblastoma and rat glioma cells. Partial characterization of the two cellular myosins indicates that both possess the following properties: (1) the same elution position as rabbit skeletal muscle myosin by Sepharose 4B chromatography; (2) the presence of heavy (molecular weight about 200,000) and light subunit polypeptides by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; (3) EDTA and Ca2+ activated but Mg2+-inhibited ATPase activity in 0.6 M KCl; and (4) binding to rabbit skeletal muscle F-actin which is inhibited by Mg2+-ATP. For both mouse neuroblastoma and rat glioma cells, approximately 0.5-1.5% of the total cell protein is present as myosin. Cellular myosin appears to be indistinguishable in quantity and biochemical properties regardless of whether it is isolated from monolayer or suspension neuroblastoma cells.

Actins↗
PubMed1976

Fusion of phospholipid vesicles reconstituted with cytochrome c oxidase and mitochondrial hydrophobic protein.

Reconstituted cytochrome oxidase liposomes were fused with liposomes reconstituted with mitochondrial hydrophobic protein, which acts as a membrane-bound uncoupler of cytochrome oxidase. Fusion was assayed by the loss of respiratory control of cytochrome oxidase as measured by the increased rate of ascorbate oxidation induced by hydrophobic protein when both proteins shared the same vesicles. Fusion was dependent on the presence of phosphatidylserine in the liposomes Ca++ in the aqueous medium. Phosphatidylcholine-phosphatidylserine liposomes required higher concentrations of phosphatidylserine and Ca++ than did phosphatidylethanolamine-phosphatidylserine liposomes. Cytochrome oxidase vesicles containing high concentrations of phosphatidylserine showed little or no respiratory control, while those with lower concentrations showed high respiratory control; respiratory control could be induced by fusing cytochrome oxidase vesicles containing high phosphatidylserine with protein-free liposomes containing low phosphatidylserine concentration. If cytochrome oxidase vesicles and hydrophobic protein vesicles were prefused separately for 15 min, they lost the ability to fuse upon being subsequently mixed together. The reconstituted vesicles had diameters of about 200 A; fusion yielded vesicles with diameters in excess of 1000 A.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Ca++-induced fusion of proteoliposomes: dependence on transmembrane osmotic gradient.

The fusion of cytochrome oxidase liposomes with liposomes reconstituted with mitochondrial hydrophobic protein is dependent on the presence of an acidic phospholipid in the liposomes and on the addition of Ca++ions. Liposomes which have grown, by fusion, to diameters in excess of 1000 A lose the ability to fuse further, unless an osmotic gradient across the liposome membrane is established, with the internal osmotic pressure higher than the external. At a given Ca++ concentration, the extent to which this second fusion step takes place is determined by the ratio of internal to external osmolarity. Single-walled liposomes with diameters exceeding 1 mumM have been produced by this technique. The data suggest that the thermodynamic driving force for the Ca++-induced fusion is an excess surface free energy which can be supplied by membrane curvature or transmembrane osmotic gradients.

Calcium↗
PubMed1976

Ca++-induced fusion of fragmented sarcoplasmic reticulum with artificial planar bilayers.

Addition of fragmented sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) vesicles to the aqueous phase of a black lipid membrane (BLM) causes a large increase in BLM conductance within 10 min. The conductance increase is absolutely dependent on three conditions: The presence of at least 0.5 mM Ca++, an acidic phospholipid such as phosphatidylserine or diphosphatidylglycerol in the BLM phospholipid mixture, and an osmotic gradient across the SR vesicle membrane, with the internal osmolarity greater than the external. These requirements are identical to conditions under which the fusion of phospholipid vesicles occurs. When the early part of the time course of conductance rise is examined at high sensitivity, the conductance is seen to increase in discrete steps. The probability of a step increases with the concentration of Ca++ in the medium, with the fraction of acidic phospholipid in the BLM, and with the size of the osmotic gradient across the SR vesicle membrane. On the other hand, the average conductance change per step is independent of the above parameters, but varies with the type and concentration of ions present in the aqueous phase. For a given ion, the mean specific conductance per step is independent of the ion's concentration between 10 and 100 mM. The probability distribution of the step-conductances agrees well with the distribution of SR vesicle surface areas, both before and after sonication of the vesicles. The evidence indicates that SR vesicles fuse with the BLM, thereby inserting SR membrane conductance pathways into it. Each discrete conductance jump appears to be the result of the fusion of a single SR vesicle with the BLM. This technique may serve as a general method for inserting membrane vesicles into an electrically accessible system.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

A computer model allowing maintenance of large amounts of genetic variability in Mendelian populations. II. The balance of forces between linkage and random assortment.

It is shown, through theory and computer simulations of outbreeding Mendelian populations, that there may be conditions under which a balance is struck between two facotrs. The first is the advantage of random assortment, which will, when multilocus selection is for intermediate equilibrium values, lead to higher average heterozygosity than when linkage is introduced. There is some indication that random assortment is also advantageous when selection is toward a uniform distribution of equilibrium values. The second factor is the advantage of linkage between loci having positive epistatic interactions. When multilocus selection is for a bimodal distribution of equilibrium values an early advantage of random assortment is replaced by a later disadvantage. Linkage disequilibrium, which in finite populations is increased only by random or selective sampling, may hinder the movement of alleles to their selective equilibria, thus leading to the advantage of random assortment.-Some consequences of this approach to the structure of natural populations are discussed.

Computers↗
PubMed1975

Two modes of excision repair in toluene-treated Escherichia coli.

In toluene-treated Escherichia coli incision breaks accumulate during post-irradiation incubation in the presence of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). It is shown that incised deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is converted to high-molecular-weight DNA during reincubation in the presence of the four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTP's) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). This restitution process is ATP independent and N-ethylmaleimide insensitive and takes place only in polA+ strains. It is defective in strains carrying a mutation in the 5' leads to 3' exonucleolytic activity associated with DNA polymerase I. Repair of accumulated incision breaks differs from repair in which all the steps of the excision repair process occur simultaneously or in rapid succession. The latter is observed if toluene-treated E. coli are incubated immediately after irradiation in the presence of the four dNTP's, NAD, and ATP. It is shown that under these conditions dimer excision occurs to a larger extent than during repair of accumulated incision breaks and that, except in strains defective in polynucleotide ligase, incision breaks do not accumulate. This consecutive mode of repair is detectable in polA+ strains and at low doses also in polA mutants.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1975

Metabolic responses of unanesthetized rats to manipulation of skin temperature.

Body temperatures of albino rats are highly variable compared to those of larger mammals. This paper demonstrates that much of that variability can be attributed to shifts of body temperature thresholds for metabolic response accompanying disturbance or arousal. It also shows that the open-loop gain (OLG) of the metabolic temperature-regulating system is as high as that in larger mammals, ruling out low gain as the source of the variability. Skin temperature (T-sk) of shaved rats was controlled by immersion to the neck in a water bath. Metabolic rate (M), measured during step changes of T-sk and during more gradual changes of colonic (T-c) and hypothalamic (T-hy) temperature, was proportional to deviations of both T-c and T-sk below their respective thresholds. The absolute values of the coupling function (alpha) relating M to T-c were proportional to T-sk; the absolute values of the coupling function (beta) relating M to T-sk were proportional to T-c. Thus, the gain of the system changed systematically with body temperatures. The thresholds of T-sk and T-c below which M increased were inversely proportional to T-c and T-sk, respectively, as well as shifting in response to some unknown variable designated arousal.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Psychological dynamics and self-perceptions of vasectomy candidates.

Growing concern with population control has focused attention on various methods of contraception including vasectomy. Psychological research on this topic is scant, however. In this study, 9 vasectomy candidates who were undergoing the operation were compared to 9 husbands whose wives were about to have a tubal ligation. Their responses on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Adjective Check List were compared. Most of the data showed no significant differences except on one scale of Counseling Readiness. The results, and others, indicate that vasectomy candidates may have a tendency to deny the anxiety connected with the operation due to its irreversible nature.

Humans↗