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Biomedical subjects

C W Jones

Publications and source records attributed to C W Jones.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Streptozotocin diabetes in the monkey: plasma levels of glucose, insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, with corresponding morphometric analysis of islet endocrine cells.

Streptozotocin (STZ) was administered to 20 female rhesus monkeys at a dose of between 30 and 55 mg/kg. Depending on the severity of the resultant diabetic-like state, these animals were divided into two groups: insulin-dependent monkeys requiring daily insulin injections and carbohydrate-disturbed animals not requiring insulin. STZ-treated monkeys exhibited significantly higher fasting glucose levels or increased glucose disappearance times after an intravenous glucose tolerance test than did controls. In the insulin-dependent monkeys, fasting plasma glucagon levels were elevated when compared with the carbohydrate-disturubed or control monkeys. Glucagon levels did not differ between carbohydrate-disturbed and control animals. Fasting somatostatin levels were also significantly elevated in insulin-dependent animals when compared with controls. Morphometric analysis was performed on the alpha, beta, and delta cell populations of the pancreatic islets in three control and three diabetic animals. Significant decreases in beta cell percent volume and numerical percent and increases in both alpha and delta cell percent volume and numerical percent were observed in relation to control values after STZ diabetes lasting from 17 to 31 mo. Thus, the diabetic-like state induced by STZ in the monkey resembles juvenile-onset human diabetes mellitus with respect to plasma hormone levels and to morphometric changes in the islets of Langerhans.

Animals↗

Kinetic vitreous fluorophotometry in experimental diabetes.

Kinetic vitreous fluorophotometry was used to measure dynamic alterations in blood-retinal barrier function. Normal hooded rats were compared with diabetic animals before and after insulin treatment. Rats with streptozocin-induced diabetes demonstrated significantly longer (P less than .001) half-periods of fluorescein loss from the vitreous when compared with controls, and insulin treatment significantly reduced (P less than .001) the mean half-period toward control values without normalization of serum glucose. These results suggest that kinetic vitreous fluorophotometry is a good indicator of blood-retinal barrier function and that sufficient amounts of insulin may be more important than normal blood glucose levels in recovery of altered barrier function in diabetes.

Animals↗

A study of the reaction of human tissue to proplast.

The femoral stems of Thompson prostheses coated with a polytetrafluoroethylene/carbon fiber composite (proplast) were studied using conventional histological examination, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis in "successful" firm implants and in a "loose" clinically unsuccessful implant. Ingrowth was found throughout the coatings of the successful prostheses. In the most firmly fixed prosthesis the ingrowth consisted of fibrous tissue with abundant giant cells; however, no bone ingrowth was detected. There was less composite pore infilling in the unsuccessful implant. From both clinical, radiological and the studies described above, it is concluded that fibrous tissue ingrowth was a secondary stabilizing phenomenon in the proplast-coated prostheses studied.

Aged↗

Intubation and other experiences in cardiac surgery: the consumer's views.

Recently publications have advocated earlier weaning and early extubation of the trachea in patients after cardiac surgery. Greater comfort of the patients is one of the advantages claimed for this policy. One hundred consecutive adult patients were questioned on the fifth postoperative day to assess the relative comfort or discomfort of the patients during tracheal intubation and ventilation. Overnight tracheal intubation and ventilation were easily tolerated by over 90 per cent of patients who had received morphine and diazepam. There was a high incidence of amnesia. Some of the other claimed advantages appear inconclusive and further study is desirable to elucidate the effect of early removal of the tracheal tube upon the indicence of pulmonary complications.

Adult↗

Use of a cDNA library for studies on evolution and developmental expression of the chorion multigene families.

A cDNA library has been constructed from an RNA preparation highly enriched in silkmoth chorion mRNAs. Many distinct clones have been identified from this library using a stepwise procedure: scoring for infrequent hexanucleotide restriction enzyme recognition sequences; detailed characterization with restriction enzymes that recognize relatively frequent tetranucleotide sequences; probing the arrangement of the corresponding sequences in chromosomal DNA by the Southern procedure; and detailed cross-hybridization analysis. Unique clones, as well as two classes of distinct but related clones, were revealed by hybridization. The cross-hybridization analysis was greatly facilitated by a newly developed, semiquantitative dot hybridization procedure. The same procedure made it feasible to conveniently estimate the relative abundance of several different sequences in an mRNA mixture. Cloned sequences which scored as relatively abundant in total chorion mRNA were tested with stage-specific chorion mRNA at a very stringent criterion of hybridization. They were thus characterized as early, middle or late sequences with respect to development. The characterized cDNA clones can now be used as probes for studying the evolution, chromosomal organization and regulated developmental expression of the chorion multigene families.

Animals↗

Evolution of two major chorion multigene families as inferred from cloned cDNA and protein sequences.

Complete or partial sequences are reported from six chorion cDNA clones of the silkmoth Antheraea polyphemus. The proteins encoded belong to the two major chorion protein classes, A and B, each of which is encoded by a multigene family. The sequence comparisons define some major features of the families and suggest how these genes may be evolving. Deletions and insertions might be involved in expanding or contracting internally repetitive regions. Sequence divergence is localized, thus defining sequence domains of distinct evolutionary properties and presumably distinct functions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Interaction of pyridoxal 5-phosphate with apo-serine hydroxymethyltransferase.

The interaction of pyridoxal 5-phosphate with beef liver serine hydroxymethyltransferase (5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate:glycine hydroxymethyltransferase, EC 2.1.2.1) has been investigated using sedimentation velocity, kinetic and equilibrium techniques. No evidence for an aggregating system could be found in sedimentation velocity experiments in the presence or absence of pyridoxal 5-phosphate. Reassociation of pyridoxal 5-phosphate with apoenzyme and reacquisition of enzymic activity follow identical kinetics. An initial fast step is followed by a second order process with a rate constant of 66 M-1. s-1. A dissociation constant of 27.5 micrometer was obtained from equilibrium studies. No interaction of binding sites was exposed by altering pH or in the presence of glycine or folate. Maxima observed in pH profiles with both binding and reactivation are interpreted as the composite fo two overlapping processes, one of which is ionization of the pyridinium nitrogen of pyridoxal 5-phosphate and the other a functional group on the apoenzyme. Evidence is presented to indicate the necessity for the formation of an enzyme . pyridoxal 5-phosphate Schiff's base complex during catalytic turnover.

Apoenzymes↗

The properties of adenosine triphosphatase from exponential and synchronous cultures of Alcaligenes eutrophus H16.

The properties of Alcaligenes eutrophus ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) were investigated by using subcellular fractions prepared from cells growing in exponential and synchronous cultures. Both the soluble and membrane-bound forms of the ATPase were inhibited non-competitively (K(i) 142mum) by Nbf-Cl (4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan), whereas only the membrane-bound enzyme was inhibited (non-competitive; K(i) 750mum) by NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide. Neither the activity of the ATPase nor its sensitivity to these two inhibitors varied during exponential growth. However, marked variations in ATPase activity were observed during synchronous growth, which were characterized by maxima at approx. 0.4 and 0.9 of a cell cycle and minima at approx. 0.1 and 0.6 of a cycle. Sensitivity to Nbf-Cl and NN'-dicyclohexylcarbodi-imide also varied during the cell cycle; maximum inhibition by the former occurred at approx. 0.4 and 0.9 of a cell cycle, whereas maximum inhibition by the latter was located at approx. 0.1 and 0.6 of a cell cycle. Proton conductance by whole cells was also periodic during the cell cycle, the lowest rates occurring at approx. 0.15 and 0.55 of a cycle and the highest rates at approx. 0.4 and 0.9 of a cycle, but -->H(+)/O quotients for the oxidation of endogenous substrates remained relatively constant and indicated the presence of four proton-translocating respiratory segments throughout the cell cycle. These results are discussed in terms of ATPase and respiratory-chain structure and function during the cell cycle of Alcaligenes eutrophus.

4-Chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan↗

Serine transhydroxymethylase. Equilibrium binding of folate analogs as active site probes.

Formation of a quinoid-like structure within the glycyl-pyridoxal phosphate moiety of serine transhydroxymethylase (5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate: glycine hydroxymethyltransferase, EC 2.1.2.1) is dependent upon the dissociation of the 2-S hydrogen of glycine which in turn requires the presence of tetrahydrofolate or analogs thereof. Equilibrium binding studies with the series folate, dihydrofolate, and tetrahydrofolate showed that reduction of the pteridine ring enhances both quinoid formation and binding. A 5,8-deazafolate series showed that modifications in the 4 position, 10 position and the glutamyl position yield interrelated alterations of quinoid formation which could not be correlated with binding.

Binding Sites↗