Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J L James

Publications and source records attributed to J L James.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The phospholipids of the hepatic endoplasmic reticulum. Structural change in liver injury.

Endoplasmic-reticulum phospholipids were measured during the first hour after carbon tetrachloride administration to male Sprague-Dawley rats and compared with carbon tetrachloride challenge of microsomes from control animals in vitro. The extracted lipids were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography. No significant differences in the abundance of phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol or phosphatidylcholine were found after either treatment when compared with untreated controls. Diene conjugate formation in each separated phospholipid was determined by measuring A(232) and expressed on the basis of lipid phosphorus. Phosphatidylserine was peroxidized 6-fold greater than in controls after challenge in vivo, reaching maximal change after 15min, whereas the other phospholipids showed little or no alteration. Fatty acid composition analysis was performed by g.l.c. after transesterification of individual phospholipids. Phosphatidylserine revealed two types of response: an abrupt decrease in relative abundance of oleic acid (C(18:1)) and linoleic acid (C(18:2)) without further loss and a slower, linear decrease in arachidonic acid (C(20:4)) over the first hour. Similar changes were not seen in other phospholipids. In the ;in vitro' model, the relative amounts of the phospholipids do not change. The extent of peroxidation was greater in all the phospholipids than found in vivo, with phosphatidylserine peroxidized to the greatest extent. These data suggest that carbon tetrachloride injury in vivo produces an early peroxidative event and that a specific phospholipid (phosphatidylserine) is selectively modified, although maintaining its relative concentration in the membrane. Dissection of this process in vitro will require refinement of existing systems to reduce the non-specific changes associated with the model system.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗

Differentiation of endoplasmic reticulum in the developing oocyte of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).

The differentiation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in the developing oocyte of the golden hamster is accompanied by changes in susceptibility to impregnation with a zinc iodide-osmium tetroxide (ZnOs) mixture. The staining of two of the three categories of oocyte ER is first seen at or about the time when rapid oocyte growth is initiated. Staining reaches a peak before antrum formation, then declines. A third category of ER remains unstained at all stages. Aberrant reactivity to ZnOs is seen on oocytes which become atretic, and differs with the stage of oocyte development at which atresia occurs. Relationships between the three categories are described, and an attempt made to relate changes in form and distribution to developmental processes. The frequent contact/continuity between ER and mitochondria is discussed with regard to its possible role in lipid metabolism.

Age Factors↗

Intake of phosphatase-active plasma membrane into the cytoplasm of oocytes from sexually immature hamsters.

When thiamine pyrophosphate is used as substrate, heavily stained complexly branching cytoplasmic structures are seen in developing oocytes of the hamster between 8 and 12 days after birth. This coincides with the onset of the dictyate stage of first meiotic prophase. The structures appear to arise from the oocyte plasma membrane in two ways: (1) by proliferation and infolding of the membrane, and (2) by membrane being pushed into the cytoplasm by invaginating follicle cell processes. This appears to be followed by proliferation of the invaginated plasma membrane within the oocyte cytoplasm. Incubations with ATP or beta-glycerophosphate, with and without the inhibitor L-p-bromotetramisole, indicate that the staining is not due to the action of either ATPase or alkaline phosphatases. The origin and possible developmental significance of the reactive structures are discussed.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

A comparison of normal limits arising in nerve conduction studies.

A detailed study has been carried out on the influence of various factors, including sex of the patient and side examined, on normal values in peripheral nerve conduction studied. Patients were selected from three clinics, thereby enabling comparisons not only to be made within clinics but also between clinics.

Female↗

Cytochemistry of the Golgi apparatus in developing ovarian germ cells of the Syrian hamster.

A cytochemical study of the Golgi apparatus in the developing oocyte of the golden hamster was carried out using the TPPase, AcPase and zinc iodide-osmium tetroxide (ZnOs) techniques. Tissue from both immature and sexually mature animals was investigated. Peak TPPase activity was found in pre-growth oocytes in ovaries from sexually mature adults. Some activity was also present in SER in the peripheral cytoplasm of growing oocytes. AcPase activity was found only after the onset of oocyte growth. It was present in Golgi cisternae and associated vesicles and in some profiles of peripheral SER. No structures corresponding to GERL were identified. Strong staining with ZnOs was seen, at all stages studied, in certain Golgi vesicles and short tubules but not in the cisternae unless the oocyte was atretic. Weaker ZnOs staining was characteristic of ER throughout the oocyte. With all techniques there was a falling off of reactivity as oocyte size increased. Within a single oocyte some Golgi bodies were negative while others were positive, with both TPPase and AcPase techniques. This suggests that two or more functional types of this organelle are present within the developing oocytes.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Analysis of the phospholipid of the nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum of liver cells by high pressure liquid chromatography.

A method is described for the separation and analysis of phospholipids from rat-liver nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum. The procedure employs a liquid environment, to which antioxidants can be added, and results in separation of NL, PE, PI, PS, and PC in 99% purity in 12 min; analytical columns and a radial compression system may be employed. The procedure results in phospholipids with a large proportion of highly unsaturated fatty acids; some differences in fatty acid distributions were found when nuclear envelope phospholipid fractions were compared with the corresponding fractions from endoplasmic reticulum.

Animals↗

The possible role of the frontal and sub-parietal gland systems of the pentastomid Reighardia sternae (Diesing, 1864) in the evasion of the host immune response.

The frontal and sub-parietal glands of the pentastomid Reighardia sternae elaborate lamellate secretion which is poured on to the cuticle. The entire surface of the cuticle, including the mouth, hook pits and reproductive apertures, is coated with secretion. Electron microscope studies indicate that the glands are continuously active, which implies a turnover of surface membranes. The postulated function of these membranes is to protect certain vital areas of the host--parasite interface, notably the pores of ion-transporting cells, from the host immune response. The available evidence suggests that pentastomids do evoke a strong immune response but since most are long-lived they must circumvent it. We believe the surface membrane system to be instrumental in this. Studies on another pentastomid, Porocephalus crotali in rats have shown that an immune response stimulated by a primary infection will kill subsequent infections and that the surface membranes are strongly immunogenic. Obvious parallels between this situation and that of schistosome infections in mammals are discussed. An alternative explantation of concomitant immunity is proposed.

Animals↗

Some observations on egg production and autoreinfection of Reighardia sternae (Diesing, 1864), a pentastomid parasite of the herring gull.

Egg production by Reighardia sternae, implanted at various stages of maturity into the interclavicular air sacs of captive gulls, is described. Females produce only 2900 eggs per lifetime over a short patent period of 1-3 days. The problem of a direct life-cycle in relation to this unusually low fecundity is discussed, and speculation is advanced concerning a possible parasitic behavioural trait which could facilitate direct transmission. The hazards of the latter are also offset by auto-reinfection.

Air Sacs↗

An experimental investigation of a direct life-cycle in Reighardia sternae (Diesing, 1864), a pentastomid parasite of the herring gull (Larus argentatus).

A direct life-cycle in Reighardia sternae, a cephalobaenid pentastomid of gulls was investigated: the work was prompted by a report of eggs and larvae recovered from the stomach and intestine of a naturally infected gull. Infective pentastomid eggs were obtained by surgically transplanting maturing female Reighardia, taken from freshly shot wild gulls, into captive recipients. Faecal material from birds thus artificially infected was collected daily and examined for eggs. Eggs were force fed to 33 hand-reared (from eggs or nestlings) juvenile gulls which were selected at random and sacrificed at intervals thereafter and examined for pentastomids. One hour after infection, primary larvae appear in the body cavity where they moult immediately. They grow steadily and by 27-35 days are sexually differentiated, and by 66 days have copulated. Fertilized females take a further 116 days to produce eggs by which time they are 7-6 cm long. The complex migrations undertaken by developing larvae in the gull, and the problems of the mechanism of direct transmission, are discussed.

Air Sacs↗