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R C Miller

Publications and source records attributed to R C Miller.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Retention of labelled DNA precursor by murine cells after a single administration of tritium labelled thymidine.

The central zone of the rat lens epithelium, extending half way from the centre to the periphery of a whole mount preparation, normally has less than 1% of the cells in the cell cycle at any given time. Mechanical wounding initiates a burst of proliferation in the central zone. DNA synthesis begins 14 hr after wounding followed by mitosis 10 hr later. When [3H]TdR was applied at 2 hr prior to S phase, some moderately heavy and some light labelling was observed after the onset of S phase. When [3H]TdR was applied 5 hr before S phase (9 hr after wounding), all the cells were lightly labelled. Only small amounts of the label were available to these cells 5 hr after application. It is significant that there was labelling in this group because it indicates the persistence of relatively small intracellular pools of [3H]TdR for several hours after the initial 'pulse' labelling of cells. Determinations of the duration of S phase were based on the assumption that pulse labelling may be affected by the persistence of the pools of [3H]TdR and consequent light labelling of the cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Role of efficacy in the assessment of the actions of alpha-adrenoceptor agonists in rat aorta with endothelium.

Concentration-effect curves to phenylephrine are shifted to the right in the presence of endothelium in rat aorta while responses to clonidine are practically abolished. Analysis of the concentration-effect curves showed that the effect of endothelium could possibly be explained by a reduction in relative intrinsic efficacy of the two agonists by between 3.5- and 6-fold. Published observations on the modulatory effects of agonist-induced contractions by endothelium in the rat aorta tend to support this explanation. It is further concluded that this reduction in efficacy could be related to the basal release of an endothelium-derived substance and that changes in tissue contractility in the presence of endothelium cannot necessarily be taken as evidence for a stimulated liberation of endothelium-derived products by agonists.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗
PubMed1986

Overproduction from a cellulase gene with a high guanosine-plus-cytosine content in Escherichia coli.

A recombinant exoglucanase was expressed in Escherichia coli to a level that exceeded 20% of total cellular protein. To obtain this level of overproduction, the exoglucanase gene coding sequence was fused to a synthetic ribosome-binding site, an initiating ATG, and placed under the control of the leftward promoter of bacteriophage lambda contained on the runaway replication plasmid vector pCP3 (E. Remaut, H. Tsao, and W. Fiers, Gene 22:103-113, 1983). With the exception of an inserted asparagine adjacent to the initiating ATG, the highly expressed exoglucanase is identical to the native exoglucanase. The overproduced exoglucanase can be isolated easily in an enriched form as insoluble aggregates, and exoglucanase activity can be recovered by solubilization of the aggregates in 6 M urea or 5 M guanidine hydrochloride. Since the codon usage of the exoglucanase gene is so markedly different from that of E. coli genes, the overproduction of the exoglucanase in E. coli indicates that codon usage may not be a major barrier to heterospecific gene expression in this organism.

Actinomycetales↗
PubMed1986

Comparison of radiosensitivities of human autologous normal and neoplastic thyroid epithelial cells.

Studies were conducted to examine differences between the radiosensitivities of normal and neoplastic epithelial cells of the human thyroid. Freshly excised thyroid tissues from the tumours of eight patients with papillary carcinoma (PC) and five with follicular adenoma (FA) were cultured in vitro separately from normal thyroid tissue obtained from the surgical margins of the same patients. Plating efficiency of unirradiated control tissue was lower, on average for tumour tissue compared with normal tissue. Radiosensitivity, measured by the 37% inactivation dose D0, was greater for carcinoma tissue than for normal tissue in seven out of eight PC cases. Adenomatous tissue was less radiosensitive than normal tissue in four out of five FA cases. This is the first report comparing the radiosensitivity of autologous normal and abnormal epithelial tissue from the human thyroid.

Cell Survival↗
PubMed1986

Role of sodium-calcium exchange and effects of calcium entry blockers on endothelial-mediated responses in rat isolated aorta.

Acetylcholine relaxes rat aorta and increases aortic cyclic GMP levels by a mechanism (or mechanisms) dependent on the endothelium and on extracellular calcium. Therefore, the effects of representatives of different subclasses of calcium entry blockers, verapamil, nifedipine, diltiazem, and bepridil, on maximal acetylcholine (1 microM)-induced increases in cyclic GMP levels were investigated in rat isolated aorta. None of these compounds, at a concentration (3 microM) sufficient to maximally inhibit agonist-stimulated Ca2+ influx into vascular smooth muscle cells, significantly affected either the basal or the acetylcholine-stimulated tissue cyclic GMP levels. On replacing all but 20 mM Na+ by choline, a condition that might be expected to limit or even abolish Na+-Ca2+ exchange, or in the presence of amiloride (1 mM), an inhibitor of Na+-Ca2+ exchange, acetylcholine-stimulated increases in tissue cyclic GMP levels were abolished or inhibited by about 80%, respectively. In choline containing solution acetylcholine relaxant responses were abolished. The presence of amiloride, or the replacement of Na+ by choline, had no effect on increases in cyclic GMP levels evoked by sodium nitroprusside (0.3 microM), an agent that stimulates cyclic GMP formation in smooth muscle without intervention of the endothelium. Replacement of Na+ by Li+ but not the other treatments depressed basal tissue cyclic GMP levels by about 45% but did not abolish either acetylcholine- or sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxant responses. However, the time course of relaxant responses elicited by both these relaxant agonists in precontracted rat aortic rings with endothelium was altered by Li+ replacement; the half-time to relaxation to acetylcholine was increased by about 70-fold. It is concluded that calcium channels, as characterized in smooth muscle and cardiac tissue, are not involved in the stimulated liberation of an endothelial-derived relaxant factor by acetylcholine, but that an Na+-Ca2+ exchange process may be of importance.

Amiloride↗
PubMed1985

Partial purification of stable transcription complexes with cloned tRNA genes of Drosophila melanogaster.

The specific transcription of a cloned Drosophila melanogaster tRNAVal4 gene and a tRNASer7 gene by extracts from a homologous embryonic cell line showed lag periods of about 30 min before maximum rates were reached. This lag appeared to represent the time to form an active transcription complex. Thus, when extracts were incubated with template DNA for 30 min at 22 degrees C and stored in the cold, the subsequent transcription rate was linear with time and without a lag. After ultracentrifugation of a preincubated reaction mixture on a sucrose step gradient consisting of 20, 30, 40, and 60% shelves, about 40% of the transcription activity in the extract was found in the 40% shelf. This fraction formed almost exclusively RNA I, the unprocessed tRNA gene transcript, and transcription required only addition of ribonucleoside triphosphates. The rate of formation of RNA by the 40% sucrose fraction was linear against time, with no lag, and linear with the quantity of fraction. The yield of activity isolated on the gradient was directly proportional to the quantity of cloned gene in the preincubation mixture. At a limiting concentration of the gene in the preincubation mixture, the turnover number of the isolated complex was approximately 50 transcripts/gene/h. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of fractions containing the complex still showed many bands, although the complex activity was greatly purified compared to the extract. From the sedimentation behavior of the isolated active transcription complex and from its stability and transcriptional properties, we conclude that the 40% sucrose fraction contains an active transcription complex containing a cloned tRNA gene, RNA polymerase III, and the accessory protein factors required for transcription.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Drosophila melanogaster tRNAVal3b genes and their allogenes.

Drosophila tRNAVal3b genes have been analyzed with respect to their nucleotide sequence and in vitro transcription efficiency. Plasmid pDt78R contains a single tRNA gene derived from the major tRNAVal3b gene cluster at chromosome band 84D. Its sequence corresponds to that of the tRNAVal3b. Two other plasmids, pDt41R and pDt48, each contain a tRNAVal3b-like gene from the minor tRNAVal3b gene cluster at chromosome bands 90BC. They contain the expected CAC anticodon, but their sequence differs from the tRNA at four positions. In homologous cell-free extracts, the tRNAVal3b variant genes in pDt41R and pDt48 are transcribed an order of magnitude more efficiently than the tRNAVal3b gene in pDt78R. However, the variant genes do not appear to contribute significantly to the in vivo tRNA pool [Larsen et al.: Mol. Gen. Genet. 185 (1982) 390-396]. We propose the term allogenes to describe families of related DNA sequences that may code for variant forms of a standard tRNA isoaccepting species.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1985

Survival of human normal thyroid cells after X-ray irradiation.

Normal thyroid cells from 25 individuals treated surgically for malignant or benign thyroid tumour were cultured in vitro and radiation induced cytotoxicity was studied. The mean lethal dose (Do), quasi-threshold (Dq), and extrapolation number (n) of survival curves of actively dividing thyroid cells assayed by colony formation were estimated to be 92.9 +/- 2.8 cGy (rad), 58.1 +/- 6.9 cGy and 2.0 +/- 0.1, respectively (average for 25 individuals +/- standard error). These results suggest that proliferating human thyroid cells are more sensitive to X-rays than most other nonhaematologic mammalian cells in similar assays. Cell survival was not significantly affected by sex, age, disease or exposure to atomic bomb radiation of the cell donor. However, the number of samples currently available is too small for definite conclusions in this regard.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Insensitivity of calcium-dependent endothelial stimulation in rat isolated aorta to the calcium entry blocker, flunarizine.

In rat aortic segments complete with endothelium, acetylcholine (1 microM) relaxed noradrenaline, phenylephrine and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha)-induced contractions of various magnitudes. Maximal 1 microM phenylephrine-induced contractions were relaxed to a greater extent than were maximal contractions induced by the other two agonists. Contractions elicited by various concentrations of phenylephrine and PGF2 alpha in the presence of a maximal effective concentration of the calcium entry blocker flunarizine (3 microM) were relaxed by acetylcholine to about the same residual tension as were contractions elicited in the absence of flunarizine. Acetylcholine (1 microM) and phenylephrine (1 microM) increased tissue levels of guanosine cyclic 3'5'-monophosphate (cyclic GMP) by about 37 fold and 2 fold respectively. Preincubation of tissues in the absence of calcium abolished these agonist-induced increases in cyclic GMP levels, but preincubation with flunarizine had no significant effect on the increase in cyclic GMP level induced by the agonists. Pretreatment with flunarizine had no significant effect on the basal tissue level of cyclic GMP, but pretreatment in calcium-free solution reduced the basal tissue level of the cyclic nucleotide by about half. It is concluded that in rat aorta, endothelium-dependent acetylcholine-induced relaxation and endothelium-dependent acetylcholine and phenylephrine-induced increases in tissue levels of cyclic GMP, are dependent on extracellular calcium, but are not antagonized by flunarizine. This may indicate that if calcium channels of endothelial cells are activated by these agonists, their characteristics are not identical with those of the calcium channels of the smooth muscle cells.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1985

Modulation by endothelium of contractile responses in rat aorta in absence and presence of flunarizine.

The possible modulation by endothelium of phenylephrine- and prostaglandin F2 alpha-induced mobilization of calcium for contraction in the rat aorta has been investigated. Contractions elicited by these and other agonists are inhibited in the presence of endothelium. For any single concentration of phenylephrine in the presence of endothelium, the initial phasic components of contractions were significantly greater, the maximal contractions were achieved sooner and were less well maintained as compared to contractions elicited in the absence of endothelium. The kinetic characteristics of contractions stimulated by single concentrations of PGF2 alpha were similar in the presence and absence of endothelium and did not exhibit initial phasic components of contraction. Sub-maximal contractions-elicited by both PGF2 alpha and phenylephrine in the absence of endothelium were inhibited to a greater extent by flunarizine 3 microM than equieffective contractions elicited in the presence of endothelium. Maximal contractions elicited by phenylephrine (1 microM) were inhibited to a similar extent by flunarizine in the presence and absence of endothelium, but maximal contractions elicited by PGF2 alpha (30 microM) were inhibited by flunarizine to a greater extent in the presence than in the absence of endothelium. It is concluded that an endothelium-derived factor, perhaps distinct from endothelium-derived relaxing factor, can modulate the ability of both phenylephrine and PGF2 alpha to mobilize calcium for contraction. This modulatory effect is associated with an enhanced mobilization of intracellular calcium. Thus, submaximal concentrations of both agonists were less dependent on extracellular calcium than on intracellular calcium to elicit contractions in the presence of endothelium, as compared to contractions elicited in the absence of endothelium.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Spontaneous temperature-sensitive mutations in bacteriophage T7.

Attempts to recover temperature-sensitive mutations affecting genes 13 and 14 (virion proteins) in bacteriophage T7 by analysis of amber revertants were confounded by the frequent occurrence of spontaneous temperature-sensitive mutations in other genes. These incidental temperature-sensitive mutations are physically distinct from but may be functionally related to genes 13 and 14, as shown by complementation and recombination studies. The possibility that these incidental temperature-sensitive mutations represent secondary-site suppressors of the pseudonormal suppressed amber products is discussed.

Genes↗
PubMed1984

Mode of action and substrate specificities of cellulases from cloned bacterial genes.

Three recombinant plasmids, pEC1, pEC2, and pEC3, each containing a unique Cellulomonas fimi chromosomal DNA insert, expressed Cm-cellulase activities in Escherichia coli C600 (Whittle, D. J., Kilburn, D. H., Warren, R. A. J., and Miller, R. C., Jr. (1982) Gene (Amst.) 17, 139-145; Gilkes, N. R., Kilburn, D. G., Langsford, M. L., Miller, R. C., Jr., Wakarchuk, W. W., Warren, R. A. J., Whittle, D. J., and Wong, W. K. R. (1984) J. Gen. Microbiol. 130, 1377-1384). Viscometric and chemical analyses showed that the enzymes encoded by pEC2 and pEC3 behaved as endoglucanases, whereas that encoded by pEC1 behaved as an exoglucanase. The activities of the exoglucanase and the pEC2-encoded endodglucanase were additive on Cm-cellulose as substrate. The pEC1-encoded enzyme also hydrolyzed xylan and p-nitrophenyl cellobioside. Two substrate-bound Cm-cellulases were isolated from the residual cellulose in a C. fimi culture by guanidine hydrochloride elution, affinity chromatography, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Both were glycoproteins of apparent Mr = 58,000 and 56,000, respectively. The 56-kDa enzyme appeared to be identical with the pEC1-encoded product, suggesting that they arise from the same gene.

Actinomycetales↗