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Biomedical subjects

R O Greep

Publications and source records attributed to R O Greep.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

The effects of cosmic particle radiation on pocket mice aboard Apollo XVII: appendix III. evaluation of viscera and other tissues.

Histopathological findings in the lungs, livers, bone marrows, small intestines, gonads, kidneys, and other tissues of the four pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris) that survived the Apollo XVII flight were evaluated in the light of their immediate environment and as targest of HZE cosmic ray particles. Results of this study failed to disclose changes that could be ascribed to the HZE particle radiation. Decreased numbers of erythropoietic cells in the bone marrow of the flight mice were probably related to the increased oxygen pressure. The small intestine showed no changes. Ovaries and tests appeared normal. Two of the three surviving male flight mice displayed early stages of spermatogenesis, just as ground-based controls did at the same season. Abnormalities were also not found in the thyroid, parathyroids, adrenals, or kidneys. The status of the juxtaglomerular apparatus could not be evaluated. The lungs exhibited nonspecific slight rections. A variety of incidental lesions were noted in the livers of both the flight mice and their controls. The heart muscle showed nothing that could be regarded as pathological. Sections of skeletal muscle examined were free from significant change.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMed1973

Influence of luteinizing hormone and adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate on the metabolism of free and esterified cholesterol in mouse Leydig-cell tumours.

1. Male C57B1/6J mice bearing Leydig-cell tumours known to synthesize steroids in response to luteinizing hormone (LH) were given intravenous injections of [1,2-(3)H]cholesterol (50-100muCi per animal). Single-cell suspensions were prepared from the tumours 5-9 days after the injection of [(3)H]cholesterol and were incubated at 37 degrees C in foetal calf serum supplemented with 50mm-Tris-HCl, pH7.4. At various times after the start of incubation cells were collected by filtration of portions of the suspension and their sterols analysed. Within 10min after LH (5mug/ml) or 3':5'-cyclic AMP (20mm) was added to the cell suspensions an increased conversion of ester cholesterol into free cholesterol could be demonstrated. 2. To observe this rapid effect of LH it was necessary to incubate the cells for 60min before addition of hormone. 3. The specific radioactivity of testosterone produced was approximately equal to that of the intracellular cholesterol regardless of the presence or absence of LH. 4. The amount of free cholesterol produced in response to LH was far greater than that needed for steroid synthesis. 5. Free cholesterol, but not esterified cholesterol, was released into the incubation medium linearly with time and this release was unaffected by LH. LH may stimulate steroidogenesis in part by increasing the concentration of free cholesterol within the cell.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1973

Metabolism of free and esterified cholesterol by Leydig-cell tumour mitochondria.

1. Experiments were designed to localize intracellularly the enzymes and sterol substrates required for steroidogenesis in Leydig-cell tumours. Subcellular fractions were prepared by differential centrifugation of tumour homogenates. Both free and esterified cholesterol were associated primarily with the fractions sedimenting at 1400g(av.) and the lipid layer floating on the surface of the isolation tubes; they were not found in the mitochondria, where the conversion of cholesterol into pregnenolone occurred. 2. Hydrolysis of esterified cholesterol was required before it could be oxidized to pregnenolone. 3. An enzyme capable of hydrolysing cholesterol esters was located external to the mitochondria. 4. Mitochondria were subfractionated by allowing them to swell in 0.02m-phosphate buffer (pH7.2) and separating the inner and outer membranes by sedimentation in sucrose gradients. The outer membrane, identified by its content of monoamine oxidase, contained most of the cholesterol associated with the mitochondria. The inner membrane, identified by its content of succinate dehydrogenase, contained the cholesterol side-chain-cleaving enzyme and very little cholesterol. 5. Accumulation of sterols by the mitochondria was studied by incubating this fraction with labelled free and esterified cholesterol suspended in lipid-free bovine serum albumin. Two phases of cholesterol accumulation were observed. The first phase, requiring 10-15min, was independent of the incubation temperature, and was inhibited by the presence of bovine serum albumin in the incubation medium. The second phase of accumulation was independent of the serum albumin content of the medium but was inhibited by low incubation temperature. 6. Esterified cholesterol was not accumulated by the mitochondria after the initial rapid binding phase. 7. The findings suggest that cholesterol was not rapidly accumulated by the mitochondrial fraction in vitro and that mechanisms may be required to facilitate cholesterol transport into mitochondria in intact tumour cells during the periods in which steroidogenesis is stimulated maximally.

Journal Article↗