Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

T Allen

Publications and source records attributed to T Allen.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Analysis of ancient bone DNA: techniques and applications.

The analysis of DNA from ancient bone has numerous applications in archaeology and molecular evolution. Significant amounts of genetic information can be recovered from ancient bone: mitochondrial DNA sequences of 800 base pairs have been amplified from a 750-year-old human femur by using the polymerase chain reaction. DNA recovery varies considerably between bone samples and is not dependent on the age of the specimen. We present the results of a study on a small number of bones from a mediaeval and a 17th-century cemetery in Abingdon showing the relation between gross preservation, microscopic preservation and DNA recovery.

Bone and Bones↗
PubMed1991

The effect of aldose reductase inhibitors on glomerular prostaglandin production and urinary albumin excretion in experimental diabetes mellitus.

The effect of two structurally unrelated aldose reductase inhibitors, sorbinil and ponalrestat, on glomerular prostaglandin production and urinary albumin excretion was investigated in rats with diabetes induced by streptozotocin. It was found that both aldose reductase inhibitors, when administered from the time of induction of the diabetes, significantly decreased the raised urinary albumin excretion in the diabetic rats, although it remained elevated compared with non-diabetic rats. Glomerular prostaglandin E and 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha production was significantly increased in glomeruli obtained from the diabetic rats. Inhibition of aldose reductase caused a reduction in the raised glomerular prostaglandin production, although this remained above that observed in the non-diabetic rats. Subsequent experiments were performed to determine whether the effects of the aldose reductase inhibitors could be explained by effects on glomerular filtration rate. It was found that ponalrestat, at a dose which markedly reduced urinary albumin excretion, did not significantly affect glomerular filtration rate in non-diabetic rats, rats with untreated streptozotocin-induced diabetes and rats with diabetes partially treated with low dose insulin. Glomerular sorbitol concentrations were significantly elevated in untreated diabetic rats as early as two weeks after the induction of diabetes. It is concluded that the administration of aldose reductase inhibitors from the time of induction of diabetes significantly reduces glomerular prostaglandin production and urinary albumin excretion. The latter effect is not due to an effect on glomerular filtration rate. Increased polyol pathway activity may account in part for the increased glomerular prostaglandin production and urinary albumin excretion in early experimental diabetes.

6-Ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha↗
PubMed1989

Purification and characterization of the adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activities from Leishmania donovani.

The adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRTase) and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRTase) activities from promastigotes of Leishmania donovani have been purified to homogeneity using ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose exclusion, and either AMP-agarose (APRTase) or GTP-agarose (HGPRTase) affinity chromatography. The specific activities of the affinity-purified APRTase and HGPRTase fractions were 326-fold and 1341-fold greater than those in the 40-80% ammonium sulfate precipitate, respectively. The purified APRTase migrated as a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels with a size of 29 kDa, while HGPRTase was also determined to be homogeneous by SDS gel electrophoresis with a size of 24 kDa. In addition, a mutant cell line, APPB2, partially deficient in APRTase activity, still contained quantities of purifiable APRTase protein, while a clonal secondary derivative of the APPB2 cell line that is completely deficient in APRTase activity, APPB2-640A3, failed to express purifiable APRTase protein. The homogeneous enzymes possessed apparent Km values for their nucleobase substrates between 2.0 and 5.0 microM, and both enzymes were inhibited by their immediate or ultimate reaction endproducts, APRTase by AMP and PPi and HGPRTase by GMP, GTP, and PPi. The generation of homogeneous preparations of APRTase and HGPRTase protein will serve as a prerequisite for the generation of immunological and molecular biological probes to analyze the leishmanial phosphoribosyltransferases.

Adenine Phosphoribosyltransferase↗
PubMed1988

Muscle cross-bridge attachment: effects on calcium binding and calcium activation.

Data from intact and skinned muscle fibers support the hypothesis that cross-bridge interaction modifies TnC structure and calcium activation. Barnacle single muscle fibers microinjected with the calcium bioluminescent photoprotein, aequorin, show extra light (calcium) when shortened during the declining phase of the calcium transient. The extra calcium is increased by increases in muscle force, and its decline is delayed at higher forces. This extra calcium occurs probably because calcium binding to the activating sites is increased by cross-bridge interaction. In rabbit muscle, TnC structure is modified by cross-bridge interaction, since in skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibers TnC extraction is slower at shorter sarcomere lengths, where cross-bridge attachment is increased. Thus the rigor bridges formed in the extraction solution strengthen the attachment of TnC to the thin filament. Reintroduction of TnC, labeled with fluorescent probes near the Ca specific binding sites (Danzylaziridine-DANZ) and Ca-Mg sites (Rhodamine), into the partially TnC extracted fibers allows us to assess the structural changes (total fluorescence for the DANZ probes, linear dichroism for the RHOD probe) in response to calcium binding and cross-bridge attachment. At sarcomere lengths beyond overlap, calcium binding increases the DANZ-TnC fluorescence and disorders the RHOD-TnC label. At full overlap of filaments, rigor cross-bridges also increase the DANZ-TnC fluorescence and RHOD-TnC disorder. The addition of calcium in rigor increases the DANZ-TnC fluorescence little but causes additional RHOD-TnC disorder, although both fluorescence and disorder are increased further in the presence of calcium plus MgATP. In fibers containing DANZ-TnC, decreasing MgATP in the absence of calcium increases both the force and the fluorescence as rigor cross-bridges activate the muscle. In the presence of calcium, an increase in MgATP to 0.75 microM produces a small fluorescent enhancement, but an increase in MgATP to 10 microM and to 3 mM produces a substantial enhancement. The data imply that calcium activates the thin filament, but that the filament is activated further by rigor cross-bridges. Active cross-bridges activate the thin filament still further. Thus, cross-bridges modify TnC structure and calcium activation, with active cross-bridges being more effective than rigor cross-bridges.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1982

Insulin receptor characteristics of erythrocytes from human newborns.

Erythrocytes from human newborns were observed to have specific insulin receptors. The characteristics of these receptors were similar to those of the normal adult subjects. An observed slight increase in R(o) and a decrease in K̄(e) of insulin receptors in erythrocytes may be speculated to facilitate the transfer of insulin from the fetal erythrocytes to other rapidly growing fetal tissues at a rate faster than that present in the circulation of the adult subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Suspected esophageal foreign body -- choosing appropriate management.

Twenty-two cases of probable esophageal or pharyngeal foreign body seen at an emergency service were studied retrospectively, using 15 predetermined factors chosen to detect or anticipate the acute consequences of foreign body ingestion. Three findings were particularly predictive: 1) foreign body visualized directly or on plain x-ray films; 2) hypersalivation; 3) obstruction or foreign body image in the esophagus on barium swallow. No patient with none of these three abnormal findings, even in the presence of localized pain increased by swallowing, received further treatment, and no complications developed. All patients with any one of these three findings underwent direct foreign body removal (four cases) or esophagoscopy (11 cases). Five esophageal foreign bodies passed spontaneously into the stomach before esophagoscopy; four foreign bodies were removed, and two esophagi were abnormal (stricture, myasthenia gravis). In two cases no foreign body was found. Hypersalivation was the only finding always associated with an abnormal esophagoscopy. Particular attention must be paid to the interpretation of plain x-ray films, with regard to probable foreign body location at the cricopharyngeal constriction and to indirect signs such as fluid levels, soft tissue swelling, free air, if small foreign bodies are not to be missed.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Postsynaptic membranes in the electric tissue of Narcine: II. A freeze-fracture study of nicotinic receptor molecules.

The ventral, postsynaptic membranes of the electroplaques of Narcine were found to containe intramembranous particles similar in location, packing density (about 5700/micron 2), transmembrane position and end appearance to nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-channel molecules. In fixed tissue the particles were limited to the cytoplasmic lamina, while in unfixed tissue an equivalent number were found symmetrically in both laminae. Four populations of particle diameters were observed in each unfixed lamina, even though other morphological evidence indicates the presence of large number of molecules of uniform structure, and biochemical studies of isolated postsynaptic membranes indicate that at least 70% of the membrane protein is receptor-channel protein. Intramembranous particles in dorsal, non-innervated electroplaque membranes, presumably representing Na+, K+-associated ATPase and other channel proteins, were found to have similar characteristics to particles in ventral membranes. Receptor-channel molecules cannot, therefore, be distinguished from other intrinsic membrane proteins by freeze-replication alone.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Postsynaptic membranes in the electric tissue of Narcine: III. Isolation and characterization.

Postsnyaptic membranes in homogenates of the electric tissue of Narcine were identified by labelling nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the membranes with radioactive alpha-bungarotoxin. Various media and centrifugation conditions were examined in an attempt to obtain highly purified postsynaptic membranes. The main criterion for purification was approach towards the specific activity of the pure receptor protein, 9--10 nmol toxin-sites/mg protein. Isolation of tissue microsomes with Tris buffer, EDTA and the protease inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF), conditions which preserve the receptor molecules optimally, yielded about 50% of the tissue toxin-sites, 5% of the protein, 4% of the ATPase and less than 2% of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Further separation of vesiculated membranes in continuous density gradients of sucrose showed that the major contaminants of postsynaptic membrane vesicles were damaged mitochondria and tubular vesicles of dorsal electroplaque membranes rich in ATPase. Mitochondria were effectively removed from homogenates by 'differential' centrifugation, and ATPase-rich vesicles could be largely removed by causing their agglutination with calcium ions, or by controlled proteolysis in the absence of PMSF. Partially purified postsynaptic membranes were obtained having about 7 nmol toxin-sites/mg membrane protein. Further purification appears possible by affinity techniques.

Animals↗