Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Amphibia”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Control of melanoblast differentiation in amphibia by alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone, a serum melanization factor, and a melanization inhibiting factor.

A ventrally localized melanization inhibiting factor (MIF) has been suggested to play an important role in the establishment of the dorsal-ventral pigment pattern in Xenopus laevis [Fukuzawa and Ide:Dev. Biol., 129:25-36, 1988]. To examine the possibility that melanoblast expression might be controlled by local putative MIF and melanogenic factors, the effects of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), a serum melanization factor (SMF) from X. laevis or Rana pipiens, and MIF on the "outgrowth" and "melanization" of Xenopus neural crest cells were studied. Outgrowth represents the number of neural crest cells emigrating from cultured neural tubes, and melanization concerns the percentage of differentiated melanophores among the emigrated cells. MSH or SMF stimulate both outgrowth and melanization. The melanogenic effect of Xenopus serum in this system is more than twice that of Rana serum. The actions of MSH and Xenopus serum on melanization seem to be different: 1) Stronger melanization is induced by Xenopus serum than by MSH, and the onset of melanization occurs earlier with Xenopus serum; 2) MSH stimulates melanization only in the presence of added tyrosine; and 3) MSH causes young melanophores to assume a prominent state of melanophore dispersion during culture, while Xenopus serum (10%) had only a slight dispersing effect and not until day 3. A fraction of Xenopus serum presumably containing molecules of a smaller molecular weight (MW less than 30 kDa) than that of a pigment promoting factor reported in calf serum [Jerdan et al.: J. Cell Biol., 100:1493-1498, 1985] produces the same remarkable melanogenic effects as does intact serum. While this fraction stimulates outgrowth, another fraction presumably containing larger molecules (MW greater than 100 kDa) does not. MIF contained in Xenopus ventral skin conditioned medium (VCM) inhibits both outgrowth and melanization dose dependently. When VCM is used in combination with MSH, the stimulating effects of MSH on both outgrowth and melanization are completely inhibited. In contrast, the stimulatory effects of Xenopus serum are not completely inhibited when combined with VCM, although melanization is reduced to approximately 40% that of controls. MIF activity was also found to be present in ventral, but not in dorsal, skin conditioned media of R. pipiens when tested in the Xenopus neural crest system.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Antioxidant enzymatic systems in pigment tissue of amphibia.

Superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase activities in pigmented and unpigmented liver tissues of frog and albino rat, respectively, were studied. Our results show that pigmented tissue is lacking in manganese superoxide dismutase activity and that the main enzymatic activity utilized in the cytosol by pigmented cells to reduce the hydrogen peroxide to water is represented by catalase; on the contrary, for the same reaction, the cells of albino rat liver primarily utilize the glutathione peroxidase activity. Both a low glutathione peroxidase activity and a low glutathione reductase activity were found in pigmented tissue of frog liver when compared with unpigmented tissue of rat liver. In light of our results, we also report a hypothetical interrelationship between melanin and reduced glutathione: We believe that in pigmented cells the melanin could act as a reducing physiological agent replacing the glutathione in the reduction of hydrogen peroxide. This reducing action of melanin could cause a diminished need for GSH and therefore could provoke the low glutathione peroxidase and reductase activities in pigmented tissue.

Animals↗
PubMed1968

A preparation of perfused small intestine for the study of absorption in amphibia.

1. A preparation of amphibian small intestine perfused through its vascular system is described. Vascular perfusion with a bicarbonate Ringer solution containing a colloid is used to control the composition of the environment of the submucosal faces of the absorbing cells and to carry away for collection any material extruded from these cells. Oxygenation of the mucosal cells is derived primarily from fluid circulated through the intestinal lumen. The preparation exhibits physiological properties of transport for periods of up to 5 hr. After 5 hr perfusion the epithelial cells show no signs of gross cellular damage when examined either by light or by electron microscopy.2. The relationship between the hydrostatic pressure at the mesenteric artery and the rate of perfusion through the vascular bed is substantially linear. The pressure-flow relationships in the mesenteric bed, including an apparent ;critical closing pressure', are primarily determined by the hydrostatic pressure in the intestinal lumen. Alterations in the hydrostatic pressure in the intestinal lumen also change the relative proportions of the vascular infusate which appear in the portal venous effluent and in the fluid exuded from the serosal surface of the preparation (;sweat'). Hydrostatic distension pressures above about 10 cm H(2)O reduce the rate of collection of fluid from the portal vein and increase the rate of collection of ;sweat'.3. An increase in the rate of vascular perfusion increases the total rate of glucose appearance although the glucose concentrations in both the portal effluent and the ;sweat' are reduced.4. The glucose translocation rate is related in an alinear saturable fashion to the luminal concentration of glucose. By making a correction for metabolic loss of glucose during its passage through the intestinal cell, the relationship existing between the lumen concentration and the uptake of the sugar by the mucosal cells has been calculated. This relationship is found to fit Michaelis-Menten type kinetics. The K(m) of the intestinal translocation process for glucose in Rana pipiens was 0.45 +/- 0.13 (4) muM. The mean V(max) was 137.5 +/- 35.3 (4) muM/hr/g fat-free dry wt.5. When phlorrhizin (10(-5)M) is added to the vascular perfusate, no inhibition of glucose transport is seen for at least 60 min. When strophanthin is added to the vascular perfusate (5 x 10(-5)M), a markedly greater inhibition of glucose transport is observed than when it is introduced to the luminal circulation.6. Earlier studies of the vascular perfusion of isolated small intestine are tabulated. The experimental findings are discussed in relation to a model of the mode of action of the epithelial cell for glucose transport.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

The passive permeability of the skin of anuran amphibia: a comparison of frogs (Rana pipiens) and toads (Bufo marinus).

1. Efflux of Na across dorsal skin, in vitro (bathed on both sides with Ringer solution), of frogs and toads were similar, but it was greater in ventral skin from the latter. 2. The efflux of Na declined, in both species, when the external surface of ventral, but not dorsal, skin was exposed to hyposmotic solutions with a low Na concentration. This change in Na permeability was influenced by the low osmotic concentration as well as the low Na concentration. 3. Efflux of Cl was similar in both the dorsal and ventral skin preparations (Ringer on both sides) from frogs and toads. 4. Chloride efflux declined in all skin preparations exposed on the external surface to dilute Ringer solution. Solute replacement with sucrose or choline or Na2SO4 showed that the decreased Cl efflux was principally due to the low Cl concentration, though Na may also contribute. This observation suggests the presence of Cl-/Cl- exchange diffusion mechanism. 5. Cutaneous urea permeability was less in toads than frogs and the dorsal and ventral skin was similar with respect to this solute in each species. 6. The presence of external hyposmotic solutions reduced the efflux, but not the influx, of urea across frog, but not toad, skin and it appeared that solvent 'drag' may contribute to this change. 7. Diffusion permeability to water was greater in frogs than toads and in the latter the ventral skin was more permeable than the dorsal. 8. The passive permeability of amphibian skin shows considerable interspecific and regional differences to various molecules which do not necessarily parallel each other. The control of passive cutaneous permeability appears to involve a variety of specific mechanisms, the distribution of which may have evolved during their adaptation to different environments.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Proton spin-lattice relaxation time study in tissues of the adult newt Taricha granulosa (Amphibia: Urodele).

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) pulse techniques were used to obtain values for the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of whole blood, plasma, blood cells, in vitro liver samples, and live and necrotic tail samples for adult Taricha granulosa. The T1 for whole blood is (0.80 +/- 0.01) s, for plasma (0.76 +/- 0.02) s and for blood cells (0.83 +/- 0.01) s, and did not change over several hours of measurement. The necrotic liver gave a single T1 of (0.28 +/- 0.02) s within the first 20 min of excision with a gradual increase over the next 3.5 h. Live and dead tail samples gave two T1 values: a short T1 of about 0.15 s remaining essentially constant and a long T1 starting at 0.68 s and increasing to 0.9 s during the 5 h of the experiment.

Animals↗
PubMed1964

GENETIC DISPARITY AND CANCER INDUCTION BY NORMAL TISSUE IMPLANTS IN AMPHIBIA.

Fifty percent of the implants of normal adult Triturus cristatus kidney made into the forelimbs of immature but postmetamorphic Xenopus laevis hosts initiated the formation of lymphosarcoma at the site of implantation. Donor-host genetic disparity as it relates to the intensity of the reaction, when homografts, heterografts, and xenografts are compared, appears to be one of several factors which play a role in the post-embryonic induction of both lymphosarcomas in Xenopus laevis and accessory limb structures in Triturus viridescens.

Amphibians↗
PubMed1972

Mechanism of gonadotropin action in amphibia: involvement of mitochondria.

Luteinizing hormone (a pituitary gonadotropic hormone) stimulates Delta(5)-3beta- hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in the microsomal fraction of frog testes when incubated together with the mitochondria; incubation together with the nuclei instead of the mitochondria does not result in increased, Delta(5)-3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity. The increase is not, induced by adenosine triphosphate, it appears to be hormone-specific, and it is sensitive to puromycin and actinomycin D. These data suggest that the mitochondrial DNA may be involved in mediating the action of luteinizing hormone in amphibian steroidogenesis.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed2002

Molecular evolution of ribosomal intergenic spacers in Odontophrynus americanus 2n and 4n (Amphibia: Anura).

Ribosomal intergenic spacers (IGSs) of Odontophrynus americanus 2n and 4n were cloned, restriction mapped, and partially sequenced. Three distinct regions, namely alpha, beta, and delta, were identified in the IGSs. The alpha and beta regions flanked the 28S and 18S rRNA genes, respectively, conserving an identical restriction pattern at each ploidy level. The delta region, located between alpha and beta, was highly variable in size and restriction pattern, enclosing different BamHI subrepeats (B-SR), 87- to 530-bp-long. Sequence analysis showed that B-SRs were composed mainly of different arrangements of similar blocks of sequences. Another family of repetitive sequences was found in the delta region, clustered inside large BamHI fragments. These subrepeats are 189-bp-long and, although very similar in diploid and tetraploid IGSs, show a pattern of concerted evolution. A hypothetical functional role for the 189-bp repeats is discussed in view of their predicted secondary structure and presence of potential E2 binding sites inside diploid subrepeats. Although the same structural elements were present both in diploid and tetraploid IGSs, the higher level of repeatability of tetraploid IGSs suggests that common ancestor sequences have undergone several rounds of amplification after O. americanus polyploidy.

Animals↗