Refractory effect and alloimmunization after transfusion of thrombocytes]

The authors discuss possible ways for prevention of alloimmunization with HLA-antigen in acute leukemia patients after platelet transfusions. Prevention or delay of HLA-alloimmunization is possible when platelets of single random donor are used instead of pooled random donor platelets for transfusions. The effect of leucocyte removal from platelet concentrates and ultraviolet irradiation of platelet concentrates under conditions of blood bank on alloimmunization and refractoriness incidence has been considered.     

Mercury accumulation in mink fed fish collected from streams on the Oak Ridge Reservation

In ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) patients, mutations in a single gene, ATM, result in an autosomal recessive syndrome that embraces a variety of clinical features and manifests extreme radiosensitivity and a strong pre-disposition to malignancy. Heterozygotes for the ATM gene have no clinical expression of A-T but may be cancer prone with a moderate increase in in vitro radiosensitivity. We performed a blind chromosomal analysis on G2-phase lymphocytes from 7 unrelated A-T patients, 13 obligate A-T heterozygotes (parents of the patients), and 14 normal controls following X-irradiation with 1 Gy in order to evaluate this cytogenetic method as a tool for detection of ATM carriers. Both A-T homozygotes and heterozygotes showed significantly increased levels of radiation-induced chromatid damage relative to that of normal controls. These results show that the G2-phase chromosomal radiosensitivity assay can be used for the detection of A-T heterozygotes. In combination with molecular genetic analyses, this test may be of value in studies of familial and sporadic cancers aimed at determination of the potential involvement of ATM mutations in tumor risk or development.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of either the highly conserved Trp-22 or the moderately conserved Trp-95 to a large, hydrophobic residue reduces the thermodynamic stability of a spectrin repeating unit

As reported previously (MacDonald, R. I., Musacchio, A., Holmgren, R. A., and Saraste, M. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 91, 1299-1303), an unfolded peptide was obtained by site-directed mutagenesis of Trp-22 to Ala in the cloned, wild type 17th repeating unit (alpha17) of chicken brain alpha-spectrin. Trp occurs in position 22 of nearly all repeating units of spectrin. In the present study, Trp-22 was mutated to Phe or to Tyr to compare thermodynamic stabilities of urea-induced unfolding of alpha16 and mutants thereof. alpha16 was chosen for this study instead of alpha17, because alpha16 has two tryptophans, allowing urea-induced unfolding to be tracked by the fluorescence of the Trp remaining in each mutant peptide and by circular dichroism in the far UV. The free energies of unfolding of W22Y and W22F were 50% that of alpha16, showing that Trp-22 is crucial in stabilizing the triple helical bundle motif of the spectrin repeating unit. Mutation of the moderately conserved Trp-95 of alpha16 to Val, which occupies position 95 in alpha17, also yielded a peptide with 50% of the free energy of unfolding of alpha16. Thus, the thermodynamic stability of a given spectrin repeating unit may depend on both moderately and highly conserved tryptophans. Different structural roles of Trp-22 and Trp-95 in alpha16 are suggested by the slightly higher wavelength of maximum emission of Trp-22, the greater acrylamide quenching of Trp-95 than Trp-22, and the longer lifetime of Trp-95. For comparison with alpha16, urea-induced unfolding of spectrin dimer isolated from human red cells was monitored by far UV-CD and by tryptophan fluorescence. Thermodynamic parameters could not be rigorously derived for the stability of spectrin dimer because unfolding of spectrin dimer involved more than two states, unlike unfolding of cloned repeating units. However, the similar midpoints of CD-monitored denaturation curves of alpha16 and spectrin dimer, i. e. 2.7 and 3.2 M urea, respectively, indicate that investigation of cloned repeating units of spectrin can provide physiologically relevant information on these structures.     

Multiple states of beta-sheet peptide protegrin in lipid bilayers

Protegrin-1 (PG-1), a beta-sheet antimicrobial peptide, was studied in aligned lipid bilayers by oriented circular dichroism (OCD). All of its spectra measured in a variety of lipid compositions were linear superpositions of two primary basis spectra, indicating that PG-1 existed in two different states in membranes. We designated these as state S and state I. The state assumed by PG-1 was strongly influenced by lipid composition, peptide concentration, and hydration condition. We have previously reported that the helical peptides, alamethicin and magainin, also exhibit two distinct OCD basis spectra-one corresponding to surface adsorption with the helix parallel to the bilayer and the other with perpendicular transbilayer insertion. States S and I of PG-1 may correspond to the surface state and the insertion state of alamethicin, since they show a similar dependence on lipid composition, peptide concentration, and hydration condition. Nonoriented CD spectra obtained from vesicle, micelle, and solution preparations are not linear superpositions of the basis spectra of the states S and I. This indicates that a molecular orientation change alone is insufficient to describe the S left and right arrow I transition. Rather, a more complicated process is taking place, perhaps involving a change in the hydrogen bonding pattern of the backbone. Although the structural basis of the OCD spectra remains to be determined, the discovery of two distinct states can provide information about dynamic changes of PG-1 in membranelike environments, properties undoubtedly related to its antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects.     

Relationship between the catalytic sites of human bifunctional IMP synthase

A two-compartment system for approximating five successive steady-state levels of gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) concentration in pigs was developed. The method of calculating Gd-DTPA concentration was based on a simultaneous reference determination of 99mTc-DTPA. Experimental and theoretical results showed a steady state after 25 min. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxivities of Gd-DTPA were determined in vivo in pig kidneys during steady-state levels. T1 relaxivity (R1) and T2 relaxivity (R2) in the kidney cortex were found to be 1.1+/-0.03 and 2.0+/-0.2 (s(-1) mM(-1)), respectively. R1 and R2, in in vitro human plasma solutions at 25 degrees C were 5.3+/-0.02 and 5.8+/-0.06 s-1 mM-1 and at 37 degrees C 4.3+/-0.04 and 4.9+/-0.01 s(-1) mM(-1). Thus, the in vivo relaxivities were reduced 3.9 and 2.5 times for R1 and R2, respectively, compared to the in vitro relaxivities. This marked difference in relaxivities between tissue and plasma may be the result of the difference in steric relations. In plasma, the mobility and distribution of the Gd-DTPA complex are unrestricted, whereas they may be reduced in the tissues because of the close proximity to the cell wall, to the proteins and to other extracellular elements and compartments.