[Effect of peptides, isolated from the tracheal mucosa, on alveolar macrophages and the nature of the course of fibrosing alveolitis in the rat].

Rats with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis were treated with a complex of low-molecular weight peptides isolated from the tracheal mucosa (PTM). Cytological examinations of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the animals receiving PTM revealed increases in the number of alveolar macrophages (AM) as compared to that in saline-treated rats. The AM obtained from PTM-treated animals also showed an enhanced phagocytic activity, as well as increased superoxide anion production when stimulated with the opsonized zymosan.

[Synthesis and cloning of genes for the antisense peptides for human calcitonin and miniproinsulin].

Because of the potential significance of the 'molecular recognition' theory for studies in molecular biology and biotechnology, the theory is worth being examined using methods of chemical-enzymatic gene synthesis, recombinant DNA construction and microbiological peptide synthesis. We therefore undertook the synthesis of human Va18-calcitonin, miniproinsulin, and the corresponding antisense peptides as model compounds. In designing an experimental system the idea was to combine sense and antisense polypeptides into a single chain and to examine their intramolecular interaction.