Vitamin D metabolism during pregnancy and lactation in the rat.

The plasma concentration of the major vitamin D metabolites; 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D were measured during pregnancy and lactation in the adult female rat. The concentrations of these metabolites were also measured in rat pups during lactation and after weaning. The plasma concentration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the adult female increases from a control value of 26 pg/ml to 86 pg/ml during the latter stages of pregnancy, reaches a peak of 158 pg/ml during lactation, and then returns to control levels by 3 weeks postweaning.

In vitro production of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 by rat placental tissue.

Weanling female rats were fed a vitamin D-deficient diet for 4 months until they reached maturity. They were mated with normal, vitamin D-replete male rats and, at 20 days of pregnancy, the female rats were killed and their placentae were removed, homogenzied, and incubated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. The incubation mixtures were extracted and the extracts were subjected to Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography followed by high-pressure liquid chromatography.

Vitamin D deficiency and reproduction in rats.

Female weanling rats from a colony maintained on a diet low in vitamin D were raised on a diet that was deficient in vitamin D but was otherwise adequate. Vitamin D deficiency was confirmed in the rats by hypocalcemia and the absence of vitamin D metabolites in blood. These females gave birth to litters that were slightly smaller than control litters from females maintained on a vitamin D-containing diet.

Quantitative electron probe microanalysis of biological thin sections: the use of stem for measurement of local mass thickness.

A method for performing quantitative electron probe microanalysis on ultrathin (less than 30 microgram/cm2) biological samples is described and evaluated. The technique is based on a measurement of the characteristic peak count rate and the degree of beam attenuation as the primary electron beam passes through the sample. Using this method it is possible to measure the concentration of a given element such as sodium in sections ranging in mass-thickness from several microgram/cm2 up to 30 microgram/cm2 with an accuracy of better than 10%.

Ethylene is involved in the autochemotropism of Phycomyces.

The sporangiophore of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus has the property of growing away from a barrier which is few mm from the growing zone of the sporangiophore (avoidance or autochemotropic response). A model has been published (Cohen, R.J.