Changes in actin cytoskeleton during volume regulation in C6 glial cells.

Changes in actin cytoskeleton in the C6 rat glial cell line were studied during decrease or increase (abrupt or gradual) of extracellular osmolality. Actin cytoskeleton was visualized by confocal microscopy after FITC-phalloidin labeling. G-actin, Triton-soluble F-actin and Triton-insoluble F-actin subfractions were determined by gel electrophoresis and scanning, and by DNase I inhibition assays.

3-Hydroxyxanthine: transplacental effects and ontogeny of related sulfate metabolism in rats and mice.

The ontogeny of sulfate metabolism related to the metabolic activation of the carcinogenic purine N-oxide 3-hydroxyxanthine (3-OH-X) was studied in noninbred Sprague-Dawley rats. Sulfotransferase activity toward 3-OH-X was detectable in most fetal livers near term at about 25% of adult values and increased slowly after birth. This activity was also present in placentas.

Antitumor tests of amygdalin in spontaneous animal tumor systems.

In a series of 6 experiments with CD8F1 mice with spontaneous mammary adenocarcinomas Sugiura noted by macrovisual observation with some histology an overall average of 21% of mice with lung metastases when treated with 1,000--2,000 mg/kg/day of amygdalin compared with 90% of the control mice. The significance attributed to those early observations is seriously challenged by the negative findings of 3 independent investigators, by 2 out of 3 negative cooperative experiments in which Sugiura participated, and particularly by the blind experiment in which he and others under blind readings found no anticancer activity. Treatment of Swiss albino mice showed no destructive effect upon their spontaneous mammary adenocarcinomas.