Characterization and authentication of insect cell lines using RAPD markers.

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to characterize 11 insect cell lines, including six from lepidoptera (five species), one from diptera and four from coleoptera (one species: Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Whatever the order and even when comparing two closely related species from the same genus (Spodoptera), the DNA fingerprints are very different from one species or from one primer to the other. On the other hand, two independently isolated cell lines from the lepidopteran Phthorimaea operculella produce nearly identical profiles with only minor differences.

Up-regulation of glutamate receptors is associated with LTP defects in the early stages of diabetes mellitus.

Aims/hypothesis: Recent studies involving electrophysiology and immunolabelling indicate that short-term insulin treatment of hippocampal neurons in culture induces changes in glutamate receptor function, suggesting that this receptor system can be altered on a relatively rapid time scale during diabetic conditions. To investigate this hypothesis, we examined whether brain glutamate receptors and long-term potentiation are altered in the early stages of diabetes mellitus in non-obese diabetic mice, a genetic model of Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus.

Methods: In vitro receptor autoradiography and immunoblotting were used to study the impact of diabetes on brain glutamate receptors.

Characterization of cell lines developed from the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

In order to isolate new pathogens (viruses, microsporidia, etc.) or to evaluate the efficiency of some pathogens (serovarieties and mutants of Bacillus thuringiensis, fungi, etc.) in the control of Colorado potato beetle, an economically important pest, we established four cell lines from tissues of this insect.

Differential effects of lignocaine and hypercalcaemia on anisotropic conduction and reentry in the ischaemically damaged canine ventricle.

Objective: Anisotropic conduction characteristics, which may be expressed as the ratio of conduction velocities in the longitudinal (Vlong) and transverse (Vtrans) fibre directions, have been shown to stabilise reentry and favour the induction of sustained, uniform ventricular tachycardia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether interventions affecting either excitability (lignocaine) or both excitability and cell coupling (hypercalcaemia) might produce differential effects on the Vlong/Vtrans ratio, and whether an intervention reducing this ratio might prevent the induction of sustained reentrant ventricular tachycardia.

Methods: The effects of hypercalcaemia [8.