Evidence of abnormal differentiation of Paracentrotus lividus fertilized eggs contamined by zincethylenebisdithiocarbamate.

Embryos of the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus were incubated for different periods of time in various concentrations of Zinc-ethylenebisdithiocarbamate (ZINEB) in artificial (or natural) sea water. Dramatic developmental modifications have been observed after 48 hour treatment with 0.4 ug/ml ZINEB solution.

Possible involvement of nuclei in cadmium-induced modifications of cultured cells.

Reduced metaphase number and shortening of metaphase chromosomes were detected in McCoy cells exposed to 100 microM CdSO4 (maximal exposure time: 7 h). One hour exposure to 109Cd was enough to label the cell nucleus. This possibly suggests an early nuclear involvement in Cd-induced cell damage.

Cybrids and heterokaryons PEG-induced between D. discoideum amoebae and mouse fibroblasts.

Optimal conditions for fusion of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae with mouse fibroblasts using polyethylene glycol (PEG) are described. Three different kinds of experiments were done to look for the ways to obtain new cell lines heterokaryons or cybrids. In all cases, the final products of the fusion were cells showing new features, still viable for at least one week.

Usefulness and potential pitfalls of sialic acid determination in sera of patients with ovarian tumors.

Increasing evidence in the literature indicates that serum sialic acid is increased in cancer patients suggesting a possible usefulness of its determination as a tumor marker. However there are many discrepancies in the data reported, probably due to methodological errors, mainly in lipid bound sialic measurement. In this paper we illustrate the results obtained when we applied a method worked out in our laboratory for the determination of total and fractionated sialic acid (lipid and protein bound) to the analysis of sera from patients with ovarian tumors and the preliminary data on the follow up of selected cases.