Purification and characterization of recombinant human interleukin-2 produced in Escherichia coli.

Recombinant human interleukin-2 (rIL-2) produced in Escherichia coli was purified to apparent homogeneity by cation exchange chromatography and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. The amino acid composition, amino terminal amino acid sequence, and carboxyl terminal amino acid were consistent with those deduced from the cDNA sequence. Besides the molecular species with the amino terminal Ala, the purified preparation contained another species having an additional Met residue at the amino terminus corresponding to the initiation codon AUG.

[A clinical study on the characteristics of galactorrhea-amenorrhea (especially of drug-induced galactorrhea-amenorrhea].

The clinical characteristics of women with galactorrhea and amenorrhea induced by drugs were studied. In addition, hyperprolactinemia was, experimentally, induced by sulpiride in women, and their endocrinological backgrounds were studied. The findings suggested that the mechanism of amenorrhea due to hyperprolactinemia was primarily the reduction of steroidogenesis in the ovary, and also the disturbance of positive feedback to the hypothalamus.

Mechanism of hepatic megamitochondria formation by ammonia derivatives. Correlation between structure of chemicals and their ability to induce the formation of megamitochondria.

Correlation between the chemical structure and the ability to induce hepatic megamitochondria formation was studied by feeding mice and rats diets containing a wide spectrum of ammonia derivatives. Ammonia derivatives with electron-releasing groups, such as hydrazine, phenylhydrazine, hydroxylamine and aniline were effective in inducing megamitochondria. Ammonia derivatives with electron-withdrawing groups, such as formamide, sulfamic acid, acetamide were ineffective in inducing megamitochondria.

High incidence of peliosis hepatis in autopsy cases of aplastic anemia with special reference to anabolic steroid therapy.

The livers were collected from 47 autopsy cases of aplastic anemia aiming to study the correlation between the use of androgenic anabolic steroid and the formation of peliosis hepatis. Association of peliosis hepatis was found in 7 cases out of 19 cases with anabolic steroid therapy, while peliotic cavities were found only in one case out of the remaining 28 cases without anabolic steroid therapy. Out of 7 cases specified above, peliotic cavities in 5 cases were phlebectatic; phlebectatic and parenchymal types of peliotic cavities coexisted in one case, and one case was parenchymatous.

Membrane fusion in mitochondria. II. An ultrastructural interpretation of cristae-enriched megamitochondria induced by cuprizone.

Ultrastructure of megamitochondria in mouse hepatocytes induced by cuprizone was analyzed in the light of the fusion of inner mitochondrial membranes. Hepatic parenchymal cells of mice fed with a 0.5% cuprizone-diet for 7-8 days were characterized by megamitochondria with numerous cristae including disoriented, shorter ones than those of the control and those in vesicular configuration.

Induction of megamitochondria in the rat liver by N-propyl alcohol and N-butyl alcohol.

Propyl alcohol and butyl alcohol had similar effects to ethyl alcohol on ultrastructure of liver mitochondria. Rats were given 32% ethyl alcohol, 32% n-propyl alcohol, and 6.9% n-butyl alcohol in drinking water for up to three months.

Induction of megamitochondria in the mouse and rat livers by hydrazine.

The correlation between structures of chemicals and their inducibility for megamitochondrial formation was investigated. Since the chemical structure universal to the inducers of megamitochondria previously reported (cuprizone and isonicotinic acid derivatives) is the carbazoyl group (-CONHNH2), semicarbazide (NH2NHCONH2) was tested first. Then, hydrazine (NH2NH2) was tested, replacing the carbazoyl group of semicarbazide by an amino group (-NH2).

Expression of human immunoglobulin E epsilon chain cDNA in E. coli.

Using the cDNA of human epsilon chain, three expression plasmids that code directly the constant portion of the epsilon chain (C epsilon 1-C epsilon 4, C epsilon 2-C epsilon 4 and C epsilon 3-C epsilon 4 domains) were constructed. These epsilon chain peptides were synthesized in E. coli under the control of the trp promoter-operator.

The complete nucleotide sequences of the cloned hepatitis B virus DNA; subtype adr and adw.

The complete nucleotide sequences of two different subtypes (adr and adw) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA cloned in E. coli were determined. The sequence of the viral genome of the adr clone was 3188 nucleotides long, and that of the adw clone was 3200 nucleotides long.

Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequencing of human immunoglobulin epsilon chain cDNA.

DNA complementary to mRNA of human immunoglobulin E heavy chain (epsilon chain) isolated and purified from U266 cells has been synthesized and inserted into the PstI site of pBR322 by G-C tailing. This recombinant plasmid was used to transform E. coli chi 1776 to screen 1445 tetracycline resistant colonies.

Peliosis hepatis. A specific lesion in the bovine liver.

So-called "Fumyaku-han" of the bovine liver was examined histologically. Localized hemorrhagic foci in the liver have turned out to be blood cavities lined with endothelium associated with hepatic cells. There was no sign of hepatic cell necrosis.

Hepatitis B core particles with endogenous DNA polymerase activity from chimpanzee liver.

Hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) particles, approximately 27-28 nm in diameter and rho = 1.30-1.35 g/cm3, were purified from the liver of a chimpanzee experimentally infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) while under cyclophosphamide treatment.

Immunohistological studies on alpha1-fetoprotein and alpha1-acid glycoprotein during azo dye hepatocarcinogenesis in rats.

The relationship between morphological changes in the liver during azo dye hepatocarcinogenesis in rats and cell proteins, especially alpha1-fetoprotein and alpha1-acid glycoprotein, was investigated by the immunofluorescence method. The isoelectric focusing fractionation was made to isolate alpha1-acid glycoprotein from normal rat plasma and to obtain a crude antigen containing alpha1-fetoprotein from rat amnionic fluid. The specific fluorescence of alpha1-fetoprotein was detected in the cytoplasm of the transitional cell and the cancer cell with rather a small ratio of cytoplasm/nucleus.

Alpha1-acid glycoprotein as a hepatocyte-specific mitosis-inhibiting protein in regenerating rat liver.

The humoral inhibitor, which may play a primary role in the regulatory mechanism of cell division in the regenerating rat liver, was investigated by isolating the active principle from the ethanol-precipitate (P-3 fraction) of normal rat plasma by isoelectric focusing, and determining the exact nature of the active principle by physicochemical analysis, and studying its localization in the liver by immunofluorescence method. The active principle was demonstrated to be alpha 1-acid glycoprotein by physicochemical analysis and by the immunohistological examination to be synthesized in the cytoplasm of the hepatocyte and excreted from it before its mitosis. These results show that the humoral inhibitor or the hepatocyte-specific mitosis-inhibiting protein is alpha 1-acid glycoprotein itself.