Detection of binding sites for biotinylated neoglycoproteins and heparin (endogenous lectins) during cerebellar ontogenesis in the rat.

Endogenous carbohydrate-binding sites were studied during rat cerebellar development on sections of fixed tissue using synthetic tools, biotinylated neoglycoproteins, in conjunction with subsequent avidinperoxidase staining. Neoglycoproteins were constructed by chemically coupling the histochemically pivotal carbohydrate moieties to an inert carrier protein. The sugar part of the neoglycoproteins included common constituents of the carbohydrate part of cellular glycoconjugates, namely mannose, galactose, fucose, N-acetyl-glucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetyl-neuraminic acid to probe for the presence of respective endogenous receptors.

Alcohol exposure before pregnancy: biochemical and behavioral effects on the offspring of rats.

The effect of maternal alcohol exposure before mating was investigated in the offspring over a period of 6 months concerning some specific aspects of energy metabolism in the brain and the liver. The following biochemical parameters were analyzed: superoxide dismutase (involved in elimination of free radicals produced during ethanol oxidation), enolase isoenzymes (markers of nerve cell maturation), and alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase (the main alcohol degradating enzymes). These enzymatic activities were measured at their subcellular level.

Effects of phorbol esters on cytoskeletal proteins in cultured bovine chromaffin cells: induction of neurofilament phosphorylation and reorganization of actin.

Bovine chromaffin cells normally express mostly nonphosphorylated neurofilaments (NFs) in primary culture, and thus provide a unique model for examining the kinase capable of phosphorylating these proteins in situ. The phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) which activates protein kinase C induced NF phosphorylation both in the perikaryon and in neuritic extensions of neurite-bearing cells as judged by immunofluorescence using monoclonal anti-NF antibodies which distinguish between phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated epitopes. NF phosphorylation was suppressed by pretreating the cells with sphingosine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, and was not observed in the presence of the phorbol ester.

Molecular species of choline and ethanolamine phospholipids in rat cerebellum during development.

The molecular species composition of rat cerebellar phospholipid subclasses has been studied by HPLC after phospholipase C treatment and dinitrophenyl derivatization. During rat cerebellum development (3-90 days postpartum), cholinephosphoglycerides and ethanolamine phosphoglycerides represented approximately 80% of all phospholipids, with their relative amount changing after 1 month. Among ethanolamine phosphoglycerides, the molar ratio of diacylglycerophosphoethanolamine (diacylGPE) to alkenylacylGPE decreased from approximately 1.

[Multiple sclerosis: review of main experimental data and pathogenic hypotheses].

The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered from three different viewpoints: genetic, viral and immunological. A genetic predisposition intervenes, as testified by the familial forms of MS and by the frequency of HLA A3B7 and DR2 groups in MS patients. The hypothesis of an inherited enzyme deficiency in oligodendrocytes is discussed.

Suppression of spontaneous generalized non-convulsive seizures in the rat by microinjection of GABA antagonists into the superior colliculus.

Intranigral injections of GABA agonists suppress spontaneous and chemically induced generalized non-convulsive seizures in the rat. In order to examine whether the GABAergic nigrotectal pathway could be involved in this suppression, bilateral injections of GABA antagonists were performed in the superior colliculus of rats with spontaneous generalized non-convulsive seizures. Bilateral microinjections into this structure of the GABA antagonists picrotoxin (20 and 40 ng/side) and bicuculline methiodide (5 ng/side) suppressed spike-and-wave discharges for 40 min and 20 min post injection, respectively.

Cholesterol distribution in rat liver and brain mitochondria as determined by stopped-flow kinetics with filipin.

Recently, analysis of protein distribution in rat brain mitochondria suggested the existence of distinct cholesterol domains in the outer membrane (Dorbani et al., 1987, Arch. Biochem.

Developmentally regulated changes of glutamate binding sites in mouse deep cerebellar nuclei.

The expression of L-[3H]glutamate binding sites of different ionic and pharmacological sensitivities was studied in mouse deep cerebellar nuclei during early postnatal development by means of in vitro autoradiography. Ca2+/Cl(-)-dependent, quisqualate/AMPA/ibotenate-sensitive, and APB-insensitive binding sites are present at high density in the deep cerebellar nuclei of young animals, but greatly decrease between the 10th and 25th postnatal day and remain low in the adult. The density of Ca2+/Cl(-)-independent binding sites remains low and constant during the whole of postnatal development.

Effects of phospholipases, proteases and neuraminidase on gamma-hydroxybutyrate binding sites.

gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a natural compound of mammalian brain synthesized from GABA. The characteristics of its synthesis, transport, release, distribution and turnover, in addition to the presence of a high affinity binding site for this substance in brain are in favor of a modulator role for GHB. The effects of hydrolytic enzymes on the specific binding capacity of GHB have been studied in the present work.

Trans-gamma-hydroxycrotonic acid binding sites in brain: evidence for a subpopulation of gamma-hydroxybutyrate sites.

Trans-gamma-hydroxycrotonate (THCA), a compound naturally present in rat brain, possesses high-affinity binding sites with a heterogeneous distribution which are superimposable with those for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB). Binding studies of THCA on rat brain membranes revealed two binding components, one of high affinity (Kd1, 7 nM, Bmax1 42 fmol/mg protein) and the other of low affinity (Kd2, 2 microM, Bmax2 13 pmol/mg protein). Displacement curves of [3H]THCA by THCA and GHB or of [3H]GHB by THCA are in favour of the existence of a specific high affinity site for THCA.

In vitro synthesis and transbilayer movement of phosphatidylethanolamine molecules labelled with different fatty acids in chick brain microsomes.

The transbilayer fatty acid distribution of diacylglycerophosphoethanolamine and the translocation of newly synthesized phosphatidylethanolamine molecules labelled with different fatty acids has been investigated in chick brain microsomes using trinitrobenzensulfonic acid. The determination of the fatty acid composition of diacylglycerophosphoethanolamine in both the outer and the inner leaflet of the microsomal vesicles revealed a similar distribution indicating that both leaflets share the same molecular species. The in vitro incorporation of radioactive fatty acids (16:0, 18:1 and 20:4(n-6] into ethanolamine phospholipids, known to be catalyzed by the lyosphosphatidylethanolamine acyl transferase, showed that the radioactive diacylglycerophosphoethanolamine molecules appeared first in the outer leaflet and were thereafter transferred to the inner leaflet.

Investigation of myelination in vitro: polar lipid content and fatty acid composition of myelinating oligodendrocytes in rat oligodendrocyte cultures.

Oligodendrocytes (OL) from newborn rat brain grown in culture according to Besnard et al. (Neurosci. Lett.

Directional asymmetry of the horizontal monocular head and eye optokinetic nystagmus: effects of picrotoxin.

Frog monocular eye and head optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) were studied by coil recordings after intravitreal administration of picrotoxin into the closed eye. Before injection, the frog displayed an OKN only for stimulations in the temporo-nasal (T-N) direction. The injection of picrotoxin provoked the appearance of a N-T component of the head and eye OKN: the slow phase velocity gain and the resetting fast phase frequency were strongly and significantly increased.

Alcohol withdrawal-induced changes in brain biogenic amines in mice: influence of the genotype.

Alterations in striatal and hippocampal dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5HT) activities were investigated in two inbred strains of mice (C57B1 and Balb/c) after 3 withdrawal periods following 5 months chronic ethanol administration. Two groups of animals with different levels of ethanol administration (15% and 30%, v/v) were examined. A striking strain dependency has been noted.

[Stimulation of antigenicity of renal adenocarcinoma cells].

It was hypothesized that membrane rigidification of tumor cells could enhance the expression of tumor associated antigens (6) For this purpose, we treated in vitro hypernephroma cell with cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) or 25-hydroxysterol (250HC) and we evaluated their immunogenicity by skin-tests in 26 patients after radical nephrectomy. The skin-tests were positive in 50% cases with CHS treated cells, and in 35% with 250HC treated cells. The immune responses were characterized as delayed hypersensitivity.

Comparison of the mechanisms of action of insulin and triiodothyronine on the synthesis of cerebroside sulfotransferase in cultures of cells dissociated from brains of embryonic mice.

The effect of low (physiological) concentrations of insulin (2 and 20 ng/ml) and L-triiodothyronine (T3) were studied on two myelin-related enzymes: (1) the 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate:cerebroside sulfotransferase (CST, EC 2.8.2.

Involvement of the nigral output pathways in the inhibitory control of the substantia nigra over generalized non-convulsive seizures in the rat.

Activation of GABAergic transmission within the substantia nigra has been shown to suppress several forms of generalized seizures in experimental models of epilepsy. More especially, such pharmacological manipulations suppress spontaneous and chemically-induced generalized non-convulsive seizures in the rat. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of the dopaminergic and GABAergic thalamic and collicular nigral outputs in this antiepileptic effect.

Endogenous cerebellar soluble lectin and its ligands in central nervous system myelin of quaking and jimpy mutant mice.

The presence of an endogenous 'cerebellar soluble lectin' (CSL) involved in myelin compaction and myelination was analyzed in the dysmyelinating mutant mice quaking and jimpy. The primary defect in these mutations with severe hypomyelination is still unknown in the quaking mutant but results from a single mutation in the proteolipid protein gene in the jimpy mutant. Both immunocytochemical and immunoblotting techniques showed that CSL was not considerably reduced in its expression in the myelin fraction purified from adult quaking mutants.

Primary cultures of astrocytes from different brain areas of newborn rats and effects of basic fibroblast growth factor.

The effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on the morphology and the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and glutamine synthetase (GS) in cultured astrocytes prepared from various areas of newborn rat brain was studied. The brain was dissected in two ways, either the telencephalon (area A) and the diencephalon (area B) were dissected out of the brain (without olfactory bulbs, mesencephalon and cerebellum) or the brain was cut transversely into 3 parts (areas 1, 2 and 3). Area 1 (the anterior part) included the frontal cortex, the olfactory nuclei, the neostriatum, the accumbens nucleus and the septum; area 2 (the medial part) included the cortex, hippocampus, amygdale, thalamus and hypothalamus, and area 3 (the posterior part) included the occipital cortex, the posterior part of hippocampus and thalamus and the mamillary bodies.

Neurofilament expression in bovine chromaffin cells.

Neurofilament (NF) expression was examined in adult bovine adrenal chromaffin cells by immunocytochemistry using a series of monoclonal antibodies directed against either nonphosphorylated or phosphorylated epitopes of the heavy NF subunit. In situ, this NF subunit was not detected in chromaffin cells. However, chromaffin cells grown in primary culture under standard conditions contained NF proteins, but only in a nonphosphorylated state.

Normal composition of the major lipids and the distribution of their fatty acids in central nervous system myelin further discriminate mld from shiverer mice.

The primary defect in myelin deficiency (mld), an autosomal recessive mutation in mice with severe hypomyelination of the central nervous system (CNS), is a reduction in the synthesis of myelin basic protein (MBP) due to reduced amounts of MBP-specific mRNA. The present study was performed to determine whether alterations of myelin lipid composition might be associated with this defect. Although a 20-fold reduction of myelin was found in mld brain, the lipid/protein and the phospholipid/sulfatide ratios of purified myelin were unchanged.

Regulation of cerebroside sulfotransferase activity in cultured oligodendrocytes: effect of growth factors and insulin.

Cerebroside sulfotransferase (EC 2.8.2.