Autofluorescence as a tool to study mucus secretion in Eisenia foetida.

Autofluorescence in living cells is due to the presence of endogenous substances that emit fluorescence upon excitation by incidental light. A type of fluorescence, bioluminescence, has been suggested to be linked to mucus secretion in earthworms; however, the origin and the physiological function of this fluorescence are not clear. The aims of this work were to describe autofluorescence in the earthworm Eisenia foetida by SEM, CLSM, and fluorescence microscopy and to examine the possible mechanism of mucus secretion by video microscopy. Earthworms were stimulated either chemically or electrically to induce the secretion of yellow mucus, which was subsequently studied by video microscopy. Mucus was released from the body wall and near the mouth. This phenomenon was associated with autofluorescence and involved at least four distinct stages: release of vesicles, formation of granules, muscular contraction, and organization of strands. The fluorescent molecules were stored in vesicles bound to the membranes. These vesicles were intact when shed from the body. The vesicles were stable but also changed to a granular material or formed strands. Video analyses demonstrated that secretion was dependent on the type of stimulus.

The ATP levels in kidneys and blood are mainly decreased by acute ingestion of tullidora (Karwinskia humboldtiana).

Our previous acute toxicity studies with Karwinskia humboldtiana (Kh) in rats showed renal hemodynamic changes with a marked increase in the fractional excretion of sodium and morphological damage. To analyse the effects of Kh or 'tullidora' on energetic metabolism, a single dose of an oral preparation from the seed fruits was given to Wistar rats (1.25 g/kg). In tullidora-treated rats there was 8% mortality. ATP concentrations in renal tissue decreased significantly (control: 53.85+/-3.34, tullidora 38.28+/-5.31 micromol/g fresh tissue, P<0.05). Total blood (54.8+/-0.96, tullidora: 40.2+/-1.55 micromol/dL, P<0.01) and haemoglobin-ATP concentrations (3.69+/-0.12, tullidora: 2.56+/-0.11 micromol/g, P<0.01) were also significantly diminished. Moreover, the total protein in renal cortex from tullidora-treated rats decreased as compared to control group (control: 71.43+/-2.88, tullidora: 55.20+/-4.06 mg/g fresh tissue, P<0.05). In contrast, Na+-K+-ATPase activity in tullidora-treated animals was not different from control rats. These findings might partially explain the acute effects and mortality observed in the Kh treated rats.

Glutathione S-transferases and esterases in placenta after normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies.

Severe pre-eclampsia reduced significantly (P<0.05) by 68+/-6 per cent (mean+/-sem, n=10) the maximal velocity (V(max)) and, consequently, reduced significantly by 60+/-7 per cent the catalytic efficiency (C(E)) of placental glutathione transferase pi, assayed with ethacrynic acid. Mild and severe pre-eclampsia reduced significantly by 82+/-5 per cent (mean+/-sem, n=5) and by 41+/-5 per cent (mean+/-sem, n=10), respectively, the V(max)and, consequently, reduced significantly by 72+/-7 and by 33+/-13 per cent, respectively, the C(E)of esterase, assayed with p-nitrophenyl acetate. Furthermore, severe pre-eclampsia increased significantly by 296+/-78 per cent the Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)) of total GST, assayed with chlorodinitrobenzene and, consequently, decreased significantly the C(E)by 83+/-3 per cent. On the other hand, the concentrations of total and non-protein thiols did not change significantly in placental homogenates from patients with mild or severe pre-eclampsia compared to normal pregnancies. These findings would indicate a decreased capacity of the glutathione transferases and esterase detoxification systems to protect the fetus from drugs prescribed to pregnant women suffering pre-eclampsia, mainly in the severe phase.

Immediate and delayed effects of lead on AChE, GSH-T and thiols in the substantia nigra, neostriatum and cortex of the rat brain.

We studied the effects, at 10 and 30 min, of a single dose (10 mg kg(-1)) of lead chloride, administered by the intraperitoneal route, on the activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathione transferase (GSH-T) and on the concentrations of total and non-protein thiols in substantia nigra compacta (SNCO) and substantia nigra reticulata (SNRE), caudate putamen (CAU) and cerebral cortex (CC) from adult male rats in comparison with the effects of this metal at 24 and 72 h. The main immediate effects of lead consisted of decreased GSH-T activity and total and non-protein thiol concentrations in CAU and CC 10 min after administration. These effects were reversed after 30 min but with increased GSH-T activity in SNCO and AChE activity in SNRE along with diminished concentration of homogenate proteins in SNRE, CAU and CC. The GSH-T activity again was increased in SNCO but the AChE activity was decreased in CC 24 h after Pb administration; total and non-protein thiol concentrations were diminished but homogenate protein concentration was augmented in all areas. Finally, 72 h after Pb administration, AChE and GSH-T activities were decreased in CAU and CC, accompanied by an increased concentration of precipitate and supernatant proteins; supernatant protein concentration also was augmented in SNCO and SNRE; here, again, the concentrations of total and non-protein thiols were diminished and the homogenate protein concentration was augmented in all areas.

Sex differences in the enzymatic hydrolysis of acetylsalicylic acid by microsomes from various rat tissues.

We studied the in vitro hydrolysis of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) to salicylic acid (SA) catalysed by microsomal preparations from liver, kidney, small intestine and stomach mucosas and blood serum of adult female and male rats. Hepatic microsomes from male rats had the highest specific activity: 42.3 +/- 6.0 nmol SA mg(-1) min(-1) (mean +/- SEM). Kidney, intestine, stomach and serum activities were 60, 30, 14 and 0.7% with regard to the liver. In contrast, gastric microsomes from female rats showed the highest specific activity: 53 +/- 22.1 nmol SA mg(-1) min(-1) (mean +/- SEM) whereas intestine, liver, kidney and serum activities were 60, 43, 40 and 1.7% with regard to the stomach mucosa. Hepatic, renal and intestinal microsomes had a pH optimum of 5-6. Male rats had Vmax and Km values of 95.5, 83.4 and 29.4 nmol SA mg(-1) min(-1) and 2.9, 1.27 and 6.4 mM, while for female rats they were 54.8, 75.8 and 59.4 nmol SA mg(-1) min(-1) and 2.6, 1.35 and 3.4 mM for hepatic, renal and intestinal microsomes, respectively. Parathion inhibited the hydrolysis of ASA with an IC50 of 1.2 x 10(-5) M for liver and kidney and 5 x 10(6) M for intestine from male rats.

Entamoeba histolytica: increase of enterotoxicity and of 53- and 75-kDa cysteine proteinases in a clone of higher virulence.

We compared the enterotoxicity and cysteine proteinases (CP) of the low-virulence Entamoeba histolytica HM1 strain with the highly virulent 1659 clone, derived from HM1 by hamster liver passages. Enterotoxicity of 50,000 freeze-thawed trophozoites was determined on 0.28-cm2 intestinal segments mounted in Ussing chambers; CP activity of Nonidet-P40 amebal lysates was assayed by gelatin-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and carbobenzoxy-L-arginine-L-arginyl-p-nitroaniline, a CP-specific substrate. Treatment of gerbil cecum segments with amebal lysates caused an immediate fall of their electrophysiologic properties (potential difference, short-circuit current, and transmural resistance) whose decay rates were clearly faster with 1659 than with HM1 lysates. Nonimmune and immune antiamebic human sera and the CP-specific inhibitor E-64 (trans-epoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido(4-guanidino)butane) prevented the fall of the electrophysiologic properties. Gelatinases, less active in HM1 than in 1659 trophozoites, were better preserved in lysates containing 10 mM p-hydroxymercuribenzoate (pHMB) to prevent autoproteolysis: in lysates without pHMB nearly no gelatinase bands were observed in HM1 samples, whereas intense 30K, 35K, 44K, and 75K bands were seen in 1659 samples; in lysates with pHMB only 53K and 75K bands were found that were much more intense in 1659 samples, 75K being barely visible in HM1 samples. The overall CP activity was 17 times higher in 1659 than in HM1 lysates, was inhibited by E-64 (mean inhibitory dose, 20 microM), was stimulated by 2-mercaptoethanol (ME) 3.7 times in HM1 and 2.4 times in 1659 lysates, and was reactivated by ME in lysates containing pHMB. Most of the CP activity in HM1 lysates sedimented at 15,600g but predominated in 1659 supernatants. The increase of E. histolytica virulence thus correlates with a remarkable increase both of in vitro enterotoxicity and of two CPs (53K and 75K), suggesting that these proteinases are significant pathogenicity factors.