Pathway of terpene excretion by the appendix of Sauromatum guttatum.

Electron microscopy of the cells of the thermogenic appendix of Sauromatum guttatum has revealed a fusion event between pocket-like structures of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) and the plasma membrane. As a result of the fusion event, many regions of the plasma membrane have paired unit membranes (four leaflets instead of two). The fusion allows the transfer of osmiophilic material from the rER pockets to the plasma membrane, where the osmiophilic material is confined to bilayer, pocket-like structures. A clear correlation is found between the presence of the osmiophilic compound and sesquiterpenes. Prior to heat production, the rER- and plasma-membrane pockets are electron dense, and sesquiterpenes are detectable only in tissue extracts. On the day of heat production, electron-translucent pockets are subsequently found and the stored sesquiterpenes are released to the atmosphere. Three sesquiterpenes have been identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as alpha-copaene and beta- and alpha-caryophyllene.

Heat Production in the Voodoo Lily (Sauromatum guttatum) as Monitored by Infrared Thermography.

The pattern of surface temperatures of the inflorescence of Sauromatum guttatum was investigated by using an infrared camera. The male flowers are weakly thermogenic on the first day of inflorescence opening (D-day) as well as on the next day (D + 1), reaching 0.5 to 1 degrees C above ambient temperature. The appendix (the upper sterile part of the inflorescence) is highly thermogenic on D-day, reaching 32 degrees C, and is faintly thermogenic on D + 1, reaching 1 degrees C above ambient temperature. The lower part of the spadix, close to the female flowers, is also thermogenic on D-day and D + 1, reaching a temperature similar to that of the appendix only on D + 1. Salicylic acid does not induce heat production in the lower part of the spadix, as it does in the appendix. Respiration of tissue slices obtained from the appendix shows that the capacity for cyanide-insensitive respiration is present in young and mature appendices. This alternative respiratory pathway is not, however, utilized in young appendix tissue, but is engaged during the maturation of that tissue.

Infrared thermography ofArum lily inflorescences.

The infrared radiation emitted from the surface of inflorescences of 12 aroid species was monitored with an infrared camera, capable of 0.1°C resolution, and the data were converted to temperature values by means of temperature reference standards. Images representing surface temperatures were obtained forAmorphophallus bulbifer Blume,A. campanulatus Blume,A. forbesii Engl. et Gehrm.,A. rivieri Dur.,Philodendron selloum Koch,Monstera deliciosa Liebm.,Dracunculus vulgaris Schott,Arum italicum Mill.,A. dioscoridis Sibth.,A. creticum Boiss et Heldr.,Caladium sp., andRemusatia vivipara Schott. These images were different among species with respect to temperature, duration of detectable heat development, and organ type (male and female flowers, spathe and appendix) found to be thermogenic. All these species, however, exhibited three common characteristics: 1) production of heat by the male flowers; 2) pollen-shedding immediately after heat production had ceased; and 3) when male flowers were some distance away from female flowers along the spadix, heat was not detected in female flowers. Heat emission was associated with the alternative, cyanide-insensitive pathway that was fully operative.

Oxidation of Proline and Glutamate by Mitochondria of the Inflorescence of Voodoo Lily (Sauromatum guttatum).

In appendices of Sauromatum guttatum that are developing thermogenicity, mitochondria isolated from successive developmental stages of the inflorescence show an increase in the oxidation rates of proline and glutamate. A similar rise in the oxidation rates of these compounds is observed in mitochondria obtained from the spathe, a nonthermogenic organ of the inflorescence. Changes in oxidative metabolism were also observed in mitochondria isolated from sections of immature appendix treated with salicylic acid (SA) at 0.69 microgram per gram fresh weight indicating that they are induced by SA. At that concentration, however, SA has no effect on oxygen consumption by mitochondria in the presence of glutamate, proline, or malate. Furthermore, oxygen uptake by mitochondria in the presence of proline or glutamate is partially sensitive to salicylhydroxamic acid (SHAM) at concentrations greater than 2 millimolar when in the presence of 1 millimolar KCN. For NADH, succinate, and malate a high capacity of the alternative (cyanide-resistant) pathway is found that is completely sensitive to SHAM at 1.5 to 4 millimolar. The increase in the mitochondrial capacity to oxidize either amino acid is also found in four other Araceae species including both thermogenic and nonthermogenic ones. After anthesis, the rates of proline and glutamate oxidation decline.

Salicylic Acid: a natural inducer of heat production in arum lilies.

For more than 50 years the identity of "calorigen," the agent that triggers pronounced heat production in the flowers and inflorescences of some thermogenic plants, remained obscure. Mass spectroscopic analysis of highly purified calorigen extracted from the male flowers of Sauromatum guttatum Schott (voodoo lily) revealed the presence of 2-hydroxybenzoic (salicylic) acid. Application of salicylic acid at 0.13 microgram per gram (fresh weight) to sections of the upper part of the plant's immature spadix, known as the appendix, led to temperature increases of as much as 12 Celsius degrees. These increases duplicated, in both magnitude and timing, the temperature increases produced by the crude calorigen extract. The sensitivity of appendix tissue to salicylic acid increases daily with the approach of anthesis and is controlled by the photoperiod. Thus, at least in some Arum lilies, salicylic acid functions as an endogenous regulator of heat production.

Hyperoxaluria associated with intestinal bypass surgery for morbid obesity: occurrence, pathogenesis and approaches to treatment.

Hyperoxaluria occurs in most patients after the conventional jejunoileal bypass procedure for obesity. The mechanism of hyperoxaluria is complex, involving persistence of dietary oxalate in solution as well as increased colonic permeability to oxalate. Endogenous oxalate formation also contributes to hyperoxaluria. Treatment is unsatisfactory and involves a low-oxalate diet and simultaneous administration of agents which bind oxalate and bile acids, such as aluminum hydroxide. Hyperoxaluria was not present in 21 of 22 patients who had undergone the pancreato-biliary bypass procedure.

Spectrophotometric determination of urinary oxalate with oxalate oxidase prepared from moss.

A novel spectrophotometric enzymic procedure for estimating oxalic acid in urine is described. Oxalate oxidase, prepared from moss species, converts oxalic acid to hydrogen peroxide and carbon dioxide. Hydrogen peroxide is determined enzymatically with horseradish peroxidase, by oxidative coupling of 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone with N,N-dimethylaniline; the resulting indamine due is determined spectrophotometrically at 595 nm. Interfering substances are removed by adsorption to ion-exchange resins and oxidation with charcoal, thus avoiding oxalate recovery problems accompanying oxalate isolation. The procedure is rapid, sensitive, linear, and precise. Results agreed well with those obtained with a widely used chemical technique.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RESERVE GRANULES FROM THE DINOFLAGELLATE THECADINIUM INCLINATUM BALECH(1).

Reserve granules of the dinoflagellate Thecadinium inclinatum Balech were analyzed and found to be composed of a polyglucan very similar to the starches of higher plants.

Production of volatile amines and skatole at anthesis in some arum lily species.

The odoriferous compounds produced at the time of flowering by the inflorescences of 5 arum lily species were condensed in dry ice traps. The components of the condensates were separated by paper chromatography and identified on the basis of position and color reactions in comparison with known compounds. The concentration of free amino acids in the appendix of Sauromatum guttatum Schott increased 20-fold during flowering.