Transport of oxygen through hemoglobin solutions

An expression is derived for the steady-state diffusion rate of oxygen through a solution or suspension of oxygen-carrying particles. Several special cases of interest are discussed and compared with the data of Hemmingsen and Scholander. Their observed dependence of the rate of specific oxygen transport on pressure and pH is consistent with the present expression.     

Sea cucumber sibling species: polypeptide chain types and oxygen equilibrium of hemoglobin

The hemoglobin of the "thin" sibling species of Thyonella gemmata (phylum: Echinodermata; class: Holothuria) has three electrophoretically distinct polypeptide chains. In "stout" sibling species of T. gemmata there are only two chain types. These results account for the greater number of multiple hemoglobins in "thins" than in "stouts," as well as for differences in the amounts of some of the multiple hemoglobins when comparisons are mnade of hemolyzates of erythrocytes from the water vascular systemn and from the main body cavity of the "thin" but not the "stout" sibling species.     

Structural transitions upon ligand binding in a cooperative dimeric hemoglobin

Comparison of the 2.4 angstrom resolution crystal structures of dimeric clam hemoglobin in the deoxygenated and carbon-monoxide liganded states shows how radically different the structural basis for cooperative oxygen binding is from that operative in mammalian hemoglobins. Heme groups are in direct communication across a novel subunit interface formed by the E and F helices. The conformational changes at this interface that accompany ligand binding are more dramatic at a tertiary level but more subtle at a quaternary level than those in mammalian hemoglobins. These findings suggest a cooperative mechanism that links ligation at one subunit with potentiation of affinity at the second subunit.     

Localized control of ligand binding in hemoglobin: effect of tertiary structure on picosecond geminate recombination

The picosecond geminate rebinding of molecular oxygen was monitored in a variety of different human, reptilian, and fish hemoglobins. The fast (100 to 200 picoseconds) component of the rebinding is highly sensitive to protein structure. Both proximal and distal perturbations of the heme affect this rebinding process. The rebinding yield for the fast process correlates with the frequency of the stretching motion of the iron-proximal histidine mode (VFe-His) observed in the transient Raman spectra of photodissociated ligated hemoglobins. The high-affinity R-state species exhibit the highest values for VFe-His and the highest yields for fast rebinding, whereas low affinity R-state species and T-state species exhibit lower values of VFe-His and correspondingly reduced yields for this geminate process. These findings link protein control of ligand binding with events at the heme.     

Cat scratch disease: a bacterial infection

Histopathologic examination of lymph nodes from 39 patients with clinical and pathological criteria for cat scratch disease revealed delicate pleomorphic Gram-negative bacilli in 34 of the 39 nodes. They were within the walls of capillaries in or near areas of follicular hyperplasia and within microabscesses. They were best seen with the Warthin-Starry silver impregnation stain. Organisms in lymph node sections exposed to convalescent serum from three patients and to immunoperoxidase stained equally well with all three samples. The organisms did not react with hyperimmune sera to Legionella pneumophila nor to several species of Rickettsia. These bacilli appear to be the causative agents of cat scratch disease.     

Cat color vision: the effect of stimulus size

Adult cats were trained to discriminate blue from green and gray. Although the cats could discriminate the intensity of stimuli whose areas ranged from 33 to 0.36 square centimeters they could not discriminate color when the stimulus was 0.36 square centimeter (less than 20 degrees visual angle). This influence of stimulus size may account for both positive and negative results of previous studies.     

Rabbit hemoglobin biosynthesis: use of human hemoglobin chains to study molecule completion

A cell-free protein-synthesizing system made from rabbit reticulocytes was used to incorporate (14)C-amino acids into hemoglobin. Electrophoretic analyses of the soluble products of this cell-free system revealed a fraction containing rabbit (14)C-alpha chains in addition to the rabbit (14)C-hemoglobin. The addition of isolated human hemoglobin beta chains to this system during active synthesis inhibited the release of newly synthesized rabbit (14)C-beta chains into solution from the ribosome fraction. This inhibition was possibly a result of hybrid hemoglobin formation between rabbit alpha and human beta chains. A model of hemoglobin construction in which soluble alpha chains are intermediates is suggested. These alpha chains may aid in the release of beta chains from the polyribosomes during the completion of the hemoglobin molecule.     

Gelation of sickle cell hemoglobin: effects of hybrid tetramer formation in hemoglobin mixtures

The altered gelation behavior found in mixtures of sickle cell hemoglobin with other hemoglobins is due to the formation of hybrid hemoglobin tetramers from unlike dimers. The hemoglobins need not possess the deoxy quaternary structure for gelation to occur; liganded forms are also capable of participation in gelation.     

Conformation and activity of chymotrypsin: the pH-dependent, substrate-induced proton uptake

Hydrogen ion uptake by chymotrypsin during reversible binding of specific substrate is shown to be due to an ionizing group of the enzyme with a pK(apparent) approximately 9 in the free enzyme. This pK(apparent) is shifted to higher value in the enzyme-substrate complexes. Previous results indicating an equilibrium, controlled by this ionizing group, between active and inactive conformational forms of chymotrypsin are confirmed.     

QUANTUM MECHANICS: Enhanced: Schrodinger's Cat Is Out of the Hat

In 1935, Erwin Schr?dinger suggested his famous gedanken experiment of the cat that is simultaneously "dead" and "alive" inside its box until the box is opened. But as Tesche explains in her Perspective, such a macroscopic manifestation of quantum mechanics has remained elusive until recently. The experiments by van der Wal et al. are an important step toward demonstrating that quantum mechanics can describe macroscopic phenomena. The approach may be exploited in quantum computing and quantum cryptography.     

豹猫和金猫针毛红外光谱比较研究

[目的]研究比较豹猫和金猫针毛红外光谱。[方法]使用傅立叶红外光谱对豹猫和金猫两种野生动物毛发进行了检测和分析。[结果]在豹猫和金猫针毛的中部红外图谱及其二阶导数谱均具有明显的种间差异,如648 cm-1和654 cm-1波数处金猫出现明显 M 形双峰吸收峰,而豹猫没有;金猫的二阶导数谱在709-763 cm-1范围内以峰强较大的单峰为主,豹猫则以峰强较小的 M 形双峰为主,这均说明两种动物毛发的蛋白侧链的构成上则存在较大的差异。[结论]红外光谱分析方法可以应用于动物毛发的种间识别,在毛发的研究领域有较好的应用前景。     

A bimetallic hydroformylation catalyst: high regioselectivity and reactivity through homobimetallic cooperativity

The racemic and meso diastereomers of an electron-rich binucleating tetraphosphine ligand have been used to prepare homobimetallic rhodium norbornadiene complexes. The racemic bimetallic Rh complex is an excellent hydroformylation catalyst for 1-alkenes, giving both a high rate of reaction and high regioselectivity for linear aldehydes, whereas the meso complex is considerably slower and less selective. A mechanism involving bimetallic cooperativity between the two rhodium centers in the form of an intramolecular hydride transfer is proposed. Mono- and bimetallic model complexes in which the possibility for bimetallic cooperativity has been reduced or eliminated are very poor catalysts.     

Quantifying hydrogen bond cooperativity in water: VRT spectroscopy of the water tetramer

Measurement of the far-infrared vibration-rotation tunneling spectrum of the perdeuterated water tetramer is described. Precisely determined rotational constants and relative intensity measurements indicate a cyclic quasi-planar minimum energy structure, which is in agreement with recent ab initio calculations. The O-O separation deduced from the data indicates a rapid exponential convergence to the ordered bulk value with increasing cluster size. Observed quantum tunneling splittings are interpreted in terms of hydrogen bond rearrangements connecting two degenerate structures.     

Phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin: evidence for cooperativity between the myosin heads

The relationship between the actin-activated adenosinetriphosphatase activity of smooth muscle myosin and the extent of myosin light chain phosphorylation is nonlinear. It is suggested that the phosphorylation of the two heads of smooth muscle myosin is an ordered process and that the two heads are influenced by cooperative interactions.     

Total alignment of calcite at acidic polydiacetylene films: cooperativity at the organic-inorganic interface

Biological matrices can direct the absolute alignment of inorganic crystals such as calcite. Cooperative effects at an organic-inorganic interface resulted in similar co-alignment of calcite at polymeric Langmuir-Schaefer films of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (p-PDA). The films nucleated calcite at the (012) face, and the crystals were co-aligned with respect to the polymer's conjugated backbone. At the same time, the p-PDA alkyl side chains reorganized to optimize the stereochemical fit to the calcite structure, as visualized by changes in the optical spectrum of the polymer. These results indicate the kinds of interactions that may occur in biological systems where large arrays of crystals are co-aligned.     

一例猫肉芽肿性胰腺炎的病理学观察

我校动物医院接诊一例病猫,初步诊断为胰腺癌。为了探讨其性质,病例采用课题组发明专利进行病理组织切片制作和H.E染色技术进行染色。经病理学研究诊断为猫肉芽肿性胰腺炎。肉芽肿性胰腺炎的临床表现、影像学检查与胰腺癌极其相似,两者鉴别较为困难,多种方法联合检查有助于诊断。     

一例猫对乙酰氨基酚中毒的诊治

对乙酰氨基酚有解热镇痛作用,猫对乙酰氨基酚十分敏感,介绍了一例猫误服人用感冒药导致其对乙酰氨基酚中毒的检查、诊断及治疗。