体外25℃家蚕卵酯酶A4的ATP酶活性变化及其与滞育性的关系

从家蚕卵纯化出EA4酶蛋白 ,调查了温度对EA4的ATP酶最高活性和其出现时间的影响以及与蚕卵滞育性的关系。EA4的酶活性反应温度为 2 5℃时比 5℃时提高约 1 0倍。从滞育性卵和盐酸处理卵纯化EA4 ,或者用EA4的活性抑制多肽 (PIN)体外处理酶蛋白质 ,2 5℃中EA4的最高活性出现时间比 5℃中显著提早。随纯化时卵龄或PIN处理时间的改变 ,2 5、5℃中EA4的最高活性出现时间以及与蚕卵 5℃冷藏时滞育发育时间有相同趋势的变化。体外 2 5℃和体外 5℃一样 ,EA4的最高活性出现时间与蚕卵的滞育发育有密切的关系     

Seroconversion of anti-Getah virus antibody among Japanese native Noma horses around 2012

Getah virus (GETV), an arthropod-borne virus transmitted by mosquitoes, has been isolated from several animals. GETV infection in horses shows clinical signs such as fever, rash, and edema in the leg. Noma horses are one of the eight Japanese native horses. The present study aimed to clarify the occurrence of GETV infection in Noma horses. Serum samples collected from Noma horses were analyzed using a virus neutralization test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and showed that the anti-GETV antibody titers in the samples collected in 2017 were significantly higher than those collected in 2012. We concluded that a seroconversion of anti-GETV antibodies was occurred in the Noma horse population around 2012, providing evidence of the GETV epidemic in Japan circa 2012.     

A new method for determining free iron in paddy soils

For pedological or edaphological study, it is very important to find a suitable method for determining free iron in soils. The removal of free iron also facilitates the identification and determination of minerals present in soils and clays by X-ray and thermal analysis and microscopic observation. Up to the presnt time many methods have been proposed for the removal or the determination of free iron in soils and clays. With some exceptions these methods are all based on the principle that the free iron compounds existing mainly as ferric iron in soils are reduced to ferrous iron and extracted with suitable reagents. A short historical review is as follows.     

Comparison of several methods for determining free iron in soils

In the previous paper (1), for determining free iron in paddy soils the writers proposed a new method in which free iron was removed by reduction with sodium hydrosulfite in disodium ethylendiamine tetraacetate solution. As described in that paper, many methods have been proposed up to the present time. In this paper the writers are to compare their method with some of those methods, especially with both methods using sodium hydrosulfite and dilute hydrochloric acid and using hydrogen sulfide and dilute hydrochloric acid. The latter method has generally been employed for free iron determination of paddy soils in Japan.     

Formation of Methyl Mercaptan in Paddy Soils (II)

In the previous paper₁₎, the authors proposed a method for determining methyl mercaptan formed in paddy soils. In this method, methyl mercaptan was expelled by nitrogen gas from Paddy soils, and was introduced into 4% mercuric CYanide solution after separation from hydrogen sulfide by hydrous calcium chloride and lead acetate (solid). The methyl mercaptan caught by mercuric cyanide solution was measured by colorimetric method using dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine and ferric chloride solutions. And then, the analysis of several field soils was conducted by using this method.     

Nitrogen fixation in paddy soils

The 4 long-term experimental plots (Umbric haplaquept) with different fertilizer treatment at Cent. Agric. Exp. Sta. in Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture, were used for the sites of investigation. The 4 plots were NF (applied with no fertilizer), IF (applied with inorganic fertilizers), GM (applied with green manure and CaCO₂), and OM (applied with manure and inorganic fertilizers). Flooded water, floating weed, upper (0-2cm) and lower (2-10cm) parts of Apg horizon and rhizosphere were collected from each plot before flooding, during flooding, and after drainage. These samples were analyzed for N₂-fixing activity by acetylene reduction method, pH, Eh, and contents of Fe²⁺, NH₄ ⁺, chlorophyll-type compounds, and water-soluble carbohydrates.

The N₂-fixing activity of all samples showed almost the same pattern of change with time: very low before flooding, rapidly increased after flooding, the maximum value at the maximum tillering stage of rice plant, declined afterwards and reached a very low value after drainage.

Rough estimation of the “N₂-fixing capacity” of each part of the paddy field revealed that the most important site of the N₂ fixation was the reduced Apg horizon, that the importance of flooded water and/or the oxidized layer in the N₂ fixation was rather low except in infertile soil, and that the role of rhizosphere in the N₂ fixation could not be neglected also in Japan.

Reduced condition and content of easily decomposable organic substances were judged to be main factors which control the N₂-fixing activity in the flooded soil on the basis of correlations between the Nt-fixing activity and several analytical data of the paddy soils.     

The forming process of the peculiar Mn-mottling in the polder

In the subsurface horizons of some paddy fields at the Kojima polder, Okayama Prefecture, the authors noticed a peculiar Mn-mottling, which had not been found in the common paddy fields. Several paddy soils in varying stages of maturity were carefuIIy surveyed at the Kojima polder. The soils were tentatively named OK4, OK7, OKS, and OK9. The ages of the fields after reclamation were about 10, 100, 150, and 250 years, respectively. Undisturbed samples were collected from 3 soils (OK4, OK7, and OKS) for microscopic observation and chemical analysis.     

Effects of hypoxia and glucose-removal condition on muscle contraction of the smooth muscles of porcine urinary bladder

To elucidate the dependence of aerobic energy metabolism and utilization of glucose in contraction of urinary bladder smooth muscle, we investigated the changes in the reduced pyridine nucleotide (PNred) fluorescence, representing glycolysis activity, and determined the phosphocreatine (PCr) and ATP contents of the porcine urinary bladder during contractions induced by high K⁺ or carbachol (CCh) and with and without hypoxia (achieved by bubbling N₂ instead of O₂) or in a glucose-free condition. Hyperosmotic addition of 65 mM KCl (H-65K⁺) and 1 µM CCh induced a phasic contraction followed by a tonic contraction. A glucose-free physiological salt solution (PSS) did not change the subsequent contractile responses to H-65K⁺ and CCh. However, hypoxia significantly attenuated H-65K⁺- and CCh-induced contraction. H-65K⁺ and CCh induced a sustained increase in PNred fluorescence, representing glycolysis activity. Hypoxia enhanced H-65K⁺- and CCh-induced increases in PNred fluorescence, whereas glucose-free PSS decreased these increases, significantly. In the presence of H-65K⁺, hypoxia decreased the PCr and ATP contents; however, the glucose-free PSS did not change the PCr contents. In conclusion, we demonstrated that high K⁺- and CCh-induced contractions depend on aerobic metabolism and that an endogenous substrate may be utilized to maintain muscle contraction in a glucose-free PSS in the porcine urinary bladder.     

Changes in nitrogen transformation in forest soil representing the climate gradient of the Japanese archipelago

Net nitrogen transformation was investigated under different climate conditions by soil transplantation and in situ incubation of forest surface soils using the resin-core method. Selected conditions were considered to reflect those of the natural climate gradient in the Japanese archipelago. Study sites were established in natural forests in northern Hokkaido (Uryu), northern Kanto (Kusaki), central Kinki (Kamigamo), and southern Kyushu (Takakuma), representing the northernmost to the southernmost island regions of Japan. Field experiments comparing soils incubated at “native” and “transplanted” sites were conducted from June 2008 to May 2009. Net production, accumulation, and leaching of soil ammonium (NH₄ ⁺) and nitrate (NO₃ ⁻) were measured at each of the sites during the growing season (June–October), the dormant season (November–May), and throughout the year. Net nitrate production was highest in Kusaki soil, especially during the growing season, whereas net ammonium production was highest in Uryu soil, the coldest site, especially during the dormant season. Net nitrate production increased significantly in soils transplanted to a warmer climate during the growing season. However, net ammonium production increased in soils transplanted to colder climates during the dormant season. These findings indicate that, with the exception of the infertile soil samples from Kamigamo, the range of natural climates in Japan has a significant effect on nitrogen availability in surface soil. In addition, the original characteristics of the nitrogen cycle of the surface soil from each native site were retained, even when marked changes in soil temperature (approximately 8°C) occurred after transplantation.     

Fetal and neonatal goiter in cynomolgus monkeys following administration of the antithyroid drug thiamazole at high doses to dams during pregnancy

To evaluate morphologic alterations in the thyroid gland in the second generation in cynomolgus monkeys, pregnant dams were exposed to high doses of thiamazole. In Experiment A, dams received thiamazole intragastrically via a nasogastric catheter from gestation day (GD) 50 to GD 150 or on the day before delivery. Initially, the dose level was 20 mg/kg/day (10 mg/kg twice daily); however, the dose level was subsequently decreased to 5 mg/kg/day (2.5 mg/kg twice daily), since deteriorated general conditions were observed in two dams. Six out of seven neonates died on the day of birth. The cause of neonatal death was tracheal compression and suffocation from goiter. The transplacental exposure to thiamazole affected the fetal thyroid glands and induced goiter in all neonates. The surviving neonate was necropsied 767 days after discontinuation of thiamazole exposure and showed reversibility of the induced changes. In Experiment B, dams were intragastrically administered thiamazole at 5 mg/kg/day (2.5 mg/kg twice daily) for treatment periods from GDs 51 to 70, 71 to 90, 91 to 110, 111 to 130 and 131 to 150. All fetuses showed enlarged thyroid glands but were viable. Histopathologically, hypertrophy and/or hyperplastic appearance of the follicular epithelium of the thyroid gland was observed at the end of each treatment period. The most active appearance of the follicular epithelium, consisting of crowded pedunculated structure, was demonstrated at end of the treatment period from GD 131 to 150. This is the first report on the morphology of fetal and neonatal goiter in the cynomolgus monkey.