Determination of total dietary fiber in Japanese foods.

Total dietary fiber was determined in Japanese foods by the Prosky-AOAC method. To accomplish the analyses of unsuitable samples, we introduced a few minor modifications to the versions for (i) seaweed and fruits, (ii) cereals, and (iii) fish and meats. These modified methods were used together with the standard method to obtain results with reasonably good relative standard deviation for 231 foods and 21 groups of mixed foods. In this study, dietary fiber was defined so as not to exclude the nondigestible polysaccharide portions of animal foods. A method was proposed which could estimate more accurately the fiber components of animal foods by measuring the "nondigestible protein" of the fiber sample of the fiber sample by the Biuret colorimetric method, instead of the Kjeldahl method, to avoid deducting the values for aminopolysaccharides. In Japanese diets, the amount of fiber obtained from animals foods was less than 5% of the total intake of dietary fiber.     

Biological Mode of Action of the Fungicide, Flusulfamide, Against Plasmodiophora brassicae (clubroot)

Flusulfamide (2, 4-dichloro-,,-trifluoro-4-nitro-m-toluenesulfonanilide) was investigated for its mode of action against Plasmodiophora brassicae Woronin. Seedlings of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. subsp. pekinensis) were grown for 14 and 21 days in soil infested with P. brassicae and then transplanted into soil containing flusulfamide (0.9µg a.i.g^–1 dry soil). Clubroot was not suppressed by this treatment, indicating that the fungicide is ineffective against P. brassicae established within cortical cells of the host root. Where seedlings were grown in soil infested with resting spores which had previously been treated with flusulfamide, root-hair infection and club formation were suppressed. This indicates that flusulfamide directly acts against resting spores. When placed in root exudates of Chinese cabbage, untreated resting spores germinated at a high frequency while flusulfamide-treated resting spores hardly germinated at all. Use of the Evan's blue staining assay indicated that flusulfamide-treated resting spores remained viable. Flusulfamide was detected by high performance liquid chromatography on resting spores treated with flusulfamide for 30min. This indicates that the chemical is adsorbed onto resting spores. These results suggest that flusulfamide suppresses clubroot disease by inhibiting germination of P. brassicae resting spores through adsorption onto their cell walls.     

Preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against bovine B lymphocyte surface antigens

Two monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs; BLMo-4 and BLMo-10) were prepared by immunizing with a cell line established from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) cattle. The specificities of these MoAbs were assayed using bovine PBMC. BLMo-4 reacted with all surface immunoglobulin-positive cells (SIg+ cells; B lymphocytes) and also recognized monocytes, but did not react with T lymphocytes. BLMo-10 recognized a majority, although not all, B lymphocytes, but did not react with either T lymphocytes or monocytes. The antigens recognized by BLMo-4 and BLMo-10 were not Ig, Fc or C3 receptors on the surface of B lymphocytes. The reactivity of the MoAbs with mononuclear cells from the lymphoid organs of adult cattle was studied. BLMo-4 and BLMo-10 did not react with any bone marrow cells. BLMo-10 reacted with 7.4% of thymocytes, and stained the medulla of the thymus in the immunoperoxidase assay. In the case of PBMC, spleen and lymph node cells, the percentage of cells positive for BLMo-4 was slightly higher than that of SIg+ cells, but BLMo-10 showed a slightly lower value.     

A monoclonal antibody specific for bovine T cell surface antigen associated with the E-rosette receptor

From mice immunized with T lymphocyte-enriched bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), a monoclonal antibody termed BLMo-12 was obtained. BLMo-12 reacted with the antigen of Mr 56,000 in lysate of T lymphocytes. This mAb was found to inhibit spontaneous rosette formation by T-bovine lymphocytes with sheep red blood cells but it did not react with B lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils or eosinophils. In frozen section of the thymus, BLMo-12 showed a positive staining both the cortex and the medulla. In lymph nodes, the mAb stained the T-dependent paracortex. BLMo-12 reacted with 49.9% of PBMC and 82.5% of thymocytes. Recognition of the bovine homologue of CD2 on the T lymphocyte surface by this mAb was discussed.