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Protein-lipid complexes in blood of chick embryos and chicks
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARYBIOCHEMISTRYAND PHYSIOLOGY
685
Protein-Hpid complexes in blood of chick embryos and chicks: By V. I. TSINOVYI and A. M. MIKHAILENKO: Ukranian Research Institute of Poultry Breeding, Kharkov, pp. 200-205. PROTEIN-lipid complexes were investigated in the blood of chick embryos from the seventh day of incubation onward, and in chicks up to 3 weeks after hatching. At all stages of development, blood of embryos and chicks was found to contain all of the principal protein fractions--albumin, a-, fl- and y-globulins, saturated with lipids to a greater or lesser extent. Variations in blood protein complexes may be attributed to changes in sources of the embryos nutrition. Increase of the blood albumin complex accompanies utilization of the albumen membrane, while globulin complexes are found to rise with utilization of the yolk.
Comparative investigation of sodium and potassium distribution within the body o f animals: By V. G. LEONTIEV and I. A. SKULSKI: Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad, pp. 206-213. POTASSIUM content in tissues of animals belonging to quite different levels of organization was found to vary within fairly narrow limits: 6-10mequiv./100 g fresh wt. Sodium content of the same tissues was found to vary within wider limits : from 1 to 10-15 mequiv./ 100 g fresh wt. T w o main trends have been revealed in distribution of sodium, depending on type of tissue: diminishing sodium concentration and N a / K ratio in muscles with elaboration of contractility, which depends on specific proteins ; and maintenance of higher (as compared to muscle) sodium concentration and N a / K ratio in tissues of such organs as brain, liver and some others, where a considerable content of lipid-rich membrane structures is a characteristic feature. In most animals under investigation tissues were found to form the following sequence in terms of their relative sodium-richness: muscle
Acetylcholine as transmitter of nervous influences on the heart of Anodonta: By S. N. NISTRATOVAand M. G. YUZHANSKAIA:Institute of Animal Morphology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, pp. 214-220. STIMULATION of the visceral ganglion or cardiac nerves of anodonta (Anodonta sp.) results in the release into the perfusate of a substance exerting an acetylcholine-like effect on the heart of a recipient frog or anodonta. T h e anodonta heart ventricle has been found to contain acetylcholine in amounts of 0"12-0-25 mkg per 1 g. fresh tissue. These data, as well as those obtained previously on the occurrence of a choline-receptive protein in cardiac muscle, contribute evidence for the assumption of a transmitter function of acetylcholine (or a related substance) in the heart of anodonta. T h e absence of cholinesterase--forming the last link of the reaction--in the heart ventricle is not considered to contradict the notion of acetylcholine being the mediator of nerve impulses, since inhibition escape is effected here through a high energy substance of A T P type, competing with acetylcholine
685
Protein-Hpid complexes in blood of chick embryos and chicks: By V. I. TSINOVYI and A. M. MIKHAILENKO: Ukranian Research Institute of Poultry Breeding, Kharkov, pp. 200-205. PROTEIN-lipid complexes were investigated in the blood of chick embryos from the seventh day of incubation onward, and in chicks up to 3 weeks after hatching. At all stages of development, blood of embryos and chicks was found to contain all of the principal protein fractions--albumin, a-, fl- and y-globulins, saturated with lipids to a greater or lesser extent. Variations in blood protein complexes may be attributed to changes in sources of the embryos nutrition. Increase of the blood albumin complex accompanies utilization of the albumen membrane, while globulin complexes are found to rise with utilization of the yolk.
Comparative investigation of sodium and potassium distribution within the body o f animals: By V. G. LEONTIEV and I. A. SKULSKI: Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad, pp. 206-213. POTASSIUM content in tissues of animals belonging to quite different levels of organization was found to vary within fairly narrow limits: 6-10mequiv./100 g fresh wt. Sodium content of the same tissues was found to vary within wider limits : from 1 to 10-15 mequiv./ 100 g fresh wt. T w o main trends have been revealed in distribution of sodium, depending on type of tissue: diminishing sodium concentration and N a / K ratio in muscles with elaboration of contractility, which depends on specific proteins ; and maintenance of higher (as compared to muscle) sodium concentration and N a / K ratio in tissues of such organs as brain, liver and some others, where a considerable content of lipid-rich membrane structures is a characteristic feature. In most animals under investigation tissues were found to form the following sequence in terms of their relative sodium-richness: muscle
Acetylcholine as transmitter of nervous influences on the heart of Anodonta: By S. N. NISTRATOVAand M. G. YUZHANSKAIA:Institute of Animal Morphology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, pp. 214-220. STIMULATION of the visceral ganglion or cardiac nerves of anodonta (Anodonta sp.) results in the release into the perfusate of a substance exerting an acetylcholine-like effect on the heart of a recipient frog or anodonta. T h e anodonta heart ventricle has been found to contain acetylcholine in amounts of 0"12-0-25 mkg per 1 g. fresh tissue. These data, as well as those obtained previously on the occurrence of a choline-receptive protein in cardiac muscle, contribute evidence for the assumption of a transmitter function of acetylcholine (or a related substance) in the heart of anodonta. T h e absence of cholinesterase--forming the last link of the reaction--in the heart ventricle is not considered to contradict the notion of acetylcholine being the mediator of nerve impulses, since inhibition escape is effected here through a high energy substance of A T P type, competing with acetylcholine