The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is renowned for spanning sources of nutrients with networks of protoplasmic tubes. The networks transport nutrients and metabolites across the plasmodium’s body. To imitate a hypothetical colonisation of the world and formation of major transportation routes we cut continents from agar plates arranged in Petri dishes or on the surface of a three-dimension...

The precise localization of dystrophin in the skeletal muscle cell should contribute to a better understanding of the yet unclear functional role of this protein, both in normal and in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Immunocytochemical studies did not give conclusive results on the localization of dystrophin with respect to the sarcolemma and to the cytoskeletal components. To improve the reliabil...

Protoplasmic astrocytomas are uncommon in humans and animals. A 14-year-old, intact female German Shepherd dog presented with a history of ataxia of the pelvic limbs, left-side head torsion and hypermetric response of the right side for approximately 15 days. Neurological examination revealed the presence of cerebellar syndrome and paradoxical vestibular syndrome. Medical therapy was initiated,...

Proper estimation of droplet growth rate plays a crucial role on appropriate prediction of supersonic separators performance for separation of fine droplets from a gas stream. Up to now, all available researches employ empirical or semi-empirical correlations to define the relationship between droplet growth rate (dr/dt) and other operating variables such as temperatures (T and TL), Pressure (P...

Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by the unaided eye. Let the slime mould span two electrodes with a single protoplasmic tube: if the tube is heated to approximately ≈40 °C, the electrical resistance of the protoplasmic tube increases from ≈3 MΩ to ≈10,000 MΩ. The organism's resistance is not proportional nor correlated to the temperature of its environment. Slime mould...

The effect of isoniazid on the protoplasmic viscosity in the H37Ra strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was determined by using electron spin resonance spectroscopy and a small spin label tempone (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidone-N-oxyl radical). Isoniazid (0.5 mug/ml) caused the internal cellular viscosity to increase gradually over the first 15 h of exposure from a rotational correlation time va...

One of the most distinguishing features of the adult human brain is the complexity and diversity of its cortical astrocytes. Human protoplasmic astrocytes manifest a threefold larger diameter and have tenfold more primary processes than those of rodents. In all mammals, protoplasmic astrocytes are organized into spatially non-overlapping domains that encompass both neurons and vasculature. Yet ...

Membrane halves of boar sperm flagella were produced by freeze-fracture and labeled in situ with concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin; the lectins were visualized with protein-gold complexes. Concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin binding sites partition with both protoplasmic and exoplasmic halves of the membrane. A high density of lectin marking was found on protoplasmic membrane halves...

The plasmodium of the slime mold, Physarum polycephalura, has been extensively used as a model organism in studies of protoplasmic streaming (1). Recently both streaming in the living plasmodium and the viscosity of suitably prepared plasmodial extracts have been shown to respond specifically to additions of ATP. The plasmodla exhibit increased streaming (2), whereas the extracts become less vi...