Ageing induces seed deterioration expressed as the loss of seed vigor and/or viability. Priming treatment, which consists in soaking of seeds in a solution of low water potential, has been shown to reinvigorate aged seeds. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of naturally and accelerated aging on seed germination traits and enzyme activities (proxidase, catalase and superoxid dis...

Introduction: The first and most prevailing cells that glycyrrhizin (GL) glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) encounter are red blood (RBCs). However, what follows this event is poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the effect of GL its derivatives on integrity human RBCs. Methods: RBC was assessed under normal isotonic conditions following osmotic nystatin-induced colloid-osmotic stress by measur...

l. Chemical analyses are reported for centrifuged coelomic fluid, body wall, retractor muscles and coelomocytes of the Sipunculids Themiste dyscritum and Phascolopsis gouldi acclimated to full-strength sea water. 2. Both species are isosmotic to sea water. The major coelomic fluid solutes are sodium and chloride; free amino acids (FAA) and glucose do not significantly contribute to the coelomic...

The core of adenylate and guanylate cyclases is formed by an intramolecular or intermolecular dimer of two cyclase domains arranged in an antiparallel fashion. Metazoan membrane-bound adenylate cyclases are composed of 12 transmembrane spanning regions, and two cyclase domains which function as a heterodimer and are activated by G-proteins. In contrast, membrane-bound guanylate cyclases have on...

Transition from proliferation to quiescence brings about extensive changes in cellular behavior and structure. However, the genes that are crucial for establishing and/or maintaining quiescence are largely unknown. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is an excellent model in which to study this problem, because it becomes quiescent under nitrogen starvation. Here, we characterize 610 te...

Cerebral palsy is a common birth disorder that frequently involves ischemic-type injury to developing white matter (WM). Dead glial cells are a common feature of this injury and here we describe a novel form of acute ischemic cell death in developing WM astrocytes. Ischemia, modeled by the withdrawal of oxygen and glucose, evoked [Ca2+]i increases and cell death in astrocytes in post-natal day ...

The present study determined whether vasopressin (VP) secretion is inhibited by an oropharyngeal signal associated with swallowing fluids when dehydrated rats drink water, as it is when dehydrated dogs are used as experimental subjects (Thrasher, TN, Keil LC, and Ramsay DJ. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 253: R509-R515, 1987). VP levels in systemic plasma (pVP) fell rapidly when rats dr...