Two enzymes, P-galactosidase and N-acetyl-fi-glucosaminidase, have been detected in pigment epithelial cells of cattle. The optimum activity for N-acetyl-P-glucosaminidase is at pH 5; in contrast, /3-galactosidase exhibits a broad activity maximum from approximately pH 4 to 6, with a "shoulder" in the latter range. Differential centrifugation of .25M sucroseethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDT...

Biochemical and genetic data suggest that synaptotagmin-2 functions as a Ca2+ sensor for fast neurotransmitter release in caudal brain regions, but animals and/or synapses lacking synaptotagmin-2 have not been examined. We have now generated mice in which the 5' end of the synaptotagmin-2 gene was replaced by lacZ. Using beta-galactosidase as a marker, we show that, consistent with previous stu...

In vacuoles isolated from petal upper epidermis o f Petunia hybrida through polybase-induced lysis of protoplasts the vacuolar localization o f x-mannosidase and x-galactosidase was dem on­ strated. No association was observed between the tonoplast and these hydrolases. Protoplasts from different mutant lines blocked in anthocyanin biosynthesis were treated with DEAE-dextran to release vacuoles...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Gene transfer with recombinant viral vectors encoding vasodilator proteins may be useful in therapy of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Relaxations mediated by nitric oxide are impaired in cerebral arteries affected by SAH. The present study was designed to determine the effect of SAH on the efficiency of ex vivo adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to...

Expression of nestin has been suggested to be a characteristic of pancreatic islet stem cells. To determine whether nestin is indeed expressed in such putative cells during embryonic development, or in the adult pancreas after injury, we performed a cell lineage analysis using two independent lines of transgenic mice encoding Cre recombinase under the control of rat nestin cis-regulatory sequen...

PURPOSE To test the ability of promoter fragments from the matrix Gla protein (MGP) and vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cad) genes to target gene expression in a specific manner in the cells of the outflow pathway, by using adenoviral-mediated gene transfer in organ culture. METHODS Perfused anterior segments of human eyes were infected with replication-deficient recombinant adenoviruses ex...

A homogeneous substrate-labeled fluorescent immunoassay was developed for the measurement of kanamycin concentrations in serum. A fluorogenic drug reagent (FDR) (beta-galactosyl-umbelliferone-tobramycin) was prepared that is nonfluorescent under the conditions of the assay but is hydrolyzed upon catalysis by beta-galactosidase to yield a fluorescent product. Binding of the FDR to the antiserum ...

BACKGROUND As development of cardiac gene therapies progresses, virally mediated genetic manipulations in cultured cardiomyocytes has become an important experimental approach. While adenovirus (Ad)-mediated gene transfer to neonatal and adult rat cardiomyocytes is well established, viral transduction of cultured adult mouse cardiomyocytes (AMCM) has been more difficult. This study was designed...