PHOTOBEHAVIOR OF EUGLENA GRACILIS: ACTION SPECTRUM FOR THE STEP-DOWN PHOTOPHOBIC RESPONSE OF INDIVIDUAL CELLS

Abstract—Light-induced behavioral responses of Euglena gracilis have been investigated in single cells by means of a video system coupled to an optical microscope. Light intensity-effect curves at different wavelengths in the near UV and visible range have been determined. From these curves the action spectrum for the step-down photophobic response of Euglena has been calculated. From a comparison with the results obtained using a population method by means of a phototaxigraph, it is concluded that a single photomotile reaction is responsible for cell accumulation, brought about by trapping in the light spot and possibly by phototaxis towards scattered light from organisms already in the light field.     

Determination of selenium in human tissues by atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple method is described for the determination of selenium in human tissues without the use of perchloric acid. Digestion with nitric and sulphuric acids is followed by hydride generation and atomic absorption spectrometry. Results for NBS bovine liver and IAEA horse kidney reference materials were in good agreement with assigned concentrations, as was also achieved with the perchloric acid digestion. Recovery of added selenium was >90%, and the relative standard deviation was 5.5% for within-batch and 6.9% for between-batch analyses. The values of selenium in heart tissue were 0.9–1.3 μg g^?1 dry weight.     

Distillation, on-line RP C18 preconcentration and HPLC-UV-PCO-CVAAS as a new combination for the determination of methylmercury in sediments and fish tissue

 Distillation as a way of sample digestion has been combined with on-line RP C18 preconcentration and HPLC-UV-PCO-CVAAS (high performance liquid chromatography – ultra violet – post column oxidation – cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry) for the determination of methylmercury at background levels in sediments, soils and fish tissue. To prove the accuracy of this method, it was applied to sediment and fish tissue reference materials. The results correspond with the reference values within their error ranges. Excellent recoveries (92–95%) were obtained for the sediment samples by means of the standard addition method. The standard deviations of the sediment samples were within an acceptable range (7.2–12.5%), those of the fish samples were substantially lower (3.4–5.0%). The detection limit is 0.04 ng/g for 1 g sample weight. Received: 23 November 1995/Revised: 16 April 1996/Accepted: 20 April 1996     

Oxydative Kupplung von Indolinen und 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydrochinolinen mit Kaliumpermanganat. 153. Mitteilung über Alkaloide

It is shown that treatment of indolines like 4a-methyl-1,2,3,4,4a,9a-hexahydrocarbazole ( 1 ) and even indoline-alkaloids like 5 or 6 (cf. scheme 1) with KMnO₄ in boiling acetone solution leads to the indolenines 10, 29 and 33 , respectively, and, in relatively high yields, to N,N′- or C,N-coupling products (cf. schemes 2 and 5). The results of the oxidation of 6- or 8-methoxy-indolines are shown in schemes 3 and 4, respectively. Analogous ‘dimeric’ dehydrogenation products are observed when tetrahydroquinolines ( 8 and 9 , resp.) are treated with KMnO₄ (cf. schemes 7 and 8, resp.). The formation of the bis-compounds is almost certainly due to the coupling of two intermediate indolenyl or tetrahydroquinolyl radicals. The cleavage of the hydrazine derivatives 11 or 17 (scheme 9) also leads to ‘dimeric’ C,N-coupling products. By heating the hydrazine derivative 17 with aqueous HCl, a complete cleavage into indoline 2 and the indolenines 16 and 20 is observed. The reaction is rationalized in scheme 10. So far no naturally occurring alkaloids related to the above mentioned C,N-coupling products have been found.     

Preparation of 4-aryl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-3,3-dimethylisoquinolines and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-3,3-dimethyl-4-phenylbenz[h]isoquinolines

Synthetic procedures to prepare a number of 4-aryl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-3,3-dimethylisoquinolines and their benzo-homogues 3 through a series of intermediates are described. The condensation of α-(1-amino-1-methylethyl)arylmethanols 5 with arylaldehydes 6 gave imino derivatives 7 which on reduction with borohydride gave secondary amines 8 . The treatment of 8 with mineral acids gave the target compounds 3 . Biological activities of 3 are briefly discussed.     

Level-spacing distributions beyond the Wigner surmise

We introduce a dynamical system, for which it is possible to get such a large number of eigenvalues that deviations from Wigner's surmise are visible. The obtained level-spacing distribution agrees much better with the distribution derived from random matrix theory.     

Aortic elastin fluorescence afterin vivo labeling with Congo red

Congo red (CR) is an azo dye which not only preferentially binds to elastin, an extracellular matrix protein found in the media of arterial vessel walls, but also fluoresces when it binds to this protein. Protein solubilization data following laser irradiation of elastin:CR suspensions determined that the amount of elastin solubilized by laser irradiation increased with the increase in CR. The saturation point of CR to elastin was attained when 400 g CR was added to 20 mg elastin suspension. When 20 ml of a 5% CR solution in 5% dextrose was administered intravenously, the CR was absorbed in levels sufficient to produce fluorescence of the main arteries in rabbits. Layers of tissue both in the media of the vessels and at the endothelial/intimal interface were clearly differentiated. Therefore, the elastin:CR complex appears to be an ideal system in which the elastin fluorescence could aid in distinguishing between normal and diseased tissue in certain pathological conditions, such as atherosclerosis and some types of breast tumors.     

Fragmentation reactions of some aliphatic esters in the NCl(F−) and NCl(NH2−) mass spectra

The NCI(F^?) and NCI(NH₂^?) mass spectra of a series of aliphatic acetates and of methyl and ethyl trimethylacetate have been obtained. The formation of fluoroenolate ions CH₂COF^? and of carboxamide anions RCONH^? (R ? CH₃))CH₃C). respectively, is observed besides formation of [M ? H]^? ions and carboxylate ions RCOO^? (R ? CH₃, (CH₃)₃C). The relative intensities of the different anions depend on the structure of the ester molecules and on the primary reactant anions. Usually, the NCI(NH₂^?) spectra of the acetates are dominated by [M ? H]^? ions ([M? D]^? ions in the case of trideuteroacetates) fragmenting unimolecularly by elimination of an alcohol. The carboxylate ions are important fragments, too, but carboxamide ions are only observed with large intensities in the NCI(NH₂^? spectra of the trimethylacetates. The NCI(F^?) spectra show much larger intensities of carboxylate ions and fluoroenolate ions. The mechanisms of the fragmentation reactions are discussed. The results indicate that most or even all of the fragment ions in the NCI(F^? mass spectra of aliphatic esters are formed by addition-elimination reactions via a tetrahedral intermediate, while competition between direct proton abstraction and addition-elimination reactions occurs in the NCI(NH₂^?) mass spectra because of the higher basicity of NH₂^? resulting in an early transition state for direct proton abstraction.     

Kinetics of particle deposition in the oblique impinging jet cell

A new oblique impinging-jet (OBIJ) cell was developed, suitable for colloid deposition studies at various interfaces. In contrast to previously used orthogonal cells, the OBIJ construction makes possible direct microscope observations of particle deposition on nontransparent substrates. The cell performance was tested by studying kinetics of polystyrene latex particle deposition on mica. Two limiting cell configuration were used in the experiments: (i) the lower position (inverted microscope observation of substrate surface through air) and (ii) the upper position (observation of the substrate surface with adsorbed particles through the suspension layer). The dependence of local mass transfer rate (particle flux) on the position over the substrate surface was studied for various flow Reynolds numbers. It was demonstrated that deposition rate attained maximum at the flow stagnation point whose position was dependent on Re number. Moreover, it was shown that the local flux decreased at much slower rate when moving in the downstream direction, than for previously used impinging-jet cells. Consequently, the area of uniform transport conditions was larger, enabling more precise determination of the limiting particle flux at the stagnation-point. The dependence of the flux on Re number was systematically studied for various ionic strength of the suspension. It was demonstrated, in accordance with previous results for the ordinary impinging-jet, that the flux increased significantly for low ionic strength and high Re number. This phenomenon, referred to as the inverse salt effect, was interpreted in terms of the convective diffusion theory. The governing transport equation originating from this theory was solved numerically, for the region near the stagnation point, using the finite-difference method. These numerical solutions were used for nonlinear fitting of the flow intensity parameter dependence on the Re number. In this way the flow field in the vicinity of the stagnation point was fully characterized. It was concluded that the new cell can be exploited as an effective experimental tool for colloid deposition studies on various substrates.     

über einige Kondensationsreaktionen von dimerem Malonitril, dimerem Cyanessigs?ure?thyl- bzw.-methylester mit aromatischen Aldehyden

Aromatic aldehydes (1 a-g) yield linear condensation products (3 a-1) with dimeric ethyl and methyl cyanoacetate, resp., and dimeric malonitrile. Reduction of the condensation product of o-nitrobenzaldehyde with dimeric methyl cyanoacetate leads to methyl (3-methoxycarbonyl-1,2-dihydro-2-chinolinylidene)-cyanoacetate (4), with o-aminobenzaldehyde a carbostyril derivative5 a is obtained. In the presence of ammonium acetate aromatic aldehydes react with dimeric methyl and ethyl cyanoacetate, resp. to hexahydro-pyrimidinylidene cyanoacetates (8).