RESUMEN
The present paper aims to develop a simple direct colorimetric method for the determination of cerberin in rat plasma without any previous chemical separation of the cerberin from Cerbera odollam. The method is based on reaction of the cardenolide group of cerberin with 3,5-dinitro salicylic acid [DNS] in alkaline medium which yields a bright orange-yellow complex that exhibits absorption maxima at 370nm.Beer’s law obeyed in the concentration range of 50-250μg/mL. The result of the method was validated statistically and by recovery studies.
RESUMEN
An attempt has been made to forecast the potential of thermophilic fungi to grow in soil in the laboratory and in the field in the presence of a predominantly mesophilic fungal flora at usual temperature. The respiratory rate of thermophilic fungi was markedly responsive to changes in temperature, but that of mesophilic fungi was relatively independent of such changes. This suggested that in a thermally fluctuating environment, thermophilic fungi may be at a physiological disadvantage compared to mesophilic fungi. In mixed cultures in soil plates, thermophilic fungi outgrew mesophilic fungi under a fluctuating temperature regime only when the amplitude of the fluctuating temperatures was small and approached their temperature optima for growth. An antibody probe was used to detect the activity of native or an introduced strain of a thermophilic fungus, Thermomyces lanuginosus, under field conditions. The results suggest that although widespread, thermophilic fungi are ordinarily not an active component of soil microflora. Their presence in soil most likely may be the result of the aerial dissemination of propagules from composting plant material.