Immune activation is associated with phenylhydrazine-induced anemia in the rat.

Long-term phenylhydrazine (PHZ) treatment caused pronounced anemia and a concomitant increase in the numbers of circulating leukocytes in Long-Evans rats. The leukocytosis was caused mainly by an elevation in mononuclear cells, most notably in the lymphocyte population. PHZ has been reported to cause the direct lysis of erythrocytes by nonimmune mechanisms. However, recent reports indicate that PHZ can cross-link red cell band 3 protein (senescent antigen), resulting in the binding of autologous immunoglobulin G (IgG). Recognition of this complex by macrophage Fc receptor mechanisms triggers rapid erythrophagocytosis-in the spleen and possibly the liver as well. In our study, analysis of the blood, bone marrow, and spleen cells of long-term (1 to 6 weeks) PHZ-treated rats was performed by using flow cytometry. Total serum IgG levels were determined by radial immunodiffusion, and antibodies reactive with red cells that were sensitized to PHZ either in vivo or in vitro were titered by using the indirect Coombs' method. Serum prostaglandin E2 titers also were determined at different time intervals after PHZ administration. The results indicate that PHZ induces an increase in circulating antibody and prostaglandin E2 titers that correlates with the onset of anemia and that the serum of PHZ-treated rats can induce anemia in normal recipients after passive transfer. Cytofluorographic studies revealed a marked increase in the B-cell population of the peripheral blood and spleen and an altered ratio T-helper to T-suppressor cells at certain time intervals after PHZ injection. The results indicate that in addition to inducing senescence-like alterations in erythrocyte membrane proteins, PHZ stimulates the production of the autologous IgG that recognizes these sites and promotes lymphoid blastogenesis, most notably in the B-cell lineage.

Phenylhydrazine is a mitogen and activator of lymphoid cells.

Rats were administered a single injection of phenylhydrazine (PHZ) which induced an hemolytic anemia that reached maximal levels two to four days following injection. This was accompanied by a leukocytosis which was most pronounced four to six days after injection; lymphocytes and monocytes accounted for 75 percent to 80 percent of the leukocyte count, respectively. All peripheral blood cell values, including the red cell count and hematocrit, returned to their pre-injection levels by the 11th post-injection day. Analysis by flow cytometry of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from PHZ-treated rats by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient separation showed a marked increase in the B cell population of the peripheral blood. This was also seen in cultures of PBMC obtained from untreated rats following incubation with PHZ. Cultures of PBMC obtained from rats four to five days after PHZ injection which were incubated with pokewood mitogen (PWM) or phytohemagglutinin (PHA) showed significant increases in blastogenesis as indicated by [3H] thymidine incorporation when compared to cultures of PBMC obtained from untreated rats incubated with these mitogens. Incubation of cultures of PBMC obtained from untreated rats with PHZ significantly increased blastogenesis in cultures of five day duration. Atypical and blastic lymphoid cells were evident in cytosmears of PBMC isolated from PHZ-treated rats and also in sections of PBMC pellets studied using the transmission electron microscope. Serum of the PHZ-treated rats contained elevated immunoglobulin titers as measured by radial immunodiffusion. The results show that PHZ stimulates lymphoid cell blastogenesis and can sensitize circulating lymphoid cells to PHA and PWM indicating that PHZ is capable of stimulating the immune system of the rat.

Hemostatic alterations associated with phenylhydrazine-induced anemia in the rat.

Phenylhydrazine (PHZ) is a hemolytic agent which has been used in the treatment of polycythemia vera. Recent studies performed in our laboratory have indicated that the PHZ-induced anemia is immuno-hemolytic in etiology, and a prolonged bleeding time was present in some of the rats chronically treated with PHZ. The nature of this bleeding tendency was explored in the present experiment. PHZ was administered to rats once a week for a six week period. During this time, the animals were monitored for prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen concentration, and individual coagulation factor levels as well as routine plasma chemistries and blood cell counts. In addition, radioimmunoassays (RIA) for prostacyclin, a platelet aggregation inhibitor, and prostaglandin (PG) E2 were performed. PHZ-treated animals displayed a significant elevation in both PT and APTT when compared with saline injected controls, although plasma fibrinogen levels were not appreciably altered. Further tests revealed a PHZ-induced decrease in prothrombin and factor V levels. In addition, a significant increase in plasma serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and alkaline phosphatase levels was observed as well as a diminution in cholesterol and triglycerides following PHZ administration. PHZ treatment also induced an elevation in prostacyclin levels and transient thrombocytopenia. These findings indicate that several factors may contribute to the prolonged bleeding time in PHZ-treated rats including a drug induced thrombocytopenia possibly associated with enhanced synthesis of autologous immunoglobulin G (IgG) against the senescent red cell antigen, and diminished synthesis of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors which may be mediated by reduced vitamin K uptake by the hypo-cholesterolemic subjects.

A molecular solution to the riddle of the giant panda's phylogeny.

Although it is generally agreed that the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a member of the order Carnivora, there has long been disagreement over whether it should be classified with bears, raccoons or as a single member of its own family. Four independent molecular and genetic measures lead to a consensus phylogeny for the giant and lesser pandas. The lesser panda diverged from New World procyonids at approximately the same time as their departure from ursids, while ancestors of the giant panda split from the ursid lineage much later, just before the radiation which led to modern bears. The giant panda's divergence was accompanied by a chromosomal reorganization which can be partially reconstructed from the ursid karyotype, but not from that of procyonids or the lesser panda. The apparently dramatic, but actually limited, distinctions between the giant panda and the bears in chromosomal and anatomical morphology provide a graphic mammalian example of the discordance of molecular and morphological (and chromosomal) evolutionary change.

Fatal hypervitaminosis A in a neonate.

Although hypervitaminosis A is not uncommon, fatal cases are rare. We describe a neonate who died after having ingested more than 60 times the suggested dose of vitamin A per day, for 11 days. His hospital course was marked by hypercalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, a bleeding disorder, and pulmonary insufficiency. An autopsy showed extensive calcifications of the alveolar septa and bronchioles. Metastatic calcifications were also present in the kidneys, stomach, soft tissue, and skin. The skeleton showed prominent alteration of the endochondral bone formation. There was also evidence of accelerated resorption of bone, which is presumably responsible for the development of hypercalcemia and metastatic calcification.

Lipid accumulation of hypoxic tissue culture cells.

Lipid droplets have long been recognized by light microscopy to accumulate in hypoxic cells both in vivo and in vitro. In the present tissue culture experiments, correlative electron microscopic observations and lipid analyses were performed to determine the nature and significance of lipid accumulation in hypoxia. Strain L mouse fibroblasts were grown in suspension culture, both aerobically and under severe oxygen restriction obtained by gassing cultures daily with an 8% CO(2)-92% nitrogen mixture. After 48 hours, hypoxic cells showed an increase in total lipid/protein ratio of 42% over control cells. Most of this increase was accounted for by an elevation in the level of cellular triglyceride from 12.3 +/- 0.9 mug/mg cell protein in aerobic cultures to 41.9 +/- 0.7 in the hypoxic cultures, an increase of 240%. Levels of cellular free fatty acids (FFA) were 96% higher in the hypoxic cultures. No significant changes in the levels of cellular phospholipid or cholesterol were noted. Electron microscopic examination revealed the accumulation of homogeneous cytoplasmic droplets. The hypoxic changes were reversible upon transferring the cultures to aerobic atmospheres with disappearance of the lipid. These experiments indicate that hypoxic injury initially results in triglyceride and FFA accumulation from an inability to oxidize fatty acids taken up from the media and not from autophagic processes, as described in other types of cell injury associated with the sequestration of membranous residues and intracellular cholesterol and phospholipid accumulation.

Antigen recognition and the immune response. "Self-help" with symmetrical bifunctional antigen molecules.

L-Tyrosine-p-azobenzenearsonate (RAT) induces cellular immunity without humoral antibody in guinea pigs. Asymmetric bifunctional antigens composed of one RAT moiety and one dinitrophenyl (DNP) group separated by flexible spacers induce anti-RAT cellular immunity and an anti-DNP humoral response. Symmetrical bifunctional antigens of similar design but comprised of two RAT determinants induce cellular immunity without demonstrable anti-RAT antibody. However, when the flexible spacer is replaced by a rigid decaproline chain, humoral anti-RAT responses are provoked. Since RAT contains both electropositive (azo) and electronegative (arsonate) centers, the failure of bifunctional RAT compounds with flexible spacers to induce humoral immunity might be ascribed either to intramolecular stacking, which compromises their bifunctional character, or to interaction of both determinants with receptors on the same cell surface, which would fail to satisfy the requirement for cooperation. In order to distinguish between these alternatives, symmetrical bifunctional antigens composed of two L-tyrosine-p-azophenyltrimethylammonium (TAT) determinants separated by flexible or rigid spacers were synthesized. TAT is immunogenic and does not cross-react with RAT. Furthermore, it contains only electropositive centers and consequently bifunctional molecules do not undergo intramolecular stacking. Immunization with either flexibly or rigidly spaced bifunctional TAT antigens raised anti-TAT antibody. These results conclusively demonstrate that "self-help," cooperation between bone marrow-derived and thymus-derived lymphocytes of identical or similar specificity, can occur, provided the determinants on the antigen are prevented from associating with each other.

Antigen recognition and the immune response. Structural requirements in the side chain of tyrosine for immuno-genicity of L-tyrosine-azobenzenearsonate.

The low molecular weight compound L-tyrosine-azobenzenearsonate (RAT) induces a cellular immune response in guinea pigs. The contribution of the side chain of tyrosine to the immunogenicity of RAT and the structural requirements at that position for immunogenicity were assessed by synthesizing a series of analogs of RAT containing modifications in the side chain of tyrosine and employing them as immunogens. Removal of either the carboxyl or amino group did not markedly affect immunogenicity, measured by the induction of delayed cutaneous sensitivity, whereas deletion of both completely abolished it. However, a charged group was not required since side chains containing a polar hydroxyl group could substitute for chains bearing an amino or carboxyl group. The size of the side chain exerted a pronounced influence; the charged or polar substituent had to be extended from the phenolic ring by at least two carbon atoms in order to confer immunogenicity.