Analysis of plume emissions after papovavirus irradiation with the carbon dioxide laser.

This study was undertaken to evaluate potential inhalation hazards to operating room personnel after irradiation of tumors with the carbon dioxide laser. Cellular debris was analyzed for viability using labeled nucleotides and labeled glucose. In this way the plume was investigated for the presence of material with oncogenic potential. Most surgeons who have ablated venereal warts or certain tumors with the carbon dioxide laser have worried about possible hazards of inhaling the vapor that is produced as a result of their work. We utilized three methods to determine whether viable particles exist in the laser plume. Fortunately, it is most comforting that the metabolic studies, DNA and RNA studies and cytologic studies seem to indicate that the plume is biologically inactive.

Correlation of metabolic and chemiluminescent responses of granulocytes from three female siblings with chronic granulomatous disease.

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) from children with atypical chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), their mother and siblings, and normal controls were studied in regard to glycolytic and hexose monophosphate shunt activities in the resting, methylene blue-stimulated, and phagocytizing states. PMNL from the patients with CGD had normal glycolytic and hexose monophophate shunt activities in the resting state and after stimulation with methylene blue. However, stimulation of the hexose monophosphate shunt after phagocytosis was greatly decreased. These data were correlated with studies of both initial rate and integral counts of chemiluminescence. The chemiluminescent response from patients with atypical CGD was also greatly decreased. This decreased response probably reflects a defect in the oxidative destruction of the phagocytized microbe and correlates well with the decreased activity of the phagocytically activated hexose monophosphate shunt. The defect in generation of radical species of oxygen, singlet oxygen, and chemiluminescence by leukocytes from patients with CGD is discussed.

Factors affecting filamentation in Candida albicans: changes in respiratory activity of Candida albicans during filamentation.

Glucose metabolism and respiration of Candida albicans were compared under conditions which permitted either maximal filamentous or maximal yeast growth. Changes in metabolism were monitored by comparing the quantities of ethanol produced, CO2 evolved, and oxygen consumed. Filamenting cultures produced more ethanol and less CO2 than yeasts, with oxygen consumption in the former concomitantly slower than that of the latter. Studies involving cofactors and inhibitors associated with electron transport imply that a transfer of electrons away from flavoprotein is required for maintenance of yeast morphology. Conditions consistent with a buildup of reduced flavoprotein, however, favored filament formation. These changes were expressed metabolically as a shift from an aerobic to a fermentative metabolism. The results presented are consistent with hypotheses correlating filament production with changes in carbohydrate metabolism and an interruption of electron transfer within the cell.

Cytochalasin B: effect on phospholipid metabolism and lysosomal enzyme release by leukocytes;.

The effect of cytochalasin B on phospholipid metabolism and beta-glucuronidase extrusion by polymorphonuclear leukocytes from guinea pid peritoneal exudates has been studied. Cytochalasin B inhibited the engulfing of starch granules by leukocytes, but it enhanced the incorporation of 32-Pi into phosphatidic acid and the phosphoinositidesmit also stimulated the release of beta-glucuronidase into the incubation medium in the presence or absence of starch granulesmkinetic studies showed that the effects of cytochalasin B on 32-Pi incorporation into phosphatidic acid and the phosphoinositides, and the release of beta-glucuronidase into the extracellular medium were comparablempulse-chase experiment revealed that cytochalasin B did not stimulate the isotopic decay of prelabeled lipids, indicating that cytochalasin B increased the radiophosphorus activity of phosphatidic acid and the phosphoinositides by increasing the synthesis of these lipidsmthe incorporation of myo-[2-3H]inositol into the phosphoinositides was also enhanced in the presence of cytochalasin B, but the incorporation of [methyl-14-C] choline into phosphatidylcholine and sphingogonyelin was unchanged;

Factors affecting filamentation in Candida albicans: relationship of the uptake and distribution of proline to morphogenesis.

When glucose was present in high concentration, Candida albicans formed filaments in a phosphate-buffered medium, regardless of the nitrogen source. In lower concentrations of glucose, filamentation occurred only when various members of the glutamate, succinyl, or acetoacetyl-coenzyme A families of amino acids were used as sole nitrogen sources. Yeast morphology could be maintained either by replacing the amino acids in the medium with ammonium chloride or by making the medium high in phosphate or biotin. Studies using [U-14C]proline indicated that proline was catabolized in a manner consistent with the generation of increased cellular reducing potential and that the proline label entered into the Kreb's cycle. A reduction in Kreb's cycle activity was evidenced by an initial increase and then a rapid drop of the total organic acid content of the cells as well as in specific Kreb's cycle intermediates. Filamentation under conditions of low phosphate, high glucose, and increased cellular reduction potential, accompanied by a decrease in Kreb's cycle activity, suggests that morphogenesis in C. albicans is correlated with a Crabtree-like effect, i.e., repression of mitochondrial activity.

Impaired chemiluminescence during phagocytosis of opsonized bacteria.

A simple technique is presented for rapid screening of leukocytes of patients suspected of having a defective intracellular mechanism for the bactericidal and digestive disposal of bacteria.