Computer-aided calculation of the molecular size of nondenatured proteins in pore-gradient gel electrophoresis.

A computer program written in Turbo C is described, which uses the two-step mathematical procedure published recently (Rothe, G. M., Electrophoresis 1988, 9, 307-316) to evaluate the molecular mass, Stokes' radius, spherical radius, and frictional coefficient of nondenatured proteins. The program runs on any IBM-PC or 100% compatible IBM-PC, provided the disk operating system MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.0 or later has been installed. Functions that are permanently in use are accessible by menu. Storage and loading of data from disk and help instructions can be called by use of function keys. The program provides several tables into which inserted and calculated data is automatically integrated. Each table can be printed out, provided a printer with IBM character set is connected to the computer.

Regional differences in the responsiveness of isolated arteries from cattle, dog and man.

Changes in tension of spiral strips from basilar, external carotid, temporal and muscle arteries from cattle, dog and man were monitored isometrically. Dose-response curves for 5-HT, noradrenaline and ergotamine indicated a variation in responsiveness between different arteries of the same species as well as between the same arteries of different species. When tested against 5-HT ergotamine consistently acted as non-competitive dualist but it antagonized responses to to noradrenaline only in peripheral arteries from dog and man. In all arteries from the carotid vasculature and in bovine muscle arteries the vasoconstrictor effects of ergotamine and noradrenaline were independent additive. It is suggested that the therapeutic value of ergotamine in the treatment of migraine headache is due to its selective vasoconstrictor activity in the external carotid vasculature mediated through independent additive vasoconstrictor effects of ergotamine and noradrenaline.