Six-month test-retest reliability of MRI-defined PET measures of regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate in selected subcortical structures.

Test-retest reliability of resting regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMR) was examined in selected subcortical structures: the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and anterior caudate nucleus. Findings from previous studies examining reliability of rCMR suggest that rCMR in small subcortical structures may be more variable than in larger cortical regions. We chose to study these subcortical regions because of their particular interest to our laboratory in its investigations of the neurocircuitry of emotion and depression. Twelve normal subjects (seven female, mean age = 32.42 years, range 21-48 years) underwent two FDG-PET scans separated by approximately 6 months (mean = 25 weeks, range 17-35 weeks). A region-of-interest approach with PET-MRI coregistration was used for analysis of rCMR reliability. Good test-retest reliability was found in the left amygdala, right and left hippocampus, right and left thalamus, and right and left anterior caudate nucleus. However, rCMR in the right amygdala did not show good test-retest reliability. The implications of these data and their import for studies that include a repeat-test design are considered.

Thalamic metabolic rate predicts EEG alpha power in healthy control subjects but not in depressed patients.

BACKGROUND: EEG alpha power has been demonstrated to be inversely related to mental activity and has subsequently been used as an indirect measure of brain activation. The hypothesis that the thalamus serves as a neuronal oscillator of alpha rhythms has been supported by studies in animals, but only minimally by studies in humans. METHODS: In the current study, PET-derived measures of regional glucose metabolism, EEG, and structural MRI were obtained from each participant to assess the relation between thalamic metabolic activity and alpha power in depressed patients and healthy controls. The thalamus was identified and drawn on each subject's MRI. The MRI was then co-registered to the corresponding PET scan and metabolic activity from the thalamus extracted. Thalamic activity was then correlated with a 30-min aggregated average of alpha EEG power. RESULTS: Robust inverse correlations were observed in the control data, indicating that greater thalamic metabolism is correlated with decreased alpha power. No relation was found in the depressed patient data. CONCLUSIONS: The results are discussed in the context of a possible abnormality in thalamocortical circuitry associated with depression.

Relations between PET-derived measures of thalamic glucose metabolism and EEG alpha power.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha power has been demonstrated to be inversely related to mental activity and has subsequently been used as an indirect measure of brain activation. The thalamus has been proposed as an important site for modulation of rhythmic alpha activity. Studies in animals have suggested that cortical alpha rhythms are correlated with alpha rhythms in the thalamus. However, little empirical evidence exists for this relation in humans. In the current study, resting EEG and a fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan were measured during the same experimental session. Over a 30-min period, average EEG alpha power across 28 electrodes from 27 participants was robustly inversely correlated with glucose metabolic activity in the thalamus. These data provide the first evidence for a relation between alpha EEG power and thalamic activity in humans.

Transgenic canola and soybean seeds with increased lysine.

We have increased the lysine content in the seeds of canola and soybean plants by circumventing the normal feedback regulation of two enzymes of the biosynthetic pathway, aspartokinase (AK) and dihydrodipicolinic acid synthase (DHDPS). Lysine-feedback-insensitive bacterial DHDPS and AK enzymes encoded by the Corynebacterium dapA gene and a mutant E. coli lysC gene, respectively, were linked to a chloroplast transit peptide and expressed from a seed-specific promoter in transgenic canola and soybean seeds. Expression of Corynebacterium DHDPS resulted in more than a 100-fold increase in the accumulation of free lysine in the seeds of canola; total seed lysine content approximately doubled. Expression of Corynebacterium DHDPS plus lysine-insensitive E. coli AK in soybean transformants similarly caused several hundred-fold increases in free lysine and increased total sed lysine content by as much as 5-fold. Accumulation of alpha-amino adipic acid (AA) in canola and saccharopine in soybean, which are intermediates in lysine catabolism, was also observed.

The origin of protein and fatty yolk in Rana pipiens. V. Unusual paracrystalline configurations within the yolk precursor complex.

Three unusual highly ordered configuration of yolk protein in yolk precursor bodies are described. These differ from the crystalline structure of the main body of mature yolk platelets. One of these is an aggregation of paired membranes wih a spacing of about 100 A between the members of a pair. The paired membranes of such an aggregation may be straight, parallel, and very close together; they may appear as a tight whorl; or they may display an intermediate random arrangement with varying distances between pairs. Another configuration is a tubule with a diameter of about 450 A, whose wall appears in cross section to consist of particles measuring 50 X 100 A. A third configuration is a crystalline array of rows of angular-shaped particles with a spacing of about 160 A. It is suggested that these may represent intermediates in the transition of vitellogenin to lipovitellin and phosvitin.

The origin of protein and fatty yolk in Rana pipiens. III. Intramitochondrial and primary vesicular yolk formation in frog oocytes.

The precise origin of the primary yolk precursor complex or primary vesicular yolk is obscure but in its earliest recognizable stage it is a typical multivesicular body which first acquires a moderately electron-dark matrix. Following this, an extremely electron-dark amorphous material, the yolk protein, appears within the precursor. This yolk protein increases in amount as the yolk vesicle grows and by the time the precursors are about 1 micrometer in diameter this protein is partly to almost completely crystalline. Yolk originating within mitochondrial cristae unlike that in the yolk precursor complexes is crystalline from its earliest appearance. Intracristae mitochondrial yolk crystals have a spacing of 70--85 A. Their molecular organization appears in some sections as electron-dark lamellae and in others as light cylinders surrounded by an electron-dark matrix.

The origin of protein and fatty yolk in Rana pipiens. IV. Secondary vesicular yolk formation in frog oocytes.

Secondary yolk precursor complexes are differentiated from primary yolk precursor complexes in that little or no background matrix or small vesicles are present and that electron-dark, amorphous yolk protein fills the precursor at a very early stage of growth. Secondary precursors are formed in two ways; from multivesicular bodies or from the fusion of smooth-surfaced endocytotic vesicles. Ultimately, fusion of secondary precursors with multivesicular bodies makes them indistinguishable from primary precursors. Precursors are called yolk platelets when they are mainly crystalline with only a small amount of amorphous yolk protein present. The structure of the crystal is particulate with a spacing of 70--85 A. At high resolution, the particles are seen to measure approximately 20 X 60 A. The chemical composition and interpretations of studies of the crystal structure are discussed.

Some observations on glass-knife making.

The yield of usable knife edge per knife (for thin sectioning) was markedly increased when glass knives were made at an included angle of 55 degrees rather than the customary 45 degrees. A large number of measurements of edge check marks made with a routine light scattering method as well as observations made on a smaller number of test sections with the electron microscope indicated the superiority of 55 degrees knives. Knives were made with both taped pliers and an LKB Knifemaker. Knives were graded by methods easily applied in any biological electron microscope laboratory. Depending on the mode of fracture, the yield of knives having more than 33% of their edges free of check marks was 30 to 100 times greater at 55 degrees than 45 degrees.

Evidence for diaphragms in the pores of annulate lamellae and the nuclear membrane.

Interpretation of cross and tangential sections of the annulate lamellae and nuclear membrane of Rana pipiens oocytes provides evidence in these structures for the existence of disphragms spanning the pores. The evidence appears to rule out explanations ascribing such diaphragms to an optical artifact. More detailed description is given of a component of the pore complex only briefly described heretofore and now called the "intracisternal ring." The varied results and interpretations of studies of the pore complex in various cells are discussed.