It is our purpose in this communication to give the results of some work upon complement fixation in syphilitic and other sera, using specific antigens prepared from pure cultures of Spirochceta pallida, Spirochceta pertenuis, and Spirochceta microdentia. The results are compared with those obtained with the same sera and a stock antigen used in our routine Wassermann tests, this antigen consis...

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most common manifestations of cardiovascular disease. In recent years, accumulating evidence has indicated that the incidence and progression of cardiovascular disease may, to some extent, be modified by dietary means. In the present study, we investigated the protective effect of betaine, a potent lipotropic molecule, on changes in lipid profile and fat...

Since the isolation of myo-inositol from biological sources over a hundred years ago, little has been reported concerning its metabolism. Experiments in nutrition have implicated inositol variously as a vitamin (1) and as a lipotropic agent (2) ; and more recently inositol has been identified as a soluble factor required for the survival of human cells grown in tissue culture (3). The presence ...

Two experiments were conducted to compare broiler chicken responses to methionine and betaine supplements when fed diets with low protein and relatively high metabolizable energy levels (17%, 3.3 kcal/g) or moderate protein and lower metabolizable energy levels (24%, 3.0 kcal/g), resulting in different levels of carcass fat. In Experiment 1, the basal diets were formulated with corn, soybean me...

In this immunocytochemical study, we used light and electron microscopic observations in combination with morphometry to analyze the processing of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in melanotrope cells of the intermediate pituitary of Xenopus laevis adapted to either a white or a black background. An antiserum was raised against a synthetic peptide including the cleavage site between ACTH and beta-li...

Experimental dietary hepatic injury (diffuse or focal necrosis and cirrhosis in rats, with or without ascites and pleural and pericardial effusion) is determined by the dietary factors instrumental also in the production of fat infiltration of the liver and thus opposed to the lipotropic activity of casein. Accordingly, rats maintained on a diet low in casein with a moderately high or high cont...

I. Prolonged intermittent exposure to reduced environmental temperature (+ 2") produced in rats given a nutritionally well-balanced diet a decrease in the concentration of esterified fatty acids in the blood serum, liver and epididymal fat tissue. In the last there was a significant increase in the unesterified: esterified fatty acid ratio. The hepatic synthesis of fatty acids from [1-14C]aceta...

Fatty infiltration of the liver may be produced experimentally in animals by various means, including dietary restriction of proteins, of choline or choline precursors, or of vitamins, as well as the use of hepatotoxins (1). The lesions produced may progress to a pathologic picture resembling that of cirrhosis in human beings. Although it is not universally agreed that the pathogenesis of human...