Degradation of actin and vimentin by calpain II, a Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteinase, in bovine lens

AbstractCalpain II, a high Ca2+-requiring form of Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteinase (EC 3.4.22.17), isolated from bovine lens was found to cleave actin and vimentin, two major cytoskeletal elements of the lens. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that actin (Mr 43000) was broken down through intermediary products of approximate Mr 42000 and 40000, while vimentin (Mr 57000) was rapidly cleaved into several fragments ranging from Mr 44000 to 20000. The cleavage was dependent on Ca2+ and could be blocked by calpastatin, a calpain-specific inhibitor. These findings suggest that calpain might play a role in age-related degradation of the lens cytoskeleton

Symptoms appearing in the eye fundus of the goldfish affected by drugs

(1) Observations were made of the symptoms that appear in the eye fundus of the goldfish when the fish are exposed to an unfavorable environmental medium. Such a medium was prepared usually by disolving a drug in the normal rearing water. (2) Such methods of ophthalmoscopy by which the eye fundus of the goldfish can be examined without injuring the fish were invented. Consequently, it was possible to examine the eye fundus of the same individual of fish repeatedly. (3) A total of 54 kinds of drugs were used singly for rendering the rearing media unsuitable for the life of goldfish. As a rule, typical symptoms of both incipient stage and dying condition caused by each of the drugs were recorded in natural color photographs. (4) In each experiment, some of the fish which presented symptoms of incipient stage in the eye fundus were put back in the normal rearing medium, and their vitality was observed during the following one month. (5) The effects of metabolic wastes accumulating in the environmental medium, of laboring breath and of hypertonic environmental medium upon the eye fundus of the gold fish were also observed. (6) Lastly, the symptoms shown in the eye fundus of the goldfish killed instantly by clubbing were compared with of the fish agonized to death by being left in the air. (7) The eye fundus of the goldfish were sensitive to 34 kinds of the examined drugs. Harmful effects of these drugs on the vitality of the fish could be successfully avoided by removing the fish into a normal rearing medium upon finding the eye fundus synptoms of incipient stage. The rest of the examined drugs mostly caused characteristic symptoms in the eye fundus of the goldfish. (8) The eye fundus of the goldfish was highly sensitive to the accumulation of metabolic wastes in the environmental medium, but not so sensitive to the effect of laboring breath or to the hypertonicity of the environmental medium. (9) The goldfish killed instantly could be distinguished from those agonized to death by examinating their eye fund

稚鯉血色素量・血沈値及びヘマトクリット

(I) The methods for determining hemoglobin content (Hb), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (E.S.R.) and hematocrit (Ht) of the blood of young carp were critically tested and the proper methods were settled. (2) Normal values of Hb, E.S.R., Ht and M.C.H.C. of the blood of young carp were determined in winter and in spring. (3) The blood of the carp gave lower Hb and Ht, but higher E.S.R. and M.C.H.C. in winter than in spring. (4) The blood of the carp starved for seven weeks gave abnormal values on various blood characteristics

Symptoms appearing in the eye fundus of the carp fed on the diet containing oxidized oil

1. It was confirmed by Y. Hashimoto et al. that muscle dystrophy of the carp was caused by oxidized oil in the diet. 2. In the present research, ophthalmoscopic and histopathologic inspections were made of the eye fundus of the carp fed on the diet containing the oxidized oil. 3. Such symptoms of arteriosclerosis as hyaline degeneration, hypertrophy or necrose of the wall of vitreal vessels were observed. 4. Other symptoms observed were local or diffused decolourization and partial projection of retina. It was confirmed by histological examinations that the decolourizations of retina were caused by the disintegration of the pigment, distributed outer surface of the pigment epithelium, and that the projections of retina caused by the hypertrophy of the pigment epithelium

Studies on Electrocardiograms of Fishes : II. ECG of Carp Recorded with Bipolar Lead from Body Surface

ECGs of various carp recorded with bipolar leads from certain positions on the body surface showed almost the same patterns. ECGs reco rded from pectoral fins, left and right fins connected with the plus and the minus terminals of ECG apparatus respectively, exhibited the upward or diphasic P wave and the QS or Qr or QR type of QRS complexes and ECGs from lower jaw (minus terminal) and either anal or caudal fin (plus terminal) showed the upward or diphasic P wave and the R or QS type of QRS complexes. It can therefore be presumed that in the case of carp heart the excitation spread through the atrium from dorsal to ventral direction radially and through the ventricle both from left to right and from basis to the apex

魚類の運動視反応に関する研究 : I. メダカの連動視反応を惹起せしめる条件

1. ガラス円形水槽の周囲lこ明暗の縞模様が廻転するように考案されたCRONLV-DILLON and MUNTZの装置を改良した実験装置を用い，メダカの運動視反応の発現と飼育条件の関係を調べて，次の様な結果を得た. 2. 野生のメダカは少くとも3~5 回訓練して，始めて明瞭な運動視反応を確実に現わすようになる.しかし廻転する縞模様に完全に追随する迄には30~60 秒を要する. 3. 充分に訓練したメダカでも，これをガラス容器内で飼育して置くと，その運動視反応、は極めて不規則となり，叉狭い容器内に飼育した場合には，運動視反応は遅れて現われる. 4. 更に，実験装置内で予め縞模様を見せて置くと，メダカは縞の運動開始と殆んど同時にそれを追い始める. 5. 暗い中で飼育し暗順応状態になっているメダカは，実験開始後数分経ってから運動視反応を呈するが，この反応の発現の遅れは，実験装置内lこ入れられた暗順応状態のメダカの網膜において，錐体楕円部及び色素層とが明順応状態への網膜運動を開始するのに要する時間と一致する.Some experiments of the optomotor reaction using the Japanese killifish, Oryzias latipes TEMMINCK et SCHLEGEL, were carried out in the apparatus slightly modified from the one used by CRONL Y -DILLON and MUNTZ (1965) consisting in rotating pattern of alternating light and dark stripes around the glass vessel in which fish are held. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. 1. Wild fish do not show any clear positive optomotor reaction until they are well trained by 3 to 5 trial experiments. It takes 30 to 60 seconds even for welltrained fish to come to the state of following completely the moving pattern of stripes. 2. Fish show irregular optomotor reaction when they are reared in a small glass container, even if they have been duly trained. Besides, when reared in a small opaque container, they begin to react several minutes later than they do when normally reared. 3. Fish that have been shown the pattern of stripes prior to the experiment begin to react to the moving pattern of stripes earlier than those which have not been shown. 4. The starting time of the optomotor reaction in fish kept in darkness (darkadapted) is delayed correlatively to the time at which the process of light adaptation begins in retinas of fish held in the working apparatus.This study was partly supported by a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education

Relationship between the Concentration of Cyanide Ion Detected in Carp and That in Environmental Water

The toxicity of cyanide solution to carp increased with a rise in temperature. The result that the concentration of cyanide ion in blood was higher than that in hepatopancreas and spleen，or digestive tract of carp exposed to 10 ppm cyanide ion solution for 5 hours suggested that the ambient cyanide might enter into the blood through the gill. However, the cyanide ion concentration in skin and muscle was higher than that in viscera of carp died in 10 ppm cyanide ion solution. It can therefore be concluded that a large amount of cyanide penetrated into the fish body surface. Cyanide ion was detectable from carp washed by running tap water for 24 hours after death in 5 ppm cyanide ion solution ， and also from carp exposed to 10 ppm cyanide ion solution for 70 minutes after death of suffocation

Blood Corpuscle Resistance of Carp Died of Environmental Hypoxia and of Cyanide Poisoning

Blood corpuscle resistance (BCR) of carp significantly lowered immediately after death of environmental hypoxia from its normal level, while it remained at the same level as the normal one, when the fish was dead of cyanide poisoning. However, 24 hours after the fish was dead, the BCR decreased in the case of death of cyanide poisoning, whereas it increased in the case of death of environmental hypoxia, compared with its level immediately after the fish died. The results indicate that the measurement of BCR of fish within several hours after death may be applicable to judge whether the cause of fish death was the environmental hypoxia or not