Blastogenic responses in vitro to phytohemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen were examined in microcultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes from a group of 12 healthy, long-term marihuana smokers and a group of matched control subjects. With either mitogen, no significant difference in cellular incorporation of (3H)thymidine was noted between the groups. These results were interpreted to indicate that the functional status of blood lymphocytes was not altered by long-term smoking of marihuana.

No abstract

507evidence available indicates this is due to an effect on Ca++ permeability(3).Te traet hylammoni um chloride was found to increase greatly the amplitude and duration of cardiac tra,becular and Purkinje fibers. It also produced an acceleration of firing in spontaneously active Purkinje tissue and the appearance of spontaneous activity in trabecular muscle. Summary.

Comparisons were made of the yield, chemical content, and biological activity of filtrates and extracts obtained by sonic and pressure cell disruption of bacilli from 4-and 8-week-old Proskauer and Beck cultures of the H37Rv strain (TMC no. 102) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The culture filtrates were dialyzed, freeze-dried, reconstituted in saline, and sterilized by membrane filtration. The viable bacilli were washed and resuspended in distilled water and subsequently disrupted either by sonication in the cold for 15 or 30 min or by treatment at 20,000 or 40,000 lb/in2 in a pressure cell. The resulting extracts were clarified by centrifugation, concentrated, and sterilized by filtration. All preparations were adjusted to contain 10 mg of solids (dry weight)/ml and were analyzed quantitatively for protein, deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, polysaccharide, and lipid content. Separation patterns obtained by gradient acrylamide gel electrophoresis, as well as by one-and two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis, provided the basis for qualitative comparisons of the culture filtrates and cell extracts. Three-point dose-response curves also were used to compare the preparations for skin test reactivity in BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs. It was concluded that, although there were no consistent differences in chemical content or biological activity between the preparations, a 15-min sonic treatment appeared to be the most suitable method for preparation of bacillary extracts based on yield of active components and ease of preparation.

Rose, Michael J., Jr. (Veterans Administration Hospital, Washington, D.C.), Stephen A. Aron, and Bernard W. Janicki . Effect of various nonionic surfactants on growth of Escherichia coli . J. Bacteriol. 91: 1863–1868. 1966.— Escherichia coli cultivated in media containing 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, or 4.0% concentrations of surface-active polyoxyethylene derivatives of formaldehyde polymers of octyl phenol (Triton WR-1339; Macrocyclon) or of sorbitan mono-fatty acid esters (Tween 20, 40, 60, and 80) exhibited significantly retarded growth only at the highest concentration. To determine the mechanism of bacteriostasis, certain derivatives and compounds related to the surfactants were investigated. Experiments with compounds related to the Triton-type agents demonstrated that incorporation of monomeric substances (Triton X-205, X-305, Igepal CA-730, or Dowfax 9N20) into the medium at a concentration of 4.0% did not inhibit the growth of E. coli . It was concluded that the formaldehyde polymer was essential for growth inhibition by the polyoxyethylene derivatives of octyl phenol. The inhibitory activity of the Tween compounds, in contrast, appeared to result from the unesterified fatty acids which contaminate the commercial preparations. Polyol (60), the sorbitan polyoxyethylene derivative of Tween 60 and the basic structural unit of all the Tween-type compounds, and a Tween 80 preparation which was purified by extraction of the unesterified oleic acid, were not inhibitory. Moreover, the amount of free oleic acid present as a contaminant of Tween 80 was found to be sufficient to cause significant growth inhibition. These results and the observation that E. coli does not appear to hydrolyze the esterified fatty acid of Tween 80 led to the conclusion that growth inhibition obtained with various Tween compounds probaby is a function of their respective fatty acid contaminants.