A specific in vitro assay was developed for the protein carboxyl methyltransferase that is involved in the chemotactic behavior of Salmonella typhimurium. This cytosolic enzyme catalyzes an S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyl esterification of glutamyl residues on a class of 60,000-dalton inner-membrane proteins. The activity was found to display a pH optimum of 6.5 and be sensitive to the concentration of salts in the assay medium. No detectable activity was found towards a variety of other proteins which serve as substrates for mammalian and other bacterial carboxyl methyltransferases. This assay was used to quantitate the methylation of the 60,000-dalton methyl-accepting proteins in response to chemoeffectors. Small but reproducible concentration-dependent changes in the initial rates of in vitro methylation were observed with chemotactic attractants and repellents. The specific methyltransferase activity was found to be absent in several mutants in flagellar synthesis (fla-), suggesting that the synthesis of this enzyme is coordinately regulated with that of flagellin and basal bodies. The hydrodynamic properties of the enzyme in crude extracts were determined by gel filtration and sucrose velocity gradient centrifugation, and a native molecular weight of 41,000 was calculated from these data.

Background: Acupuncture may achieve results partially through altering vagal tone. Heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring is a noninvasive method of observing sympathovagal tone. Objectives: To explore HRV analysis methods applicable to the acupuncture clinic setting, and to compare intratreatment HRV response in patients who have responded to their acupuncture series with patients who did not respond. Design, Setting, and Patients: Retrospective, uncontrolled observational study of 27 patients presenting to a private acupuncture clinic. Intervention: All patients received body acupuncture prescribed by the tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), according to their presenting pattern and diagnosis. Data were analyzed after their treatment course was completed. Main Outcome Measure: Patients' assessment of progress and functionality, as a function of their LFR/HFR (low frequency to high frequency ratio) HRV intratreatment trend. Results: Patients who responded to their acupuncture series tended to exhibit a decrease in LFR/HFR during the acupuncture treatment. Non-responders tended to show no change or an increase in their LFR/HFR. Conclusions: In this study, the correlation between vagal enhancement (decrease in LFR/HFR) during acupuncture treatment and positive response to acupuncture was supported.

Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive autonomic measure, has been applied to acupuncture interventions in controlled academic settings comparing points used, types of stimulation, or the HRV parameters measured. There is evidence that acupuncture decreases the stress response in both human and animal subjects, and can increase HRV in the short term (minutes to hours). The goal of this study was to explore an array of HRV parameters during acupuncture sessions and over the course of treatment (weeks to months) in a series of patients being treated for hypertension. This was a retrospective, uncontrolled case study of patients presenting to a private acupuncture clinic. Patients received manual body acupuncture prescribed by the tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and by published protocols for hypertension treatment. Heart rate was monitored during and after needle placement. The tracings were then analyzed with the Vivosense HRV analysis system. The main outcome measures were were patients' blood pressure measurements and low-frequency-to-high-frequency (LF/HF) ratio of HRV. Patients tended to have an increase in their HRV during treatment, after needling, and, in some instances, an increase in HRV over weeks to months. Some patients' HRV increased over weeks to months during the course of acupuncture treatment for hypertension as evidenced by a decrease in their LF/HF ratio. This would indicate a relative decrease in their physiologic stress.

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