PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C L Patterson

Publications and source records attributed to C L Patterson.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

MTBE oxidation byproducts from the treatment of surface waters by ozonation and UV-ozonation.

In recent years, there has been considerable concern over the release of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, into the aquifers used as potable water sources. MTBE readily dissolves in water and has entered the environment via gasoline spills and leaking storage tanks. In this paper, we investigate ozonation and UV-ozonation for treatment of MTBE in contaminated drinking water sources. We report the test protocol and results of using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to determine the level of MTBE and its oxidation byproducts in samples drawn from laboratory-scale ozone and UV-ozone reactors being evaluated at a US EPA research facility. Analysis of a prepared MTBE standard indicated a detection limit on the order of 0.1 microgl(-1) with a repeatability of +/-0.4%. Results show that the overall rate of removal of MTBE via UV-ozonation in a relatively turbid surface water (15 ntu) is twice that of ozonation alone. In addition, GC-MS analysis of decomposition products showed that tert-butyl formate (TBF), methyl acetate, butene, acetone, and acetaldehyde were produced by both processes. TBF and butene reach similar maximum yields from the two processes, but are more efficiently degraded by UV-ozonation treatment. This indicates that these treatment processes also degrade these byproducts. In contrast, the remaining byproducts (methyl acetate, acetone, and acetaldehyde) are formed at similar levels during treatment, but are not degraded once formed. These byproducts may be resistant to hydrogen abstraction by hydroxyl radical.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

Postnatal regulation of limb proprioception by muscle-derived neurotrophin-3.

To investigate the effects of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) on postnatal proprioceptive neurons and their targets, transgenic mice were generated that use the myosin light chain 1 (mlc) promoter to overexpress NT-3 in skeletal muscle. Ribonuclease protection assays revealed that NT-3 overexpression in hindlimb skeletal muscle began at embryonic day 14 (E14) and continued throughout adulthood. Overexpression of NT-3 during late embryogenesis resulted in increased numbers of large sensory and small fusimotor axons. Within a week of birth, mlc/NT-3 mice retract their limbs to the torso when lifted by the tail. Footprint analysis revealed that mlc/NT-3 mice had significant abnormalities in their gait compared with wild-types. Beam walking and rotorod analysis confirmed the poor limb control by mlc/NT-3 mice. These locomotive deficits progressively worsened with age and were likely related to the formation of morphologically abnormal muscle spindles. The most common spindle anomaly was the presence of excessive intrafusal bag fibers within individual muscle spindles. To assess the role of NT-3 in recovery from nerve injury, sciatic nerve crushes were performed in young adult mice. Two days after injury, mlc/NT-3 mice displayed significantly improved sciatic functional indexes and a significant increase in muscle spindles that remained associated with axons. The latter finding suggests that excess NT-3 in muscle may retard the degeneration of proprioceptive axons after nerve crush. Long-term survival after nerve injury in mlc/NT-3 mice did not induce further changes in spindle number or morphology. These findings demonstrate that, in addition to promoting embryonic proprioceptive neuron survival, postnatal overexpression of NT-3 in muscle leads to abnormal spindle formation and deficits in locomotive control. However, our results also show that NT-3 may be therapeutic for proprioceptive axons immediately after nerve injury by delaying axon degeneration.

Animals↗

GDNF rescues nonpeptidergic unmyelinated primary afferents in streptozotocin-treated diabetic mice.

Sensory deficits induced by diabetes commonly affect small unmyelinated peptidergic and nonpeptidergic sensory neurons. The peptidergic population responds to nerve growth factor (NGF), while the nonpeptidergic DRG neurons postnatally switch their dependency from NGF to glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Recent studies have demonstrated that deficient NGF support of peptidergic nociceptors is involved in problems with small-fiber diabetic neuropathy. To determine if nonpeptidergic GDNF-responsive neurons are similarly affected by hyperglycemia, diabetes was induced in mice using streptozotocin (STZ). Four weeks following diabetes induction, staining of axon terminals of nonpeptidergic unmyelinated neurons labeled with the isolectin IB4 or enzyme activity for thiamine monophosphatase (TMP) was reduced in lamina IIi of the lumbar dorsal horn, particularly in the medial region which receives distal sciatic afferents. In contrast, NGF-responsive CGRP-immunoreactive (ir) axons showed no or only a slight decrease in spinal terminations. Insulin treatment in diabetic mice failed to improve deficits in IB4/TMP central afferents. To test whether GDNF or NGF could restore spinal deficits in nonpeptidergic afferents, STZ-treated mice were treated intrathecally for 2 weeks with NGF or GDNF. NGF administration enhanced CGRP-ir staining but failed to improve IB4/TMP projections. GDNF treatment had no effect on CGRP-ir projections but restored TMP labeling in lamina IIi. Our results demonstrate that nonpeptidergic unmyelinated sensory neurons are vulnerable to diabetes and that GDNF administration can selectively reverse deficits caused by diabetes in the IB4/TMP subpopulation.

Animals↗

A brain phosphatase with specificity for microtubule-associated protein-2.

A protein phosphatase has been isolated from brain using, as assay substrate throughout the purification, microtubule-associated protein-2 which had been phospho-labeled by its associated kinase. In contrast to other protein phosphatases, this phosphatase can effectively release phosphate from both the microtubule-binding and projection domains of microtubule-associated-protein-2. This enzyme appears to be a distinct, specific phosphatase that does not readily fit into previous classification schemes and is possibly the enzyme responsible for dephosphorylating microtubule-associated protein-2 in vivo.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Identification and solubilization of a cAMP-independent protein kinase from mouse L-cell smooth membranes.

1. Smooth membranes have been prepared from mouse L-cells and found to contain an endogenous protein kinase activity. 2. The enzyme(s) responsible for this activity use ATP, but no other nucleoside triphosphates, to phosphorylate endogenous membrane proteins as well as exogenously-added protein substrates such as phosvitin and casein. 3. Mg2+ is required for enzyme activity, maximal activity is observed at pH 7.5-8.0 and the kinase is not dependent on, or stimulated by, cyclic 3'-5' AMP. 4. The kinase activity is not decreased by the Walsh heat-stable inhibitor of cyclic 3'-5' AMP-dependent protein kinases. 5. Fifty percent or more of the membrane-associated kinase activity can be solubilized by extracting membranes with buffer containing 0.6 M NaCl. 6. The solubilized enzyme resembles the membrane-associated activity in its Mg2+ requirement, pH optimum and independence of cyclic 3'-5' AMP. 7. Phosvitin and casein are better exogenous substrates than histones or protamine for phosphorylation by the enzyme in either the membrane-associated or solubilized state.

Animals↗