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Biomedical subjects

M Petterson

Publications and source records attributed to M Petterson.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Antibiosis between bacteria isolated from the vagina of women with and without signs of bacterial vaginosis.

Lactobacilli from women with and without bacterial vaginosis (BV) were tested for H2O2 production. Thirty-seven (79%) of the 47 strains of lactobacilli isolated from the women without BV produced H2O2, while only nine (23%) of the 39 strains of lactobacilli obtained from women with BV did so. Five of 20 H2O2-producing and two of 26 non-producing strains of Lactobacillus exhibited antibiosis against four of 12 strains of peptostreptococci and two of 10 strains of Mobiluncus spp. None of a further 41 different anaerobic and facultative anaerobic bacterial strains were inhibited by any of the isolates of lactobacilli tested. Some strains of Gardnerella vaginalis, Bacteriodes spp., Mobiluncus spp. and Peptostreptococcus spp. inhibited the growth of three strains of lactobacilli belonging to different species. When the pH of the culture medium was increased from 6.0 to 6.5 this led to a decrease in the number of strains inhibited and/or the size of the growth-inhibitory zones. Different concentrations of H2O2 did not inhibit any of the strains tested. The growth-inhibitory effect of lactobacilli could not be related to their bacteriocin production. Increasing the iron content of the medium by adding FeCl3 (0.01 mM-1 mM) decreased or completely abolished the antibiosis.

Antibiosis↗

Influence of whole human milk, and fractions thereof, on inclusion-formation of Chlamydia trachomatis in McCoy cells.

A study of the effect of human breast milk, and components thereof, on the capacity of Chlamydia trachomatis to form inclusions in cycloheximide-treated McCoy cells, was undertaken. Pooled whole milk collected during the first week of breast feeding caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of the chlamydial inclusion-formation. The activity resided in the fat and fat globule membrane (FGM) components of the milk. The active principle in the FGM fraction is heat-stable and pronase-sensitive, but resistant to both neuraminidase and periodate. Immunoglobulins was not responsible for the inhibition. Whey and casein fractions of milk increased the chlamydial inclusion-formation. The activity of the whey was heat-stable, dose-related, and had a mol. wt. of greater than or equal to 12,000. The casein fraction was still active after heat treatment. Whey samples collected up to 28 days after delivery varied slightly in their stimulatory activity, with an optimum between the 7th and 14th days. The present study demonstrated a multieffect of breast milk on chlamydial inclusion-formation: an inhibitory activity due to a protein compound as well as another factor in the fat fraction and an enhancing effect due to a heat-stable factor(s).

Adult↗

The relationship between radiosensitivity and cell kinetic effects after low- and high-dose-rate irradiation in five human tumors in nude mice.

Radiation-induced synchronization of cells in the radiosensitive G2 phase can, theoretically, be applied to individual tailoring of fractionation schemes, possibly rendering radiotherapy more effective. For that purpose, cell cycle perturbations were studied in five xenografts by flow cytometry. A dose-dependent increase of cells in G2 phase was noticed in all five tumor cell lines after high-dose-rate irradiation, and in four tumor cell lines after low-dose-rate irradiation. The timing of maximum accumulation was not related to dose, but coincided with the cell cycle time of the respective tumors. Furthermore, the increase in the number of cells in G2 phase correlated with the radiosensitivity of the tumors as assessed by measurements of regrowth delays. The observed synchronization provides a basis for further investigations on the relevance of radiation-induced cell cycle synchrony to the effectiveness of fractionated radiotherapy.

Adenocarcinoma↗

A purine-rich DNA sequence motif present in SV40 and lymphotropic papovavirus binds a lymphoid-specific factor and contributes to enhancer activity in lymphoid cells.

The enhancer of simian virus 40 (SV40) is active in a wide variety of tissues and hosts and thus has been called a general enhancer. Previous work has established that this region contains a number of subsegments, each with a different cell type specificity. By analyzing enhancer deletion mutants of SV40 with a restricted cell type specificity, we have identified a purine-rich DNA motif (Pu box) that is essential for activity of the mutant enhancer in lymphoid cells and also obtained evidence for an independent element that confers activity in kidney CV-1 cells. The Pu box element is positively regulated since binding of a cognate factor(s) was only observed in lymphoid cell extracts. The Pu box is also present in the 63-bp enhancer repeat of lymphotropic papovavirus (LPV), and competition experiments show that the SV40 and LPV sequences bind the same factor(s). Thus, the Pu box is likely to be a major determinant of the lymphotropic host range of LPV. In SV40, however, the Pu box is one of several enhancer elements with different cell specificities. We suggest that such an arrangement reflects a diversification strategy of SV40 to maximize its chance of adaptation to various types of host cells.

Animals↗