Cranberry juice has been widely used for the treatment and prevention of urinary tract infections and is reputed to give symptomatic relief from these infections. Attempts to account for the potential benefit derived from the juice have focused on urine acidification and bacteriostasis. In this investigation it is demonstrated that cranberry juice is a potent inhibitor of bacterial adherence. A total of 77 clinical isolates of Escherichia coli were tested. Cranberry juice inhibited adherence by 75 per cent or more in over 60 per cent of the clinical isolates. Cranberry cocktail was also given to mice in the place of their normal water supply for a period of 14 days. Urine collected from these mice inhibited adherence of E. coli to uroepithelial cells by approximately 80 per cent. Antiadherence activity could also be detected in human urine. Fifteen of 22 subjects showed significant antiadherence activity in the urine 1 to 3 hours after drinking 15 ounces of cranberry cocktail. It is concluded that the reported benefits derived from the use of cranberry juice may be related to its ability to inhibit bacterial adherence.
The development of the fern gametophyte is affected by a number of rather diverse treatments. In particular the spectral quality of light has a strong influence on the change in form of the gametophyte. It was reconfirmed that in the developing fern gametophyte red light promotes elongation whereas in blue light the magnitude of elongation is greatly reduced. A correlation between rate of cell division and two-dimensional form was found. A high rate of cell division promotes the formation of a gametophyte that is increasing both in length and in width while a low rate of division promotes the formation of a gametophyte that is increasing primarily in length. On the basis of this observation the change in the form of the gametophyte is interpreted to be directly related to the rate of cell division, which in turn influences the plane of division. This interpretation is also applied to the transition from unidimensional to two-dimensional growth in the developing gametophyte.
Abstract. An investigation of the possible contribution of bacteria to the labeling patterns of soybean seedling nucleic acid was made. The results using sucrose gradient, MAK column, and acrylamide gel electrophoretic fractionation together with base oomposition ana-lyses of nucleic acid preparations show that contaminating bacteria do not contribute to the incorporation of 32P-orthophosphate into the RNA of excised hypocotyl or soybean root tip. Sterile, nonsterile, and CM-treated soybean hypocotyl synthesize D-R1NA to the same extent. The contaminating bacteria do not synthesize an AMP-rich RNA. The G-C rich 32P-DNA component of the soybean tissues used in these studied resuits, at least primarily, from the incorporation by contaminating bacteria. CM can be used successfully to eliminate the contribution of bacteria to the labeling of nucleic acids by etiolated plant tissues. Bacterial counts, although valuable, are not sufficient to determine if contaminating bacteria will significantly contribute to nucleic acid labeling in plants.The pattern of labeling of nucleic acids following exposure of plant tissues to some radioactive precursor (usually 33P-orthophosphate) has been described using several systems (2,3,7,8,17,21,23). Recently and Hock (6) suggested that bacterial contanminants of plant tissues contribute significantly to the nucleic acid labeling patterns observed by several workers (2, 3, 7, 8, 1/, 18, 23). Because of this we undertook an investigation of the contribution of bacteria to nucleic acid synthesis in plant tissues used extensively in this laboratorv for the study of nucleic acid metabolism (7,8). Sucrose gradient centrifugation, MAK column fractionation, and base composition analvses of nucleic acid preparations were used in these studies since they were the methods frequently used and also used by Lonberg-Holm (12). In addition we used polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic fractionation of nucleic acid preparations as this method gives complete separation of bacterial r-RNAs (23 and 16S) from plant cytoplasmic r-RNAs (25 and 18S) (11). Nucleic acids were extracted from 32P-labeled sterile and non-sterile plant tissues labeled both in the absence and presence of 50 jug/ml chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol wvas the bacteriastat of choice based on the Nvork of Leaver and Edelman (9) and Wilson ('24). In brief, the results show that bacteria do not contribute to the results of RNA studies which have been reported from this laboratory (7, 8) Materials and MethodsSoybean seeds (Glycine mlax, var. Hawkeye 63) were routinely planted in moist vermiculite and germinated at about 290 in the dark for 3 days. Sterile plants were grown from seeds which were rinsed in sterile water and then ethanol, followed by a 20-minute wash in 1 % sodium hypochlorite. Finally the seeds were washed 5 times with sterile distilled water and planted in 1 % Bacto-agar in covered sterile glass trays. Germination was for 3 days at 290 in the dark. When intact seedlings were used, germination was accomplished in Kimpac a...
The development of the gametophyte of Pteridium aquilinum was examined in the presence of several biochemical agents. These compounds, by virtue of their influence on the processes of cell division and cell elongation, brought about a change in the gross morphology of the gametophyte. It was thus reconfirmed that a change in the form of the gametophyte may be explained in terms of differential cell behavior. This interpretation was extended to include the response of the gametophytes to several amino acid and nucleic acid analogues. It was also demonstrated that there is no quantitative increase in protein concentration associated with the development of a 2-dimensional structure and it was suggested that an examination of gametophyte morphology in terms of an interaction of cell division and cell elongation may provide a better insight into the problem of gametophyte morphogenesis.
Since ions are known to influence the interaction between cells, we undertook an examination of the effect of various ions on bacterial adherence to uroepithelial cells. While most of the ions examined had no effect or decreased bacterial adherence, calcium ions significantly increased bacterial adherence. It was demonstrated, in vitro that as the concentration of calcium was increased to levels higher than normally found in the urine, there was a significant increase in bacterial adherence. It was also found that if the diet was supplemented with calcium there was an increase in the excretion of calcium in the urine and a corresponding increase in bacterial adherence when bacteria and uroepithelial cells were incubated in this urine. It is suggested that an excretion of excess calcium in the urine may lead to an increased bacterial adherence in vivo and an increased potential for urinary tract infections.
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