It has been reported that an acetone extract of ginger and its fractions have anti-5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine; serotonin) effects. In the present study, guinea pig ileum, rat stomach fundus and rabbit aortic strips are used in order to determine the constituents of fraction 2 which are responsible for anti-5-HT effect and to examine their pharmacological properties. The analysis of fraction 2-3 indicated that galanolactone, a diterpenoid, is one of the active constituents. In guinea pig ileum, galanolactone inhibited contractile responses to 5-HT with a pIC50 value 4.93. pIC50 value of galanolactone against the response to 2-methyl-5-HT, a selective 5-HT3 agonist, in the presence of methysergide at 1 x 10(-5) M was 5.10. pIC50 values of ICS 205-930, a selective 5-HT3 antagonist, were 5.30 and 7.49, respectively. The concentration-response curve of 5-HT was shown as a biphasic curve and galanolactone caused a selective shift to the right of the second phase. In the same preparations, the pIC50 value of galanolactone and ICS 205-930 against the response to carbamylcholine (CCh) was 4.45 and 4.46. The inhibitory effect of galanolactone on the 5-HT response in the stomach fundus and aortic strips was less than that in the ileum. In addition, in the thoracic aorta precontracted with 50 mM K+, the relaxing effect of galanolactone was about 1/10 of that of papaverine. These results suggest that the anti-5-HT effect of galanolactone, a diterpenoid isolated from ginger, is related to antagonism of 5-HT3 receptors.

No abstract

Among 406 observations, 270 were used for statistics of the eruption age, because the remaining 136 which were obtained from monkeys of Shiga and Koshima show a fair degree of delay in th eruption age as a whole. The statistical results were shown in Tables 2 and 3, and a norm of the eruption age as a tentative interpretation was given in Table 4 with a footnote concerning the delay of eruption in monkeys of Shiga and Koshima. Interpretation of the delay in these monkeys is difficult, though the delay in monkeys of Koshima may be related to the general delay of their growth which has been caused by their isolation on a small islet. From the comparison of the present results and related reports on macaques (Table 5), it is apparent that among four species, M. fascicularis, M. mulatta, M. nemestrina and M. fuscata, the eruption is comparatively late in M. fuscata for most teeth, and it is generally earlier in female than male for every tooth except for M3 which erupts at similar age in both sexes or earlier in male than female especially in M. mulatta. Sexual difference in the eruption age of C, and possibly of P3, is relatively small in M. fascicularis and large in M. nemestrina. It seems that these interspecific differences are more or less related to those in body size and canine size.

Using standard methods, we describe the morphometric characteristics of Indian-and Chinese-derived rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) reared at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University. The most significant morphometric difference found between the two populations was in tail length, which was ca. 45% and 35% of crown-rump length in the Indian-and Chinese-derived rhesuses, respectively. There were no major differences between the two populations in terms of the other parameters of body size/proportion, although the Chinese-derived rhesuses tended to be larger than the Indian-derived rhesuses by 2-5% and there were some differences in the proportions of extremities. This morphometric similarity can be interpreted from either phylogenetic (recent divergence) or adaptive (similarities in habitat) perspectives.