Jörgen Boëthius

A qualitative comparison of the glucocorticoid receptor in cytosol from human brain and rat brain.

The glucocorticoid receptor in cytosol from human brain was studied using isoelectric focussing in slabs of polyacrylamide gel. [3H]Dexamethasone was used as tracer for receptor analysis. The glucocorticoid receptor from human brain was compared to the glucocorticoid receptor in rat brain. A similar peak of radioactivity with a pI of about 6.1 was obtained by isoelectric focussing of cytosol from both human brain and rat brain. The trypsin-induced fragmentation patterns of the glucocorticoid receptor from human brain and rat brain were very similar when analyzed by isoelectric focussing. The hormone specificity of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain and in rat brain cytosol was compared by competition experiments using unlabelled dexamethasone, betamethasone, cortisol and corticosterone as competitors. No difference between human brain and rat brain cytosol was detected. It is concluded that the hormone specificity and the protein structure of the glucocorticoid receptors in human brain and in rat brain are similar.

Effects of asphyxia on the electrocorticogram of newborn rabbits

Abstract The asphyxia resistance of the electrocorticogram (EEG) was studied in developing postnatal rabbits. Asphyxia was found to block the EEG completely within 100 sec at all ages studied. The longest period of asphyxia which the EEG of the rabbits could survive decreased from about 40 min at birth to about 6 min at 18 days of age. After a fixed period of asphyxia the reappearance of the EEG was faster in the younger than in the older animals. After long periods of asphyxia this difference was more pronounced. In one series of experiments the animals were subjected to asphyxia after the administration of noradrenaline, a treatment which increases the asphyxia tolerance of the direct cortical response. The asphyxia tolerance of the EEG was not changed by this treatment.