The effects of single injections and daily oral administration of ethanol on plasma levels of ACTH, beta endorphin, and corticosterone in response to cold stress were examined. The long-term experimental animals were given 0.25 ml of 28% ethanol or water orally once a day, five days a week, for fourteen months. Plasma levels of ACTH, beta endorphin, and corticosterone were lower in alcohol-treated rats as compared with water-treated rats when exposed to cold stress. The effects of a single injection of ethanol significantly elevated plasma levels of all three hormones. Mortality in sham-treated males was higher than ethanol-treated.

Concern over sediment toxicity has increased the need for toxicity test information with organisms that inhabit sediments. Oligochaetes are exposed to toxicants through feeding and direct body contact with aquatic sediments. Chronic testing with oligochaetes has historically focused on tubificids with test lengths of one year or more to encompass several generations. Most naidid oligochaetes have generation times of three to seven days and could provide chronic information in a matter of weeks. The cosmopolitan distributed naidid, Pristina leidyi, was evaluated for use as a toxicity test organism. Results of research conducted includes culture methods, effects of temperature on reproduction, growth rates in a reference sediment, acute toxicity tests, and chronic toxicity tests.

Recent studies suggest that synthesis of the Colony-stimulating factor (CSF) is a well regulated process. However, the molecular mechanisms of the signal transduction of the various inducers of CSF such as monokines and lymphokines are not well understood. Using Interleukin 1 (IL-1) stimulation of CSF-1 in the MIA PaCa-2 cell line as a model system, the involvement of G-protein has been studied. The IL-1 induction of CSF-1 synthesis can be inhibited by both Pertussis toxin and Cholera toxin, which are known to modify the Gᵢ and Gₛ proteins respectively, thus activating adenylate cyclase to release more cAMP. The toxin inactivation can be prevented by inhibitors of the ADP-ribosylation such as, benzamide and MBAMG. Addition of dibutyryl-cAMP inhibits the IL-1 induced CSF production. Both Theophylline and Forskolin which increase cAMP by inhibiting phosphodiesterase and stimulating adenylate cyclase respectively, also inhibit CSF-1 production. Results from these studies have shown that cAMP level inversely regulates the biosynthesis of CSF-1. Preincubation of MIA PaCa-2 cells with IL-1 and 5'- guanylylimidodiphosphate (GppNHp) prevents the inhibitory effect of pertussis toxin on CSF-1 production. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that IL-1 binds to its receptor and couples to Gᵢ∝ resulting in the inhibition of adenylate …