Chemical evidence suggests ritual use of psychoactive plants used to brew ayahuasca in pre-Columbian Bolivia.
Image courtesy of Juan Albarracin-Jordan and José M. Capriles.
New Research In
Physical Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Biological Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
-
Communicated by D. Carleton Gajdusek, Institut de Neurobiologie Alfred Fessard, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, January 30, 2007 (received for review October 10, 2006)
Article Figures & SI
Figures
- Fig. 1.
AA deposition in foie gras. (a) Large venule surrounded by residual, extensively vacuolated fatty hepatic tissue (hematoxylin/eosin stain). (b) Green birefringent amyloid deposits in the blood vessel wall (Congo red stain). (c) Immunohistochemical identification of vascular AA amyloid. (Scale bar, 62 μm.)
- Fig. 2.
Tissue fragment with amyloid in duck pâté. Congo red stain.
- Fig. 3.
Ultrastructural and chemical characterization of amyloid extracted from foie gras. (a) Fibrillar nature of proteins contained in the pellet (electron micrograph, negative uranyl acetate stain). (Scale bar, 200 nm.) (b) SDS/PAGE of congophilic components extracted from duck foie gras and the spleen of a mouse with AA amyloidosis (Coomassie blue stain). The M r values of the standard proteins are given; arrows show the location of AA-containing protein bands. (c) Comparison of the amino acid sequence of duck foie gras AA amyloid with that of duck SAA (9). Homologous residues are indicated by dashes.
- Fig. 4.
AEF activity of foie gras. Hepatic and splenic amyloid deposits found in hIL-6 transgenic mice 8 wk after they were injected (a) or gavaged (b) with AA fibrils extracted from foie gras. The extent of amyloid burden in the liver (■), spleen (▨), kidney (□), and pancreas (▩) is as indicated. (Scale bars, 100 μm.)
Tables
Group Mice (n) Treatment Route Positive (%) Mean score* 1 H-2/hIL-6 (8) Extract 1 i.v. 3 (37.5) 3+ 2 H-2/hIL-6 (6) Extract 2 i.v. 2 (33.3) 4+ 3 H-2/hIL-6 (7) Extract 3 i.v. 6 (85.7) 1.9+ 4 H-2/hIL-6 (5) PBS i.v. 0 (0) 0 5 H-2/hIL-6 (7) Extract 4 i.v. 7 (100) 3.1+ 6 MT-1/hIL-6 (8) Extract 4 Gavage 5 (62.5) 4+ 7 MT-1/hIL-6 (7) Extract 5 i.v. 5 (71.4) 4+ 8 H-2/hIL-6 (9) Extract 5/cooked i.v. 5 (55.6) 1.75+ 9 H-2/hIL-6 (6) Extract 5/guanidine HCl i.v. 2 (33.3) 0.5+ 10 BALB/c (10) Extract 5 i.v. 8 (80) 1.6+ 11 BALB/c (5) PBS i.v. 0 (0) 0 -
↵*Mean score of amyloid-positive spleens in each group.
-
Data supplements
Solomon et al. 10.1073/pnas.0700848104.
Supporting Information
Files in this Data Supplement:
SI Figure 5Fig. 5. Development of amyloid in foie gras-treated vs control (untreated) IL-6 transgenic mice. Twenty-eight 8-week-old H-2/h (*) and 15 MT-1/h (+) IL-6 mice were injected or gavaged with foie gras extracts (red arrow) and another five (H-2/h) were given PBS (filled circle). Both treated and control animals were euthanized 2 months later (blue arrow). Additionally, 12 untreated H-2/h IL-6 mice were euthanized at 8 months of age (open circle). Tissues were obtained at necropsy, and the appearance of amyloid was documented by the presence of green birefringent deposits in Congo red-stained specimens, as evidenced by polarizing microscopy.
Amyloidogenic potential of foie gras
Sign up for Article Alerts
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Researchers present evidence of Neolithic kinship and violence based on remains from a mass grave in Poland.
Image courtesy of Piotr Włodarczak.
Volume of cosmonauts’ brain ventricles increased by an average of 12% after spaceflight—a potential mechanism to cope with increased brain fluid volume, a study suggests.
Image courtesy of R. Maxine Rühl.
PNAS Profile of NAS member and cell biologist Junying Yuan
Image courtesy of Aaron Washington for Harvard Medical School.
The planned DUNE experiment, located in a cavern deep inside a defunct South Dakota gold mine, aims to do nothing less than probe the origins of matter.
Image credit: CERN.