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Vinevaxtrade; (containing a mixture of strains of the fungus Trichoderma harzianum) is normally applied as soon as possible after grapevine pruning However using a range of six timings after pruning from immediate to 4 days later it was shown that the best penetration of the fungi into the wood was with treatment at approximately 5 h after pruning A novel method of measuring penetration and vigour of the growth of Trichoderma spp into grape wood is described A second trial using a range of concentrations of Vinevaxtrade; (at and below label rates) was applied as a general cover spray over dormant pruned vines The percentage incidence and vigour of penetration of the T harzianum into canes was concentration dependent and lower than the targeted handapplied treatment earlier in the season Therefore targeted timely applications of the product appear to be best for good wood penetration of T harzianum

Glomerular cultures from mice have been established and the various cells associated with them observed microscopically by phase contrast time-lapse cinematography, after histological staining and ultrastructurally with the transmission and scanning electron microscope. The most common cell types were large 80–200 µm diameter irregular polyhedral cells appearing as flattened plate-like structures morphologically, possibly of epithelial origin. Smaller 70–100 µm diameter fusiform cells possibly derived from either endothelium or mesangium were also often seen. A third cell type, small 10–20 µm diameter circular, motile and actively phagocytic was especially noticeable in cultures of hybrid New Zealand Black/New Zealand White mice but was not present in appreciable numbers in control cultures from strains without renal disease. This third cell type appeared to have Fc receptors, stained positively with non-specific esterase and by indirect immunofluorescence with specific rabbit anti-mouse macrophage serum and had the morphological appearance of a macrophage by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. It is concluded that cells of macrophage origin are associated with the immune complex glomerulonephritis in these hybrid mice.

The soluble material produced from a 96-hour digest of sonicated human glomerular basement membranes with purified collagenase was shown to contain at least 12 components by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with molecular weights ranging from 20×103 to greater than 200 ×103 daltons. Five of these components produced antigenic peaks after two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis into agar plates containing rabbit antiserum to the solubilised glomerular basement membrane. Two groups of antigenic components were demonstrated in these gels by two-dimensional immunoelectrophoresis autoradiographic techniques utilising 125I-labelled collagenase-digested human glomerular basement membranes reacted with antibodies eluted at acid pH from the kidney of the Goodpasture’s patient. This acid eluate was shown to contain contaminants of α1-antitrypsin and albumin co-eluting with the antibodies bound to the glomerular basement membrane. After removal of these contaminants, the antibodies were linked to cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose and used to affinity purify four antigenic fractions from the collagenase-digested glomerular basement membrane. These fractions were eluted by 0.2 Mglycine pH 2.8 and with 0.5 Mammonium thiocyanate and had molecular weights of 22–25,43–45,65–70 and 205 ×103 daltons. The smaller molecular weight components were shown to be common to both included and excluded fractions obtained by Ultragel AcA 44 chromatography of the digested material in 10 mM phosphate pH 8. This suggests that the larger molecular weight component would be an aggregate of a smaller component. Preliminary carbohydrate and amino acid analyses indicated that the different elution procedures elicited antigens with different chemical characteristics.

Tamm-Horsfall protein was detected within the capsular space by immunofluorescence in 7 of 72 consecutive patients on whom renal immunopathological studies were performed. Three patients showed prominent aggregates or crescentic collections affecting 30-50% glomeruli; the remaining four patients showed smaller aggregates between lobules. All patients showed pathological evidence of tubulointerstitial disease. It is suggested that Tamm-Horsfall protein in the capsular space is a sign of intratubular urinary backflow and that Tamm-Horsfall antiserum is a useful addition to the reagents used in the immunofluorescence study of renal biopsies.