Evidence that histidine is an essential amino acid in normal and chronically uremic man.

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Abstract

The requirement for dietary histidine was investigated in four normal and three chronically uremic men. Subjects lived in a metabolic unit where they were fed three isonitrogenous diets in the following order: a 40-g protein diet (28 plus or minus SD 8 days), a semi-synthetic amino acid diet deficient in histidine (35 plus or minus 2 days), and an amino acid diet which contained histidine (31 plus or minus 5 days). With ingestion of the histidine-deficient diet, nitrogen balance gradually became negative, and serum albumin decreased in six subjects. Plasma histidine fell by 82 plus or minus 6 per cent; muscle histidine decreased by 62 plus or minus 19 per cent; the hematocrit fell by 25 plus or minus 9 per cent; and serum iron rose. Subjects felt unwell, and in five cases a skin lesion consisting of fine scales, dry skin, and mild erythema developed. After administration of the histidine-repletion diet, nitrogen balance became positive in six subjects; serum albumin increased in five cases; plasma and muscle histidine rose; serum iron fell abruptly; a reticulocytosis ensued; and the hematocrit rose. The clinical symptoms and skin lesions disappeared. These observations indicate that histidine is an essential amino acid in normal and chronically uremic man. The absence of dietary histidine is associated with failure of normal erythropoiesis.

Authors

J D Kopple, M E Swendseid

The influence of hypertonic mannitol on regional myocardial blood flow during acute and chronic myocardial ischemia in anesthetized and awake intact dogs.

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The influence of hypertonic mannitol on regional myocardial blood flow and ventricular performance was studied during acute myocardial ischemia in awake, unsedated and in anesthesized dogs and after myocardial infarction in awake unsedated dogs. Regional myocardial blood flow was measured with radioactive microspheres. Generalized increases in regional myocardial blood flow occurred after mannitol in all of the different animal models studied. The increases in coronary blood flow after mannitol were just as impressive in the nonischemic regions as in the ischemic portion of the left ventricle in all of the different models that were examined in this study. Improvement in regional myocardial blood flow to the ischemic area of the left ventricle after mannitol was associated with a reduction in ST segment elevation during acute myocardial ischemia in anesthetized dogs. The increases in regional myocardial flow after mannitol were also associated with increases in contractility, but the increases in flow appeared to be more impressive than the changes in contractility. The data obtained demonstrate that mannitol increases regional coronary blood flow to both ischemic and nonischemic myocardium in both anesthetized and awake, unsedated, intact dogs with acute and chronic myocardial ischemia and that mannitol reduces ST segment elevation during acute myocardial ischemia in anesthetized dogs. Thus the results suggest that under these circumstances the increases in regional myocardial blood flow after mannitol are of physiological importance in reducing the extent of myocardial injury. Since coronary blood flow increased to nonischemic regions the increases in regional myocardial flow demonstrated in this study after mannitol cannot be entirely explained by the mechanism of reduction in ischemic cell swelling.

Authors

J T Willerson, J T Watson, I Hutton, D E Fixler, G C Curry, G H Templeton

Extractable nuclear antigen effect on the DNA anti-DNA reaction and NZB/NZW mouse nephritis.

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Extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) is composed of at least two components, one a ribonucleo-protein sensitive to ribonuclease or heat and the other a protein. Antibodies to ENA are associated with a relatively benign clinical course in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in which DNA anti DNA complexes are thought pathogenic. The effect of ENA and anti-ENA on DNA anti-DNA reactions in vitro was studied. ENA effectively inhibited an anti-DNA hemagglutination reaction but no effect was found on binding of radioactive DNA or on the anti-hemocyanin hemagglutination reaction. The inhibitory effect was not abolished by yeast ribonuclease (RNase), heating, or DNase. Anti-ENA HAD NO EFFECT ON ANTI-DNA hemagglutination. In vivo, ENA altered the NZB/NZW mouse nephritis thought to be a model for human SLE nephritis. These results suggest the possiblity of a role for ENA in alteration of diseases due to pathogenic DNA anti-DNA complexes.

Authors

A D Morris, C Littleton, L C Corman, J Esterly, G C Sharp

Pharyngeal lipase and digestion of dietary triglyceride in man.

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Lipolytic activity was studied in esophageal and gastric aspirates obtained with a nasogastric tube from 14 healthy adult subjects. Samples were collected from esophagus, first at 30-35 cm and then at 40-45 cm from the nose, as the subject, after drinking 15-30 ml of a cream-milk mixture, swallowed small amounts of water. The samples from stomach were taken last and usually contained a small amount of cream-milk mixture. Lipolytic activity was assayed using chylomicron, milk, and corn oil triglyceride as substrate. Esophageal and gastric samples both contained lipolytic activity which hydrolyzed long-chain triglyceride to diglyceride, monoglyceride, and FFTA, had a pH optimum of 5.4, and was not affected by either had a pH optimum of 5.4, and was not affected by either 0.5 M NaCl or 4 mM sodium taurodexycholate. The activity, expressed as nanomoles of chylomicron triglyceride hydrolyzed per milliter per minute, ranged from 0 to 145 in upper esophageal, 5 to 303 in lower esophageal, and 50 to 357 in gastric samples. Only a trace of lipolytic activity was found at pH 5.4 in saliva collected from the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual glands, thus excluding those tissues as a source of the activity found in esophageal and gastric aspirates. The findings suggest that in man glands in or near the pharynx secrete a lipase that acts in the stomach to hydrolyze long-chain triglyceride to partial glycerides and FFA. It is proposed this reaction is the first step in the digestion of dietary fat and that the amphiphilic lipids formed by lipolysis facilitate the emulsification of triglyceride in the stomach.

Authors

M Hamosh, H L Klaeveman, R O Wolf, R O Scow

Isolation and characterization of two hydroxyproline-containing glycoproteins from normal animal lung lavage and lamellar bodies.

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Two glycopeptides, present in particulate material obtained by pulmonary lavage from normal rabbits, were isolated and characterized. The same two glycopeptides were present in preparations of lamellar bodies from rabbit lung. The estimated molecular weights of the two glycopeptides by sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis were found to be 62,000 and 36,000 and both were found to contain hydroxyproline and relatively high amount of glycine (11 and 15 per cent, respectively). Carbohydrate analysis of the two glycopeptides demonstrated the presence of glucosamine, sialic acid, mannose, Fucose, and galactose. Similar glycopeptides of the same molecular weights, and amino acid and carbohydrate compositions have been found in layage mateial isolated from lungs of patients with alveolar proteinosis. The data indicate that thses two collagen-like glycopeptides are major intra-alveolar proteins in many mammals, including humans.

Authors

S N Bhattacharyya, M A Passero, R P DiAugustine, W S Lynn

Cell-mediated immunity in acute and chronic hepatitis.

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Peripheral lymphocytes from patients with hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive and -negative acute hepatitis (AH), chronic active hepatitis (CAH), chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH), and normal controls were tested for in vitro cytotoxicity and blast transformation. Cytotoxicity was measured by chrominum (21Cr) release into the medium from 51Cr-labeled Chang liver cells after incubation for 6 h with peripheral lymphocytes at a lymphocyte target cell ratio of 200:1. Concomitant 72-h incubation studies were performed to assess thymus cell-dependent (T) lymphocyte function as measured by conccanavalin A (Con A)- stimulated incorporation of tritiated thymidine (blast transformation) and by cytotoxicity. It was found that (a) lymphocytes from patients with AH are cytotoxic to Chang liver cells compared to controls (P less than 0.001); (b) lymphocytes from patients with acute and chronic hepatitis are less cytotoxic when incubated with autologous and homologous HB2Ag-positive and -negative AH, CAH, and CPH are as cytotoxic as normal controls when stimulated with a nonspecific mitogen such as Con A; and (d) lymphocytes from patients with CAH while on prednisone therapy showed marked depression of cytotoxicity when stimulated with Con A. Thus these studies show that patients with AH have circulating T lymphocytes which are capable of causing the destruction of Chang liver cells. There is no defect in T-cell function as measured by Con A-stimulated cytotoxicity. There is a serum factor (s) in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis which inhibits spontaneous and induced lymphocyte cytotoxicity and blast transformation. Finally, prednisone treatment appears to inhibit lymphocyte cytotoxicity in patients with CAH.

Authors

J R Wands, J L Perrotto, E Alpert, K J Isselbacher

The pathogenesis of arthritis associated with acute hepatitis-B surface antigen-positive hepatitis. Complement activation and characterization of circulating immune complexes.

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Abstract

Circulating immune complexes were identified in cryoproteins isolated from serial samples of serum from six patients with acute viral hepatitis with and without arthritic symptoms. Cryoprecipitates were analyzed for the presence of hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis-B surface antibody (anti-HBs) by hemagglutination inhibition and hemagglutination. Complement components were detected by counter electrophoresis, and immunoglobulins were detected by gel diffusion. HBsAg, IgG, and IgM were identified in cryoprecipitates from all hepatitis patients, but were higher in concentration in patients with arthritis. Only cryoprecipitates from hepatitis patients with arthritis contained IgA and complement components C3, C4, and C5 as well as IgG and IgM, which disappear with resolution of the arthritis. The subtypes of IgG in these cryoprecipitates were predominantly the complement-fixing IgG1 and IgG3, HBsAg and anti-HBs were concentrated several-fold in the cryoprecipitates when compared to the serum concentration. Sequential studies in two patients demonstrated that the initial appearance of anti-HBs in the cryoprotein complex was associated with the detection in the complex of IgM suggesting a primary immune response to HBsAg. The C3 activator fragment (C3A) of the properdin complex was found in fresh serum obtained from three hepatitis patients with arthritis and not in uncomplicated hepatitis. The cryoprecipitable immune complexes from patients with arthritis converted C3PA in fresh normal sera to C3A in vitro whereas cryoprotein isolated from patients with uncomplicated hepatitis had no such effect. Thus, the transient appearance of circulating complement-fixing immune complexes in patients with the arthritis of acute hepatitis is associated with activation of both classical and alternate complement pathways and suggests that they play an important role in the pathogenesis of these serum sickness-like extrahepatic symptoms.

Authors

J R Wands, E Mann, E Alpert, K J Isselbacher

Effects of the 15-methyl analogs of prostaglandins E2 and F2alpha on the pulmonary circulation in the intact dog.

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The effects of the 15-methul analogs of prostaglandins E2 (PGE2) and F2alpha (PGF2alpha) on the pulmonary circulation were studied in the intact dog under conditions of controlled blood flow. Infusions of either analog into the lobar artery increased lobar arterial pressure by more than 100 per cent. The rise in lobar arterial pressure was accompanied by a rise in lobar venous pressure and in pressure gradient from lobar artery to small vein but no change in pressure in the left atrium. The methyl analogs were about 10 times more potent than PGE2 and PGF2alpha in elevating pulmonary vascular resistance in the dog. The effects of the analogs on the pulmonary vascular bed were similar in experiments in which the lung was perfused with dextran or with blood. Both analogs contracted isolated helical segments of canine intrapulmonary artery and vein in a dose-related manner. In other experiments the effects of passive increases in venous pressure produced by distension of a balloon catheter in the lobar vein were contrasted with the action of the analogs on the pulmonary vascular bed. Balloon distension increased pressure in the lobar artery and small vein but had no effect on pressure in the left atrium. However, in contrast to the increase in gradient with the analogs, balloon distension decreased the pressure gradient from lobar artery to small vein. Results of the present study indicate that the prostaglandin analogs increase pulmonary vascular resistance by actively contricting pulmonary veins and vessels upstream to small veins, presumed to be small arteries. It is concluded that the analogs are potent pressor substances in the pulmonary circulation.

Authors

P J Kadowitz, P D Joiner, C S Matthews, A L Hyman

H2O2 release from human granulocytes during phagocytosis. I. Documentation, quantitation, and some regulating factors.

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The extinction of fluorescence of scopoletin during its oxidation by horseradish peroxidase (HPO) provides a highly sensitive and specific assay for small quantities of peroxide in solution. With this assay, the release of free H2O2 into the extracellular medium by phagocytizing human granulocytes has been documented and quantitated, and some of the regulating factors have been determined. Under basal conditions granulocytes released less than 0.01 nmol/ml of H2O2 (2.5 X 10-6 polymorphonuclear leukocytes/ml). Upon the addition of phagocyte particles (latex, opsonized yeast, or staphylococci), an abrupt increase in extracellular peroxide concentration was observed (greater than 50-fold above basal levels) after latencies as short as 10 s. Release reflected increased intracellular H2O2 production during phagocytosis in that it paralleled the respiratory burst and was absent when phagocytosis was prevented or when cells from patients with chronic granulomatous disease were utilized. Evidence that scpoletin oxidation occurred predominantly in the extracellular medium was obtained by demonstrating a marked inhibition when HPO was omitted from the reaction mixture or when exogenous catalase was added. Similarly, it was found that exogenous serum also inhibited scopoletin oxidation, apparently because of the presence of competing hydrogen donors. H2O2 formation and release were observed at rates which closely paralleled those of phagocytosis. With O2 consumption as an approximate index of H2O2 formation, the fractions released during maximal rates of particle uptake were calculated as follows: for latex, 15.7%; for staphylococci, 10.3%; and for yeast, 4.9%. It is postulated that release is due to diffusion of free H2O2 from an expanded intracellular pool of this substance that develops during phagocytosis. This poos represents tha net of increased synthesis versus catabolism by various enxymatic pathways for H2O2 disposal within the cells. The close relationship between rates of H2O2 formation and rates of phagocytosis by human granulocytes suggests a role for specialized areas of the cell membrane, involved in particle ingestion, in the trigger mechanism for H2O2 synthesis. The consequences of H2O2 release to other cells or organisms in the immediate environment of phagocytizing granulocytes remain to be determined.

Authors

R K Root, J Metcalf, N Oshino, B Chance

Human T-cell heterogeneity as delineated with a specific human thymus lymphocyte antiserum. In vitro effects on mitogen response mixed leukocyte culture, cell-mediated lymphocytotoxicity, and lymphokine production.

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Human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were evaluated by their responses to phytohemmagglutinin (PHA-P), concanavallin A (con-A), and pokeweed mitogen (PWM), both before and after treatment with an antiserum against human thymic lymphocyte antigens (HTLA) that had been made T-cell-specific by multiple absorptions with immunoglobulin EAC-positive lymphoblast cell lines (B cells). Cells treated with HTLA were examined for their ability to react in a mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) and to form killer cells in a cell-mediated lymphocytotoxicity (CML) system. Sensitized cells were also examined for their ability to respond to purified protein derivative (PPD) by blastogenesis, migration inhibitory factor release (MIP), and lymphotoxin (LT) production, both before and after treatment with HTLA and complement. The HTLA was in itself highly stimulatory to PBL. However, with the addition of complement and subsequent cell destruction, a marked decrease in its stimulatory response was noted. PBL treated with HTLA and complement exhibited marked inhibition of responsiveness to con-A with little decrease in PHA-P -OR PWM stimulation except at very high concentration of HTLA. MLC reaction was inhibited only when responder cells were treated with HTLA + C'. Treatment of stimulator cells with HTLA + C' did not significantly alter the MLC response. The HTLA + C'-treated cells failed to form killer cells in the CML reaction and inhibited PPD-induced blasto-genesis from PPD-sensitized individuals; however, treatment of sensitized cells with HTLA + C' had little effects on the release of MIF and LT. It is suggested that subpopulations of T-cells carry surface antigens that bind with this specific antisera, and that the con-A-responsive cells, the responder cells in the MLC, and killer T-cells comprise a separate subset from cells responding to PHA-P or PWM, OR THE MIF-and LT-producing cells.

Authors

J N Woody, A Ahmed, R C Knudsen, D M Strong, K W Sell

Interaction of leukocyte chemotactic factors with the cell surface. I. Chemotactic factor-induced changes in human granulocyte surface charge.

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The negative surface charge of human granulocytes was diminished after incubation with the chemotactic factors C5a, dialyzable transfer factor, and the enzymes kallikrein and plasminogen activator. No such change was observed after incubation with human IgG, albumin, horeseradish peroxidase, or a mixture of prekallikrein and plaminogen proactivator. Hydrocortisone inhibited the effect of C5a upon granulocyte surface charge and inhibited its chemotactic activity, suggesting that steroids act at the cell surface. The chemotactic inhibitors cholchicine and cytochalsin B had no effect upon granulocyte surface charge, consistent with their presumed effect upon microtubules and microfilaments, respectively. The data suggest that the decrease in cell surface charge may be a preerequiste for normal cell movement.

Authors

J I Gallin, J R Durocher, A P Kaplan

Peripheral blood T and B lymphocytes during acute rheumatic fever.

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Proportions and total numbers of thymus-derived (T) and bone marrow-derived (B) peripheral blood lymphocytes were studied in 53 patients with acute rheumatic fever, diagnosed on the basis of modifified Jones criteria. An elevation in both proportions and absolute numbers of cells bearing surface Ig was found in most patients, particularly during the first 7 days after onset. Conversely, T-cell proportions and numbers were often found to be depressed early in the acue phases of rheumatic fever. Proportions of cells bearing surface Ig did not correlate with another B-cell marker, the aggregated gamma globulin receptor, suggesting that such cells bearing surface Ig were not all B lymphocytes. Incuvation for 20 h at 37 per cent C of cells showing high proportions of surface Ig-bearing surface Ig in both normal and rheumatic fever subjects, although there was no appreciable increment in proportions of lymphocytes expressing T-cell markers. Patients with initial attacks showed higher percentages and total numbers of Ig-bearing lymphocytes (P smaller than 0.01) than did those with rneumatic fever recurrences. Elevations in numbers and proportions of peripheral blood lymphocytes bearing Ig appeared to correlate with the relative acute nature of the rheumatic fever attack.

Authors

R D Lueker, Z H Abdin, R C Williams Jr

Human adipocyte cholesterol. Concentration, localization, synthesis, and turnover.

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By analysis of 124 specimens in 16 different patients, isolated human adipocyte cholesterol concentration is highly correlated with fat cell size but not with plasma cholesterol concentration. Less than 6 percent of total cholesterol is esterified; after subcellular fractionation, 88 percent of the cholesterol is recovered in the triglyceride-rich supernatant oil. This latter finding supports the observation that fat cell cholesterol is determined by triglyceride content, and hence by fat cell size. After intravenous administrtion of radioactive cholesterol, the sum of a three-exponential equation was fit simultaneously to both the plasma and adipocyte specific activity time curves in six patients. In five of the six, a slowly turning over pool (pool 3) closely fit the adipocyte data. Two model structures, mammillary and catenary, were fitted to the data. There was no synthesis in pool 3 using a mammillary model but a mean 5.3 percent of the total body production rate was found in compartment 3 if a catenary model was assumed. Although a catenary model is biologically unlikely, it could not be excluded. Obesity is associated with an increased cholesterol synthetic rate equal to 20 mg/day for each kilogram of body fat. To test (by an independent method) if this synthesis might be occurring in adipose tissue, human fat cells were obtained under a wide variety of dietary conditions and incubated in vitro with radioactive glucose or acetate. Incorportation of these precursors into sterol could account for no more than 1 mg cholesterol synthesis/kg fat per day. These in vitro data taken together with the in vivo mammillary compartmental analysis data are compatible with the possiblity that the excess cholesterol synthesis of obesity occurs in pool 1, most likely from hepatic or intestinal sites.

Authors

P H Schreibman, R B Dell

A micropuncture study of renal salt and water retention in chronic bile duct obstruction.

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The mechanism of sodium retention by the kidney in rats with ligation of the common bile duct was studied with micropuncture techniques. 10-14 days after bile duct ligation, rats showed positive sodium balance and ascites formation. Measurements of renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate yielded values that were not different from those in normal control animals. Likewise, single nephron filtration rte of surface nephrons was the same in the experimental rats as in the controls. Sodium reabsorption, however, was markedly increased in the proximal convoluted tubule, as well as in segments beyond the proximal convolutions. Single nephron filtration fraction, calculated from measurements of efferent arteriolar and arterial hematocrits, was significantly elevated in the cortical nephrons, even though whole kidney filtration fraction was the same as in normal rats. The calculated protein concentration of cortical peritubular blood was higher in the bile duct-ligated rats than in the normal controls. The observations are consistent with the view that sodium retention is the result of enhanced reabsorption primarily by cortical nephrons. The enhanced reabsorption can be accounted for by relative cortical ischemia due to efferent arteriolar vasoconstriction with the consequent elevation of peritubular colloid oncotic pressure.

Authors

N Bank, H S Aynedjian

Energy dependence of urinary bicarbonate secretion in turtle bladder.

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Addition of HCO3- to the serosal side (S) of the isolated turtle bladder results in a HCO3- flow from S to the mucosal side (M) which markedly reduces the net rate of acid secretion. To characterize the driving forces for this downhill HCO3- flow, the effects of metabolic inhibitors and substrates were examined. In short-circuited bladders with the M pH lowered to the point of zero net H+ secretion, the rate of HCO3- entry into M in response to a 20-mM HCO3- gradient was measured by pH stat titration. Deoxygenation reduced the HCO3- flux from 1.24 plus or minus 0.1 mum/h/8 cm2 (SEM) to 0.50 plus or minus 0.1 muM/h with glucose (2 times 10-3 M) AND FROM 1.32 PLUS OR MINUS TO 0.47 PLUS OR MINUS 0.1 MUM/h without glucose. A similar reduction (61 per cent) was observed in the presence of 1 per cent C92. Dinitrophenol (10-4 M), cyanide (10-3 M), and deoxyglucose (10-2 M) inhibited the HCO3- flux by 39 per cent, 37 per cent, and 38 per cent, respectively. The combination of any of these inhibitors with N2 caused the same inhibition as N2 alone. In bladders depleted of substrate, pyruvate (5 times 10-3 M) increased the HCO3- flux from 0.36 plus or minus 0.05 to 0.58 plus or minus 0.01 muM/h (P smaller than 0.005); the increment was abolished by deoxygenation. The results indicate that the bulk of the downhill HCO3- flow in this system is dependent on metabolic energy derived primarily from oxidative sources, and that this energy-dependent flow approximates the electroneutral component of HCO3- secretion that is coupled to Cl- absorption.

Authors

J A Oliver, S Himmelstein, P R Steinmetz

Structural and functional studies of ligandin, a major renal organic anion-binding protein.

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Sephadex gel filtration of the 1000,000 g supernate of homogenates of rat kidney revealed binding of various organic anions (penicillin, Bromsulphalein [BSP], bilirubin, phenolsulfonphthalein [PSP], phlorizin, glutathione [GSH], p-amino hippurate (PAH), probenecid, conjugated bilirubin, and BSP-GSH) to a nonalbumin-containing protein fraction (Y), which precipated on addition of monospecific anti-rat liver ligandin (Y protein)-IgG, but not control IgG. Quantitatively similar organic anion binding was observed in vivo after injection of BSP, BSP-GSH, phlorizin, probenecid, conjugated bilirubin, PAH, or penicillin. The binding protein was purified to apparent homogeneity and is a basic protein (pI 8.9) of 44,000 daltons with two apparently identical subunits of 22,000 daltons. Monospecific antibody was produced against the renal protein. The results of binding studies in vivo and in vitro and phsicochemical, immunologic, structural, and binding site investigations indicate that the renal protein is identical to hepatic ligandin. Immunofluorescent studies utilizing anti-ligandin IgG previously localized ligandin in the kidney to all proximal tubular cells. By quantitative radial immunodiffusion, the concentration of renal ligandin was 31.2 plus or minus 2.2 mug/mg supernatant protein and was increased 160% above basal values by pretreatment of rats with tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin. Pretreatment with phenobarbital, DDT, or pregnene-16alpha-carbonitrile did not increase renal ligandin concentration but doubled hepatic ligandin concentration. Circular dichroism studies of renal ligandin revealed percent helical structure similar to hepatic ligandin and primary association contrasts were derived for BSP (10-6 M-1) and PAH, probenecid, and penicillin (10-3 M-1). Administration of BSP or probenecid simultaneously with [C14] penicillin resulted in increased plasma retention and reduced kidney and urinary bladder content of [14C] penicillin and a correlation coefficient of -0.8 between total kidney/plasma radioactivity and percent of protein-bound radioactivity bound to ligandin in the kidney. These studies indicate that renal and hepatic ligandin are identical. Their response to drugs and chemicals varies. Competitive binding between several organic anions for ligandin correlated with their renal uptake from plasma, which suggests that ligandin may function in the proximal tubular cell as a component of the renal organic anion transport system.

Authors

R Kirsch, G Fleischner, K Kamisaka, I M Arias

Guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate and adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate content of human umbilical artery.

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Human umbilical arteries are unique vessels in that they close quickly and completely at birth. It has been suggested that cyclic uanosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in relaxation. This hypothesis has been evaluated in term gestational human umbilical artery segments incubated at 37 degrees C and in room air. (a) The basal cGMP content (1 pmol/mg protein) of artery segments incubated in room air was almost twice that of cAMP. (b) Bradykinin, histamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, and K+ ion, which cause umbilical artery constriction, can increase the cGMP content of the artery segments within 30 s of exposure without altering the cAMP content. (c) Prostaglandin E1, but not isoproterenol, caused accumulation of cAMP which is consistent with reports that umbilical arteries lack functional beta-receptors and that only prostaglandin E1 can bring about relaxation of umbilical arteries. (d) 1 muM atropine blocked the effect of 100 muM acetylcholine on cGMP content without altering the responses to histamine, bradykinin, serotonin, or K+ ion. (e) Pyrilamine (an H1 antagonist), but not metiamide (an H2 antagonist), blocked the effect of histamine on cGMP from which it is inferred that histamine causes accumulation of cGMP in umbilical artery via its interaction with H1 receptors. The results are consistent with the view that metabolism of the two cyclic nucleotides is independently controlled in the human umbilical artery and that cGMP is involved in contraction of the artery at birth.

Authors

R I Clyman, J A Sandler, V C Manganiello, M Vaughan

Vitamin B6 metabolism in chronic alcohol abuse The effect of ethanol oxidation on hepatic pyridoxal 5'-phosphate metabolism.

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Individuals with chronic alcohol abuse frequently exhibit lowered plasma levels of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, the coenzyme form of vitamin B6. Because the liver is the primary source of this coenzyme in plasma and also the principal organ that oxidizes ethanol, the effect of ethanol on hepatic pyridoxal phosphate metabolism was studied in the rat. The chronic feeding of ethanol (36 percent of the total dietary calories) for 6 wk significantly decreased the hepatic pyridoxal phosphate content both in animals given a sufficient amount of vitamin B6 in their diet and in those rendered vitamin B6 deficient. In isolated perfused livers, the addition of 18 mM ethanol lowered the pyridoxal phosphate content of livers from vitamin B6-sufficient animals and deceased the net synthesis of pyridoxal phosphate from pyridoxine by the livers of vitamin B6-deficient animals. Ethanol also diminished the rate of release of pyridoxal phosphate into the perfusate by the livers of vitamin B6-deficient rats. These effects of ethanol, in vitro, were abolished by 4-methyl pyrazole, an inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase. Thus the derangement of pyridoxal phosphate metabolism produced by ethanol is dependt upon its oxidation. These data support previous findings whic indicate that acetaldehyde is the responsible agent which acts by accelerating the degradation of intracellular pyridoxal phosphate.

Authors

R L Vech, L Lumeng, T K Li

Homocystinuria due to cystathionine synthase deficiency. Studies of nitrogen balance and sulfur excretion.

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Apparent nitrogen balances and urinary sulfur excretions were determined for normal subjects, seven cystathionine synthase-deficient patients, and a single cystathioninuric patient on semisynthetic diets containing low-adequate amounts of methionine and very low amounts of methionine and very low amounts (12 mg daily, or less) of cystine. The amounts of supplemental cystine required to prevent abnormally high nitrogen or sulfur losses were determined. The five cystathionine synthase-deficient patients who had low residual activities of this enzyme detected in fibroblast and/or liver extracts did not lose more nitrogen or sulfur on diets virtually devoid of cystine than did the normal subjects. These results suggest that the widely expressed opinion that cystine is an essential amino acid for cystathionine syntase-deficient patients requires modification. Residual enzyme activity of only a few percent of normal may obviate such a cystine requirement. These results are compatible with, and lend support to, the working hypothesis which states that the pyridoxine response in cystathionine synthase-deficient patients is mediated by an increase in the residual activity of the affected enzyme.

Authors

J R Poole, S H Mudd, E B Conerly, W A Edwards

Metabolism of peripheral nerve myelin in experimental diabetes.

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Previous in vitro studies of the metabolism of the peripheral nerve have been based on incorporation of radioactive precursor into components isolated from whole nerve. In this study we have determined incorporation secifically into myelin components of peripheral nerve by isolating myelin after incubating whole nerves with lipid or protein precursors and by determining the specific activity of the components of that membrane. The effect of diabetes on such incorporation was also studied. In the rat, in vitro incorporation of DL-[1-14C]leucine into protein components of myelin was decreased by 30-88% in diabetic animals as compared to controls. The major polypeptide constituent of rat sciatic nerve myelin (mol st 28,000; 58.5% of total mass of proteins) was not labeled in either the diabetic or the control group. In diabetes incorporation rate into a polypeptide of mol wt 23,000, which constitutes 21% of total mass, was approximately one half that of controls. In polypeptides of mol wt 38,000-49,000, which are heavily labeled in normal animals, but constitute only about 5% of total mass of proteins, depression of incorporation was e-en more marked in the diabetics. While these marked differences in incorporation between diabetic and control animals were observed, the amount of protein and its distribution among the constituent polypeptides was the same in both groups. In young rats made diabetic with streptozotocin and young rabbits made diabetic with alloxan, there was a lower rate of incorporation of the lipid precursors, [1-14C]sodium acetate or [3H]water, into myelin components. In older animals of both species incorporation in the controls was considerably lower than in the yount animals, and the effect of diabetes was no longer apparent. In nondiabetic animals, the in vitro addition of insulin (10-7 M) stimulated incorporation of DL-[1-14C]leucine into myelin proteins 1.6-3.1 times that of controls. This stimulation by insulin in vitro was not seen in diabetic animals. In animals in which diabetes had spontaneously recovered, however, incorporation rate in the in vitro experiments approached that of controls and were significantly above that in animals whose diabetes persisted. Since myelin is the palsma membrane of the Schwann cell, these studies provide evidence that the Schwann cell is affected by insulin and that some aspects of the metabolism of myelin are altered in insulin-deficient states.

Authors

N Spritz, H Singh, B Marinan

Insulin Control of Glucose Metabolism in Man: A New Kinetic Analysis

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Analyses of the control of glucose metabolism by insulin have been hampered by changes in bloog glucose concentration induced by insulin administration with resultant activation of hypoglycemic counterregulatory mechanisms. To eliminate such mechanisms, we have employed the glucose clamp technique which allows maintenance of fasting blood glucose concentration during and after the administration of insulin. Analyses of six studies performed in young healthy men in the postabsorptive state utilizing the concurrent administration of [14C]glucose and 1 mU/kg per min (40 mU/m2 per min) porcine insulin led to the development of kinetic models for insulin and for glucose. These models account quantitatively for the control of insulin on glucose utilization and on endogenous glucose production during nonsteady states.

Authors

Paul A. Insel, John E. Liljenquist, Jordan D. Tobin, Robert S. Sherwin, Paul Watkins, Reubin Andres, Mones Berman

Antibodies to cellular antigens in Sjögren's syndrome.

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Abstract

An extract of human lymphocytes from continous cell culture was used as the antigen source to detect antibodies in sera of patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS). Using double diffusion in agarose, 85 per cent of a selected group of patients had precepating antibodies. Three precipitating antigen-antibody systems were detected and were shown to be different from those described previously in othe systemic rheumatic diseases. The SS precipitating antibodies were temporarily classified as precipitins, A, B, and C. SS patinets with sicca syndrome but without clinical rheumatoid arthritis had precipitin systems A and/or B, and SS patients with associated rheumatoid arthritis had precipitin system C. Serum reactants were demonstrated by immuno-electrophoresis to migrate in the gamma globulin region. The precipitating activity of the serum factors was not destroyed by treatment with 2-mercaptoethanol and was not removed by absorption of rheumatoid factor from the sera. The reactivity of the lympuocyte antigens was destroyed by treatment with trypsin but not by deoxyribonuclease or ribonuclease.

Authors

M A Alspaugh, E M Tan

Differences in Cyclic AMP Changes after Stimulation by Prostaglandins and Isoproterenol in Lymphocyte Subpopulations

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Abstract

Various lymphocyte populations have been studied for their content in cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP) before and after stimulation by isoproterenol and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). Basal cAMP levels vary among lymphocytes according to their origin: peripheral blood lymphocytes show high cAMP level while spleen and lymph node cells and thymocytes show lower levels. Thymocytes are extremely sensitive to the stimulating effects of isoproterenol and PGE1, much more than spleen and lymph node or peripheral blood cells. Corticoresistant thymocytes are less sensitive to isoproterenol stimulation than normal thymocytes, but are significantly more sensitive than peripheral thymus-derived (T)-cells. Studies using bone-marrow-derived (B) or T cell depletion with anti-immunoglobulin-coated columns and antitheta serum (AθS) indicate that lymph node B cells synthesize more cAMP in the presence of isoproterenol than T cells. However, this difference between T and B cells has not been found in spleen cells.

Authors

Marie-Anne Bach

Fitzgerald Trait: Deficiency of a Hitherto Unrecognized Agent, Fitzgerald Factor, Participating in Surface-Mediated Reactions of Clotting, Fibrinolysis, Generation of Kinins, and the Property of Diluted Plasma Enhancing Vascular Permeability (PF/Dil)

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Abstract

The prolonged partial thromboplastin time observed in the plasma of a 71-yr-old asymptomatic man was related to the deficiency of a hitherto unrecognized agent. The patient's plasma also exhibited impaired surface-mediated fibrinolysis and esterolytic activity and impaired generation of kinins and of the property enhancing vascular permeability designated PF/Dil. The patient's plasma contained normal amounts of all known clotting factors except Fletcher factor (a plasma prekallikrein) which was present at a concentration of 10-15% of pooled normal plasma. Fletcher trait plasma, however, contained normal amounts of the agent missing from the patient's plasma and corrected the defects in clotting, fibrinolysis, and vascular permeability. Fletcher trait plasma was less effective in correcting generation of kinins and esterolytic activity, presumably because of the patient's partial deficiency of prekallikrein. The site of action of the factor deficient in the patient's plasma appeared to be subsequent to the activation of Hageman factor and plasma prekallikrein. A fraction of normal plasma, devoid of other clotting factors, corrected the defect in clotting in the patient's plasma; a similar fraction of the patient's plasma did not correct this abnormality. No evidence yet exists pointing to the familial nature of the patient's defect. Tentatively, the patient's disorder may be referred to by his surname as Fitzgerald trait, and the agent apparently deficient in his plasma as Fitzgerald factor.

Authors

Hidehiko Saito, Oscar D. Ratnoff, Robert Waldmann, Joseph P. Abraham

The Use of a Helium-Oxygen Mixture during Maximum Expiratory Flow to Demonstrate Obstruction in Small Airways in Smokers

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Abstract

We measured the response to breathing a mixture of 80% helium and 20% oxygen (He) during a maximum expiratory flow-volume (MEFV) maneuver in 66 nonsmokers and 48 smokers, aged 17-67. All of the subjects studied had (forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity [FEV1.0/FVC]) × 100 of greater than 70%. While the flow rates of the smokers were within ±2 SD of those of the nonsmokers at 50% VC (V̇max50), both groups showed a reduction in flow with age (nonsmokers: r=-0.34, P<0.01; smokers r=-0.52, P<0.001). Nonsmokers showed no significant reduction with age in response to breathing He, while smokers showed a marked reduction with age (r=-0.63, P<0.001 at V̇max50). We also measured the lung volume at which maximum expiratory flow (V̇max) while the subject was breathing He became equal to V̇max while he was breathing air, and expressed it as a percent of the VC. This was the most sensitive method of separating smokers from nonsmokers. These results indicate that the use of He during an MEFV maneuver affords sufficient sensitivity to enable detection of functional abnormalities in smokers at a stage when V̇max while they are breathing air is normal.

Authors

James Dosman, Frederick Bode, John Urbanetti, Richard Martin, Peter T. Macklem

In vivo myocardial cell pH in the dog. Response to ischemia and infusion of alkali.

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Abstract

Myocardial cell pH has been measured with 5,5-dimethyl-2,4-oxazolidinedione (DMO) in intact anesthetized dogs by a transient indicator dilution technique. Bolus injections of labeled DMO, vascular, extracellular, and water indicators were made into the anterior descending coronary artery, and blood samples were collected from the great cardiac vein. The steady-state distribution of DMO between cells and plasma was calculated from the indicator mean transit times, and the plasma pH. Myocardial cell pH was determined from the distribution value and plasma pH. Normal myocardial cell pH averaged 6.94. Changes in myocardial cell pH after infusions of acid or alkali. Myocardial ischemia induced by inflation of a coronary artery balloon resulted in progressive decreases in cellular pH to average values of 6.83 within the initial 15 min and to 6.59 within the interval between 20 and 70 min. Infusions of Na2CO3 tended to diminish intracellular acidosis although these infusions had little effect on the difference in pH between the myocardial cell and extracellular fluid.

Authors

R M Effros, B Haider, P O Ettinger, S Ahmed Sultan, H A Oldewurtel, K Marold, T J Regan

Immunochemical heterogeneity of calcitonin in plasma of patients with medullary thryoid carcinoma.

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Abstract

Marked discrepancies (values up to four times higher in on assay than in the other) were observed when the plasma concentration of immunoreactive human calcitonin (iCT) was measured by two radioimm8noassays in 18 patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma. The two antisera used had different binding affinities for the NH2- and COOH-terminal regions of synthetic calcitonin monomer (CT-1-32). Except for this difference, the assays were identical and reacted equally with CT 1-32. Plasma samples from patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma were gel filtered on columns of Bio-Gel P-150, and the immunoreactivity in column effuent fractions was measured with both assays. The one utilizing the antiserum with prominent NH2-terminal binding affinity (and giving higher iCT values) recognized at least five molecular species that eluted with or before CT 1-32. The other assay, utilizing the antiserum with a COOH-terminal binding affinity, recognized two fo these molecular species-one eluting with CT 1-32 and the other in a position consistent with a dimer. A mixture of athreotic asthma and added CT 1-32 contained a single immunologic species that was recoqnized equally by both antisera. No forms smaller than CT 1-32 were detected in any study. The results suggest that iCT circulating in the plasma of patients with medullary thryoid carcinoma is hetergeneous. The absolute iCT concentration measured by radioimmunoassays depends on recognition of these distinct molecular species as well as on the specific binding affinities of the antiserum used to detect them. These observations may partially explain the variations among iCT values reported by different laboratories.

Authors

G W Sizemore, H Hpeath 3rd, J M Larson

Nature of the vagal inhibitory innervation to the lower esophageal sphincter.

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Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the nature of the vagal inhibitory innervation to the lower esophageal sphincter in the anesthetized opossum. Sphincter relaxation with electrical stimulation of the vagus was not antagonized by atropine, propranolol, phentolamine, or by catechloamine depletion with reserpine. A combination of atropine and propranolol was also ineffective, suggesting that the vagal inhibitory influences may be mediated by the noncholinergic, nonadrenergic neurons. To determine whether a synaptic link with nicotinic transmission was present, we investigated the effect of hexamethonium on vagal-stimulated lower esophageal sphincter relaxation. Hexamethonium in doses that completely antagonized the sphincter relaxation in response to a ganglionic stimulant, 1,1-dimethyl-4-phenylpiperazinium iodide (DMPP), did not block the sphincter relaxation in response to vagal stimulation at 10 pulses per second, and optimal frequency of stimulation. A combination of hexamethonium and catecholamine depletion was also ineffective, but hexamethonium plus atropine markedly antagonized sphincter relaxation (P less than 0.001). Moreover, 4-(m-chlorophenyl carbamoyloxy)-2-butyltrimethylammonium chloride (McN-A-343), a muscarinic ganglionic stimulant, also caused relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter. We suggest from these results that: (a) pthe vagal inhibitory pathway to the sphincter consists of preganglionic fibers which synapse with postganglionic neurons: (b) the synaptic transmission is predominantly cholinergic and utilizes nicotinic as well as muscarinic receptors on the postganglionic neuron, and; (c) postganglionic neurons exert their influence on the sphincter by an unidentified inhibitory transmitter that is neither adrenergic nor cholinergic.

Authors

R K Goyal, S Rattan

Tyrosinase activity in human skin. Influence of race and age in newborns.

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Abstract

Tyrosinase has been measured in homogenates of foreskins from newborn babies. The tyrosine hydroxylation reaction is dependent upon 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine as a cosubstrate, and the Km for tyrosine is 0.15 mM, similar to the value observed for other mammalian tyrosinases. The mean enzyme activity for black babies (n = 169) is about two and one-fourth times that for white babies (n = 82). For white babies there is a significant correlation between age at circumcision and tyrosinase activity. For black babies this correlation becomes significant when four individuals with extremely high tyrosinase activities are omitted from the series.

Authors

S H Pomerantz, I G Ances

The effect of estrogen on the lipoprotein lipase activity of rat adipose tissue.

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Abstract

The effect of 17beta-estradiol or progesterone administration on adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity was studied in male and ovariectomized female rats. Lipoprotein lipase activity was measured in acetone-ether-extracted preparations of adipose tissue with doubly labeled (14C-fatty acid, 3H-glyceryl) chylomicron triglyceride as substrate. Administration of 17beta-estradiol to male rats lowered adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity from 8.22 plus or minus 1.8 U/g (1 U = 1 mumol triglyceride hydrolyzed per h) to 4.96 plus or minus 0.5 U/g in the treated group. Ovariectomy increased adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity from 10.4 plus or minus 1.8 U/g in controls to 22.7 plus or minus 4.3 U/g. 17beta-Estradiol administration to ovariectomized rats cuased a marked fall in adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity: 17beta-estradiol (2.5 mug/day) lowered the enzyme activity to 9.00 plus or minus 1.2 U/g, whereas 25 mug/day further decreased lipoprotein lipase activity to 3.2 plus or minus 0.6 U/g. Blood triglyceride levels increased from 0.8 plus or minus 0.05 mumol/ml in ovariectomized rats to 1.4 plus or minus 0.09 mumol/ml in 25 mug/day 17beta-estradiol-treated rats. Progesterone administration did not affect adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity in either male or ovariectomized rats. Heart and lung lipoprotein lipase activity was unaffected by hormone treatment. We suggest that the rise in blood triglyceride concentrations, which accompanies high palsma estrogen levels, could be due to the marked inhibition of adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity.

Authors

M Hamosh, P Hamosh

The postnatal decline of hemoglobin F Synthesis in normal full-term infants

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Abstract

Authors