Bile salt sulphotransferase activity in the liver of cholestatic infants.

A simple assay of bile salt sulphotransferase activity in human liver was developed. The system used glycolithocholate and PAPS as substrates. Km values for glycolithocholate and PAPs were 2.

Increased bronchial chloride concentration in cystic fibrosis.

Ten patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 10 patients with severe chronic bronchitis were analysed for bronchial electrolyte composition. Samples aspirated from the left main bronchus by a fibre-optic bronchoscope were dissolved in an iso-osmolar solution of N-acetylcysteine, and separated from cells and bacteria by gentle centrifugation. The concentrations of potassium and calcium were measured by flame emission and atomic absorption spectrometry, and found to be similar in both groups of patients.

Composition and surface properties of the bronchial lipids in adult patients with cystic fibrosis.

Bronchial secretions from seven patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) were aspirated by fibreoptic bronchoscopy and analysed for lipid composition. The total lipid fraction was also used to measure dynamic surface tension. Pooled samples from 'normal' patients, healthy volunteers, patients with chronic bronchitis, and individual samples from two patients with bronchiectasis were used as controls.

Increased mole fraction of arachidonic acid in bronchial phospholipids in patients with cystic fibrosis.

The fatty acid pattern of the phospholipids in the bronchial secretion of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) showed an increase of the mole fraction of arachidonic acid (AA) in most phospholipid classes compared to normals. Increase of AA in some classes was also found in patients with chronic bronchitis and in patients chronically colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa but in the diphosphatidylglycerol, lysophosphatidylethanolamine and sphingomyelin phospholipids, high fractions of AA was found exclusively in CF patients. Arachidonic acid was found to attain the highest ratios in CF in seven of the nine major bronchial phospholipids compared to the controls.