The secretory clear cell of the eccrine sweat gland as the probable source of excess sweat production in hyperhidrosis.

Primary hyperhidrosis is characterized by excessive sweating in palmar, plantar and axillary body regions. Gland hypertrophy and the existence of a third type of sweat gland, the apoeccrine gland, with high fluid transporting capabilities have been suggested as possible causes. This study investigated whether sweat glands were hypertrophied in axillary hyperhidrotic patients and if mechanisms associated with fluid transport were found in all types of axillary sweat glands.

Activation of chloride secretion via proteinase-activated receptor 2 in a human eccrine sweat gland cell line--NCL-SG3.

Proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR-2) has been shown to elicit secretion in a variety of secretory epithelial cells by the transepithelial movement of chloride ions across the apical membrane. However, it is not known whether these receptors are present and/or functional in the secretory epithelial cells of the human eccrine sweat gland. To investigate this possibility mRNA analysis, Ca2+ microspectrofluorimetry and the short circuit current (Isc) technique were used to quantify electrolyte transport in a cell line (NCL-SG3) derived from human eccrine sweat gland secretory epithelia.

Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy: diagnostic evaluation, frequency and clues to pathogenesis.

We characterized the frequency of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) subtypes in a cohort of 76 Australian muscular dystrophy patients using protein and DNA sequence analysis. Calpainopathies (8%) and dysferlinopathies (5%) are the most common causes of LGMD in Australia. In contrast to European populations, cases of LGMD2I (due to mutations in FKRP) are rare in Australasia (3%).

A preliminary study of the short circuit current (Isc) responses of sweat gland cells from normal and anhidrotic horses to purinergic and adrenergic agonists.

The causal factors of equine anhidrosis have not yet been elucidated but defective electrolyte transport mechanisms in the gland are likely to be involved. To investigate this possibility, experiments were performed on cultured equine sweat gland epithelia from five free-sweating UK horses (3 intact males, 2 mares, aged 2-4 years) and from three free-sweating Singapore horses (1 intact male, 2 mares, aged 3-5 years) and three anhidrotic (Singapore) horses (1 intact male, 1 gelding, 1 mare, aged 3-6 years). Cultured cells from each animal were grown on permeable supports and loaded into Ussing chambers to quantify transepithelial resistance and agonist-induced electrolyte transport by the short circuit current (Isc) technique.

Dextran and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) conjugates: synthesis, characterisation and enzymic hydrolysis.

Mesalamine (5-aminosalicylic acid) is the drug of choice for the treatment of Crohn's disease. A scheme for the synthesis of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) conjugates of dextrans was developed with a focus on Crohn's disease applications. Dextrans were oxidised using sodium periodate (NaIO(4)), where the aldehyde groups formed were coupled with the alpha-amino (-NH(2)) group of 5-ASA.

Immunolocalization of aquaporin-5 expression in sweat gland cells from normal and anhidrotic horses.

Western blot analysis showed that sweat gland cells from freely sweating horses expressed the water channel aquaporin-5 (AQP-5). Immunohistochemistry revealed a strong AQP-5-like activity reaction at the apical membrane of the glandular secretory cells, which was absent from the surrounding myoepithelium and all other skin structures. In anhidrotic horses, AQP-5 was also found at the apical membrane of the luminal sweat gland cells, but the level of expression reduced with the length of time that the animal had displayed anhidrosis.

75 years of opioid research: the exciting but vain quest for the Holy Grail.

Over the 75-year lifetime of the British Pharmacological Society there has been an enormous expansion in our understanding of how opioid drugs act on the nervous system, with much of this effort aimed at developing powerful analgesic drugs devoid of the side effects associated with morphine--the Holy Grail of opioid research. At the molecular and cellular level multiple opioid receptors have been cloned and characterised, their potential for oligomerisation determined, a large family of endogenous opioid agonists has been discovered, multiple second messengers identified and our understanding of the adaptive changes to prolonged exposure to opioid drugs (tolerance and physical dependence) enhanced. In addition, we now have greater understanding of the processes by which opioids produce the euphoria that gives rise to the intense craving for these drugs in opioid addicts.

Myocardial tissue velocity reduction is correlated with clinical neurologic severity in myotonic dystrophy.

About 15% of patients with myotonic dystrophy (MD) die of ventricular arrhythmias, but few have documented left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. This study prospectively evaluated a group of patients with MD without known heart failure to assess whether there is subclinical impairment of LV contractility using conventional 2-dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging, and to correlate any abnormalities found with the degree of neurologic severity and cytosine-thymine-guanine trinucleotide repeat length. Twenty-two patients with MD without known heart failure were evaluated and compared with 22 healthy, age-matched controls.