Insulin sensitivity is mediated by the activation of the ACh/NO/cGMP pathway in rat liver.

The hepatic parasympathetic nerves and hepatic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are involved in the secretion of a hepatic insulin sensitizing substance (HISS), which mediates peripheral insulin sensitivity. We tested whether binding of ACh to hepatic muscarinic receptors is an upstream event to the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), which, along with the activation of hepatic guanylate cyclase (GC), permits HISS release. Male Wistar rats (8-9 wk) were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (65 mg/kg).

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy: longitudinal effects of liver transplantation.

Background: The long-term effects of liver transplantation (LT) on minimal hepatic encephalopathy are poorly documented.

Objective: To assess the cognitive performance of patients with cirrhosis and without overt encephalopathy, before and after LT.

Design: Longitudinal study comparing cognitive performance of patients with cirrhosis before LT and 6 to 18 months after LT, with matched control patients.

Risk of seizures while awake in pure sleep epilepsies: a prospective study.

Objective: To estimate the risk of seizures while awake in pure sleep epilepsies in a prospective study.

Methods: From October 1, 1992, to October 31, 1996, all patients with pure sleep epilepsy presenting at a participating center were enrolled. Children with benign rolandic epilepsy and patients with frontal lobe epilepsy were excluded.

GM-CSF and pregnancy: evidence of significantly reduced blood concentrations in unexplained recurrent abortion efficiently reverted by intravenous immunoglobulin treatment.

Problem: Certain Th-2 cytokines and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) are propitious for the success of pregnancy and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is often characterized by a failure of Th-2 type responses. These considerations as well as the use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) in RSA induced us to evaluate the levels of GM-CSF in normal pregnancies, in pregnant women affected with unexplained RSA and the effects of IVIg treatment.

Method Of Study: Peripheral blood free GM-CSF was measured by means of a sandwich enzyme immunoassay in 39 healthy women (13 non-pregnant, 26 pregnant) and in 53 RSA patients (11 non-pregnant, 42 pregnant).

Hepatic glutathione and nitric oxide are critical for hepatic insulin-sensitizing substance action.

We tested the hypothesis that hepatic nitric oxide (NO) and glutathione (GSH) are involved in the synthesis of a putative hormone referred to as hepatic insulin-sensitizing substance HISS. Insulin action was assessed in Wistar rats using the rapid insulin sensitivity test (RIST). Blockade of hepatic NO synthesis with N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME, 1.