Hydroxyl radical generation and membrane fluidity of erythrocytes treated with lipopolysaccharide.

The effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and/or bile acids on rat erythrocyte membranes was studied in vitro. Addition of LPS isolated from E. coli (J5 mutant) into the erythrocyte resulted in the decrease of membrane fluidity as determined by spin labelling using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR).

[Post operative upper gastrointestinal bleeding in the aged].

A 10-year experience with 2,441 patients over 65 years of age undergoing operations for non-upper gastrointestinal tracts was reviewed to evaluate both the incidence of postoperative upper gastrointestinal bleeding and the clinical risk factors associated with the complication. A total of 18 (0.7%, 7 males and 11 females) patients had overt postoperative upper gastrointestinal bleeding of non-variceal origin documented by endoscopic findings or blood transfusions.

[Stomal stenosis following gastrectomy in the elderly].

Seven hundred and thirty seven patients over 65 years of age (mean 76 years) undergoing gastrectomies from 1979 to 1991 were reviewed to evaluate the cause of stomal stenosis in the early postoperative period. Fifty seven (7.7%) patients, 24 males (5.

Riboflavin deficiency caused by treatment with adriamycin.

The present study was undertaken to determine whether administration of adriamycin causes the depletion of riboflavin content. Rats received intraperitoneal injections of adriamycin (4 mg per kg body weight) for 6 consecutive days. Urinary riboflavin excretion began to increase after 2 days of treatment with adriamycin.

Systemic necrotizing vasculitis with renal involvement accompanied by remarkable eosinophilia: a case with overlapping features of polyarteritis nodosa and allergic granulomatous angiitis.

A 71-year-old woman was clinically suspected of allergic granulomatous angiitis (AGA) because of preceding allergic diseases including bronchial asthma, remarkable eosinophilia (14,300/mm3), mononeuritis multiplex, positive rheumatoid factor, elevated serum immunoglobulin E, and eosinophilic inflammation of the kidney. Autopsy findings, however, were characterized of polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Necrotizing angiitis was present in several organs except for the lung; focal and segmental glomerular lesions with crescent formation were observed in the kidney, and granuloma formation was not found.

Pharmacokinetics of pranoprofen in the elderly.

The present study was undertaken to examine whether the pharmacokinetic profiles of pranoprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, are altered in the elderly. Pranoprofen (75 mg) was given orally to six young and seven elderly subjects, and blood sample was obtained 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 h after administration of the drug.

Fragmentation of re-formation of mitotic Golgi apparatus detected by a centrifugal method.

The fragmentation/re-formation process of the Golgi apparatus during mitosis was studied by flotation centrifugation in a stepwise sucrose density gradient. The mitotic Golgi fraction was obtained from Chinese hamster ovary cells synchronized with thymidine and nocodazole. The Golgi apparatus detected by a marker enzyme, galactosyltransferase, was separated into two peaks by the flotation centrifugation.

Ostial stenosis of the left coronary artery as a sole clinical manifestation of Takayasu's arteritis: a possible cause of unexpected sudden death.

An 11-year-old girl experienced several syncopal attacks and her electrocardiogram showed ST depression with exercise. Ostial stenosis of the left coronary artery was disclosed by the coronary angiography. We suspected the coronary involvement was due to Takayasu's arteritis.

[A case of aortitis syndrome with left coronary ostial stenosis treated by aorto-coronary bypass grafting].

A 22 years-old woman who was suffered from effort angina caused by aortitis syndrome was hospitalized. The coronary arteriogram showed the left main trunk stenosis more than 99% with the visualization of the left anterior descending and left circumflex through the co-lateral vessels from right coronary artery. After successful sequential aorto-coronary bypass grafting to left anterior descending artery, the patient has been free from anginal pain.

Glucose-6-phosphate oxidation pathway in rat-liver microsomal vesicles. Stimulation under oxidative stress.

The glucose-6-phosphate oxidation pathway present in microsomes was studied using intact microsomal membranes. The oxidation activity, which was measured by monitoring the formation of 14CO2 from [1-14C]glucose 6-phosphate, was greatly stimulated when azodicarboxylic acid bis(dimethylamide), methylene blue or cumene hydroperoxide was added to the assay mixture. Glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase are suggested to be involved in the oxidation reaction induced by these oxidizing reagents.

Retention of membrane proteins by the endoplasmic reticulum.

We have used a monoclonal antibody specific for a hydrocarbon-induced cytochrome P450 to localize, by electron microscopy, the epitope-specific cytochrome P450. The cytochrome was found in the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the nuclear envelope of hepatocytes. Significant quantities of cytochrome P450 were not found in Golgi stacks.

Met-enkephalin and morphine but not dynorphin inhibit noxious stimuli-induced release of substance P from rabbit dorsal horn in situ.

The effects of locally applied opioids on the release of immunoreactive Substance P (iSP), induced by mechanical stimuli, from the dorsal horn of the rabbit in situ, were investigated. Morphine and met-enkephalin (met-enk), but not dynorphin A (1-17) (DYN), in a concentration of 10 microM, significantly inhibited the evoked release. These inhibitory effects of morphine and met-enkephalin were antagonized by the local application of naloxone (10 microM) to the dorsal horn.

Effect of riboflavin-butyrate on cardiac glutathione reductase affected by adriamycin.

Male Wistar rats received intraperitoneal injections of adriamycin (4 mg/kg body weight/day) and/or riboflavin-butyrate (20 mg/kg body weight/day) for 6 consecutive days. Cardiac mitochondria were then prepared for our present experiment. The combined use of riboflavin-butyrate with adriamycin was evaluated for reduction of lipid peroxide formation in rat cardiac mitochondria.

Glucosidase II, a glycoprotein of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Proteolytic cleavage into enzymatically active fragments.

Glucosidase II removes the inner two alpha-linked glucose residues from freshly transferred Asn-linked oligosaccharide chains in the endoplasmic reticulum. This enzyme, whose activity could be measured by the hydrolysis of an artificial substrate (p-nitrophenyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside), was purified 240-fold from a rat liver microsome fraction by DEAE-cellulose, concanavalin A-Sepharose 4B, and hydroxylapatite chromatography. The apparent molecular weight of the active polypeptide was 123 000 as estimated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate.

Evidence that substance P and somatostatin transmit separate information related to pain in the spinal dorsal horn.

Effects of various types of natural skin stimuli on the in situ release of immunoreactive substance P and somatostatin from the rabbit dorsal horn were examined. Noxious mechanical or thermal stimuli specifically increased the release of immunoreactive substance P or somatostatin, respectively. Innocuous stimuli did not affect the release of these peptides.

Three immunoidentical cytochromes P-450 from liver microsomes of phenobarbital-treated rats.

Three forms of cytochrome P-450 were purified to homogeneity from liver microsomes of Wistar-strain rats treated with phenobarbital. They had minimum mol.wts.