Thoracic aorta injuries: management and outcome of 144 patients.

Rupture of the thoracic aorta from blunt injury is often lethal. Methods of operative repair vary, based on the surgeon's preference and circumstances. The primary hypothesis of this study was that operative management choices would correlate with outcome.

Gastrin-releasing peptide stimulation of amylase release from rat pancreatic lobules involves intrapancreatic neurons.

Gastrin releasing peptide (GRP) immunoreactivity has been localized to nerve fibers innervating pancreatic acini and identified in nerve cell bodies within intrapancreatic ganglia. The role of intrapancreatic neurotransmission in GRP- and neuromedin C (NmC)-stimulated amylase release was investigated using rat pancreatic lobules in vitro. Lobule responsiveness to neuronal depolarization was demonstrated by amylase release upon exposure to 55 mM potassium (207 +/- 7% of control) or veratridine (294 +/- 12%).

Galanin inhibition of enteric cholinergic neurotransmission: guanosine triphosphate-binding protein interactions with adenylate cyclase.

Background: The ability of galanin, a unique 29 amino acid peptide, to affect cholinergic neurotransmission was examined in the guinea pig myenteric plexus.

Methods: The effects of galanin on tritiated acetylcholine ([3H]ACh) release were studied with cultured guinea pig myenteric plexus neurons. Functional correlations were made with longitudinal strips of ileal smooth muscle with attached myenteric plexus for examination of isometric contraction.

Galanin inhibits rat pancreatic amylase release via cholinergic suppression.

The effects of galanin on pancreatic exocrine function were examined using rat pancreatic tissues. In anesthetized rats, galanin (40 micrograms/kg/h) decreased amylase secretion stimulated by 2-deoxy glucose (5.8 +/- 0.