Liver histology, blood biochemistry and RNA, DNA and subcellular protein composition of various skeletal muscles of rats with experimental cirrhosis: implications for alcoholic muscle disease.

(1) Liver cirrhosis was induced in male rats by treatment with carbon tetrachloride and phenobarbitone for 130-142 days. Detailed histological examination showed all livers from rats treated with carbon tetrachloride had annular fibrosis, necrosis, loss of normal hepatic architecture and other features that were consistent with an established micronodular cirrhosis. (2) Plasma biochemical analysis showed a significant reduction in total protein concentration (13%), which was due entirely to a reduction in plasma albumin (29%). There were also large increases in the plasma activities of alkaline phosphatase (110%) and aspartate aminotransferase (159%), when compared to phenobarbitone-treated controls. Plasma cholesterol was also increased (67%), but other plasma analytes were not significantly altered. (3) The soleus (Type I), plantaris (Type II) and gastrocnemius (Types I and II) muscles were dissected and examined for possible differential effects. There were minor reductions in all three muscle weights, but these changes did not reach statistical significance. The protein, RNA and DNA concentrations, total muscle content and content relative to body weight in cirrhotic rats were also not significantly altered in any of the muscles. Cirrhosis did not cause any perturbations in derived parameters, i.e. amount of synthetic apparatus per cell, RNA/DNA ratio, apparent cell size, protein/DNA ratio and the capacity for protein synthesis or RNA/protein ratio. (4) The gastrocnemius was fractionated into soluble, stromal and myofibrillar proteins. The concentrations and contents of all three proteins were unaltered in cirrhotic animals, compared to controls. (5) It is concluded that in this experimental model of cirrhosis there were no effects on those skeletal muscle variables which are strikingly altered by chronic alcohol feeding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Compensatory adaptation of the heart to chronic rate overload: increase in calcium transport ATPase activity of myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that a compensatory response of the heart to a chronic and continuous, metabolic and heart rate overload was an increase in the calcium sequestering activity of the myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum. Calcium sequestering activity was estimated by determination of the calcium-dependent ATPase (Ca2+-ATPase) activity of isolated microsomes. Chronic rate overload was modelled by comparing: dysthyroid and control rats; control swine and swine with implanted cardiac pacemakers set at 180 beats/min; and different species of mammals with widely different heart rates. The myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase pump activity was significantly increased by 39% for hyperthyroid rats compared to control rats and by 87% for control rats compared to thyroidectomized rats; by 63% for paced swine compared to control swine; and by 43% for rats compared to guinea pigs, by 140% for guinea pigs compared to dogs and by 120% for dogs compared to cows. These data indicate that calcium sequestering activity of myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum increases in equivalent proportion to the chronotropic demand and that heart rate is a hemodynamic correlate of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase activity.     

Inhibition of human benzylamine oxidase (BzAO) by analogues of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)

A sensitive assay for human plasma BzAO, involving the conversion of 14C-benzylamine to 14C-benzaldehyde, was developed. MPTP and several of its analogues were found to be competitive inhibitors of the enzyme. Ki values for the MPTP analogues in the presence of human plasma BzAO were determined. The analogues had a different rank order of inhibition of human plasma BzAO compared with the rank order of inhibition of bovine plasma BzAO found previously. MPTP and 1-methyl-4-(2-methylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (2'-CH3-MPTP), which are potent nigrostriatal toxins, were weak inhibitors of human plasma BzAO.     

Multiple myeloma: infectious complications

We review a ten-year experience in treating 60 patients with multiple myeloma. Infectious episodes occurred in 33 patients. Urinary tract infections caused by gram-negative organisms were the most frequent infections, and most of these were the result of catheterization. Pneumonia due to Streptococcus pneumoniae was encountered infrequently. This series confirms the emergence of gram-negative bacilli as the predominant pathogens in patients with multiple myeloma, and emphasizes the risk of instrumentation in these patients.     

The human sexuality team: An ideal role for rehabilitation nurses

Reprinted from Sexuality Update, a publication of The National Task Force On Sexuality and Disability of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, Vol 2, No. 1, 1989.