Verhandlungen Ärztlicher Gesellschaften

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Zur Casnistik der Kleinhirnsklerose

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Transluminal balloon angioplasty of infrahepatic caval anastomotic stenosis following liver transplantation: Case report

Treatment of an infrahepatic caval anastomotic stenosis with percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty is described in a patient 5 weeks after liver transplantation. Pressure measurements confirmed the significance of the obstruction and the success of the dilatation procedure.     

Analysis of varicella zoster virus attenuation by evaluation of chimeric parent Oka/vaccine Oka recombinant viruses in skin xenografts in the SCIDhu mouse model

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is the only human herpes virus for which a vaccine has been licensed. A clinical VZV isolate, designated the parent Oka (pOka) strain was passed in human and non-human fibroblasts to produce vaccine Oka (vOka). The pOka and vOka viruses exhibit similar infectivity in cultured cells but healthy susceptible individuals given vaccines derived from vOka rarely develop the cutaneous vesicular lesions characteristic of varicella. Inoculation of skin xenografts in the SCIDhu mouse model of VZV pathogenesis demonstrated that vOka had a reduced capacity to replicate in differentiated human epidermal cells in vivo (Moffat, J.F., Zerboni, L., Kinchington, P.R., Grose, C., Kaneshima, H., Arvin A.M., 1998a. Attenuation of the vaccine Oka strain of varicella-zoster virus and role of glycoprotein C in alphaherpesvirus virulence demonstrated in the SCID-hu mouse. J Virol. 72:965-74). In order to investigate the attenuation of vOka in skin, we made chimeric pOka and vOka recombinant viruses from VZV cosmids. Six chimeric pOka/vOka viruses were generated using cosmid sets that incorporate linear overlapping fragments of VZV DNA from cells infected with pOka or vOka. The cosmid sets consist of pOka and vOka DNA segments that have identical restriction sites. As expected, the growth kinetics and plaque morphologies of the six chimeric pOka/vOka viruses were indistinguishable in vitro. However, the chimeric viruses exhibited varying capacities to replicate when evaluated in skin xenografts in vivo. The presence of ORFs 30-55 from the pOka genome was sufficient to maintain wild-type infectivity in skin. Chimeric viruses containing different vOka components retained the attenuation phenotype, suggesting that vOka attenuation is multi-factorial and can be produced by genes from different regions of the vOka genome.     

Treating erectile dysfunction by endothelial rehabilitation with phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors

A large body of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that a common pathway in conditions such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, and erectile dysfunction (ED) is endothelial dysfunction. Although a complete pharmacological cure for ED is currently unavailable, the phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors sildenafil, vardenafil, and tadalafil are efficacious oral therapy for ED. Results from recent studies suggest that regular treatment with a PDE5 inhibitor may lead to enhanced erectile function (EF) beyond that observed with on-demand usage, possibly through improvement of endothelial function. Such an effect may be viewed as rehabilitation of damaged erectile tissue. The present review focuses on several recent studies which provide evidence for the beneficial effect of regular PDE5 inhibitor administration on the improvement of EF by rehabilitation of vascular endothelium.     

Inhibition of lysyl oxidase activity can delay phenotypic modulation of chondrocytes in two-dimensional culture

OBJECTIVE: Chondrocytes frequently de-differentiate in two-dimensional (2D) culture, especially in the presence of serum. To examine the role of lysyl oxidase (LOX) induced cross-linking in this phenomenon, the effect of the specific LOX inhibitor beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) was studied in 2D chondrocyte culture. DESIGN: Chick embryo sternal chondrocytes (both proliferative and hypertrophic, from caudal and cranial zones, respectively) were cultured in the presence and absence of BAPN. The production and activities of LOX and LOX-like (LOXL) were assessed by enzyme assay and the use of specific antibodies. Seventeen batches of serum of different origin were compared. Chondrocyte phenotype was assessed both morphologically and biochemically, the latter by quantitative analysis of production of radiolabeled cartilage collagens II, IX, X and XI, and the de-differentiation marker collagen I, for up to 4 weeks in culture. RESULTS: LOX and LOXL were identified, by Western blotting and immunofluorescence, and LO activity was measured in the medium, with both proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocytes. Inhibition of LO activity prevented or delayed chondrocyte de-differentiation, as characterized by changes in cell shape and synthesis of the five different collagen types, from the first days of culture for up to 4 weeks, depending on the origin of the serum added to the culture medium. CONCLUSION: LO activity may be involved in the control of chondrocyte phenotype, in addition to serum factors. Inhibition of LO activity by BAPN may be useful for the maintenance of the chondrocyte phenotype in 2D culture. Specific variations in the relative proportions of collagens II, IX and XI could be involved in the mechanism underlying these observations.