European Polistes venom allergy

The American Polistes species venom mixture--that of P. annularis, P. fuscatus, P. metricus and P. exclamans--was the only commercially available mixture for diagnosis and therapy until 1996. However, these species of Polistes are not present in Europe, where P. dominulus and P. gallicus and to a lesser extent P. nimphus are widespread. The aim of this study was to assess the allergenic differences among the commercial American mix, P. dominulus and P. gallicus venom in European patients and therefore to verify if this mixture is suitable for diagnosis in these patients. We carried out skin tests, radioallergosorbent tests (RAST) and RAST inhibition in Italian patients with adverse reactions to Polistes stings. RAST inhibition results demonstrated that cross-reactivity between the American and European species is only partial and that P. dominulus and P. gallicus venoms have exclusive allergens. Skin tests and direct RAST confirmed these results and also showed that European Polistes venom is more suitable than the American mix in Italian patients. Moreover, we found a high rate of cross-reactivity between P. dominulus and P. gallicus. To conclude, P. dominulus and/or P. gallicus venoms are necessary for diagnosis and therefore in the therapy of European patients.     

Assessing neuroprotection in Parkinson's disease: from the animal models to molecular neuroimaging in vivo

An important goal in Parkinson's Disease research is to identify neuroprotective therapy, and the interaction between basic science and clinical research is needed to discover drugs that can slow or halt the disorder progression. At present there is not a perfect animal model of PD to test neuroprotective strategies, however the models that portray the basic characteristics needed are toxin-induced and gene-based models. The first group comprehends 6-OHDA e MPTP and recently rotenone, paraquat and epoxomicin treated animals that shows some of human disease characteristics. Gene-based models are various and, even if with limits, they seem suitable models to test neuroprotection in PD since they present replicable lesions, a predictable pattern of neurodegeneration and a well-characterized behavior, biochemistry and morphology to assist in the understanding of induced changes. In clinical trials researchers have first used as marker of disease progression clinical scores and motor tasks which are limited by the potential symptomatic effect of tested drugs and are not useful in the pre-clinical phases of PD. Recently has emerged the important role of neuroimaging (Dopamine Transporter SPECT, 18FDopa-PET) as surrogate biomarker of PD progression. Even if there are still concerns about the influence of regulatory effects of tested drugs, neuroimaging features could represent a good outcome measure to evaluate PD progression and putative neuroprotective effect of pharmacological and non-pharmacological manipulations.     

Personality disorders and response to medication treatment in panic disorder: a 1-year naturalistic study

OBJECTIVE: In this naturalistic and prospective study, personality was assessed in patients with panic disorder (PD), in order to evaluate whether personality features negatively influence the outcome of pharmacological treatment. METHOD: Before drug treatment, PD was diagnosed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV disorders and personality was assessed with the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders. Moreover, all patients were evaluated with the SCL-90, the Ham-A and Ham-D. Then, patients were randomly treated with paroxetine (33.5+/-13.3 mg/day) or citalopram (34.7+/-15.2 mg/day) and were followed at monthly intervals for 1 year. Absence of full and limited-symptom attacks, anticipatory anxiety, phobic avoidance and depression for 3 months was used to establish remission. The effect of personality traits on each symptom domain was evaluated. RESULTS: Seventy-one patients completed the study. Remission rate was 76% for panic attacks and 46% for complete remission. When the effects of age, gender, age of onset and duration of PD, baseline SCL-90 phobic anxiety, Ham-A and Ham-D scores, Axis I comorbidity and the SIDP traits on remission were analyzed in a logistic regression, only borderline traits negatively influenced remission of panic attacks (OR=0.69; 95% CI=0.49-0.96; p=0.03), whereas the number of traits of each personality Cluster and the total number of SIDP traits did not affect the outcome of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that in PD patients, borderline features may negatively influence the response to monotherapy with SSRI drugs; therefore, other treatment strategies (i.e., combination of SSRI with psychotherapy) are needed to obtain remission in these patients.     

Effect of low doses of cannabidiolic acid and ondansetron on LiCl-induced conditioned gaping (a model of nausea-induced behaviour) in rats

Background and Purpose

To determine the minimally effective dose of cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) that effectively reduces lithium chloride (LiCl)-induced conditioned gaping reactions (nausea-induced behaviour) in rats and to determine if these low systemic doses of CBDA (5–0.1 μg·kg⁻¹) relative to those of CBD could potentiate the anti-nausea effects of the classic 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 (5-HT₃) receptor antagonist, ondansetron (OND).

Experimental Approach

We investigated the efficacy of low doses of CBDA to suppress acute nausea, assessed by the establishment of conditioned gaping to a LiCl-paired flavour in rats. The potential of threshold and subthreshold doses of CBDA to enhance the reduction of nausea-induced conditioned gaping by OND were then determined.

Key Results

CBDA (at doses as low as 0.5 μg·kg⁻¹) suppressed nausea-induced conditioned gaping to a flavour. A low dose of OND (1.0 μg·kg⁻¹) alone reduced nausea-induced conditioned gaping, but when it was combined with a subthreshold dose of CBDA (0.1 μg·kg⁻¹) there was an enhancement in the suppression of LiCl-induced conditioned gaping.

Conclusions and Implications

CBDA potently reduced conditioned gaping in rats, even at low doses and enhanced the anti-nausea effect of a low dose of OND. These findings suggest that combining low doses of CBDA and OND will more effectively treat acute nausea in chemotherapy patients.