Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) activity in urine of patients with glomerulonephritis is related to their renal functional and structural changes

SUMMARY: Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has been considered the principal cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis. In the present study, we evaluated TGF-β activity in occasional samples from 22 normal individuals and 29 patients (11 with focal glomerulosclerosis, 11 with membranous nephropathy, five with Berger disease, one with type I membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and one with postinfectious glomerulonephritis) using a CCL-64 mink lung cell growth inhibition assay.
A significantly increased urinary TGF-β activity (reported in relation to urine creatinine, Ucreat, and median) was observed in patients with glomerulonephritis compared with normal individuals ( P <0.01). the patients with Berger disease [median (Md) = 9.96/10 μg Ucreat.], membranous glomerulonephritis (Md = 7.23/10 μg Ucreat.) and focal glomerulosclerosis (Md = 16.6/10 μg Ucreat.) showed higher urinary TGF-β than normal individuals (Md = 1.09/10 μg Ucreat.) ( P <0.01). We found a positive correlation between the TGF-β activity in the urine of these patients and the incidence of segmental glomerulosclerosis ( r = 0.45, P <0.05) and their plasma creatinine levels ( r = 0.87, P <0.01). A negative correlation was observed between the TGF-β activity in the urine of these patients and their creatinine clearance ( r =−0.75, P <0.01).
Our data suggest that measurement of urinary TGF-β activity could be a useful non-invasive procedure for the evaluation of renal TGF-β production, permitting the assessment of prognosis and the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy in patients with renal disease.     

碳糊电极溶出伏安法测定奋乃静等抗精神病药物

本文报道一种测定吩噻嗪类治疗精神病药物奋乃静、氟奋乃静、氯丙嗪和三氟拉嗪的灵敏电化学分析方法。该类药物在碳糊电极上预富集后,进行溶出伏安测定,溶出电流与浓度在一定范围内具有线性关系。最低检测限可达5ng/ml。用本方法可以不经分离,直接测定药片和人体液中上述药物的含量。作者提出了一种新型挤压式碳糊电极,对上述药物在该电极上的富集机理和测试条件进行了系统研究。认为药物的富集作用是由吸附和萃取引起的,并用计时库仑法定量地估价了这两部分在富集中所起的作用。     

Work in progress: radioprotection of human breast cancer cells by elevation of intracellular cyclic AMP

MCF-7 human breast cancer cells that were treated for one hour prior to X irradiation with the cyclic AMP-inducing agent 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthine displayed a slight but significant increase in surviving fraction over untreated controls at each radiation dose level. This was accompanied by a two-fold increase in the level of intracellular cyclic AMP.