Effect of oestriol succinate on serum lipids

The series comprises 70 women with climacteric symptoms; 14 of them were oophorectomized. The first group of patients received 4 mg of oestriol succinate per day or a placebo in a double-blind experiment. In the second part of the study oophorectomized women were given 8 mg of oestriol succinate per day or 16 mg/day divided into two doses. Serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and serum triglycerides were estimated before drug treatment and after drug administration for three and six months. Administration of 4–16 mg/day of oestriol succinate was without effect on serum total cholesterol. A significant increase of 25–30% in HDL-cholesterol was observed following administration of oestriol succinate (8 mg or 16 mg divided into two doses) with a rising tendency in total triglyceride value.     

Fast-induced changes in plasma glucose, insulin and free fatty acid concentration compared in rats during the night and day

Changes in PG, PI and PFFA were examined and compared in fed rats or after 0 to 12 hours of fasting, during the night or during the day. At night, a progressive decrease in PG and PI and an increase in PFFA were induced by 0 to 12 hours of food deprivation. During the light period a decrease in PG occurred only from the 6th hour of fasting. A slight, progressive increase in PFFA levels was induced from 0 to 12 hours of fasting, while no significant variation of PI levels was observed. The results are discussed in terms of relationships between blood glucose, PFFA levels, and food intake in control rats over the circadian cycle.     

Diuretic treatment and serum lipoproteins: Effects of tienilic acid and indapamide

Summary Treatment with the commonly used diuretic, chlorthalidone, has previously been found to increase the serum low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) fraction. Therefore, the effects of two new agents, tienilic acid (a combined diuretic-uricosuric) and indapamide on serum lipid and lipoprotein levels were assessed. Six weeks of treatment with tienilic acid, 250 mg/day, markedly decreased serum uric acid and significantly increased LDL-C and triglycerides in 16 men. In contrast, indapamide 2.5 mg/day, had no apparent influence on serum lipids or lipoproteins in 18 men.Supported in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation     

Increased frequency of the rare PstI allele (P2) in a population of CAD patients in Northern Greece

Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at the apolipoprotein AI-CIII-AIV gene cluster and their association with coronary artery disease (CAD) and lipid levels were studied in a Northern Greek population. Ninety-five patients with CAD and fifty-four normal controls, angio-graphically proven, were included in this study. Using genomic hybridization techniques, three polymorphic restriction sites were identified at this locus: the PstI at the 3' end of the apoAI gene, the SacI at the 3' non-coding region of the apoCIII gene and the PvuII at the intergenic region between the apoCIII-AIV genes. The rare allele (P2) arising from the absence of the PstI restriction site was observed with a significantly higher frequency (p<0.01) in patients compared to normals (0.11 vs 0.02). In contrast, the rare allele for the SacI polymorphic site had a similar distribution among patients and controls (0.12 vs 0.16). The same was observed for the PvuII RFLP (0.04 vs 0.05). Correlation of lipid and apolipoprotein AI levels with the three RFLPs revealed no significant association, although apo AI and HDL were lower in patients with the P2 allele. Thus, in this Greek population, only the PstI polymorphism, among the polymorphic restriction sites examined, appears to be associated with CAD.     

Response of body temperature and serum iron concentration to repeated pyrogen injection in rabbits

We measured body temperature and serum iron concentration after five daily consecutive injections of febrile doses of Salmonella typhosa lipopolysaccharide (0.1 g/kg) and two doses of Staphylococcus aureus cell walls (1×10⁷ and 5×10⁷ cells) in rabbits. Tolerance to endotoxin injection, as manifest by a significant attenuation in the body temperature elevation, developed after the first injection of endotoxin. The endotoxin-induced fall in serum iron concentration was attenuated significantly by the 5th day of endotoxin injection. In contrast, no tolerance developed in either the body temperature or serum iron response following repeated daily injections of S. aureus. Rabbits rendered tolerant to endotoxin showed normal febrile and serum iron responses to subsequent S. aureus injection. Rabbits given serial injections of S. aureus, although not tolerant to S. aureus itself, exhibited attenuated body temperature responses but not serum iron responses to endotoxin injection. We suggest that repeated injection of endotoxin diminishes the ability of endotoxin to stimulate endogenous pyrogen (EP) synthesis and/or release, a property not shared by the gram-positive pyrogen S. aureus. However, repeated injection of S. aureus weakens the central endotoxin-EP pathway.     

Predicting development of sustained unresponsiveness to milk oral immunotherapy using epitope-specific antibody binding profiles

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The instability of membrane markers expressed by human monocytes and macrophages in culture

Surface markers were tested on freshly isolated human monocytes and following their in vitro maturation to macrophages. The markers tested were HLA-DR antigens, receptors for the Fc of IgG and complement as well as membrane markers defined by monoclonal antibodies. The results revealed a dynamic expression of some of the markers on monocytes which was influenced by several variables. The expression of the markers was modulated by the presence of different sera, by treatment with lymphokines and interferon and following the in vitro maturation of monocytes to macrophages. The most unstable marker was found to be the HLA-DR, which was modulated by all these variables. The 63D3 was affected by different sera and culture supernatant, as well as following the maturation of monocytes to macrophages, but not by lymphokines and interferon. One of the markers, the Mac 120, was found to be relatively stable and did not change significantly following the maturation of monocytes to macrophages. The Fc and complement receptors were also stable in their expression under these conditions, but were probably partially blocked in the presence of human serum. These results indicated that at least some of the heterogeneity related to the monocyte population was probably not due to the occurrence of stable subsets of cells, but rather to reversible changes in marker expression.     

Interaction of nanobacteria with cultured mammalian cells

Nanobacteria were recently isolated from human blood and commercial fetal bovine serum (FBS) and were located in the -2 subgroup of proteobacteria based upon their 16S rRNA gene sequence. They can be cultured even in the absence of mammalian cells, and have extraordinary properties, like very slow growth rate and an impermeable cell wall, making their detection difficult by standard microbiological techniques. Since they are present in FBS, and thus in cell cultures, it is essential to clarify their effects on cultured mammalian cells. In this study, we show that four out of six nanobacterial isolates from different sera exerted a cytotoxic effect on 3T6 fibroblasts verified by MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] viability assay, lactate dehygrogenase (LDH) release and by direct microscopy. The cytotoxic effect of nanobacteria was attenuated after they had been subcultured several times. The cytotoxic effect was similar with all tested murine and human fibroblastoid cell lines. Differential interference contrast and electron microscopy, and FITC staining with specific monoclonal antibodies indicated selective, possibly receptor-mediated adherence, followed by internalization and cytotoxicity in the 3T6 fibroblasts used as a model in these interaction studies. Thus, nanobacteria have a special way of invading mammalian cells: they trigger cells that are not normally phagocytic to engulf them. These organisms seem to be an important cause for cell vacuolization, poor thriving and unexpected cell lysis, problems frequently encountered in mammalian cell culture.