Maternal immunization modulates the primary immune response to 2-phenyl-oxazolone in BALB/c mice

The development of the antibody repertoire in newborn mice is greatly influenced by idiotypic network interactions. It has been demonstrated that anti-idiotypic antibodies either directly injected or transferred from the mother may alter the repertoire for life. For an elucidation of the underlying mechanisms we have analyzed the primary immune response to 2-phenyl-5-oxazolone (phOx) coupled to chicken serum albumin (CSA) in BALB/c mice after complete disappearance of maternal antibodies which originated from different stages of affinity maturation. Depending on the serum titers of the mothers after primary (1° mo), secondary (2° mo) or tertiary (3° mo) immunization, maternal anti-phOx IgG persisted in F1 mice for up to 9 months. In addition, F1 mice born to 2° mo developed – even without immunization – an anti-phOx IgM titer which reached levels similar to an antigen-induced primary response. An enhancement of the early primary anti-phOx as well as anti-CSA response was seen in F1 mice born from 1° mo, whereas the response was delayed when born to 2° mo and 3° mo. The antibody titers in the latter group of mice remained at a lower level for 3 months. In contrast, mice of the F2 generation which received a smaller amount of the same collection of maternal antibodies as F1 mice from 3° mo exhibited a quite different primary response: (i) They showed an earlier onset in their anti-CSA response. (ii) Whereas normally a plateau in antibody titer was reached by the 4th weak after immunization, in 55 % of the F2 mice a prolonged increase of the anti-phOx and anti-CSA antibody titers was observed. At 12 weeks after antigenic challenge, titers reached plateau levels of 6 × 10⁵ which were never before seen in a primary phOx or CSA response. Thus, depending on its own immunological experience, the maternal immune system induces a state of memory in the offspring which results in a faster and/or enhanced immune response in the F1 and F3 generations.     

T-bet重组腺病毒对哮喘小鼠Thl/Th2免疫平衡的调节

目的探讨静脉应用T-bet重组腺病毒（AdT-bet）对哮喘模型小鼠过敏性气道炎症及Th1／Th2免疫失衡的影响。方法36只C57BL/6小鼠随机分为AdT-bet治疗组（A组）、模型对照组（B组）、正常组（C组）。以卵蛋白（OVA）、氢氧化铝免疫建立哮喘模型，A组激发前尾静脉注射100μL的AdT-bet（1×10^8 PFU/μL），各组激发后肺泡灌洗分析细胞组份，分离肺淋巴细胞测定细胞因子分泌水平，以流式细胞仪检测CD3^＋、CD4^＋ T细胞比例及表达IFNγ和IL-4的比例，比较各组肺组织学改变。结果静脉应用AdT-bet组与对照组相比：①可明显抑制抗原激发后气道内嗜酸性粒细胞的浸润（P〈0．01）；②明显抑制肺淋巴细胞产生IL-4、IL-5，增加了IFNγ的产生；③肺脏淋巴细胞CD4^＋ IFNγ百分比及IFNγ^＋/IL-4^＋明显升高（P〈0．01），而CD4^＋ IL-4^＋百分比则明显下降；④明显抑制哮喘鼠气道内及肺泡内的过敏性炎症反应。结论激发前静脉用AdT-bet对哮喘小鼠过敏性气道炎症有明显的防治作用，其机制可能与表达的T-bet上调Th1／Th2比值，从而调整了免疫平衡有关。     

Prestimulation-Induced Startle Modulation in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Nocturnal Enuresis

Startle modulation was induced by prestimulation in 43, 6-11 year old boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 13 of whom were or had been enuretic, 17 age-matched enuretic boys, and 42 age-matched normal boys, using 60-ms and 120-ms prestimulation intervals and a 4000-ms continuous tone. There was a significant multivariate effect of enuresis on startle amplitude modulation. This effect was attributed primarily to the reduction of amplitude inhibition following the 120-ms prestimulation interval regardless of whether or not enuresis was associated with ADHD. There was no effect of ADHD on startle modulation by prestimulation. The inhibition following the 120-ms prestimulation interval in the enuretic boys was reduced to the level of 5-year-old normal children, suggesting a maturational component of the deficient startle inhibition. The neurophysiologic dysfunction underlying the deficient startle inhibition in enuresis, but not ADHD, is discussed in terms of a possible dysfunction of mesopontine reticular mechanisms mediating preattentive processing of signals associated with spinal reflexes involved in urinary bladder control.     

Aged-related loss of temporal processing: Altered responses to amplitude modulated tones in rat dorsal cochlear nucleus

Loss of temporal processing is characteristic of age-related loss of speech understanding observed in the elderly. Inhibitory glycinergic circuits provide input onto dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) projection neurons which likely serve to modulate excitatory responses to time-varying complex acoustic signals. The present study sought to test the hypothesis that age-related loss of inhibition would compromise the ability of output neurons to encode sinusoidally amplitude modulated (SAM) tones. Extracellular recordings were obtained from young and aged FBN rat DCN putative fusiform cells. Stimuli were SAM tones at three modulation depths (100, 50, and 20%) at 30 dB hearing level with the carrier frequency set to the unit's characteristic frequency. Discharge rate and synchrony were calculated to describe SAM responses. There were significant age-related changes in the shape and peak vector strength [best modulation frequency (BMF)] of temporal modulation transfer functions (tMTFs), with no significant age-related changes in rate modulation transfer functions (rMTFs) at BMF. Young neurons exhibited band-pass tMTFs for most SAM conditions while aged fusiform cells exhibited significantly more low-pass or double-peaked tMTFs. There were significant differences in tMTFs between buildup, pauser-buildup, and wide-chopper temporal response types. Young and aged wide-choppers displayed significantly lower vector strength values than the other two temporal DCN response types. Age-related decreases in the number of pauser-buildup response types and increases in wide-chopper types reported previously, could account, in part, for the observed loss of temporal coding of the aged fusiform cell. Age-related changes in SAM coding were similar to changes observed with receptor blockade of glycinergic inhibition onto fusiform cells and consistent with previously observed age-related loss of endogenous glycine levels and changes in normal adult glycine receptor function. DCN changes in SAM coding could, in part, underpin temporal processing deficits observed in the elderly.     

Pharmacology of spinal adrenergic systems which modulate spinal nociceptive processing

Spinopetal pathways may be activated by a variety of brainstem manipulations including microinjections of morphine which are known to modulate spinal nociceptive processing. Based on the ability of these manipulations to release spinal noradrenalin; the ability to reverse the antinociceptive effects by intrathecal adrenergic antagonists and the fact that intrathecal injections of noradrenalin mimic the antinociceptive effect, it appears that the descending modulation may be mediated by descending noradrenergic systems. Examination of the spinal receptor systems with intrathecally administered agents indicates that spinal alpha, but not beta adrenergic receptor agonists produce a powerful analgesia as measured on a variety of reflex and operant measures in mouse, rat, cat, primate and man. On the basis of agonist and antagonist structure-activity relationships it appears that a significant effect can be produced in the absence of any detectable effect on motor function by the occupation of spinal alpha 2 receptors. Distinguishable alpha 1 receptors also appear "analgetically-coupled," but their effects are uniformly contaminated by signs of cutaneous hyperreflexia at doses required to produce analgesia. The ordering of potency with which intrathecal adrenergic antagonists reverse the effects of intrathecal noradrenalin is indistinguishable from that of the reversal by these intrathecal agents of the antinociceptive effects evoked by brainstem morphine. This suggests that the population of spinal receptors acted upon by exogenously administered adrenergic agonists and endogenously released noradrenaline have indistinguishable characteristics.     

Cholinergic control of gastric acid secretion

Summary In the perfused stomach preparation of the anaesthetized rat the cholinergic agonists acetylcholine (ACh) and bethanechol stimulated gastric acid secretion. Both agonists produced similar maximal acid output (70 mol/15 min) when infused intravenously. However, bethanechol was more potent, eliciting half maximal stimulation at 1.98 mol/kg/h. Secretory responses to either agonist were antagonized in a dose related fashion by blockade of muscarinic receptors with atropine. In contrast, inhibition of nicotinic receptors with hexamethonium produced a striking potentiation of ACh stimulated secretion whilst the bethanechol elicited secretion remained unaffected. In the presence of full nicotinic receptor blockade the ACh response curve was shifted to the left sixfold, half maximal stimulation being produced at 1.79 mol/kg/h. Cimetidine partially inhibited the secretory responses elicited by either ACh or bethanechol while blockade of adrenoceptors ( and ) did not affect acid output induced by cholinergic agonists. Secretion elicited by ACh is interpreted as being the composite effect of prosecretory action and an inhibitory mechanism due to the activation of nicotinic receptors. Hexamethonium, through nicotinic receptor blockade, inhibits the restricting mechanism and thus reveals the full stimulatory action of ACh.     

Interactions between the putative calcium entry promotor Bay k 8644 and pressor responses produced by α-1 and α2-adrenocepter agonists in the pithed normotensive rat

Summary Interactions between the putative calcium entry promotor Bay k 8644 and both -₁ and ₁-adrenocepter mediated increases in diastolic pressure were studied in the pithed normotensive rat. The ₁-adrenocepter mediated pressor responses elicited by B-HT920, TL-99, DP-6,7-ADTN and B-HT958 were potentiated by Bay k 8644, reflected by a leftward shift and an increase in the maximum of the log dose-pressor respinse curves. The -₁-adrenocepter effects elicited by cirazoline, methoxamine, (–)-amidephrine, St 587, (–)-phenylephrine and Sgd 101/75 were less enhanced by Bay k 8644. Only a leftward shift of the dose-response curves was observed, which was most pronounced for (–)-phenylephrine and Sgd 101/75. The -₁ and ₂-adrenocepter pressor components of (–)-noradrenaline were similarly distinguished by Bay k 8644 as observed for the selective -₁ or ₂-adrenocepter agonists.Effects of Bay k 8644 on the increase in diastolic pressure mediated by B-HT 920, St 587 and cirazoline were also studied after pretreatment with the calcium entry blocker nifedipine. After additional pretreatment with nifedipine the potentiation by Bay k 8644 observed for B-HT 920 and St 587 was more pronounced. The presence of nifedipine had no effect on the interaction between Bay k 8644 and cirazoline.It is concluded that Bay k 8644 behaves as a mirror image of nifedipine. The observation that Bay k 8644 enhances ₂-adrenocepter mediated pressor effects more effectively than ₁-adrenocepter increases in diastolic pressure is in accordance with the hypothesis of the more pronounced calcium dependency of ₂-adrenocepter mediated pressor responses. The data obtained for ceptor mediated pressor responses. The data obtained for St 587 and (–)-phenylephrine are in apparent contradiction to the finding that the pressor responses to the former drug are more markedly inhibited by calcium entry blockade than those of the latter. It is suggested that St 587 employs calcium channels which are already maximally modulated and that (–)-phenylephrine makes use of calcium channels which are in a rather inactive state. The hypothesis is put forward that the intrinsic activity of ₂-adrenocepter agonists reflects their ability to bring calcium channels in an active state.     

Early steroid withdrawal in HIV-infected kidney transplant recipients: Utilization and outcomes

Kidney transplant (KT) outcomes for HIV-infected (HIV+) persons are excellent, yet acute rejection (AR) is common and optimal immunosuppressive regimens remain unclear. Early steroid withdrawal (ESW) is associated with AR in other populations, but its utilization and impact are unknown in HIV+ KT. Using SRTR, we identified 1225 HIV+ KT recipients between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2017, without AR, graft failure, or mortality during KT admission, and compared those with ESW with those with steroid continuation (SC). We quantified associations between ESW and AR using multivariable logistic regression and interval-censored survival analysis, as well as with graft failure and mortality using Cox regression, adjusting for donor, recipient, and immunologic factors. ESW utilization was 20.4%, with more zero HLA mismatch (8% vs 4%), living donors (26% vs 20%), and lymphodepleting induction (64% vs 46%) compared to the SC group. ESW utilization varied widely across 129 centers, with less use at high- versus moderate-volume centers (6% vs 21%, P < .001). AR was more common with ESW by 1 year (18.4% vs 12.3%; aOR: _1.081.61_2.41, P = .04) and over the study period (aHR: _1.021.39_1.90, P = .03), without difference in death-censored graft failure (aHR _0.600.91_1.36, P = .33) or mortality (aHR: _0.751.15_1.77, P = .45). To reduce AR after HIV+ KT, tailoring of ESW utilization is reasonable.