Maximal and submaximal oxygen uptake during running: how should body mass be accounted for?

Oxygen uptake during running, i.e., the running economy, is an important factor in determining running performance in endurance events. The relation to performance is particularly strong when the aerobic running capacity is calculated, i.e., when running economy is related to the maximal oxygen uptake. There is considerable interindividual variation in running economy, and the reason for this is only partly understood. To some extent, this may be due to the way in which the oxygen uptake during running is usually expressed. This may expecially be true when subjects with different or changing body masses are compared. Several lines of evidence, including earlier animal studies as well as more recent human studies, favor the expression of submaximal and maximal oxygen uptake during running in terms of ml · kg^−0.75· min⁻¹ rather than as ml · kg⁻¹· min^−1.     

Cavernous sinus involvement in recurrent Nelson's syndrome

Summary Two cases of meningiomas, which are considered to have been caused by the preceding irradiation, are reported. In both cases, the cytokinetic study of the tumour using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was performed. The percent of the tumour cells in the S phase of the cell cycle was less than 1% in both cases. The low labelling indices might suggest a relatively slow growing potential of these tumours, though the radiation-induced meningiomas were reported as being rapidly growing and malignant.     

Effects of monoamine uptake inhibitors given early postnatally on monoamines in the brain stem,caudate/putamen and cortex,and on dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the caudate/putamen

Summary Rats were treated with desipramine 5mg/kg, nomifensine 10mg/kg, zimelidine 25 mg/kg or with 0.9% sodium chloride once a day during the second and third weeks after birth, and brain stem, caudate/putamen and cortical monoamines, and caudate/putamen dopamine D₁ (³[H]SCH 23390) and D₂ (³[H]spiroperidol) receptor binding were measured when rats were at two months of age. In the brain stem, the concentration of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenyl glycol was increased in nomifensine rats and the ratio of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid to 5-hydroxytryptamine was increased in zimelidine rats. In the caudate/putamen, the concentrations of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and homovanillic acid and the ratio of homovanillic acid to dopamine were increased in desipramine rats; neither³[H]SCH 23390 nor³[H]spiroperidol binding were affected by any of the three monoamine uptake inhibiting antidepressants studied. In the cortex, the ratio of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid to 5-hydroxytryptamine was increased in desipramine and zimelidine rats. The findings suggest that desipramine but not nomifensine increases the metabolism of dopamine in the caudate/ putamen and nomifensine but not desipramine increases the metabolism of norepinephrine in the brain stem, and furthermore that the metabolism of serotonin is affected by desipramine as well as by zimelidine. It is possible that also treatment of women with these drugs during late pregnancy causes long-lasting changes in the brain of human fetus.     

Biochemical evidence for the involvement of central serotonergic neurotransmission in the action of the antidepressant drug Medifoxamine

Medifoxamine, an antidepressant agent which has an original chemical structure, has been shown through in vitro studies, utilising radioligand binding in tissue homogenates, to bind with moderately high affinity to 5-HT_1c and 5-HT₂ receptor subtypes and to 5-HT uptake sites (IC₅₀ 950, 980, and 1,500 nM, respectively). It has been shown to bind in vivo to rat brain 5-HT₂ receptors after acute treatment with high dose (50 mg/kg, i.e., 133.9 μmol/kg). After 14 days continuous treatment with low dose (20 mg/kg, 53.6 μmol/kg), a decrease in the capacity of [³H]-5-HT uptake and a dose-dependent down-regulation of 5-HT₂ receptors in rat cerebral cortex were observed. These results indicate that medifoxamine, which has been shown previously to act through dopaminergic systems, interacts also with central serotonergic neurotransmission and particularly with the 5-HT₂ receptors, which could contribute to its antidepressant effect.     

Benzodiazepine concentrations in brain directly reflect receptor occupancy: studies of diazepam,lorazepam, and oxazepam

Groups of male CF-1 mice received 3 and 10 µmol/kg diazepam, lorazepam, and oxazepam intravenously. Between 1 min and 24 h after injection, benzodiazepine concentrations were determined by gas chromatography (GLC) in plasma and in one brain hemisphere; in the other hemisphere, ex vivo benzodiazepine receptor occupancy was measured using³H-flunitrazepam displacement. Based on GLC data, diazepam entered brain rapidly, and was also cleared rapidly, yielding desmethyldiazepam and oxazepam as metabolites in plasma and brain. However, lorazepam and oxazepam entered brain slowly, with brain:plasma equilibrium achieved at 30–60 min; thereafter, the drugs were eliminated from plasma and brain in parallel. The time course and extent of ex vivo occupancy were highly consistent with GLC data (for diazepam, GLC levels were expressed as the sum of diazepam, desmethyldiazepam, and oxazepam, with metabolite concentrations, normalized for molecular weight and for in vitro benzodiazepine receptor affinity.) Between-method correlations were 0.95 or higher. Thus benzodiazepine receptor occupancy is highly dependent on benzodiazepine concentrations in brain. Differences in the time-course of onset and duration of pharmacologic activity between the highly lipophilic benzodiazepine diazepam and the less lipophilic hydroxylated derivatives lorazepam and oxazepam are largely explained by differences in systemic kinetics and in the rate of uptake into brain.Supported in part by grants MH-34223, DA-05258, and AG-00106 from the United States Public Health Service     

ONCOCYTES OF THE THYROID: A NEUTRAL RED DYE UPTAKE STUDY

Oncocytosis and oncocytomas have attracted attention because on the one hand there have been reports of the favourable prognosis and generally benign nature of oncocytic tumours, while on the other hand, Hurthle cell change in thyroid neoplasms have been reported to be correlated with aggressive biological behaviour and a significantly worse clinical course. Presently, there appear to be two schools of thought on the significance of oncocytosis: (i) a process where there is redifferentiation of cells with involvement in the pathogenesis of cancer; and (ii) a compensatory process for ‘functional exhaustion’ of the cell. Many aspects of oncocytosis seem unclear. In this study, transmission electron microscopy is used to demonstrate the presence of thyroid oncocytes in the hemithyroidectomy specimen of a patient with focal lymphocytic thyroiditis. Tissue sections from this specimen did not display preferential uptake of neutral red dye, a distinctive characteristic of M-phase cancer cells which was previously reported. The findings seem to suggest that oncocytes are not cells with distinctive proliferative potentials. If that were the case, then oncogenesis or cancer cell progression and oncocytosis may not be convergent processes.     

再生障碍性贫血造血细胞Fas抗原表达与T淋巴细胞功能的研究

目的 研究造血细胞凋亡与T淋巴细胞免疫在再生障碍性贫血(再障，Aplastic anemia，AA)发病机制中的作用及两者相关性。方法 采用流式细胞仪测定40例AA患者和15例非血液、免疫系统疾病对照者骨髓单个核细胞(BMMNC)的总CD34^ 、CD34^ Fas^ 、CD34^ Fas^-、CD3^ 、CD8^ 、CD3^ 、CD3^ CD25^ 标记值。结果 (1)与对照组比较，AA组总CD34^ 细胞％明显减少而其Fas表达率(以占总CD34^ 细胞％为计)明显增高。(2)AA组CD34^ 细胞％数与其Fas抗原表达率无明显负相关。(3)AA组T细胞％明显增多，且以CD8^ 细胞和CD3^ CD25^ 细胞增多为主。(4)AA组CD34^ 细胞％数与其T细胞活化状态无显著负相关。(5)AA组CD34^ 细胞Fas表达率与其T细胞活化状态无显著正相关。结论 AA骨髓存在着造血细胞数量减少和T淋巴细胞亚群数量、功能的异常，造血细胞数量减少还可能与Fas以外途径诱导的凋亡过度有关。骨髓造血细胞凋亡过度可能有活化T淋巴细胞免疫以外的途径诱导Fas途径或活化T淋巴细胞可以通过Fas之外的途径诱导造血细胞凋亡。     

Haemodynamics as a determinant of the pharmacokinetics of and the plasma catecholamine responses to isoprenaline

Summary The total body clearance and fractional extraction of isoprenaline (ISO) have been determined, and the relation between these parameters and cardiac output established. Whether desipramine, an inhibitor of neuronal uptake, altered the plasma catecholamine response to ISO was also investigated.Seven healthy subjects were given i.v., infusions of ISO in two, consecutive 25-min periods, at constant dose rates of 31–43 and 80–124 pmol·kg^–1·min^–1, respectively. The total-body (ER), pulmonary (ER_p) and forearm (ER_f) fractional extractions and the total body clearance (CL) of ISO were obtained from measurements of cardiac output and the steady-state ISO concentration in mixed central venous, arterial and forearm venous plasma.ISO-induced increases in cardiac output resulted in increases in CL, decreases in ER and no consistent change in ER_f. ER_p did not differ from zero. ISO also produced a dose-dependent increase in the mixed venous plasma concentrations of noradrenaline and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG), and a decrease in that of adrenaline. Pretreatment with desipramine did not alter any of the pharmacokinetic parameters of ISO. Desipramine, however, reduced the mixed venous baseline plasma levels of noradrenaline (47%) and DOPEG (40%), and tended to reduce that of adrenaline (34%). It enhanced the plasma noradrenaline response 2.4-fold, abolished the plasma DOPEG response and did not alter the plasma adrenaline response to ISO.Hence, owing to its haemodynamic effects, ISO modifies its own pharmacokinetics which involve non-neuronal removal processes only. The increased DOPEG in plasma resulting from the ISO-induced increase in noradrenaline release was presynaptic in origin. Desipramine appears to reduce sympathetic activity. The enhancement by desipramine of the ISO-induced increase in plasma noradrenaline points towards recapture by neuronal uptake of at least 58% of the noradrenaline released in response to ISO.     

环缩酚肽抑制视网膜表达VEGF及PECAM基因和血管增生

[目的]观察两种环缩酚肽衍生物(Hep-A和Hep-B)对氧诱导的小鼠视网膜表达血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)和细胞黏附分子(PECAM;ICAM-1;VCAM-1)基因的影响及血管增生的变化.[方法]建立氧诱导的血管增殖性视网膜病变模型,12 d开始给小鼠皮下注安慰剂(第1组,n=7)、Hep-A 10 mg/kg(第2组,n=6)或者Hep-B 10 mg/kg(第3组,n=6),每天两次.5 d后取出左侧眼,分离视网膜并抽提RNA,用荧光定量PCR测出上述基因含量,并分别求出每个靶基因与标准基因S16含量的比率;右眼经心脏荧光素灌注后取眼球做视网膜平铺片,用图像分析软件定量计算视网膜新生血管的面积.[结果]视网膜中VEGF/S16的mRNA比率为:第1组(0.554±0.050),第2组(0.355±0.037),第3组(0.287±0.051);PECAM/S16为:第1组(2.050±0.249),第2组(1.228±0.153),第3组(1.027±0.210).经ANOVA分析,第2组和第3组分别与第1组比较,视网膜中VEGF基因表达分别减少36%和48.2%(P=0.001);PECAM基因表达分别减少40.1%(P＜0.05)和49.9%(P＜0.01);而VCAM-1和ICAM-1表达无明显差异.视网膜平片检测视网膜新生血管面积:第1组为(1.06±0.03)mm2/眼,第2组为(0.17±0.01)mm2/眼,第3组为(0.11±0.01)mm2/眼;经ANOVA分析,第2组和第3组分别与第1组比较,视网膜新生血管的面积明显减少(P＜0.001).[结论]两种环缩酚肽衍生物均抑制氧诱导的小鼠视网膜表达VEGF和PECAM基因,并抑制其形成视网膜新生血管.     

Human CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells Suppress Anti-Porcine Xenogeneic Responses

Due to the shortage of human organs, xenotransplantation is being explored as an alternative to allotransplantation, but immune rejection remains a major hurdle to its implementation. We tested the ability of human CD4+CD25+ T cells (Treg cells) to suppress CD4+ T cell-mediated anti-porcine xenoresponses usingin vitroassays. Human Treg cells were hyporesponsive to porcine cell stimulation and suppressed the proliferative response of CD4+CD25- T cells in a dose-dependent manner, and comparison of the allo- and xenoresponses indicated that more Treg cells might be required to suppress the xenogeneic response than the allogeneic response. Stimulation of CD4+CD25- T cells with porcine cells resulted in secretion of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-10, IL-6 and IL-2, and Treg cells suppressed the secretion of these cytokines, as well as the CD4+CD25- T-cell cytolytic response against porcine cells. These results suggest a potential role for Treg cells in promoting xenograft survival.