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Biomedical subjects

A Di Lauro

Publications and source records attributed to A Di Lauro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Platelet 3H-imipramine binding in bipolar patients.

Platelet 3H-imipramine binding was investigated in 31 control subjects and 19 hospitalized bipolar patients, either in the hypomanic or the depressed phase of illness. The mean Bmax value in the bipolar depressed patients did not differ significantly from that in the control subjects or the hypomanic patients. Differences in timing of the assay after blood collection, membrane preparation, protein content used in the assay, or binding of radioactive ligand to the equipment do not appear to explain the discrepancy between these results and previous findings.

Adult

Glutamate dehydrogenase in human brain: regional distribution and properties.

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) activity was studied in 17 regions of six human brains. Duration and conditions of the postmortem period did not affect enzyme activity. Specific activity ranged between 103 and 377 nmoles/min/mg protein at 25 degrees C and it was 10-fold higher than that found in leukocytes. Apart from exclusively white matter regions (corpus callosum and centrum ovale), there was a moderate regional distribution (2.5-fold variation), with highest values in the inferior olive and hypothalamus, and lowest in the cerebellum and lenticular nucleus. With alpha-ketoglutarate (alpha-KG), NADH, or NH4+ as variable substrate, the apparent Km values in human brain were Km alpha-KG = 1.9 X 10(-3) M, KmNADH = 0.21 X 10(-3) M, and KmNH4+ = 28 X 10(-3) M, and in leukocytes they were Km alpha-KG = 1.7 X 10(-3) M, KmNADH = 0.24 X 10(-3) M, and KmNH4+ = 28 X 10(-3) M. The effects of cofactors, inhibitor, and pH were similar in brain and leukocyte GDH.

Adolescent

No circadian rhythms of serotoninergic, alpha-, beta-adrenergic and imipramine binding sites in rat brain regions.

Bmax values of the specific binding of [3H]-WB 4101, [3H]-dihydroalprenolol, [3H]-spiperone and [3H]-imipramine to various rat brain regions were determined at 4 hr intervals over 24 hr under circadian conditions. No significant circadian rhythm of binding sites number was found for any receptor investigated in cerebral cortex, hypothalamus or brain stem. Some methodological issues are discussed.

Animals

Is aspartic acid the neurotransmitter of the perforant pathway?

In order to determine whether an amino acid may act as a neurotransmitter in the perforant pathway we examined the effect of lesion of rat entorhinal cortex on the concentrations of various amino acids in the hippocampus proper and fascia dentata. Only the aspartic acid content was found significantly decreased after the lesion. This decreases is not due to a loss from target cells of the perforant pathway, but rather to a loss from its degenerating terminals.

Amino Acids