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B A French

Publications and source records attributed to B A French.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation prevents the urinary alcohol level cycling caused by feeding ethanol continuously at a constant rate.

The mechanism of the UAL cycle in the intragastric feeding model of alcoholic liver disease in the rat was investigated by administering dinitrophenol (DNP) with ethanol in the diet. The question was: is the rate of oxidative phosphorylation fluxuation essential for the cycle to occur? The question has been partially answered by showing that rotenone, which inhibits complex I, blocks the cycle by preventing the generation of NAD from NADH. This would inhibit ATP generation from complex I but would not affect oxidative phosphorylation by complex 2 and 3. Since the rate of O2 consumption is normal at the troughs of the cycle and decreases at the peaks of the cycle and the levels of ATP are reduced at the peaks of the cycle, it is likely that the rate of oxidative phosphorylation also cycles. Since 2-4 dinitrophenol (DNP) uncouples oxidative phosphorylation, it was anticipated that feeding it with ethanol would prevent the cycle from occurring. This proved to be the case. In addition, DNP caused energy wasting and prevented the increase in serum alanine aminotranspeptidase caused by ethanol feeding, probably by preventing the hypoxia which occurs at the peaks of the cycle.

2,4-Dinitrophenol↗
PubMed2004

The effect of Viagra (sildenafil citrate) on liver injury caused by chronic ethanol intragastric feeding in rats.

Rats fed with ethanol and a nutritious diet intragastrically develop liver pathologic changes associated with cyclic elevation of blood and urinary ethanol levels (BAL and UAL cycle). At the peaks of the UAL cycle, the livers are hypoxic. When the liver portal hepatic blood flow is temporarily clamped for 2 min and then released, the livers at the peak UAL fail to recover completely compared to the control livers and the livers at the UAL cycle troughs. Viagra was fed to the ethanol-fed rats to enhance the effects of nitric oxide. Since nitric oxide is known to increase hepatic blood flow, it was anticipated that Viagra would prevent the liver hypoxia at the UAL cycle peaks and also improve the post-clamp recovery from the post-clamp ischemia challenge. Viagra tended to improve the post-clamp recovery of the liver surface pO2 levels of the ethanol-fed rats probably by slowing O2 consumption as result of NO inhibition of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase activity. However, Viagra increased the pathology score when fed with ethanol. For this reason, Viagra is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it tended to be protective in the post-ischemic injury in the ethanol-fed rats and on the other hand, it enhanced the liver injury caused by ethanol. Viagra did not affect the UAL cycle.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

The effect of rotenone on the urinary ethanol cycle in rats fed ethanol intragastrically.

Chronic ethanol ingestion alters mitochondrial function in the liver including inhibition of complex I of the electron transport chain. This leads to a shift in the NAD/NADH ratio to the reduced state when blood ethanol levels are high. Rotenone also inhibits complex I and induces a reduced state. The combination of ethanol feeding and rotenone toxicity should amplify the reduced state and block the cyclic increase and decrease in the rate of metabolism in the liver. The change in the redox state occurs during the urinary ethanol cycle in the intragastric tube feeding rat model of alcoholic liver disease. To test this hypothesis, rats were fed ethanol with rotenone and the 24-h urinary ethanol levels were measured daily. When ethanol was fed alone, the urinary ethanol cycle occurred. However, when ethanol was fed with rotenone the cycle was prevented and the urinary ethanol levels remained at the 200-mg% range. The rats fed ethanol or fed ethanol plus rotenone had the same increase in the pathology score and ALT elevations in the blood. Rotenone fed alone had the same normal values as the dextrose pair fed control rats. The results indicate that the UAL cycle is driven by fluctuation in the NAD/NADH ratio. When this fluctuation is blocked by rotenone, the cycle does not occur. It is concluded that the urinary ethanol cycle is dependent on cyclic fluctuation of the NAD/NADH ratio, which regulates the rate of ethanol elimination.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2003

The mechanism of cytokeratin aggresome formation: the role of mutant ubiquitin (UBB+1).

Aggresome formation in cells involves the failure of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway to dispose of proteins destined for degradation by the 26S proteasome. UBB(+1) is present in Mallory bodies in alcoholic liver disease and in aggresomes formed in Alzheimer's desease. The present investigation focuses on the role that UBB(+1) plays in cytokeratin aggresome formation in Mallory bodies (MBs) in vitro. Immunoprecipitation with a monoclonal antibody to cytokeratin-8 (CK-8) was used. The immunoprecipitate was incubated for 24 h in the presence of different constituents involved in aggresome formation including ubiquitin, UBB(+1), the proteasome inhibitor PS341, an ATP generating energy source, a deubiquitinating enzyme inhibitor, a purified proteasome fraction, and an E(1-3) conjugating enzyme fraction. MB-like protein aggregates formed in the presence of ubiquitin, plus UBB(+1) or PS341. These aggregates stained positively for CK-8. UBB(+1), and a proteasome subunit Tbp7, as demonstrated on Western blots. A second approach was used to form MBs in vitro in cultured hepatocytes transfected with UBB(+1) protein using Chariot. The cells were double stained using CK-8 and ubiquitin antibodies. The two proteins colocalized in MB-like aggregates. The results support the possibility that aggresome formation is a complex multifactor process, which is favored by inhibition of the proteasome and by the presence of UBB(+1).

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed2001

Imaging time after Gd-DTPA injection is critical in using delayed enhancement to determine infarct size accurately with magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: In patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI), delayed enhancement is seen in MRI 5 to 7 minutes after gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) injection, and the enhancement occurs in regions that later show recovery of function. However, in a canine model of acute MI, delayed enhancement 20 to 30 minutes after injection only occurs in necrotic regions and not in surrounding, reversibly injured myocardium. The objective of the present study was to determine (1) if the size of the enhanced region varies with time after Gd-DTPA injection and (2) if and when the size of the enhanced region corresponds to the true infarct size. METHODS AND RESULTS: The left coronary artery was occluded in 15 Lewis rats for 30 minutes (n=9) or 2 hours (n=6); this was followed by reperfusion. MRI scans were performed 48+/-2 hours after-MI. Midventricular short-axis images were obtained continuously for 40 minutes after Gd-DTPA injection (0.3 mmol/kg). The sizes of enhanced regions at each time were determined by threshold analysis and compared with triphenyltetrazolium chloride-stained sections of the excised rat heart. In all animals, the enhanced region overestimated infarct size (28+/-5%) immediately after the injection of Gd-DTPA, although it then gradually receded to match the size of the infarct. The time required for enhancement to accurately determine infarct size was significantly different between 2-hour infarcts (16+/-2 minutes) and 30-minute (26+/-4 minutes) infarcts (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In reperfused acute MI, accurate determination of infarct size by delayed enhancement MRI requires imaging at specific times after Gd-DTPA injection, and this time varies with the duration of occlusion.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Gene therapy with extracellular superoxide dismutase protects conscious rabbits against myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Extracellular superoxide dismutase (Ec-SOD) may protect the heart against myocardial infarction (MI) because of its extended half-life and capacity to bind heparan sulfate proteoglycans on cellular surfaces. Accordingly, we used direct gene transfer to increase systemic levels of Ec-SOD and determined whether this gene therapy could protect against MI. METHODS AND RESULTS: The cDNA for human Ec-SOD was incorporated into a replication-deficient adenovirus (Ad5/CMV/Ec-SOD). Injection of this virus produced a high level of Ec-SOD in the liver, which was redistributed to the heart and other organs by injection of heparin. Untreated rabbits (group I) underwent a 30-minute coronary occlusion and 3 days of reperfusion. For comparison, preconditioned rabbits (group II) underwent a sequence of six 4-minute-occlusion/4-minute-reperfusion cycles 24 hours before the 30-minute occlusion. Control-treated rabbits (group III) were injected intravenously with Ad5/CMV/nls-LacZ, and gene-therapy rabbits (group IV) were injected with Ad5/CMV/Ec-SOD 3 days before the 30-minute occlusion. Both groups treated with Ad5 received intravenous heparin 2 hours before the 30-minute occlusion. Infarct size (percent risk area) was similar in groups I (57+/-6%) and III (58+/-5%). Ec-SOD gene therapy markedly reduced infarct size to 25+/-4% (P<0.01, group IV versus group III), a protection comparable to that of the late phase of ischemic preconditioning (29+/-3%, P<0.01 group II versus group I). CONCLUSIONS: Direct gene transfer of the cDNA encoding membrane-bound Ec-SOD affords powerful cardioprotection, providing proof of principle for the effectiveness of antioxidant gene therapy against MI.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Mallory bodies formed in proteasome-depleted hepatocytes: an immunohistochemical study.

Mallory bodies (MBs) are aggregates of proteins, principally cytokeratin proteins found in liver cells. They are also found in a few other cell types such as type II pneumocytes and trophoblasts. Studies on the liver thus far indicate that MBs are derived from hyperphosphorylated, heavily ubiquitinated proteins which have undergone conformational change. The aggregated protein may accumulate because of the failure of the proteasome to remove the altered proteins from the cytoplasm of liver cells. To investigate this possibility, the proteasomes were assessed immunohistochemically in individual liver cells of mice fed a drug which induced MB formation. To accelerate and enhance MB formation, cytochrome P450 2EI knockout mice were used. Proteasomes in individual cells were visualized by immunofluorescence using an antibody to a subunit of the proteasome (P25). The results showed that the groups of liver cells that had formed MBs were often partially depleted of proteasomes. These findings support the possibility that MBs formed as a result of the loss of the proteasome to remove misfolded cytokeratin proteins. Thus MBs may share their pathogenesis with other types of cellular inclusions seen where proteins aggregate in the cytoplasm due to mutation, misfolding, or loss of proteasomes.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Liver necrosis induced by thyroid hormone administration in rats fed ethanol.

Recently it was observed that the hypothyroid state induced by propylthiouracil treatment reduced the elimination rate of ethanol. This was based on the fact that hypothyroid rats could only tolerate 10 g/kg/day of ethanol infusion over 24 h. Euthyroid rats tolerate 13 to 14 g/kg/day of ethanol infusion. In the present report it was postulated that thyroid supplements would increase the daily dose of ethanol that the treated rats could tolerate. Daily thyroid supplements, given intraperitoneally or orally, did, in fact, result in an increase in the elimination rate of ethanol. Death from ethanol overdose did not occur until the amount of ethanol given reached 16 to 19 g/kg/day. In addition, thyroxine supplements blunted or completely inhibited the urinary ethanol cycle. Submassive centrilobular liver necrosis was present in 9 of 10 rats given thyroid hormone and fed ethanol. Periportal duct metaplasia and fibrosis were also observed. Thus, thyroid supplements probably enhanced central hypoxia caused by ethanol to the point where ischemic necrosis developed. The latter healed by scar formation. Thyroid treatment completely prevented ethanol-induced steatohepatitis, indicating that the fatty change is responsive to the metabolic rate.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2001

Oral low-carbohydrate alcohol liquid diet induces experimental steatohepatitis in the rat.

The intragastric tube feeding model of alcoholic liver disease in the rat induces significant liver histopathology, including steatohepatitis and fibrosis. The question is, if the same low-carbohydrate diet is fed ad lib, will the same pathology develop? Rats were fed a liquid diet with ethanol ad lib that was low in calories derived from carbohydrates for 2 months. The urinary ethanol levels (UALs) were monitored at hourly, daily, and weekly intervals, and the growth of the rats was charted. The liver histopathology and blood transaminase levels were determined. Rats fed ethanol grew 1 g/day, which was 2 g/day less than when they were fed the same diet intragastrically. UALs varied hourly between 150 and 500 mg%, daily between 120 and 360 mg%, and weekly between 0 and 500 mg%. Individual rat UALs showed no predictable pattern. The pair-fed controls ate all of their daily ration within 12 h, then fasted until the next day. The histopathology and blood alanine aminotransferase were similar to those seen with the intragastric tube feeding of the same diet, except that necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis did not develop. The conclusion was that the oral feeding of a low-carbohydrate diet produces less liver injury than that produced by the same diet fed intragastrically. The UALs varied hourly, daily, and weekly in individual rats, making it difficult to synchronize UALs at the time of sacrifice.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2001

Aggresome formation in liver cells in response to different toxic mechanisms: role of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and the frameshift mutant of ubiquitin.

Aggresomes form in cells when intracellular proteins undergo conformational changes, as in so-called conformational diseases. This phenomenon has been observed in the liver and brain and in cell culture in response to abnormal protein formation, such as mutant proteins. In the case of the brain the frameshift mutant ubiquitin (UBB+1) is involved. Mallory body formation in the liver is one example of this phenomenon in vivo. Mallory body formation is common in a variety of liver diseases of diverse pathogenesis. The study of the Mallory body forming model indicated that drug-conditioned hepatocytes form Mallory bodies when mice are given colchicine, ethanol, okadaic acid, or exposure to heat shock. These findings suggest that aggresome formation is a common pathway of liver injury due to diverse mechanisms. To further characterize the role of this common pathway, drug-primed mice were exposed to different types of liver injury, i.e., using such drugs as thioacetamide, galactosamine, tautomycin, and the proteasome inhibitor PS341. Mallory body formation was induced by treatment with all the toxins tested, giving credence to the proposal that aggresome formation in the liver is a common pathway in response to different primary mechanisms of liver injury. The frameshift mutant UBB+1 was invariably found to colocalize with ubiquitin in the Mallory body, indicating its essential involvement in the mechanism of MB formation.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

The effect of ethanol-induced cytochrome p4502E1 on the inhibition of proteasome activity by alcohol.

The present investigation was undertaken to determine the effect of CYP2E1 induction by ethanol on the inhibition of proteasomal activity in wild-type and CYP2E1 knockout C57 black mice. The proteasomal chymotrypsin-like activity decreased significantly in ethanol-fed wild-type mice liver, but was not reduced in ethanol-fed knockout mice liver. The 26S proteasomal activity was decreased more by ethanol feeding than was the 20S proteasomal fraction. Individual hepatocytes lost immunostaining of the proteasomes in the centrilobular zone in the livers of ethanol-fed wild-type mice and the knockout mouse liver. There was increased product of protein oxidation in the liver in the wild type but not in the knockout mice given ethanol. Taken together, these results suggest that CYP2E1 induction was responsible for the decrease in proteasome activity seen in the wild-type mice which head to the accumulation of oxidized proteins which were increased as the result of free radicals generated by CYP2E1 metabolism of ethanol.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Dexamethasone enhances mallory body formation in drug-primed mouse liver.

In a clinical study in which patients with alcoholic hepatitis were treated with prednisone for 1 month, posttreatment liver biopsies showed diminished inflammation, but Mallory bodies were not diminished. This suggested that steroid treatment may reduce inflammation by inhibiting NFkappaB activation. Sparing of Mallory bodies suggests that NFkappaB activation may not be involved mechanistically in Mallory body formation. To test this idea, we induced Mallory body formation in drug-primed mice with or without dexamethasone treatment. As predicted, dexamethasone decreased NFkappaB activation; however, Mallory body formation was increased. Surprisingly, TNFalpha and iNOS, which normally increase as a result of NFkappaB activation, were upregulated by the dexamethasone treatment. It was concluded that NFkappaB activation is not involved in Mallory body formation. Despite this, induced increases in TNFalpha, iNOS, c-jun/API and c-myc expression indicate that oxidative stress is likely involved in Mallory body formation.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Inhibition of ethanol-induced liver disease in the intragastric feeding rat model by chlormethiazole.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effect of chlormethiazole treatment on liver damage in the experimental rat intragastric ethanol-feeding model of alcoholic liver disease. Chlormethiazole has been used in the treatment of alcoholic withdrawal and has been shown to inhibit cytochrome P4502E1. Since treatment of experimental alcoholic liver disease with CYP2E1 inhibitors had an ameliorating effect on liver injury in the rat, chlormethiazole was used to see if it had a similar effect. Rats fed ethanol for 2 months had significantly less liver injury when chlormethiazole was added to the diet, fed intragastrically. The CYP2E1 apoprotein levels, which were increased by ethanol feeding, were also increased when chlormethiazole was fed with ethanol. Chlormethiazole inhibited the increase in the ethanol-induced CYP2E1 activity in vivo, as measured by chlorzoxazone 6-hydroxylation, but did not affect the level of CYP2E1 apoprotein. Likewise, the reduction in proteasome proteolytic enzyme activity produced by ethanol feeding was blunted in chlormethiazole-fed rats. These results support the conclusion that chlormethiazole treatment partially protects the liver from injury by inhibiting CYP2E1 activity in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Use of nitric-oxide-eluting polymer-coated coronary stents for prevention of restenosis in pigs.

BACKGROUND: Restenosis after angioplasty remains an unresolved problem despite an increase in use of coronary stents. It has been theorized that nitric oxide (NO) exerts several actions that can prevent restenosis. These include inhibition of proliferation of smooth muscle cells, prevention of arterial spasms, and decreasing aggregation of platelets in response to exposure to collagen. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether NO coated stents decrease restenosis in a pig balloon injury model. METHODS: We used coronary stents impregnated with a slow-release precursor of NO in the porcine model of restenosis. Tantalum coil coronary stents (Cordis) were coated with a polymer impregnated with a slow-release precursor of NO. Polymer-coated stents without active precursors were used as controls. Oversized stents were mounted on a delivery balloon and subsequently deployed in the right coronary and left anterior descending arteries of each animal. RESULTS: Repeated recording of angiograms demonstrated that changes in minimum lumen diameter on going from immediately after stenting to 28-day follow-up for the control and NO-eluting-stent groups were similar, namely decreases of 1.89 +/- 0.33 and 2.08 +/- 0.28 mm, respectively. The morphometric results, showing that severe luminal narrowing occurred for both groups, were similar. The percentage area stenoses were 85 +/- 5% for the control group and 84 +/- 6% for the NO-eluting group. Histology demonstrated that profuse formation of neointima and an inflammatory cell infiltrate occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Severe diameter stenosis occurred both for control and for treatment groups. The degree of angiographic stenosis was markedly worse than that previously reported for this model. Sustained release of a precursor of NO did not prevent restenosis in this model. This might have been due to a lack of efficacy of nitric oxide or to a profuse and overwhelming stimulatory effect of the polymer in the coated stents.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
PubMed2000

Mechanism of the alcohol cyclic pattern: role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.

The cause of the cycle of urinary alcohol levels (UALs) in rats fed ethanol continually at a fixed rate is unknown. Rats were fed ethanol intragastrically at a constant dose for 2 mo, and daily body temperatures and UALs were recorded. Body temperature cycled inversely to UAL, suggesting that the rate of metabolism could be mechanistically involved in the rate of ethanol elimination during the cycle. To document this, whole body O(2) consumption rate was monitored daily during the cycle. The rate of O(2) consumption correlated positively with the change in body temperature and negatively with the change in UAL. Since the metabolic rate responds to changes in body temperature, thyroid hormone levels were measured during the UAL cycle. T(4) levels correlated positively with the O(2) consumption rate and negatively with the UALs. In a second experiment using propylthiouracil treatment, UALs did not cycle and a fall in body temperature failed to stimulate an increase in the rate of ethanol elimination. Consequently, rats died of overdose. Likewise, in a third experiment using rats with severed pituitary stalks, UALs failed to cycle and rats died of overdose. From these observations it was concluded that the UAL cycle depends on an intact hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis response to the ethanol-induced drop in body temperature by increasing the rate of ethanol elimination.

Alanine Transaminase↗
PubMed1999

Role of CYP2E1 in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease: modifications by cAMP and ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

The ethanol inducible isoform of cytochrome P450, CYP2E1, may play a role in ethanol-induced liver injury. Therefore, the factors which govern CYP2E1 degradation and turnover were investigated. These factors include cAMP, ubiquitin, proteasomal enzymes and CYP2E1 mRNA. Rats fed ethanol or pair-fed isocaloric dextrose were pair-fed with rats fed ethanol or dextrose treated with cAMP for 2 months. The liver pathology, regenerative activity, fatty acid composition, NFkappaB activation, ubiquitin conjugates and proteasomal enzymes were measured as were the apoprotein levels of CYP2E1, CYP3A, CYP4A and mRNA levels for CYP2E1 and ubiquitin expression. The results showed, that the cAMP treatment ameliorated the increase liver fat storage and changes in the fatty acid composition in the livers of ethanol fed rats. Other histologic features of alcoholic liver disease were not changed. Western blot quantitation showed that the amount of ubiquitin and ubiquitin conjugates were markedly reduced by ethanol treatment. Similarly, ethanol decreased the level of ubiquitin mRNA. cAMP ameliorated the inhibition of the proteasomal enzyme proteolysis caused by ethanol feeding. The ethanol-induced increase in the CYP2E1 protein was partially inhibited by cAMP treatment. cAMP treatment decreased CYP2E1 mRNA levels in both ethanol-fed and pair fed control rats. Likewise NFkappaB activation was not increased by ethanol but cAMP reduced the level of NFkappaB activation. CAMP treatment also reduced CYP4A but not CYP3A. The results support the concept that cAMP treatment partially protects the liver from ethanol-induced fatty liver by reducing CYP2E1 induction through cAMP's effects on CYP2E1 synthesis.

Animals↗