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Biomedical subjects

C G Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to C G Mitchell.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Proteolysis of acinetobacter citrate synthase by subtilisin.

Citrate synthase from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus was subjected to proteolysis with subtilisin. Although the enzyme proved relatively resistant to inactivation by this treatment, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis clearly revealed breakdown of the citrate synthase to smaller fragments. The regulatory responses of the native enzyme to inhibition by NADH and re-activation by AMP were retained on proteolysis, indicating that the fragments bind tightly to each other and preserve the overall cooperative molecular interactions.

Acinetobacter↗

The role of oxygen in the regulation of glucose metabolism, transport and the tricarboxylic acid cycle in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The effect of dissolved oxygen concentration on the metabolism of glucose in Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied with chemostat cultures using both single-step and gradual transitions from either ammonium or glucose limitation to oxygen limitation and studying transient and steady states. The pathway of glucose metabolism was regulated by the availability of oxygen. The organism responded to oxygen limitation by adjusting its metabolism of glucose from the extracellular direct oxidative pathway, which produces gluconate and 2-oxogluconate, to the intracellular phosphorylative route. This change was a consequence of decreased activities of glucose dehydrogenase and gluconate dehydrogenase and of the transport systems for gluconate and 2-oxogluconate, and an increased activity of glucose transport, while relatively high activities of hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were maintained. Citrate synthase, isocitrate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase activities responded to changes in dissolved oxygen concentration rather than to changes in the glucose or ammonium concentrations. The effect of oxygen limitation on the oxo-acid dehydrogenases and aconitase was probably due, wholly or in part, to repression by glucose consequent upon the increase in residual glucose concentration. Succinate dehydrogenase was repressed by an increase in ammonium concentration under an oxygen limitation.

Ammonium Sulfate↗

Cellular and humoral immunity to hepatitis-B surface antigen in active chronic hepatitis.

The hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAG) may be persistently present in the serum in a few cases of active chronic hepatitis but the cause of the disease in most patients is unknown. In a study of 39 HBsAg-negative cases cell-mediated immunity to HBsAg was observed in 24 (62%), suggesting a high frequency of previous infection with the hepatitis-B virus. Hepatitis-B surface antibody was detectable by radioimmunoassay in six patients, in all of whom complexes of HBsAg were present in the serum on electron microscopy. Out of 12 patients with HBsAg-positive active chronic hepatitis who were also studied eight, including all those untreated at the time, showed a cellular response to the antigen. Evidence of sensitization to a liver-specific cell surface lipoprotein was found with similar frequency in the two groups. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that hepatitis-B virus infection is important in initiating the disease in many cases of active chronic hepatitis and that sensitization to the liver cell membrane antigen is the autoimmune process responsible for the perpetuation of the liver injury.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Cell-mediated immunity to hepatitis B surface antigen in blood donors with persistent antigenaemia.

Cellular immunity to the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and a liver-specific lipoprotein was studied, using the leucocyte migration test, in 38 asymptomatic blood donors found to have HBsAg in the serum. Sensitization to HBsAg was found in 26% and was related to the presence of liver damage, being detected in 47% of those with elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase but in only 13% with normal enzyme levels. The frequency of sensitization to this antigen in those with chronic persistent or chronic aggressive hepatitis on biopsy was also higher than in those with unrelated or minimal changes. The findings using the liver-specific lipoprotein as antigen were similar and there was a correlation between the results obtained with this and the hapatitis B surface antigen. This study supports the hypothesis that a T-lymphocyte response to hepatitis B virus antigen can initiate an autoimmune reaction to antigens such as liver-specific lipoprotein on the hepatocyte surface, and that this reaction may be of importance in the production of chronic liver damage. In the absence of the T-cell response, the autoimmune reaction cannot occur and the virus is able to establish a harmless symbiotic union with the host.

Aspartate Aminotransferases↗

Cell-mediated immune response in primary biliary cirrhosis to a protein fraction from human bile.

Cell-mediated immune responses to a protein fraction of human bile have been demonstrated, using the leucocyte migration test, in eight out of 10 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis but in only three out of nine with active chronic hepatitis. In the latter condition sensitization to a liver-specific hepatocellular antigen was found more frequently (five out of nine patients) than in primary biliary cirrhosis (two out of 10). These results, as well as the granuloma formation observed histologically, suggest that the initial bile duct lesion in primary biliary cirrhosis may be associated with a cell-mediated response to antigens-perhaps derived from bile duct epithelial cells-which may be normal constituents of hepatic bile.

Antigens↗

Cell-mediated immune responses in chronic liver diseases.

Studies of the cell-mediated response to liver antigens, using the leucocyte migration test, in 163 patients with various liver disorders showed that abnormal responses were almost confined to active chronic hepatitis (53% abnormal), primary biliary cirrhosis (64%), and cryptogenic cirrhosis (29%). The test was also abnormal in five out of seven patients with jaundice due to drug hypersensitivity and in one patient with acute infectious hepatitis at a time when mitochondrial antibodies were present in the serum. More of those with active chronic hepatitis on prednisone or azathioprine had normal tests than of those who were untreated, and in 8 out of 10 examined serially during therapy there was an accompanying improvement in leucocyte migration. Abnormal responses to salivary gland or kidney antigens were also found in nearly half of those with features of Sjögren's syndrome or renal tubular acidosis as part of a multisystem involvement-this, though occurring in cryptogenic cirrhosis, was found with greater frequency in active chronic hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis. These cell-mediated immune responses, perhaps triggered by the initial damage to the liver from viral or other agents, may be responsible both for the perpetuation of the liver disease and, because of common surface antigens, for the damage to other organs.

Acidosis, Renal Tubular↗