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Biomedical subjects

D A Goldstein

Publications and source records attributed to D A Goldstein.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Effect of an oral dose of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 on its blood levels in patients with the nephrotic syndrome.

Patients with the nephrotic syndrome have low blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OHD3) due to urinary losses of the sterol. It is not known whether supplementation of this metabolite could raise its blood levels in these patients. The changes in the plasma levels of 25OHD3 and its kinetic behavior were studied after an oral dose of the sterol (200 microgram) in patients with the nephrotic syndrome in an effort to evaluate the usefulness of oral therapy to achieve and maintain normal blood levels of 25OHD3. Normal subjects served as controls. The results showed that intestinal absorption of 25OHD3 is significantly delayed and its elimination rate is significantly enhanced in patients with the nephrotic syndrome compared to control subjects. Despite these abnormalities, the plasma levels of 25OHD3 were within normal values even 48 h after the ingestion of the sterol. These data indicate that oral therapy with 25OHD3 given in proper doses is adequate to maintain normal blood levels of the sterol in patients with the nephrotic syndrome. Therefore, a therapeutic approach could be designed to manage the target organ disease due to 25OHD3 deficiency seen in these patients.

Adult↗

Effects of long-term therapy with calcitriol in patients with moderate renal failure.

Since abnormalities in divalent ion metabolism occur early in renal insufficiency, treatment of patients with moderate renal failure with calcitriol could halt and/or reverse these disturbances. The effects of long-term treatment with calcitriol (0.5 microgram/day) in three such patients were evaluated. Serum calcium level rose from 0.3 to 0.7 mg/dL. Blood parathyroid hormone levels were mildly elevated and fell to normal. Intestinal absorption of calcium increased. The patients had hypocalciuria and the urinary calcium level increased. Creatinine clearance remained stable in all patients. Iliac crest biopsy specimens obtained after double tetracycline hydrochloride labeling revealed mild osteomalacia and hyperparathyroid bone disease that healed after therapy. The data show that a small dose of calcitriol is safe and effective for the management of the derangements of divalent ion metabolism in patients with moderate renal failure.

Adult↗

Calculation of the concentrations of free cations and cation-ligand complexes in solutions containing multiple divalent cations and ligands.

The method described permits the computation of the concentrations of free ions and ion-ligand complexes in a solution containing arbitrary numbers of divalent cations and ligands. It is required that the pH be known, along with appropriate sets of ligand-hydrogen and ligand-divalent cation concentration binding constants. It is assumed that these sets of constants are chosen to be consistent with the ionic strength of the complete solution which contains the divalent cations and ligands. The technique is an iterative one which provides upper and lower bounds for the values of the unknowns. The method does not require initial guesses at the values of the unknowns, and it gives correct answers even when the concentrations involved are many orders of magnitude apart. The present formulation of the problem is restricted to the case where only one cation can bind to a given ligand at any one time. The method is applicable to large molecules with multiple "sub-ligands" provided these sub-ligands are independent in their function as ion-binding sites. These sub-ligands need not all have the same properties. It is also shown that a simple modification of the method permits the determination of the subset of total ion concentrations that are required in order to produce a specified subset of free ion concentrations. The modifications required to include monovalent cation binding are presented in outline form.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Histone modifications in simian virus 40 and in nucleoprotein complexes containing supercoiled viral DNA.

Simian virus (SV40) nucleoprotein complexes containing circular supercoiled viral DNA were extracted from infected cells and purified by differential centrifugation. The protein content of these complexes was compared by electrophoresis on 15% acrylamide gels with the protein content of purified SV40 virions and with histones from virus-infected cells. The electrophoretic patterns of histones from each of the sources revealed several major differences. SV40 virions contained histones H3, H2B, H2A, and H4 but not H1. Nucleoprotein complexes and host cells contained all five major histone groups. Relative to cellular histones, virion and nucleoprotein complex histones were enriched 15 to 40% in histones H3 and H4. In addition to the major classes of histones, several subfractions of histones H1, H3, and H4 were observed in acrylamide gels of proteins from SV40 virions and viral nucleoprotein complexes. Acetate labeling experiments indicated that each subfraction of histones H3 and H4 had a different level of acetylation. The histones from SV40 virions and nucleoprotein complexes were acetylated to significantly higher levels than those of infected host cells. No apparent differences in phosphorylation of the major histone groups were observed.

Acetylation↗

Structural changes in simian virus 40 chromatin as probed by restriction endonucleases.

The structure of simian virus 40 (SV40) chromatin was probed by treatment with single- and multiple-site bacterial restriction endonucleases. Approximately the same fraction of the chromatin DNA was cleaved by each of three different single-site endonucleases, indicating that the nucleosomes do not have unique positions with regard to specific nucleotide sequences within the population of chromatin molecules. However, the extent of digestion was found to be strongly influenced by salt concentration. At 100 mM NaCl-5 mM MgCl2, only about 20% of the simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA I in chromatin was converted to linear SV40 DNA III. In contrast, at lower concentrations of NaCl (0.05 or 0.01 M), an additional 20 to 30% of the DNA was cleaved. These results suggest that at 100 mM NaCl only the DNA between nucleosomes was accessible to the restriction enzymes, whereas at the lower salt concentrations, DNA within the nucleosome regions became available for cleavage. Surprisingly, when SV40 chromatin was digested with multiple-site restriction enzymes, less than 2% of the DNA was digested to limit digest fragment, whereas only a small fraction (9 to 15%) received two or more cuts. Instead, the principal digest fragment was full-length linear SV40 DNA III. The failure to generate limit digest fragments was not a consequence of reduced enzyme activity in the reaction mixtures or of histone exchange. When the position of the principal cleavage site was mapped after HpaI digestion, it was found that this site was not unique. Nevertheless, all sites wree not cleaved with equal probability. An additional finding was that SV40 chromatin containing nicked-circular DNA II produced by random nicking of DNA I was also resistant to digestion by restriction enzymes. These results suggest that the initial cut which causes relaxation of topological constraint in SV40 chromatin DNA imparts resistance to further digestion by restriction enzymes. We propose that this may be accomplished by either "winding" of the internucleosomal DNA into the body of the nucleosome, or as suggested by others, by successive right-hand rotation of nucleosomes.

Animals↗

Osteomalacia and hyperparathyroid bone disease in patients with nephrotic syndrome.

Patients with nephrotic syndrome have low blood levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) most probably because of losses in urine, and a vitamin D-deficient state may ensue. The biological consequences of this phenomenon on target organs of vitamin D are not known. This study evaluates one of these target organs, the bone. Because renal failure is associated with bone disease, we studied six patients with nephrotic syndrome and normal renal function. The glomerular filtration rate was 113+/-2.1 (SE) ml/min; serum albumin, 2.3+/-27 g/dl; and proteinuria ranged between 3.5 and 14.7 g/24 h. Blood levels of 25-OH-D, total and ionized calcium and carboxy-terminal fragment of immunoreactive parathyroid hormone were measured, and morphometric analysis of bone histology was made in iliac crest biopsies obtained after double tetracycline labeling. Blood 25-OH-D was low in all patients (3.2-5.1 ng/ml; normal, 21.8+/-2.3 ng/ml). Blood levels of both total (8.1+/-0.12 mg/dl) and ionized (3.8+/-0.21 mg/dl) calcium were lower than normal and three patients had true hypocalcemia. Blood immuno-reactive parathyroid hormone levels were elevated in all. Volumetric density of osteoid was significantly increased in three out of six patients and the fraction of mineralizing osteoid seams was decreased in all. Evidence for an increase in active lacunae (bone-osteoclast interface) occurred in three out of six patients and in inactive (Howship's lacunae) bone resorption in six out of six. The data indicate that the loss of 25-OH-D in urine of patients with nephrotic syndrome and normal renal function may result in a decrease of blood levels of ionized calcium, secondary hyperparathyroidism and enhanced bone resorption. In addition, the vitamin D-deficient state causes osteomalacia as evidenced by defective mineralization and increased osteoid volume.

Adult↗

Simian virus 40-related DNA sequences in a human brain tumor.

Papovaviruses can induce experimental brain neoplasms in animals, and some papovaviruses have been implicated in the formation of various human tumors. We examined a series of seven human brain tumors removed at craniotomy for the presence of viral DNA sequences by the technique of DNA-DNA hybridization. Simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA was labeled in vitro and used as a "probe" for detecting related DNA sequences in cellular DNA extracted from brain tumors. SV40-related DNA sequences were found in DNA extracted from one tumor, a glioblastoma multiforme. It was calculated that approximately 1.2 viral genome equivalents per diploid cell were present in the tumor. Since the rate of reassociation of the probe deviated from ideal second-order kinetics, it is surmised that either only a portion of the SV40 genome was present in tumor cells or, alternatively, that the probe detected a related human papovavirus.

Animals↗

Reversal of skeletal resistance to parathyroid hormone in uremia by vitamin D metabolites: evidence for the requirement of 1,25(OH)2D3 and 24,25(OH)2D3.

This study evaluates the role of vitamin D metabolites in the genesis of the skeletal resistance to the calcemic action of PTH in uremia. The changes in serum calcium after infusion of 2 U of PTE per kilogram per hour for 8 hr were evaluated in thyroparathyroidectomized dogs before and after 1 and 3 days of acute uremia produced by bilateral nephrectomy. The animals received vitamin D metabolites during the 3 days of uremia. Supplementation of 0.68 microgram/day 1,25(OH)2D3 and 24R,25(OH)2D3 restored the calcemic response to PTE to normal. This is in contrast to only partial correction of the response to PTE by 1,25(OH)2D3 alone. Administration of 1.36 microgram/day 24R,25(OH)2D3 did not improve the calcemic response to PTE. The results indicate that (1) both 1,25(OH)2D3 and 24R,25(OH)2D3 are necessary for the complete reversal of the impaired calcemic response to PTE, (2) this effect is not due to the increase in the amount of the dihydroxylated compounds of vitamin D, since equivalent amounts of these compounds in the form of 24R,25(OH)2D3 alone had no effect, and (3) the better effect of the combination of 1,25(OH)2D3 and 24R,25(OH)2D3 is most probably due to an interaction between these two metabolites of vitamin D permitting an intact calcemic action of PTH.

Animals↗

Anion inhibitor-sensitive unidirectional sodium movements in the human erythrocyte.

The increased unidirectional sodium influx found when human erythrocytes are suspended in isotonic salt solutions containing bicarbonate ions as a replacement for chloride ions was examined. The increased sodium movement appears to have the transport characteristics of anion movement. Inhibitors of anion transport such as furosemide, fluorodinitrobenzene (FDNB), and 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyano-stilbene-2-2'-disulfonic acid (SITS) drastically inhibit these augmented sodium movements. An ion-pair mechanism appears to phenomenologically describe much of the data. A possible role for carbamino groups is considered. Such a model, however, required additional assumptions to explain the selectivity and the anion inhibitor effects.

Anions↗

Diabetic nephropathy: clinical course and effect of hemodialysis.

The clinical course of diabetic nephropathy was evaluated in 150 patients and the effect of hemodialysis in 68 of them. Proteinuria was the first sign of renal disease. Once renal dysfunction becomes evident, there is a rapid deterioration leading to dialysis within 3.0 +/- 0.2 years. Hypertension and circulatory congestion are common complications. The hypertension is probably volume dependent. Retinopathy was not invariably present at the onset of renal insufficiency but appeared with progression of renal failure. The course during hemodialysis was complicated by continued progression of diabetic vascular disease manifested by vascular access difficulties, worsening of retinopathy and blindness, and cardio- and cerebrovascular deaths. Mortality was higher than in nondiabetic dialysis patients.

Adult↗