PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

D Oberleas

Publications and source records attributed to D Oberleas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Molybdenum requirement of female rats.

Sixty 3-wk-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups of 10 animals each. Group 1 was fed for 8 wk purified AIN-76A diet (basal diet) containing 0.025 mg molybdenum/kg diet. Groups 2-6 were fed the same basal diet supplemented with sodium molybdate to provide total dietary Mo of 0.050, 0.100, 0.200, 0.400 and 0.800 mg/kg diet, respectively. Molybdenum concentration in liver and brain increased linearly up to the 0.200 mg Mo/kg diet level. Beyond this level, no further significant increase occurred. Dietary Mo of 0.100 mg/kg elevated the Mo concentration in heart to its maximal level. Supplementation with 0.025 mg Mo/kg to a total of 0.05 mg Mo/kg diet significantly increased Mo concentration in spleen and kidney; higher levels of dietary Mo did not result in further significant responses. Molybdenum supplementation significantly increased the activities of xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase (XDH), sulfite oxidase and superoxide dismutase in the liver, and of XDH in small intestinal mucosa. Maximal activities were attained at 0.050, 0.050, 0.200 and 0.100 mg Mo/kg diet, respectively. Dietary Mo of 0.200 mg/kg diet was estimated as the Mo requirement of rats fed the AIN-76A diet.

Administration, Oral

Phytate in foods.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Biological Availability

Phytate content of foods: effect on dietary zinc bioavailability.

The phytate content of several foods is presented. Published zinc values were used to calculate phytate:zinc molar ratios. These ratios can be used to estimate the relative risk of having an inadequate intake of zinc. They may be used in planning menus to select the combination of foods that will supply the most available zinc to the daily diet. On the basis of animal experiments to date, a daily phytate:zinc molar ratio of 10 or less is thought to be acceptable in providing adequate dietary zinc, and daily ratios consistently above 20 may jeopardize zinc status. Many factors other than the daily dietary phytate:zinc molar ratio influence zinc nutriture, but the ratio concept is a tool which may contribute to a more accurate assessment of zinc status.

Biological Availability

Nutritional agents which affect metabolic zinc status.

As the number of factors which affect zinc absorption and homeostasis increase, it becomes more apparent that the relative zinc status of the population cannot be estimated from the analyzed zinc content of foods. The environment of the small intestine at the time of absorption can only be estimated from the diet fed. Even then since both endogenous and exogenous factors determine the zinc absorbed, the precision of these estimations should allow for large individual variation.

6-Phytase

Effect of washing procedures on trace-element content of hair.

A pooled sample of hair was divided and portions prepared for analysis by three washing procedures, to evaluate the effect of washing procedure on the subsequent trace-element (Zn, Cu, Mg) content. The methods selected were a detergent wash, a hexane-ethanol wash, and an acetone-ether-detergent wash. For all elements, there was a significant difference among the results after these wash procedures. Magnesium content of hair was most affected by washing, containing less than half of the magnesium of the unwashed hair. The detergent wash removed the most zinc and magnesium; the acetone-ether-detergent wash removed the most copper. Our results indicate that the trace-element analysis of hair is sensitive to the preparation technique and therefore is an unreliable source of information about trace-element status.

Copper

Effect of oral contraceptives on nutrients. III. Vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid.

The interactions of oral contraceptive agents (OCA's) with vitamins were studied in a large population of women. In the upper socioeconomic groups, higher incidences of abnormal clinical signs related to vitamin deficiencies were seen in OCA users than in the control subjects. Plasma pyridoxal phosphate and red cell and serum folate were lower in subjects using OCA's in the upper socioeconomic group as compared to levels in the control subjects. Reduction in erythrocyte glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (EGOT) activity and elevation in the EGOT-stimulation test were observed in subjects using OCA's in both upper and lower socioeconomic groups. These observations suggest a relatively deficient state with respect to vitamins B6 and folic acid in OCA users. No significant effect on serum vitamin B12 was observed as a result of OCA administration.

Adolescent

Trace elements in sickle cell disease.

Trace elements in 84 adult patients (38 men and 46 women) with sickle cell disease (SCD) were reflected in clinical and biochemical data. Height was retarded in six men and five women. Eighty percent of the SCD patients in this sample were below the 50th percentile from the normal mean for weight. Twenty-eight men showed a lack of facial and body hair, and five additional subjects showed only scanty facial hair. Whereas zinc in plasma, red blood cells, and hair was decreased, the excretion of zinc in urine was increased in SCD patients as compared to the controls. We believe that one of the mechanisms accounting for zinc deficiency in SCD may be hyperzincuria and that growth retardation and hypogonadism in men so commonly seen in SCD may be related to zinc deficiency.

Adolescent

Oral contraceptives, norethindrone and mestranol: effects on tissue levels of minerals.

The study involved three levels of dietary zinc (deficient, marginal, and adequate) and four hormonal conditions; namely, no steriods, norethindrone, mestranol, and norethindrone plus mestranol. The steroids were incorporated into diets and fed to 11-wk-old female Sprague-Dawley rats. After 10 wk of treatment, various tissues were excised for mineral assays by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry. Both steroids, reduced weight gain. Mestranol depressed plasma zinc, tibia copper and magnesium, and liver iron, but elevated the zinc levels in liver and erythrocytes, plasma copper, liver magnesium and calcium, and iron content of tibia and heart. In general, the effect was most prominent with adequate zinc but diminished in magnitude with the reduction of zinc intake. In addition, norethindrone increased heart iron and tibia calcium. Mestranol appeared to be the main causative factor and may have induced a possible shift of minerals from one pool to another. As expected, zinc deficiency resulted in the reduction of zinc concentrations of plasma, tibia, kidney, and pancreas, and the elevation of copper, iron, magnesium, and calcium concentrations of various tissues.

Animals

Gonadal function abnormalities in sickle cell anemia. Studies in adult male patients.

Thirty-two adult patients with sickle cell anemia were evaluated endocrinologically. Secondary sex characteristics were abnormal in 29, and eunuchoidal skeletal proportions were present in all except one. The age at which different stages of pubic hair growth were attained in these patients was delayed in comparison to normals (P less than 0.005). Hormonal assays were carried out in 14 patients. Basal serum testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and androstenedione values were lower (P less than 0.02) in patients than controls. Serum LH and FSH levels before and after stimulation with gonadotropin-releasing hormone were consistent with primary testicular failure. Erythrocyte and hair zinc concentrations were significantly decreased, and there was positive correlation between erythrocyte zinc and serum testosterone (r = 0.61, P less than 0.01) in sickle cell anemia. Our study shows that androgen deficiency in this disease is a result of primary rather than secondary hypogondadism. Further studies are required to establish the role of zinc in the pathogenesis of testicular failure in sickle cell anemia.

Adolescent

Effect of oral contraceptive agents on nutrients: I. Minerals.

The epidemiological aspects of oral contraceptive agents on nutrient metabolism were studied in a large population of women. Incidence of clinical abnormalities, related to malnutrition, were more frequently observed in the lower (B) as compared to the higher (A) socioeconomic groups. In the A groups some clinical signs were more common in the nonsupplemented groups of subjects. In general, the intake of oral contraceptive agent subjects for calories, protein, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc did not differ from the controls. The intake of the above nutrients in group A subjects were higher than those of group B except for calories. The subjects who took supplements had higher intakes of calcium, iron, magnesium and copper. No effect of oral contraceptive agents was seen on hemoglobin, hematocrit and erythrocyte count. Serum iron was increased due to "Norinyl." Total iron binding capacity was increased as a result of oral contraceptive agent administration. Total iron binding capacity values were higher in group B as compared to group A and in the nonsupplemented as compared to the supplemented groups. Plasma copper was increased and plasma zinc was decreased as a result of oral contraceptive agent administration. An increase in erythrocyte zinc was observed due to "Norinyl." No effect of oral contraceptive agents on plasma calcium, magnesium and erythrocyte magnesium was observed. Although no effect of oral contraceptive agents on plasma total protein was found, serum albumin was decreased.

Adolescent

Effect of oral contraceptive agents on nutrients: II. Vitamins.

Clinical, biochemical and nutritional data were collected from a large population of women using oral contraceptive agents. Higher incidence of abnormal clinical signs related to malnutrition were observed in the lower (B) as compared to the higher (A) socioeconomic groups, and also in the nonsupplemented groups as compared to the supplemented groups in the B subjects. As a rule the intake of oral contraceptive agent subjects of vitamin A, C, B6 and folic acid did not differ from that of the controls As expected, subjects from the supplemented groups had higher intake of vitamin A, C, B6, thiamin, riboflavin and folic acid, and A groups had higher intake of vitamin C, B6, riboflavin and folic acid. Increased plasma vitamin A and decreased carotene levels were observed in oral contraceptive agent users. In general oral contraceptive agents had little or no effect on plasma ascorbic acid. Urinary excretion of both thiamin and riboflavin in subjects using oral contraceptive agents were lower in A groups. Erythrocyte folate and plasma pyridoxal phosphate was decreased in A groups due to oral contraceptive agents. Subjects who took supplements had higher levels of plasma vitamin A, ascorbic acid and folate. But urinary thiamin and riboflavin were higher only in group A subjects who took supplements.

Adolescent

Oral contraceptives: effects on plasma insulin response to glucose and on the response to insulin and 2-deoxyglucose uptake by peripheral tissue.

Oral contraceptive steroids, norethynodrel and mestranol, were fed to 11-wk-old female Sprague-Dawley rats, in combination and in quantities proportional to those used by women for contraceptive purposes. Three experiments were performed. The first experiment, demonstrated that 10 wk of treatment, impaired the animal's glucose tolerance, but not its insulin response to glucose. The second experiment demonstrated that 6 wk of steroid feeding, decreased the in vivo conversion of blood U-14C-labeled glucose into adipose tissue fatty acids and into diaphragm glycogen, although the effect on the diaphragm was not statistically significant. In the third experiment, it was found that the uptake of 2-deoxyglucose-1-14C by the adipose tissue removed from rats after 6 wk of treatment, was not different from that of control tissue, but the uptake by the hemidiaphragms was slightly lower.

Adipose Tissue

Zinc deficiency in sickle cell disease.

Clinical similarities between patients with sickle cell anemia and zinc-deficient subjects suggested a secondary zinc deficiency in sickle cell anemia. Zinc was assayed in various biological fluids and tissues by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Zinc in the plasma, erythrocytes, and hair was decreased and urinary zinc excretion was increased in anemia patients as compared to controls. Erythrocyte zinc and daily urinary zinc excretion were inversely correlated in the anemia patients (r equal to minus .63, P smaller than 0.05), suggesting that hyperzincuria may have caused zinc deficiency in these patients. Carbonic anhydrase, a zinc metalloenzyme, correlated significantly with erythrocyte zinc (r equal to plus 0.94, P smaller than 0.001). Plasma RNase activity was significantly greater in anemia subjects than in controls. We administered zinc sulfate, 660 mg per day, orally, to seven men and two women with sickle cell anemia. Two 17-year-old males gained 5 cm and 7 cm in height during 49 and 42 weeks of zinc therapy, respectively. All but one patient gained weight (0.5 kg to 4.1 kg). Five of the males showed increased growth of pubic, axillary, facial, and body hair, and in one a leg ulcer healed in six weeks on zinc and in two others some benefit of zinc therapy on healing of ulcers was noted.

Adolescent