PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E Aoun

Publications and source records attributed to E Aoun.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Diastolic dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell anemia: is there a role for L-carnitine treatment?

Clinical manifestations of cardiovascular abnormalities in patients with sickle cell (SC) anemia are well documented. Many variables were assessed in our study before and after administration of L-carnitine to randomly selected 37 SC disease (SCD) children for a period of 6 months. Variables such as weight, height, serum ferritin levels, units of blood transfused and the number of veno-occlusive crises all showed significant improvement after the 6 months of therapy with L-carnitine. Our study also showed that cardiac diastolic function and pulmonary hypertension are common in pediatric SCD patients. These two disorders showed some improvement after L-carnitine administration. Therefore, L-carnitine deserves a rigorous large-scale randomized clinical trial to evaluate its potential benefits as treatment for SCD patients with cardiac complications.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Apoptosis in thalassemia major reduced by a butyrate derivative.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In cases of beta-thalassemia major, apoptosis appears to be greatly enhanced in the early-stage erythroid precursors in the bone marrow leading to ineffective erythropoiesis. L-Carnitine is found to strongly reduce apoptosis in different diseases. We investigated the effect of oral L-carnitine therapy on apoptosis in thalassemia major patients. METHODS: Eighteen thalassemia major patients with a mean age of 12.2 +/- 6.6 years were included. Detection of apoptosis was done by photometric enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) and agarose gel electrophoresis before and after 6 months of oral therapy with L-carnitine (50 mg/kg/day). RESULTS: A significant decrease of apoptosis frequency in the erythroid precursors in the bone marrow of studied cases was noted after therapy. The quantity of nucleosomes measured by ELISA dropped from 3.65 +/- 1.338 to 1.60 +/- 0.65 after therapy (p = 0.005). A positive ladder pattern reflecting apoptosis on agarose gel electrophoresis was detected in 88.9% of cases prior to treatment versus 16.7% after therapy (p = 0.006). Patients also had a significant decrease in the frequency of transfusions and increase in the pre-transfusion hemoglobin levels after therapy. CONCLUSION: L-Carnitine seems to be a good modulator of apoptotic processes in thalassemic patients leading to a decreased frequency of programmed erythroblast death and general improvement of the disease condition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Effect of n-alkyl chain length on the complexation of phenanthrene and 9-alkyl-phenanthrene with beta-cyclodextrin.

The characteristics of host-guest complexation between beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and phenanthrene derivatives (phenanthrene, n-propyl, n-butyl and n-hexyl-phenanthrene) were investigated by fluorescence spectrometry. Linear and non-linear regression methods were used to estimate the formation constants (K1). A 1:1 stoichiometric ratio and an effect of n-alkyl chain length on the formation constant were observed for the binary inclusion complex between guest and beta-CD. The formation constant dramatically increases with the length of n-alkyl, it starts from the value of 140 l mol(-1) for the phenanthrene to reach the value of 580 l mol(-1) for hexyl-phenanthrene. The effect of the temperature on the fluorescence intensity of each complex (guest-host) was also studied; and then the thermodynamic parameters were calculated. The main inclusion site seems to be aromatic moiety for short chain molecules, and it moves toward the alkyl chain part, as the chain becomes longer.

Macromolecular Substances↗
PubMed2004

Five-year trial of deferiprone chelation therapy in thalassaemia major patients.

Twelve thalassaemia major patients have been given deferiprone 75 mg/kg body weight daily as iron chelation therapy for 5 years. Their ages ranged from 18 to 34 years (mean 24.2) at the end of the study. Two patients were hepatitis C virus (HCV) mRNA positive and a further 5 were positive for HCV antibody. The mean serum ferritin level fell significantly from 4,302 +/- 2,245 microg/l SD at baseline to 3,032 +/- 1,155 microg/l at 2 years (p = 0.037) and 2,229 +/- 1,070 microg/l (p = 0.007) at 5 years. At the end of the study, liver iron ranged from 3.59 to 23.7 mg/g dry weight (mean 11.9 +/- 5.4), 3 patients having levels >15 mg/g. There was no significant change in serum AST levels, but ALT levels fell significantly at 2 years (p = 0.019) and 5 years (p = 0.001). Liver biopsy at the end of the study showed no evidence of hepatic fibrosis caused by deferiprone. Cardiac studies showed no overall change in left ventricular ejection fraction but a significant improvement in isovolumic relaxation time (p = 0.045). We conclude that in this albeit small group of thalassaemia major patients, deferiprone was a safe long-term method of iron chelation. In a minority, higher doses of deferiprone or a combination with desferrioxamine would be needed to lower liver iron below 15 mg/g.

Adolescent↗