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F Gubensek

Publications and source records attributed to F Gubensek.

93 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Polymerase chain reaction as a diagnostic tool for detecting Leishmania.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been used to identify a Leishmania parasite in a cutaneous ulcer from a 27-year-old patient infected during travel in Peru. The available classical diagnostic methods could not confirm the diagnosis in a sufficiently short time. Therefore, two sets of oligonucleotides were designed and with both of them fragments of the expected size were obtained. The sequence of the fragment derived from kinetoplast DNA corresponds to the Leishmania Viannia complex. Polymerase chain reaction has advantages over classical diagnostic methods, which makes it an important technique in those hospitals and clinical laboratories in Europe which lack standard diagnostic tests for Leishmania.

Adult↗

Neuronal receptors for phospholipases A(2 )and beta-neurotoxicity.

Some phospholipases A(2) interrupt neuromuscular communication by blocking the release of neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft. Despite numerous studies, the molecular mechanism of their action is still largely obscure. In this review the best-characterized receptors for beta-neurotoxins are presented. We propose a model which could be useful in investigating the apparent inconsistency between the observed heterogeneity in the neuronal binding of beta-neurotoxins and the very similar pathomorphological and electrophysiological effects which they produce in the intoxicated tissue. We assume that beta-neurotoxins enter the nerve ending to exert their toxic effect. The model involves different pathways for phospholipase A(2) neurotoxins to reach the site of action inside the neuron, their respective extra- and intracellular neuronal receptors being key features of the pathway. Once in the nerve cell, beta-neurotoxins impair the function of the synaptic vesicles by phospholipid hydrolysis of the inner leaflet of the vesicle bilayer. The proportion of the products of the phospholipid hydrolysis, lysophospholipids and phospholipids in the membrane, has been demonstrated to be very important for the shaping of the membrane, affecting its fusogenic properties. Due to the same final step in the action of beta-neurotoxins, phospholipid hydrolysis, the consequences of their poisoning are practically identical.

Animals↗