PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

F Roberts

Publications and source records attributed to F Roberts.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A survey of salivary kallikrein and amylase in a population of schoolgirls, throughout the menstrual cycle.

1. The values for kallikrein, amylase and protein were determined in samples of saliva obtained from 220 girls aged 14--18 years. 2. The concentrations of protein and amylase and kallikrein activities (per ml of saliva) were considerably more variable in samples taken in the morning than those in the afternnon. 3. The median amylase activity was about two and a half times greater in the morning than that in the afternoon. No such differences were seen in the median values for protein or kallikrein. 4. Examination of the vlues for salivary kallikrein during the menstrual cycle showed that there was significantly greater activity during days 29--32 and 1--4 than during the rest of the cycle. This pattern was most marked in the morning values of kallikrein but not apparent either in the morning or in the afternoon values of protein or amylase.

Adolescent

Effects of piretanide, bumetanide and frusemide on electrolyte and urate excretion in normal subjects.

1. The pharmacological actions of a new short acting loop diuretic were investigated in nine healthy male subjects and compared with those of frusemide and bumetanide. Subjects received 6 mg piretanide/day, 40 mg frusemide/day or 1 mg bumetanide/day for a period of 1 week. 2. Comparison of effects following the first dose administered showed that 6 mg piretanide is of similar potency to 40 mg frusemide in terms of diuresis, natriuresis and kaliuresis but is less potent than 1 mg bumetanide. 3. All three diuretics caused a decrease in urate excretion and a rise in serum uric acid. 4. Piretanide was well tolerated. Further investigation is required to ascertain what clinical advantage it offers over frusemide and bumetanide.

Adult

Aspartate transcarbamylase of Escherichia coli. Heterogeneity of binding sites for carbamyl phosphate and fluorinated analogs of carbamyl phosphate.

Some preparations of both native aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli and catalytic subunit have fewer tight binding sites per oligomer for carbamyl-P than the number of catalytic peptide chains. In contrast, the number of sites for the tight-binding inhibitor N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate does equal the number of catalytic chains in each case. Binding of the labile carbamyl-P was determined using rapid gel filtration, with conversion to stable carbamyl-L-aspartate during collection. Native enzyme (six catalytic chains) obtained from cells grown under the conditions of J.C. Gerhart and H. Holoubek (J. Biol. Chem. (1967) 242, 2886-2892) has 5.4 tight sites for carbamyl-P at pH 8.0 (KD = 9.9 muM), whereas native enzyme from cells grown with higher concentrations of glucose, uracil, and histidine (to yield more enzyme per unit volume of culture) has only 1.9 tight sites at pH 8.0 (KD = 4.6 muM) and only 2.3 tight sites at pH 7.0 (KD = 2.6 muM). At pH 8.0, catalytic subunit (three catalytic chains) obtained from the former native enzyme has 2.2 tight sites for carbamyl-P (KD = 2.4 muM) and the number of sites is 2.3 in the presence of 35 mM succinate, whereas catalytic subunit obtained from the latter native enzyme has 1.8 tight sites (KD = 3.6 muM) in the absence of succinate and 2.3 tight sites in its presence. The number of tight binding sites is also less than the number of subunit peptide chains in 19F nuclear magnetic resonance experiments performed with catalytic subunit and two fluorinated analogs of carbamyl-P at comparable concentrations of analogs and active sites. A model is proposed in which incomplete removal of formylmethionine from the NH2 termini of the enzyme under conditions of extreme depression affects affinity for ligands.

Binding Sites

The use of different agonists in antagonist affinity constant estimations.

1 The affinities of 4 muscarinic antagonists were estimated on intact pieces of guinea-pig ileum using the agonists carbachol and pentyl trimethylammonium both in separate experiments and in the same experiment. 2 The apparent affinities were slightly but consistently higher when estimated from the responses produced by pentyl trimethylammonium than when estimated from the responses produced by carbachol. 3 This difference was greatly reduced or abolished if totally denervated logitudinal muscle strips were used rather than intact pieces of ileum. It is therefore suggested that the difference is due to the presence of receptors in the ganglionic layer. 4 To explain the difference in apparent affinity of the antagonists these receptors can not be identical to the muscarinic receptors on the smooth muscle. 5 In addition they can not be nicotinic ganglionic receptors as the difference did not appear to be affected by the presence or absence of hexamethonium.

Animals

The kinetics of competitive antagonists on guinea-pig ileum.

1 The kinetics of action of some competitive muscarinic and histamine antagonists were examined on guinea-pig isolated ileum and their behaviour compared with the predictions of the interaction-limited model described by Paton (1961). 2 The kinetics of antagonism were not consistent with the predictions of this model: (1) The apparent dissociation rate constant calculated from the decrease in occupancy on washout was not independent of the concentration of antagonist. (2) The dissociation rate constant of a 'slow' antagonist calculated from the change in occupancy when a 'fast' antagonist was superimposed varied with the concentration of fast antagonist. (3) If the concentration of slow antagonist was increased when the fast antagonist was superimposed so that the equilibrium occupancy of the 'slow' was the same as before, a transitional phase was observed. 3 The kinetics of antagonism were observed in longitudinal muscle strips and intact pieces of ileum, bathed in Tyrode or Krebs solution, and with isometric and isotonic recording. No evidence was found that the discrepancies between the interaction-limited model and the observed kinetics could be accounted for by the experimental method used. 4 It is therefore concluded that either access is rate-limiting in these circumstances or, if interaction is rate-limiting, some alternative interaction-limited model is required to describe the kinetics of antagonism. In either case it would seem unwise at this time to calculate antagonist-receptor rate constants from the observed kinetics of antagonism.

Animals