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Biomedical subjects

F V DeFeudis

Publications and source records attributed to F V DeFeudis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Coronary atherosclerosis: current therapeutic approaches and future trends.

Invasive cardiovascular procedures, such as percutaneous translumenal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and aorto-coronary bypass surgery (ACBS), that are currently employed in treating the coronary stenosis or occlusion caused by atherosclerosis represent a major therapeutic advance for managing coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the cellular proliferative response and associated intimal hyperplasia that can follow the damage to blood vessels that occurs with these procedures leads to late complications which cannot be effectively controlled by presently available drugs. Hence, a new approach is required for managing these complications, termed "restenosis" (in the case of PTCA) or "stenosis" (in the case of ACBS). Existing drug therapy is reviewed and some new approaches to this problem are provided herein. Further studies of growth factors and other substances that influence the cellular proliferative response that follows injury to the blood vessel wall could lead to the development of effective therapy. Inhibition of intimal hyperplasia and/or acceleration of endothelial cell re-growth provide a basis for such new approaches. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), as well as endothelium-derived relaxing factor(s) (EDRF) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) are among the substances discussed. Modification of certain currently available drugs (e.g. Ca(2+)-antagonists) could also be of value in meeting this therapeutic demand.

Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide↗
PubMed1979

GABA binding processes in rat brain and liver.

Although these studies have provided some further insight into GABA binding processes associated with transport and receptor-activation, such attempts remain limited due to the lack of specificity of the ligands used to displace these components. Thus, BMI appeared to interact with both transport and synaptic receptor sites for GABA. Perhaps certain GABA-agonists (e.g., muscimol, isoguvacine) will be shown to interact more specifically with synaptic GABA-receptors? So-called "specific" binding of GABA and its analogues, or antagonists might not be the issue to be kept in focus in this type of experiment, especially since it cannot be separated into presynaptic, postsynaptic and non-synaptic components. The specificity of an interaction of ligand with membrane site may be determined by other requirements of the particular system concerned. In any case, it seems essential to examine the binding sites, themselves, in order to define more clearly which of these are involved in receptor-activation and in uptake. An approach involving the isolation and purification of GABA-receptors should provide evidence for specific binding of GABA to its postsynaptic receptors.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Comparison of high-affinity binding of [3H]GABA to subcellular particles of rat brain and liver.

The binding of [3H]GABA and retention of [14C]sucrose have been studied in freshly prepared "synaptosomal-mitochondrial" (P2) fractions of rat cerebral cortex and liver using bicarbonate-buffered medium (containing 147 mEq/liter of Na+), and in frozen/thawed crude membrane fractions of rat whole brain and liver using Na+-free Tris HCl medium. GABA-sensitive sites (GSS) and bicuculline-methiodide- (BMI-) sensitive sites (BMI-SS) were defined as those amounts of [3H]GABA that were sensitive to the displacement by 10(-3) M unlabeled GABA or BMI. In the presence of added Na+, two high-affinity GABA-binding processes were detected in the P2 fraction of cerebral cortex. The lower-affinity process (likely related mainly to uptake sites) had KB approximately equal to 10(-5) M, Bmax for GSS approximately equal to 3 nmol/mg protein, and Bmax for BMI-SS approximately equal to 0.5 nmol/mg protein, whereas the higher-affinity process (likely related to synaptic GABA receptors) had KB approximately equal to 10(-7) M, BMAX for GSS approximately equal to 43 pmol/mg protein, and BMAX for BMI-SS approximately equal to 2 pmol/mg proteins. Only the higher-affinity process was detected in the liver P2 fraction, and it had KB approximately equal to 3.7 x 10(-8) M, BMAX for GSS approximately equal to 0.48 pmol/mg protein, and BMAX for BMI-SS approximately equal to 0.1 pmol/mg protein (i.e., about 1/100 and 1/20 the receptive BMAX values of cerebral cortex). This binding process of the liver P2 fraction could represent sites involved in mitochondrial GABA transport. In Na+-free Tris HCl medium, high-affinity [3H]GABA binding appeared to exist in frozen/thawed membrane preparations of both brain and liver when data were expressed on a protein basis. However, this binding to liver membranes was not displaceable by 10(-5) M unlabeled GABA, and when these data were expressed on a weight basis and corrected for [3H]GABA present in trapped supernatant fluid of the pellets, no [3H]GABA binding was detected in the liver preparation.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

High-affinity binding of [3H]muscimol to subcellular particles of a neurone-enriched culture of embryonic rat brain.

High-affinity, Na+-independent binding of [3H]muscimol (KB approximately equal to 1.6 x 10(-8) M; Bmax approximately equal to 0.14 nmol/g pellet) occurred to a frozen-thawed particulate fraction of 74-h-old neurone-enriched cultures prepared from the cerebra of 12-13-day-old rat embryos. This finding provides evidence that GABA-receptors exist on cultured neurones which contain only a few synaptic connections.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Effect of desipramine on the contents of some free amino acids of mouse brain.

I.p. injections of desipramine-HCl (100 mg/kg) produced decreases in the contents of several amino acids of mouse brain after 1 h. Using a 10-100 mg/kg range of doses, these effects appeared to be dose-dependent for alpha-alanine and aspartate. These changes may be due, in part, to a decrease in cerebral oxidative metabolism (Krebs cycle activity) which occurs secondarily to desipramine-induced hypothermia.

Amino Acids↗