Biomedical subjects

G Scheel

Publications and source records attributed to G Scheel.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

[Anesthesia for cesarean section in a patient with Lobstein's syndrome].

We report on a 21-year-old woman with a severe form of Lobstein's syndrome, who underwent a Cesarean section. The following issues are discussed: the risk of sustaining fractures during positioning, fractures by automatic blood pressure measurement, an almost always existing latex allergy, a susceptibility for malignant hyperthermia, potential cardiac defect, difficult endotracheal intubation, lowering of the conus medullaris to an area usually used for spinal puncture, severe spinal deformities resulting in difficult puncture, hemorrhagic diathesis, and unpredictability of the expansion of local anesthetics in the vertebral canal. In this case the procedure could be carried out in spinal anesthesia without encountering major problems.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

An E-selectin binding assay based on a polyacrylamide-type glycoconjugate.

Here we show that biotinylated polyacrylamide-type glycoconjugates which contain sialyl Lewis X (sLex-polymer) or sialyl Lewis A (sLea-polymer) are ligands for E-selectin. sLea-polymer bound E-selectin with higher affinity than sLex-polymer. Based on this property we used the sLea-polymer to establish a sensitive cell-free binding assay for the characterization of E-selectin antagonists. The assay involves complexation of the biotinylated sLea-polymer with streptavidin-peroxidase. This complex is incubated with E-selectin mouse Ckappa fusion protein immobilized onto microtiter plates. Bound complex is detected by the peroxidase reaction. sLea-polymer bound in a Ca2+-dependent manner consistent with the function of E-selectin as a C-type lectin. Control glycoconjugates with sialic acid (alpha-Neu5Ac), Lewis A (Lea), or beta-D-glucose residues instead of sLea failed to interact with the E-selectin. Neutralizing anti-E-selectin antibodies blocked completely binding to E-selectin. This demonstrates specificity of the assay system. sLex blocked binding of the sLea-polymer to E-selectin by 50% at a concentration of 550 microM (IC50). The assay was used to characterize sLea-polymers with differing sLea content as multivalent inhibitors of E-selectin binding. The inhibitory activity of these polymeric forms of sLea increased with their sLea content up to IC50s in the low micromolar range. The binding assay described is sensitive, rapid, and simple and of low variability. Therefore it should be advantageous for the identification and characterization of novel E-selectin antagonists.

Acrylic Resins↗

PubMed1994

Pharmacological modulation of endothelial cell-associated adhesion molecule expression: implications for future treatment of dermatological diseases.

Skin diseases with an inflammatory component, regardless of their etiology, are characterized at some point by the extravasation and subsequent infiltration of leukocytes into the dermal and/or epidermal compartments. This trafficking pattern is determined by a complex series of events whereby the leukocytes interact with cell adhesion molecules (CAM), particularly those induced on endothelial cells following activation with various inflammatory mediators. Vascular CAMs belonging to the selectin family (i.e., P-selectin and E-selectin) are thought to mediate early and reversible events involving leukocyte rolling and margination along the lumenal surface of microvascular cells (post-capillary venules). Certain members of the immunoglobulin supergene family (i.e., VCAM-1 and ICAM-1) regulate later and irreversible steps which lead to firm attachment and subsequent diapedesis of leukocytes. Accumulating evidence suggests that if one blocks the ligand-binding sites between leukocytes and endothelial cells, or inhibits vascular CAM expression, hematopoietic cell extravasation and progressive inflammatory events can be greatly diminished. To identify such inhibitors we developed a cell-based Elisa using the human microvascular cell line HMEC-1. As reported in the present paper, this approach yielded a naturally-occurring, low molecular weight compound which potently inhibits cytokine-induced adhesion molecule expression on cultured endothelial cells, without modulating "house-keeping" proteins.

Cell Adhesion Molecules↗

PubMed1992

Heavy metal tolerance in the fission yeast requires an ATP-binding cassette-type vacuolar membrane transporter.

In response to heavy metal stress, plants and certain fungi, such as the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, synthesize small metal-binding peptides known as phytochelatins. We have identified a cadmium sensitive S. pombe mutant deficient in the accumulation of a sulfide-containing phytochelatin-cadmium complex, and have isolated the gene, designated hmt1, that complements this mutant. The deduced protein sequence of the hmt1 gene product shares sequence identity with the family of ABC (ATP-binding cassette)-type transport proteins which includes the mammalian P-glycoproteins and CFTR, suggesting that the encoded product is an integral membrane protein. Analysis of fractionated fission yeast cell components indicates that the HMT1 polypeptide is associated with the vacuolar membrane. Additionally, fission yeast strains harboring an hmt1-expressing multicopy plasmid exhibit enhanced metal tolerance along with a higher intracellular level of cadmium, implying a relationship between HMT1 mediated transport and compartmentalization of heavy metals. This suggests that tissue-specific overproduction of a functional hmt1 product in transgenic plants might be a means to alter the tissue localization of these elements, such as for sequestering heavy metals away from consumable parts of crop plants.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗

PubMed1992

Purine biosynthetic genes are required for cadmium tolerance in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Phytochelatins (PCs) are metal-chelating peptides produced in plants and some fungi in response to heavy metal exposure. A Cd-sensitive mutant of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, defective in production of a PC-Cd-sulfide complex essential for metal tolerance, was found to harbor mutations in specific genes of the purine biosynthetic pathway. Genetic analysis of the link between metal complex accumulation and purine biosynthesis enzymes revealed that genetic lesions blocking two segments of the pathway, before and after the IMP branchpoint, are required to produce the Cd-sensitive phenotype. The biochemical functions of these two segments of the pathway are similar, and a model based on the alternate use of a sulfur analog substrate is presented. The novel participation of purine biosynthesis enzymes in the conversion of the PC-Cd complex to the PC-Cd-sulfide complex in the fission yeast raises an intriguing possibility that these same enzymes might have a role in sulfur metabolism in the fission yeast S. pombe, and perhaps in other biological systems.

Adenylosuccinate Synthase↗

PubMed1991

Acceleration of wound healing by local application of fibronectin.

The process of wound healing under the influence of locally applied fibronectin, heparin and thrombin was studied in adult rabbits. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, a higher concentration of fibronectin within the wound area was found on the 1st day after fibronectin treatment. The tensile strength of the wounds was tested on the 6th, 9th and 12th day after operation. On the 9th day the tensile strength of the fibronectin-treated wounds was significantly higher than that of the control wounds on the 12th day after operation. The addition of heparin and thrombin, each in combination with fibronectin, did not show any significant effect on wound healing.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Mannose 6-phosphate receptor in porcine thyroid follicle cells. Localization and possible implications for the intracellular transport of thyroglobulin.

Thyroglobulin has been shown to be phosphorylated and to carry the mannose 6-phosphate (M6P) signal in terminal position. In order to investigate whether the cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptor (CI-MPR) can possibly play a role in the transport of thyroglobulin the localization of the receptor was analyzed in thyroid follicle cells. The immunocytochemical observations showed that the CI-MPR is primarily located in elements of the endocytic pathway such as coated pits and endosomes. This localization of the CI-MPR in thyrocytes differs from the receptor sites in other cell types by the rare occurrence of the CI-MPR in cisternae of the Golgi complex. The observations are interpreted as an indication that the relatively small amount of receptor in the Golgi complex might be occupied primarily by lysosomal hydrolases. The CI-MPR in thyrocytes might, therefore, be unable to bind and to convey thyroglobulin efficiently. The receptor is, however, a binding site for thyroglobulin at the apical plasma membrane and may, therefore, be involved in the binding of thyroglobulin and its transfer from the follicle lumen to lysosomes.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

The influence of ganglioside insertion into brain membranes on the rate of ganglioside degradation by membrane-bound sialidase.

Microsomal membranes isolated from calf brain contain a sialidase which cleaves ganglioside substrates naturally occurring within these membranes as well as exogenously added [3H]ganglioside GD1a. Micelles of [3H]ganglioside GD1a bind to the microsomal membranes in two steps. The first step, called adsorption, is fast and reversible by treatment with trypsin; the second step, called uptake, is slower and not reversible. The product of the enzymic degradation, [3H]ganglioside GM1, is exclusively located in the ganglioside pool taken up by the sialidase-bearing membranes, and not in the trypsin-releasable pool. Electron spin resonance (ESR) studies using a spin-labelled analogue of ganglioside GD1a indicate that the ganglioside uptake by microsomal membranes is accompanied by the disappearance of the micellar structure and by the 'dilution' of the probe molecules with membrane lipids. These findings suggest that exogenously added ganglioside substrate inserts into the microsomal membrane before it is recognized as substrate by the membrane-bound sialidase. Therefore, the influence of pH, ionic strength and membrane-fluidizing agents on the degradation rate measured with exogenous ganglioside GD1a does not only reflect kinetic parameters of the enzymic reaction itself but also the velocity of ganglioside insertion. Increasing ionic strength reduces the degradation rate. The acceleration of insertion with falling pH values shifts the measured pH optimum of the ganglioside degradation to lower values (pH 3.6) and masks the substantial residual sialidase activity at pH 5-7. The membrane-fluidizing alcohol n-hexanol greatly accelerates ganglioside insertion as well as ganglioside degradation. The latter was clearly demonstrated by studying the hydrolysis of endogenous ganglioside substrates, and is due to a decrease of the apparent Km value and an increase in the Vmax value. The Vmax value was also enhanced by freezing and thawing of the microsomal membranes.

Animals↗

PubMed1985