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Biomedical subjects

H D Fischer

Publications and source records attributed to H D Fischer.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

State of health and stress factors in occupation: the mass media profession.

The phenomenon of stress is analysed in terms of work conditions and work behaviour of a heterogeneous cross-section of journalists, publicists and media professionals in Western Germany. The enquiry revealed several interdependencies between professional status and job satisfaction. Stress factors in communication occupations, of psychic and physical origins, and their effects on the state of health and on the life expectancy of the people affected, of whom there are estimated to be 25,000 in the Federal Republic of Germany, are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Posthypoxic transmitter release from brain slices and behavioural consequences of hypoxia in rats and mice.

Subsequent to a hypoxic exposure of adult rats and mice the stimulus induced release of dopamine from striatum slices is inhibited for several days. The posthypoxic release inhibition is not restricted to the striatal dopaminergic transmission system especially, but hypoxia causes comparable changes also in other brain regions regarding further transmitter systems. The transmitter release inhibition reflects a significant caudo-rostral gradient of increasing vulnerability of phylogenetically younger brain regions. The consequences of these biochemical changes in the brain following cessation of hypoxia are investigated with regard to behavioural manifestations. Corresponding in time with the inhibition of transmitter release and its restitution the seizure susceptibility is increased when pentetrazol is given in subconvulsive doses. On the other hand, the results of further tests (climbing behaviour, open field, rotarod test, forced-swimming test) do not point to behavioural changes induced particularly by a mild hypoxia.

Animals↗

[In vitro malondialdehyde formation in brain structure: a method to characterize antihypoxic properties].

In vitro generated free radicals (ascorbic acid-ferric salt-mixture or hydrogen-peroxide) result in lipid peroxidation on brain cellular fractions and striatum slices an decrease of the stimulated dopamine release from rat striatum slices. Besides cysteamine, alpha-tocopherol, pyrogallol and chelating agents also tisochromide shows an antioxidative activity on lipid peroxidation induced by ascorbic acid-ferric salt-mixture. Nootropic drugs like piracetam, methylglucamine orotate, meclofenoxate hydrochloride and nicergoline are ineffective to mitochondrial malondialdehyde generation. On the other hand, piracetam exhibits a limited effect on oxidative damage of striatum slices. For that reason, the antihypoxic activity of these drugs is not accompanied by any antioxidative component and presumes a relatively high degree of tissular organization.

Animals↗

Characterization of the antihypoxic activity of tisochromid.

The antihypoxic activity of tisochromid is compared with the well-known restituting effect of piracetam on posthypoxic dopamine release inhibition. In addition to a distinct restituting effect which accelerates the normalization of dopamine release highly, tisochromid exhibits obviously an antioxidative potency which is responsible for a greater effectiveness of the drug when given prehypoxically. Therefore, tisochromid acts simultaneously as a protective and a restituting drug.

Animals↗

An unusual 5' splice sequence is efficiently utilized in vivo.

The minor adult chicken alpha-globin gene (alpha D) has an intron splicing sequence at the 5' end of the second intron that begins with the dinucleotide G-C rather than the usual G-T. To understand what role this splice sequence plays in the processing and maturation of nuclear RNA to cytoplasmic RNA, we have analyzed the intron processing of the alpha D-globin transcript in both heterologous (monkey) and homologous (chicken) cells using simian virus 40 and retrovirus vectors, respectively. In both cell types, both introns of the alpha D-globin gene are efficiently and precisely removed.

Animals↗

On some mechanisms of antihypoxic actions of nootropic drugs.

The antihypoxic effect of meclofenoxate hydrochloride seen in the accelerated restitution of posthypoxic dopamine release inhibition originates in the alcoholic component of the drug. Via choline dimethylaminoethanol might run, like orotic acid, into a CDP-choline pool, the generation of which is able to be facilitated by piracetam which in turn increases the phosphorylation potential. All these nootropic drugs will in this way increase the biosynthesis of hypoxically vulnerable phospholipids by different mechanisms. Indeed, a combined treatment with piracetam, meclofenoxate hydrochloride and methylglucamineorotate leads to a more rapid restitution of posthypoxic dopamine release inhibition than the drugs are active when applied separately.

Animals↗

Effects of piracetam on brain development in newborn rats exposed to hypoxia.

Perinatal hypoxia is one of the main causes of disturbances of the function of the CNS during childhood. In this study the protective effect of the nootropic drug piracetam (oxo-2-pyrrolidinyl-1)-2-acetamide was tested. One-day-old Wistar rats were exposed together with their mothers to hypoxia up to the 10th day of life (11 h daily, pO2 = 9.86 kPa). On the 11th day a 48% decrease of body weight and a 30% decrease of brain weight was found in the hypoxic animals. The protein/DNA ratio and the AChE activity in the brain cortex were decreased indicating retarded brain development. Piracetam (daily 100 mg/kg, s. c., before hypoxic exposure) did not affect the mortality rate, the somatic development of the animals, or the estimated basic neurochemical markers in the cortex of the brain. At the age of 3 months the fractional efflux rate (FER) of dopamine (DA) evoked chemically or electrically as a characteristic functional feature of chemical synaptic transmission, was examined. It was found that postnatal hypoxia induces a long lasting increase of FER of DA of striatum slices. Animals exposed postnatally to hypoxia and treated with piracetam showed an increased FER of DA (potassium as stimulus) by comparison with those animals also exposed postnatally to hypoxia but left untreated with piracetam.

Animals↗

Ethanol preference behaviour and dopamine release in the rat.

The development of ethanol preference behaviour in rats is connected with a decrease of dopamine release from striatum slices seen after alcohol cessation. The inhibition of dopamine release vanishes spontaneously within a few days. Restitution is highly accelerated by piracetam, exhibiting similarities to posthypoxic membrane damages.

Alcohol Drinking↗

The nucleotide sequence of the embryonic chicken beta-type globin genes.

The complete nucleotide sequence is reported for both of the embryonic chicken beta-type globin genes, rho and epsilon. These two genes lie at the 5' end and 3' end, respectively, of the four closely linked chicken beta-type globin genes relative to the direction of transcription. Both genes have structures that are typical of functional beta-type globin genes in that they contain two intervening sequences with the 5'-most intron being relatively small (108 base pairs in both) and the 3' intron being large (541 base pairs in rho and 973 base pairs in epsilon). Both embryonic genes contain consensus flanking sequences which are similar to those previously found in the adult chicken beta-globin gene and in a variety of other genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II. The rho- and epsilon-globin gene sequences are very similar from approximately nucleotide -130 (with the mRNA initiation site as +1) to the end of exon II. Noncoding sequences outside this region (e.g. intron II and DNA 5' to -130) are highly divergent. This may indicate that the DNA sequence elements which specifically activate embryonic beta-type globin gene expression in primitive red cells are contained within the -130 to +468 region. Comparison of the overall sequences of rho and epsilon to that of beta strongly supports the hypothesis that the embryonic avian beta-type globin genes diverged from the adult beta-gene by a process separate from that which was responsible for the generation of nonadult mammalian beta-type globin genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Comparative kinetics of phosphomannosyl receptor-mediated pinocytosis of fibroblast secretion acid hydrolases and glycopeptides prepared from them.

In a previous report we demonstrated that phosphorylated oligosaccharides isolated from acid hydrolases were subject to pinocytosis by phosphomannosyl receptors present on the cell surface of human fibroblasts [9]. However, limiting quantities of oligosaccharides precluded detailed comparison of the kinetics of pinocytosis of these phosphorylated oligosaccharides to those of the acid hydrolases from which they were derived. In this report we present studies comparing the kinetics of pinocytosis of acid hydrolases from NH4Cl-induced fibroblast secretions with those of concanavalin A-binding glycopeptides prepared from them by pronase digestion. The uptake of both secretion acid hydrolases and 125I-labeled glycopeptides was linear for at least 3 hr, saturable, inhibited competitively by mannose 6-phosphate, and destroyed by prior treatment of the ligand with alkaline phosphatase. The inhibition constants of excess unlabeled glycopeptide for the uptake of 125I-labeled glycopeptides (Ki of 1.5 X 10(-6) M) and for the uptake of secretion acid hydrolases (Ki of 2.2 X 10(-6) M) were remarkably similar. Furthermore, the Ki for mannose 6-phosphate inhibition of pinocytosis of glycopeptide uptake (3 X 10(-5) M) compares closely to that previously determined for the pinocytosis of intact "high-uptake" acid hydrolases (3-6 X 10(-5) M). "High-uptake" fractions of both ligands were prepared and quantified by affinity chromatography on immobilized phosphomannosyl receptors purified from bovine liver. Only 10% of the concanavalin A-binding glycopeptides bound to the immobilized phosphomannosyl receptors, while 80% of the acid hydrolases from which they were prepared bound and were eluted with 10 mM mannose 6-phosphate. However, the fraction of each type of ligand that binds to the immobilized phosphomannosyl receptors accounts for all the uptake activity of that ligand.

Ammonium Chloride↗

[Effect of central effective substances on alcohol preference].

The alcohol preference has been used as a model of drug habituation in animal experiments in order to examine the influence of altered synaptic efficiency of central transmission systems following acute receptor reactions with agonists or antagonists as well as by alterations of receptor sensitivity in mice. Ethanol in 10 per cent solution as the only beverage over 4 weeks produces an ethanol preference quotient 1 in the free choice of ethanol solution and water. Control animals without ethanol exposure before the preference test are only drinking water and refuse ethanol. A single injection of haloperidol increases the preference, apomorphine as well as a long term haloperidol administration producing a dopaminergic supersensitivity diminishes the preference. Moreover the preference is enhanced by atropine, isoprenaline and pholedrine and is decreased by arecoline, propranolol and phenoxybenzamine. Cyproheptadine and picrotoxine do not influence the preference. The results point to a preference promoting influence of the alpha- and beta-adrenergic transmission and to an inhibition by dopaminergic and cholinergic activity. An influence by the 5-HT and GABA system could not be observed. Additionally the paper describes the decrease of the ethanol preference by the nootropics piracetam, meclofenoxane, methylglucamine orotate and nicergoline.

Alcohol Drinking↗

Dopamine release from striatum slices of rats at different age: influence of hypoxia.

During the maturation and aging of rats the dopamine release from striatum slices shows different dynamics in dependence on the stimuli used. Electrically evoked release is very constant. Amphetamine induced release is fully developed at the age of day 14 and declines after 9 months. The K+ stimulated release develops to a maximum at 10 weeks and decreases thereafter. The stimulus and age dependent inhibition of dopamine release after an 18 h hypoxic exposure may be the result of peroxidative reactions of membranous phospholipid components induced by free radicals. Adult rats exposed to a 200 h hypoxia reveal no change in dopamine release after the last exposure probably in consequence of adaptive processes of physiological protection, among other things, by scavenging of free radicals. Adult rats exposed to long term hypoxia postnatally during the growth spurt period of neuronal structures show an increased dopamine release and no posthypoxic release inhibition. Our data indicate that different mechanisms are operative during hypoxia in animals of different age.

Aging↗

Binding of phosphorylated oligosaccharides to immobilized phosphomannosyl receptors.

We have purified phosphomannosyl-enzyme receptors from bovine liver on an affinity column composed of glycoproteins isolated from Dictyostelium discoideum secretions. Binding of human fibroblast beta-hexosaminidase B to receptors reconstituted into phosphatidylcholine liposomes was 1) specifically inhibited by mannose 6-phosphate, but not mannose 1-phosphate or glucose 6-phosphate, and 2) had properties similar to the previously reported binding of enzyme to receptors on cell surfaces and isolated membranes. In order to determine the structural features of the phosphomannosyl recognition marker required for receptor recognition, we covalently coupled purified receptor to an agarose gel bead support for affinity chromatography of phosphorylated, high mannose-type oligosaccharides isolated from fibroblast secretions radiolabeled with [2-3H]mannose. Neutral oligosaccharides and oligosaccharides containing one or two phosphates in phosphodiester linkage were not retained by the receptor column. By contrast, oligosaccharides bearing one phosphomonoester moiety were retarded on the column; those bearing two phosphomonoesters were bound to the column and were eluted with 10 mM mannose 6-phosphate. The binding of the oligosaccharides to the immobilized receptor correlates with their ability to be pinocytosed by fibroblasts and shows that the preferred recognition marker for the phosphomannosyl-enzyme receptor is a high mannose-type oligosaccharide chain bearing two uncovered phosphomannosyl groups.

Animals↗

[Effect of nootropic drugs on the dopamine release and dopamine uptake in structures of the rat striatum].

Nootropics increase the overflow of dopamine from rat striatum slices in a concentration dependent manner, but without relation to their clinical effectiveness. The influence of a nootropic drugs and of amphetamine on the stimulus induced dopamine release points to a relationship between nootropic and nooanaleptic activity, on the one hand, and transmitter release, on the other. Dopamine re-uptake is not altered by nootropics like piracetam.

Animals↗

Inhibitory effects of hypoxia on dopamine release.

Behavioral and neurochemical results refer to an impairment of the dopaminergic system produced by hypoxia. On that account we determined the chemically (K+, amphetamine) and electrically stimulated release of dopamine from rat striatum slices which were preloaded with labeled dopamine following the animals' exposure to hypobaric hypoxia. The effect of hypoxia consists in a marked inhibition of dopamine release depending both on the degree of hypoxia and on the kind of stimuli used. Dopamine release inhibition reflects not only the direct effect of hypoxia, which seems to be connected especially with the vesicular compartment, but also adaption and restitution processes. Regarding the effects on rats at the age of two weeks the resistance of young animals against hypoxia may be founded also upon missing vesicular mechanisms of distinct vulnerability.

Animals↗

The effect of piracetam on posthypoxic dopamine release inhibition.

Subsequently to a hypoxic exposure of adult rats the stimulus induced release of dopamine from striatum slices in inhibited for several days. Depending on the treatment with piracetam the restitution of this inhibition is accelerated manifold, though piracetam does not prevent the acute effect of hypoxia on dopamine release. The particular hypoxia related vulnerability of the potassium evoked dopamine release and the time course of piracetam effect obviously point to drug induced anabolic processes rebuilding vesicle storage sites.

Amphetamine↗