PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H Saito

Publications and source records attributed to H Saito.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Effects of glycine and structurally related amino acids on generation of long-term potentiation in rat hippocampal slices.

The effects of glycine and structurally related amino acids, serine, alanine and valine, on generation of long-term potentiation (LTP) of evoked potentials were investigated in the CA1, CA3 and dentate regions of rat hippocampal slices. In the Schaffer collateral-CA1 pyramidal cell synapses and in the perforant path-dentate granule cell synapses, glycine (5 x 10(-4) M) significantly enhanced the short-term potentiation (STP) induced by subthreshold tetanic stimulation, without affecting baseline responses. The effects of glycine resulted in generation of LTP in both synapses. On the other hand, glycine did not influence STP induced by subthreshold tetanus in the mossy fiber-CA3 pyramidal cell synapses. These results suggest that exogenous glycine can facilitate the generation of LTP in the CA1 region and in the dentate gyrus but not in the CA3 region. In the CA1 region and the dentate gyrus, D- and L-serine and D-alanine (10(-3) M) also showed the LTP-facilitating effects in a similar manner to glycine, but D- and L-valine had no effect on LTP generation. Furthermore, glycine and D-serine, but not L-valine, enhanced NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses in the absence of extracellular Mg2+. Together, these results make it probable that exogenously applied glycine and related amino acids facilitate the generation of LTP in the CA1 and dentate region by activating the glycine modulatory sites associated with NMDA receptors.

Alanine↗
PubMed1992

Selective enhancement by basic fibroblast growth factor of NMDA receptor-mediated increase of intracellular Ca2+ concentration in hippocampal neurons.

The short-term effect of bFGF on intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) of hippocampal neurons was investigated using dissociated cell cultures. Changes in [Ca2+]i were measured by microfluorometrically monitoring the fluorescence intensities from individual neurons loaded with fura-2. Perfusion of bFGF (20 ng/ml) alone did not affect the basal level of [Ca2+]i in hippocampal neurons, but clearly enhanced the [Ca2+]i increase induced by NMDA. Quisqualate or KCl-induced [Ca2+]i increase was not influenced by bFGF. These results suggest that bFGF selectively enhances the NMDA receptor-mediated response in hippocampal neurons.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Purification and characterization of a hemocyte proteinase of Sarcophaga, possibly participating in elimination of foreign substances.

We have reported that foreign protein injected into the abdominal cavity of Sarcophaga peregrina (flesh fly) larvae is degraded in the hemolymph by a proteinase secreted by hemocytes [Suzuki, T. and Natori, S. (1985) Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 81A, 191-193]. Here we report the purification and characterization of a proteinase from larval hemocytes. This enzyme is a cysteine proteinase consisting of 26-kDa and 29-kDa subunits with similar substrate specificity to mammalian cathepsin B. This enzyme was shown to be released from hemocytes into the hemolymph of larvae following injection of sheep red blood cells into the larvae, suggesting that it participates, at least in part, in elimination of foreign substances introduced into the body cavity.

Amanitins↗
PubMed1992

Primary culture of postnatal rat hypothalamic neurons in astrocyte-conditioned medium.

Mature functional hypothalamic neurons of male and female rats (21-day postnatal) were successfully cultured without attachment to non-neuronal cells in serum-free astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM). A novel cell-collecting method was designed for these vulnerable cells by allowing the dissociated cell suspension to stand in a vertically held, wide-tipped syringe so that the cells were concentrated near the lower liquid surface, from which position they could be easily dropped into the medium, leaving most of the small debris in the syringe. This method made it possible to study statistically the survival of cultured neurons. It was impossible to collect many viable cells by the commonly used dissociating technique for fetal rat brain. However, neuron-like cells with a few processes could be isolated from sliced hypothalamic tissues by means of enzymatic and mechanical treatments. The original processes disappeared within 1-2 days and some new processes were generated after 2-3 days in vitro; the cells survived for 28 days in vitro. The cells were identified as neurons by the immunostaining method for microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and neurofilament (NF). Such neurons were obtained from every site of hypothalamic tissue sampled. These phenomena were not observed in chemically-defined medium (CDM), CDM supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF) or nerve growth factor (NGF).

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Effects of epidermal growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor on generation of long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus of fimbria-fornix-lesioned rats.

The effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus in vivo were investigated in fimbria-fornix (FF)-lesioned rats. Transection of FF resulted in decreased frequency of LTP generation. Intracerebroventricular injection of EGF (50 ng) and bFGF (50 ng) significantly facilitated LTP generation in the FF-lesioned rats. These results suggest that EGF and bFGF can promote the hippocampal LTP impaired by loss of subcortical afferents.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

Effects of simulated left bundle branch block on QRST time-integral values of 12-lead electrocardiograms in patients with and without prior anterior wall myocardial infarction.

The effects of right ventricular pacing, which simulated left bundle branch block (BBB), on QRST time-integral values of 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) were examined, and the clinical usefulness of QRST values for estimating the severity of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities due to a prior anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI) in the setting of left BBB were evaluated. Digitized ECGs were recorded during normal sinus rhythm and simulated left BBB in 38 patients (24 with and 14 without prior anterior wall MI). QRST values were calculated in each lead point of 12-lead ECGs. Data from 608 normal subjects were used as control values; the mean +/- 2 SD of these values was regarded as the normal range. The parameter sigma DE was defined as the sum of the differences between the normal mean QRST value and the QRST values of a given patient in leads where the QRST value was less than the normal range. The correlation coefficient of sigma DE for the 2 activation sequences was highly significant. Although small but significant changes were seen in QRST values in leads I, II, III, aVR, aVF and V1 during simulated left BBB, left precordial leads showed no significant changes in QRST values. A criterion of sigma DE > 40 mV.ms for detecting an anterior wall MI showed a sensitivity of 88%, a specificity of 93%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 89%. The sigma DE was significantly (p < 0.001) correlated with the asynergy index calculated from left ventriculograms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bundle-Branch Block↗
PubMed1992

Fine-scale deletion mapping of the distal long arm of chromosome 6 in 70 human ovarian cancers.

To define a small region on chromosome 6q containing a putative tumor suppressor gene for ovarian cancer, we examined loss of heterozygosity in 70 ovarian tumors of three histological types with nine restriction fragment length polymorphism markers located at 6q24-27. Among 33 cancers of serous type that were informative at one or more loci, 17 showed allelic loss at a few or all loci examined, whereas only 1 of 15 mucinous-type tumors and 2 of 12 clear-cell tumors revealed loss of heterozygosity. This result supported our earlier suggestion that alteration of a gene on chromosome 6q may play an important role during development of serous ovarian tumors (Sato et al., Cancer Res., 51: 5118-5122, 1991). Frequent losses were observed between loci defined by CI6-119 (D6S195) at 6q26 and CI6-49 (D6S161) at 6q27. A detailed deletion map indicated a commonly deleted region between loci defined by CI6-111 (D6S193) and CI6-24 (D6S149); these two markers are estimated to be 1.9 cM apart on the basis of linkage analysis. Our results further define a region containing a tumor suppressor gene involved in ovarian carcinoma within an approximately 2-megabase-long segment of chromosome 6q.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1992

Spermine facilitates the generation of long-term potentiation of evoked potential in the dentate gyrus of anesthetized rats.

The effects of the polyamines, spermine, spermidine and putrescine, on long-term potentiation (LTP) of evoked potential were investigated in the dentate gyrus of anesthetized rats. Injection of 5 nmol spermine into the lateral ventricle did not influence the basal amplitude of the population spike, but significantly enhanced the potentiation induced by subthreshold tetanic stimulation (20 pulses at 60 Hz). The effect of spermine resulted in facilitation of LTP generation. Injection of the same dose of spermidine or putrescine affected neither the basal response nor the potentiation induced by subthreshold tetanus at all, indicating that the LTP-facilitating effect is specific to spermine. Furthermore, the LTP-facilitating effect of spermine was dose-dependent in the range of 0.5-50 nmol. When 5 nmol ifenprodil, an antagonist at the polyamine site of the NMDA receptor channel complex, was concomitantly injected, spermine could not facilitate the generation of LTP. Since injection of ifenprodil alone did not influence the generation of LTP, it is probable that ifenprodil specifically blocks the effect of spermine. These results suggest that spermine facilitates the generation of hippocampal LTP, probably through an ifenprodil-sensitive polyamine site associated with the NMDA receptor.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗
PubMed1992

Thrombin-induced shape change in human megakaryoblastic leukemic cells, MEG-01, is mediated by protein kinase C.

We investigated the intracellular processes of the shape change in human megakaryoblastic leukemic cells, MEG-01, by platelet agonists. Thrombin induced the formation of many pseudopods. This shape change was also induced by phorbol 12-myristate 13 acetate (TPA) and weakly by Ca2+ ionophore, A23187, but not by ADP, collagen, or epinephrine. Electron microscopy and FITC-labeled phalloidin staining revealed thick submembranous microfilament bundles in the pseudopods of the shape-changed cells by thrombin. Shape change was inhibited by cytochalasin B. Since Ca(2+)-dependent phosphorylation reactions play central role on the initiation of shape change of platelet, we examined the effects of protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, H-7, and myosin light chain (MLC) kinase inhibitor, ML-9, on the shape change of MEG-01 cells induced by thrombin, and observed that H-7 potently inhibited thrombin-induced shape change, while ML-9 did not. These results suggest that thrombin-induced reorganization of microfilaments and shape change of MEG-01 cells are mediated by PKC, but not by MLC kinase.

1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine↗
PubMed1992

Oestrogen infusions into the amygdala potentiate excitatory transmission from the accessory olfactory bulb to tuberoinfundibular arcuate neurones in the mouse.

We have previously shown that oestrogen increases the percentage of tuberoinfundibular (TI) arcuate neurones that respond to electrical stimulation of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB). This study focuses on the amygdala as a possible site for the hormonal modulation of AOB input to TI arcuate neurones. Local infusions of 17 beta-oestradiol (30 pmol) into the amygdala of ovariectomized female mice significantly potentiated excitatory responses of TI arcuate neurones to AOB stimulation. This effect appeared rapidly (less than 10 min) after infusion. The inactive oestrogen isomer, 17 alpha-oestradiol, infused in the same manner, was without effect. These results suggest that oestrogen acts directly on amygdala neurones, thereby modulating olfactory information relayed along the vomeronasal pathway to TI arcuate neurones.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1992

The involvement of muscarinic, beta-adrenergic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in long-term potentiation in the fimbria-CA3 pathway of the hippocampus.

Possible modulatory actions of endogenous neurotransmitters on long-term potentiation (LTP) were investigated in the fimbria-CA3 pathway of rat hippocampal slices. Bath application of atropine (10 microM), but neither timolol (10 microM) nor D,L-2-amino-3-phosphonopropionate (AP3, 100 microM), significantly attenuated LTP induced by 20 pulses of 50 Hz stimulation. When stronger stimulation (3 trains of 100 Hz, 100 pulses) was used for the induction of LTP, timolol significantly attenuated LTP, but atropine and AP3 did not. These results suggest that, under specified conditions, endogenous acetylcholine through muscarinic receptors, and noradrenaline through beta-adrenergic receptors may modulate the generation of LTP in the fimbria-CA3 pathway. Metabotropic glutamate receptors may be involved not in the generation of LTP but in low-frequency synaptic transmission, since 300-1,000 microM AP3 greatly reduced, or abolished synaptic transmission in this pathway.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1992

A human transmembrane protein-tyrosine-phosphatase, PTP zeta, is expressed in brain and has an N-terminal receptor domain homologous to carbonic anhydrases.

Protein-tyrosine-phosphatases (PTPases, EC 3.1.3.48) play a crucial role in the regulation of protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Recently, it was found that the PTPase gene family exhibits a large variety of different functional domains associated with the PTPase catalytic domains. In this paper, we report the complete cDNA sequence of a human transmembrane PTPase, PTP zeta, isolated from fetal brain cDNA libraries. The deduced amino acid sequence of human PTP zeta is composed of a putative signal peptide of 19 amino acids, a very large extracellular domain of 1616 amino acids, a transmembrane peptide of 26 amino acids, and a cytoplasmic domain of 653 amino acids. The extracellular portion of human PTP zeta contains two striking structural features: the N-terminal 280-amino acid sequence that is homologous to carbonic anhydrases (carbonate hydro-lyase, EC 4.2.1.1), and a sequence of 1048 amino acids without a cysteine residue. While it is unlikely that the carbonic anhydrase-like domain of PTP zeta has any carbonic anhydrase activity, its three-dimensional structure may be quite similar to that of carbonic anhydrases, a structure that appears ideal for binding a small soluble ligand. The cytoplasmic portion of human PTP zeta contains two repeated PTPase-like domains, which, when expressed in Escherichia coli, had PTPase activity in vitro. Mutational analyses indicate that only the membrane-proximal PTPase domain is catalytically active. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses indicate that human PTP zeta is highly expressed in a glioblastoma cell line.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Epidermal growth factor selectively enhances NMDA receptor-mediated increase of intracellular Ca2+ concentration in rat hippocampal neurons.

We have previously reported that recombinant human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) facilitates induction of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). In order to clarify the mechanism underlying the LTP-facilitating effect of hEGF, the influence of hEGF on intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) of hippocampal neurons was investigated using dissociated cell cultures. Changes in [Ca2+]i were measured by microfluorometrically monitoring the fluorescence intensities from individual neurons loaded with fura-2. Application of hEGF (0.6-20 ng/ml) alone did not affect the basal level of [Ca2+]i in cultured hippocampal neurons, but significantly enhanced the [Ca2+]i increase induced by L-glutamate (3 x 10(-6) M). The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) (10(-5) and 3 x 10(-5) M)-induced [Ca2+]i increase was also enhanced by hEGF, but the quisqualate (10(-7) and 3 x 10(-7) M)-induced response was not affected by the presence of hEGF. These results suggest that hEGF selectively enhances the NMDA receptor-mediated responses in hippocampal neurons. This action of hEGF may underlie the facilitation of hippocampal LTP.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

[A clinical study of biliary endoprosthesis using an expandable metallic stent--evaluation of early results].

Self-expandable metallic stents were used to relieve biliary obstruction in 58 patients. Fifty-three of 57 patients with malignant obstruction were treated with EMS after radiotherapy. A percutaneous approach was employed in all patients without severe complications. Insertion of EMS was successful in all cases. Within one week of EMS placement, all stents expanded to at least 90% of their original diameter, with the caliber of the bile duct always smaller than that of the EMS due to ischemic edema of the mucosa. In fifty-one of 58 patients, the external biliary drainage catheter could be removed. Cholangioscopy revealed that epithelium covered the EMS from the early phase after placement, enabling the EMS to become a physiological endoprosthesis in the bile duct. Rapid re-obstruction after EMS placement had two mechanisms: reactive obstruction and rebound obstruction, to avoid which adequate therapy to reduce the volume of the tumor is required. Also it is necessary to continue external drainage for at least two weeks after EMS placement. For the management of biliary obstruction, EMBE combined with radiotherapy is a promising treatment modality, with encouraging early results obtained. Further studies will determine the role of EMS in the treatment of patients with non-operable biliary obstructions.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Purification and characterization of the catalytic domains of the human receptor-linked protein tyrosine phosphatases HPTP beta, leukocyte common antigen (LCA), and leukocyte common antigen-related molecule (LAR).

Human HPTP beta, leukocyte common antigen (LCA), and leukocyte common antigen-related molecule (LAR) are transmembrane receptor-like proteins whose cytoplasmic regions contain either one (HPTP beta) or two (LCA and LAR) domains that are homologous to protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases). Whereas the membrane-proximal domain 1 has enzymatic activity, the membrane-distal domain 2 of both LCA and LAR has no detectable catalytic activity. The cytoplasmic regions of HPTP beta, LCA, and LAR were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to greater than 90% purity. Modulatory effects of various low molecular weight compounds and homo- and copolymers of amino acids were examined. Several polypeptides that contain a high proportion of tyrosine were strongly inhibitory to these PTPases. To determine a possible role for the LAR domain 2, the properties of recombinant LAR PTPases containing both domains 1 and 2 (LAR-D1D2) or only domain 1 (LAR-D1) were compared. In nearly all aspects examined, LAR-D1 and LAR-D1D2 were indistinguishable. However, polycationic polypeptides strongly stimulated the PTPase activity of LAR-D1D2, but not LAR-D1, using the peptide substrate Raytide. Thus, basic polypeptides seem to indirectly alter the catalytic activity of domain 1 by interacting with domain 2. This result suggests that domain 2 has a regulatory function.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Molecular analysis of the protein tyrosine phosphatase gamma gene in human lung cancer cell lines.

The protein tyrosine phosphatase gamma (PTP gamma) gene has recently been suggested as a candidate tumor suppressor gene involved in the oncogenesis of human lung and renal cancers, although no direct evidence for PTP gamma mutations has been demonstrated thus far. We explored the status of PTP gamma in 31 human lung cancer cell lines as well as in various other types of human tumor cell lines. Northern blot analysis revealed that two independent cell lines expressed PTP gamma mRNAs with sizes distinct from those in human fetal and adult normal lung. However, our extensive search for mutations in the PTP gamma gene failed to identify any abnormalities in the cytoplasmic region, which contains two protein tyrosine phosphatase-like domains. These results warrant further examination of genetic alterations in the extracellular and transmembrane domains of PTP gamma, which had not been cloned at the time of the present study.

Blotting, Northern↗