On the conversion of cholestanol into allocholic acid in rat liver.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Gustafsson.
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The present report has been directed toward providing additional information on the major defects in the bile acid pathways present in patients with cirrhosis and its relevance to the problem of how bile acid synthesis is regulated in man. An unusual patient with severe liver disease and a completely broken enterohepatic circuit was studied. The synthesis of cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids was examined over a 5-d period. The secretion rats and the incorporation of [3H]7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol and [3H]26-hydroxycholesterol into both primary bile acids in the cirrhotic bile fistula patient was cross compared to earlier data obtained on patients with and without liver disease and an intact enterohepatic circuit and patients with no liver disease and a bile fistula. The daily synthesis rate of cholic acid increased 7-fold and chenodeoxycholic acid 2-fold in the cirrhotic bile fistula patient. The incorporation of [3H]7 alpha- hydroxycholesterol into bile acids in the cirrhotic bile fistula patient was efficient (75%) and equal to bile fistula patients with no cirrhosis (76%); chenodeoxycholic acid synthesis was favored over cholic acid particularly in the cirrhotic patient. [3H]26-hydroxycholesterol was poorly incorporated in patients with no cirrhosis (25%) and the cirrhotic patient (20%); chenodeoxycholic acid was favored by a wide margin. It is concluded from this and previous reports that the profound reduction in bile acid synthesis present in patients with cirrhosis is not caused singly by a failure in the metabolic pathways from 7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol to cholic and chenodeoxycholic acid (i.e., 12 alpha-hydroxylation step), but rather due to a defect in the feedback control regulating bile acid synthesis.
In order to evaluate more definitively the observed aberrations in the synthesis of cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids in patients with advanced cirrhosis, two bile acid biosynthesis pathways were examined by determining the efficiency of conversion of [3H]7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol and [3H] 26-hydroxycholesterol to primary bile acids. Bile acid kinetics were determined by administration of [14C]cholic and [14C]chenodeoxycholic acids. Cholic acid synthesis in cirrhotic patients was markedly depressed (170 vs. 927 mumoles per day)( while chenodeoxycholic acid synthesis was reduced to a much lesser degree (227 vs. 550 mumoles per day). The administration of [3H]7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol allowed for an evaluation of the major pathway of bile acid synthesis via the 7 alpha-hydroxylation of cholesterol. This compound was efficiently incorporated into primary bile acids by the two normal subjects (88 and 100%) and two cirrhotic patients (77 and 91%). However, the recovery of the label in cholic acid was slightly less in cirrhotic patients than in normal subjects. [3H]26-hydroxycholesterol was administered to ascertain the contribution of the 26-hydroxylation pathway to bile acid synthesis. All study subjects showed poor conversion (9 to 22%) of this intermediate into bile acids. The results of this study suggest that a major block in the bile acid synthesis pathway in cirrhosis is at the level of 7 alpha-hydroxylation of cholesterol (impairment of 7 alpha-hydroxylase) and /or in the feedback triggering mechanism regulating bile acid synthesis. The data also suggest that the 26-hydroxylation pathway in normal subjects and patients with cirrhosis is a minor contributor to synthesis of the primary bile acids. Therefore, the relative sparing of chenodeoxycholic acid synthesis observed in cirrhotic patients is not due to preferential synthesis of this bile acid via the 26-hydroxylation pathway.
Neural tube defects (NTD) are known to occur at a higher rate in pregnancies of women with epilepsy. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), notably valproate (VPA) and carbamazepine (CBZ), have been identified as risk factors, but a familial aggregation of this condition also occurs in the absence of pharmacologic teratogens. Spina bifida occulta, defined as a nonsymptomatic nonfusion of vertebral arches, has been suggested to be genetically determined, with an increased prevalence in patients with primary generalized epilepsy, and that the presence of this trait in fetal development can be enhanced pharmacologically to produce NTD such as meningomyelocele. In this study, plain abdominal radiographs were obtained from 56 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and 56 age- and sex-matched controls. The radiographs were presented in a random order to an unbiased radiologist. No difference in prevalence of vertebral arch nonfusion (VAN) was noted between the two groups. Even if it has no increased frequency in patients with epilepsy, however, VAN is a common radiologic finding, and its relation to symptomatic neural tube defects should be clarified in future studies.
The development of a radioimmunoassay for S-100 protein is described. This method was used in combination with a recently developed radioimmunoassay for neuron-specific enolase in cerebrospinal fluid and serum from 47 patients with cerebral infarction, transient ischemic attack, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and head injury. In cerebrospinal fluid, increased concentrations of both S-100 and neuron-specific enolase were found after large infarcts, whereas after small infarcts and transient ischemic attacks, only neuron-specific enolase increased. The increased concentrations of S-100 and/or neuron-specific enolase were noted 18 hours to 4 days after cerebral infarction and transient ischemic attacks. Cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of these proteins also reflected the severity of the disease in patients with intracerebral hematoma, subarachnoid hemorrhage, or head injury. Temporal changes in serum S-100 and neuron-specific enolase concentrations reflected the clinical course in 4 patients. In stroke patients, the S-100 and neuron-specific enolase concentrations may reflect the extent of brain damage and could be useful in selecting patients with major stroke for more aggressive treatment during the acute phase.
Ten healthy males inhaled monodisperse Teflon particles (geometric diameter 3.6 microns, aerodynamic diameter 5.3 microns) labeled with 195Au (half-life 183 days). The leakage of 195Au from the particles in vitro in water was less than 0.2% per year. Retention over the thorax was followed for about 900 days using two separate detector systems. One system consisted of four Ge detectors placed close to the front of the chest over the upper and lower regions of the lungs. The other system consisted of three NaI crystals placed in a ring around the thorax at some distance from the chest wall. Activities of 195Au in feces (24- or 48-h samples) could be measured as long as activities in the thorax could be measured. For the period 7-250 days, the half-times were similar for the two detectors, on the average 740 days for the NaI detectors and 680 days for the Ge detectors. The average half-times estimated from measurements from about 250 days to about 900 days were 1750 days with the NaI detectors and 880 days with the Ge detectors. Clearance curves constructed from measurements from feces agreed very well with clearance measured with the NaI detectors. The excretion via feces was well described by a power function with days after exposure as base. This total clearance from the thoracic region was slower than in earlier studies. No activity could be measured in the urine. The measurements with the two detector systems show that a translocation within the thoracic region occurred. This might be explained by transportation of particles from the lung parenchyma to the regional lymph nodes. The accumulation of particles in the regional lymph nodes was tentatively calculated on the basis of that assumption.