[Hypothalamo-hypophyseal adrenal cortical function in chronic alcoholism].
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Adult↗
Biomedical subjects
J Selmer
Publications and source records attributed to J Selmer.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical function in chronic alcoholism.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) function was assessed during normal daily work and family life in fifteen male brewery workers with a daily alcohol intake of 100 g or more for at least 10 years. Free urinary cortisol was determined during three baseline days and for 3 days during administration of dexamethasone 0.5 mg 6-hourly. All subjects had normal basal urinary cortisol excretion and all except one suppressed normally upon dexamethasone. Four subjects had Cushingoid-like moon face and two of these also had buffalo hump. There was no correlation between free urinary cortisol excretion or dexamethasone suppression and the Cushingoid stigmata. These results suggest that chronic alcohol intake per se does not influence HPA-function.
Adult↗
Alcoholic ketoacidosis presenting as an acute abdomen.
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Abdomen, Acute↗
Ethanol metabolism and lipid synthesis by isolated liver cells from fed rats.
1. The fatty acid synthesis in isolated liver cells from fed rats was studied with tritiated water as the radioactive precursor. The cells incorporated 3H20 at a rate of 1.26 mumol per min per g packed cells. 2. Addition of ethanol caused a 20% decrease in the incorporation of tritium into fatty acids. The decrease was correlated to the increase in the NAD-redox level. Probably, the decreased tritium incorporation into fatty acids during ethanol metabolism is due to a decrease in the specific activity of the NADPH used for the synthesis of fatty acids, rather than to a real inhibition of the fatty acid synthesis. 3. Ethanol oxidation via NADPH-consuming pathways and ethanol per se at a concentration of 80 mM had no effect upon the incorporation of tritium into fatty acids. 4. Fructose in a concentration of 15 mM inhibited the fatty acid synthesis by 75%, and this inhibition was further augmented by ethanol. 5. The ioslated rat liver cells oxidized ethanol at a rate of 2.72, 2.93 and 3.48 mumol per min per g packed cells at 5, 20 and 80 mM ethanol, respectively. Fructose had no effect upon ethanol oxidation neither at low nor at high concentrations of ethanol. 6. Ethanol oxidation via the non alcohol dehydrogenase pathway(s) may involve a transfer of reducing equivalents from mitochondrial NADH to cyctosolic NADP+ as judged from measurements of metabolite levels. This conclusion is supported by determinations of 14C yield in glucose from [1-14C] ethanol, and the results are taken as evidence for the presence of hydrogen shuttle activity during metabolism of ethanol, catalyzed by the NAD-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase. A metabolic scheme is proposed to account for the observed changes at low and high concentrations of ethanol.
Animals↗
Diabetic late complications: will aldose reductase inhibitors or inhibitors of advanced glycosylation endproduct formation hold promise?
Patients suffering from the severe complications associated with both insulin- (IDDM) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM): nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, and atherosclerosis are still largely left without a prospect of an efficient treatment. This is the case even if it has been assumed for decades and now finally proved by the results from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) that hyperglycemia is the single main cause of these complications. Improved glycemic control as a result of intensive insulin treatment has the potential to reduce the incidence and progression of complications, but implementation and monitoring of improved glycemic control in all groups of IDDM and NIDDM patients in different communities will be difficult and expensive. Results from the recently terminated DCCT have shown that even with intensive insulin treatment, there will be a significant burden of complications on the diabetic population. It will, therefore, still be of immense importance for the long-term quality of life for the diabetic patient that additional possibilities are developed for prevention and intervention against diabetic complications. Almost two decades of research, animal model testing, and clinical trials have been conducted on various efficient aldose reductase inhibitors. Now the concept of inhibition of formation of advanced glycosylation endproducts on proteins and lipids resulting from extra- and intracellular hyperglycemia is entering the scene as an alternative or perhaps supplementary approach to reduce the occurrence of diabetic complications. An overview of the results from these two fields of research and associated drug-development programs will be presented along with thoughts on possible future developments.
Aldehyde Reductase↗
Isolation of human erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase using phase separation with Triton X-114 and monoclonal immunosorbent chromatography.
A generally applicable approach to the preparative isolation of amphiphilic membrane proteins that follow the Triton X-114 phase during a temperature-dependent phase separation is described. The phase separations were performed direct on whole blood and a 650-fold purification of human erythrocyte membrane acetylcholinesterase (AchE) was obtained. Thus, 0.2 mg enzyme was isolated per 1 liter of blood, with a specific activity of 13 IU/mg, the major contaminants being glycophorin and hemoglobin. The protein material was isolated from the detergent phase by Cu2+ chelate chromatography. This material was used to raise monoclonal anti-AchE antibodies which, when applied to immunosorbent chromatography of washed Triton X-100-lysed erythrocytes in one step, allowed a 246,000-fold purification of AchE with a yield of 88% and a specific activity of 3800 IU/mg.
Acetylcholinesterase↗