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K Buchanan

Publications and source records attributed to K Buchanan.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Perinatal hypoxia-ischemia disrupts striatal high-affinity [3H]glutamate uptake into synaptosomes.

We examined the impact of hypoxia-ischemia on high-affinity [3H]glutamate uptake into a synaptosomal fraction prepared from immature rat corpus striatum. In 7-day-old pups the right carotid artery was ligated, and pups were exposed to 8% oxygen for 0, 0.5, 1, or 2.5 h, and allowed to recover for up to 24 h before they were killed. High-affinity glutamate uptakes in striatal synaptosomes derived from tissue ipsilateral and contralateral to ligation were compared. After 1 h of hypoxia plus ischemia, high-affinity glutamate uptake in the striatum was reduced by 54 +/- 13% compared with values from the opposite (nonischemic) side of the brain (p less than 0.01, t test versus ligates not exposed to hypoxia). There were similar declines after 2.5 h of hypoxia-ischemia. Activity remained low after a 1 h recovery period in room air, but after 24 h of recovery, high-affinity glutamate uptake was equal bilaterally. Kinetic analysis revealed that loss of activity could be attributed primarily to a 40% reduction in the number of uptake sites. Hypoxia alone had no effect on high-affinity glutamate uptake although it reduced synaptosomal uptake of [3H]3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine. Addition of 1 mg/ml of bovine serum albumin to the incubation medium preferentially stimulated high-affinity glutamate uptake in hypoxic-ischemic brain compared with its effects in normal tissue. These studies demonstrate that hypoxia-ischemia reversibly inhibits high-affinity glutamate uptake and this occurs earlier than the time required to produce neuronal damage in the model.

Animals↗

Comparison of quantitative and semiquantitative culture techniques for burn biopsy.

Accurate evaluation of bacterial colonization as a predictive index for wound sepsis has relied on a quantitative culture technique that provides exact colony counts per gram of tissue by culture of five serial dilutions of biopsy tissue homogenate. The method, while useful to the physician, is both labor intensive and expensive. In this study 78 eschar biopsies were cultured by a semiquantitative technique that involved the use of 0.1- and 0.01-ml samples of inocula and by the serial dilution method. Exact colony counts from the semiquantitative culture method were available only from cultures containing 10(4) to 10(6) CFU/g of tissue. Other colony counts were reported as less than 10(4) or greater than 10(6) CFU/g. Agreement by category of colony counts between the two methods was 96%. For prediction of wound sepsis, the semiquantitative procedure had a positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 93.7%. This method also resulted in an approximately 30% reduction of work units (as defined by the College of American Pathologists) and a 60% reduction in the amount of media for specimen processing. Therefore, this semiquantitative culture technique provides accurate information to the physician while saving both time and materials.

Bacteria↗

Choline acetyltransferase activity in striatum of neonatal rats increased by nerve growth factor.

Some neurodegenerative disorders may be caused by abnormal synthesis or utilization of trophic molecules required to support neuronal survival. A test of this hypothesis requires that trophic agents specific for the affected neurons be identified. Cholinergic neurons in the corpus striatum of neonatal rats were found to respond to intracerebroventricular administration of nerve growth factor with prominent, dose-dependent, selective increases in choline acetyltransferase activity. Cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain also respond to nerve growth factor in this way. These actions of nerve growth factor may indicate its involvement in the normal function of forebrain cholinergic neurons as well as in neurodegenerative disorders involving such cells.

Acetylcholine↗

Pancreatic polypeptide immunoreactivity in rat brain is actually neuropeptide Y.

Radioimmunoassay was combined with high pressure liquid chromatography and immunohistochemistry to establish the identity of pancreatic polypeptide-like immunoreactive material in the central nervous system of the rat. Antisera to avian pancreatic polypeptide, bovine pancreatic polypeptide, the invariant amidated carboxyterminal hexapeptide fragment of mammalian pancreatic polypeptides and the structurally related peptide, neuropeptide Y, were used immunocytochemically to localize neurons containing immunoreactive pancreatic polypeptide-like material in rat brain. Adjacent brain sections stained by the indirect immunofluorescent technique and single sections from double-staining experiments demonstrated that identical fibers and perikarya stained for pancreatic polypeptide-like immunoreactive material by antisera directed against each of the four peptides. Characterization of pancreatic polypeptide-like immunoreactive material in chromatographed rat brain extracts by radioimmunoassay using antisera to either neuropeptide Y or the carboxy-terminal portion of the pancreatic polypeptide molecule revealed that the major peak of immunoreactive material, as measured by either assay, appeared to co-elute with synthetic porcine neuropeptide Y. A minor peak of immunoreactive material co-eluting with peptide YY standard was indicated by the neuropeptide Y radioimmunoassay. This was contrasted by data obtained from chromatographic profiles of rat pancreas, which showed that the main immunoreactive peak, as measured by the neuropeptide Y assay, co-eluted with porcine peptide YY, with a minor peak co-eluting with porcine neuropeptide Y. The main peak of immunoreactive material in pancreas, as measured by the pancreatic polypeptide carboxy-terminal radioimmunoassay, eluted considerably earlier than standard peptide YY, neuropeptide Y and bovine pancreatic polypeptide, and is probably identical to rat pancreatic polypeptide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Frequency among Enterobacteriaceae of the DNA sequences encoding type 1 pili.

Type 1 pili, characterized by mannose-inhibitable agglutination of fowl or guinea pig erythrocytes, have been found throughout the family Enterobacteriaceae. A radiolabeled probe was prepared from a restriction endonuclease-digested fragment of the Escherichia coli pil operon and used to detect homologous DNA sequences in 236 bacteria representing 11 genera of Enterobacteriaceae. Only isolates identified as E. coli or Shigella spp. exhibited homology. In contrast, mannose-sensitive hemagglutination was observed in nine genera. Probe DNA did not hybridize to plasmid DNA, indicating a chromosomal location for the pil operon. Analysis of restriction nuclease-digested whole-cell DNA from 60 E. coli and two Shigella sp. isolates indicated that internal sequences were conserved in most strains, but that changes in flanking sequences in the chromosome were common.

DNA Restriction Enzymes↗

Pathogenesis of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in a perinatal rodent model.

Exposure of immature rats to 8% oxygen after unilateral carotid artery ligation (UCL) causes metabolic, neurochemical and histopathological changes in the ipsilateral forebrain that resemble those in human perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Regional cerebral perfusion in this model was examined by visual analysis of India ink trapped in cerebral vessels and measurement of [14C]iodoantipyrine [( 14C]IAP) and [3H]flunitrazepam extraction into the brain. UCL alone reduced [14C]IAP accumulation in the ipsilateral hemisphere by 20% and hypoxia superimposed on UCL progressively reduced ipsilateral hemisphere perfusion by 71% at 2 h. Hypoxia probably injures neurons in this model by causing a critical reduction in cerebral perfusion, an effect which also appears to be important in the human disorder.

Animals↗

Concentrations of homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in cerebrospinal fluid from human infants in the perinatal period.

To assess maturation of central serotonin and catecholamine pathways at birth, we measured lumbar CSF homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), stable acid metabolites of dopamine and serotonin, using HPLC with electrochemical detection. CSFs from 57 neonates (38 premature and 19 at term) and 13 infants 1-6 months old were studied. HVA levels increased with maturity (p less than 0.05; ANOVA), whereas 5-HIAA levels were similar in all these subjects. HVA/5-HIAA ratios increased markedly from 1 +/- 0.12 in the most premature neonates to 1.98 +/- 0.17 in the older infants (p less than 0.01; t test). There were no sex differences for these values.

Aging↗

Control factors in the release of gastrin by direct electrical stimulation of the vagus.

The release of gastrin by direct electrical stimulation of the vagus was studied together with the relative effects on the response of antral and duodenal acidification. As expected, gastrin levels increased to three times the normal simulated response following antral neutralization. In contrast, duodenal acidification failed to influence the vagal release of gastrin when the antrum was neutralized although it had a minor effect when the antrum was acidified. Thus the antral pH dominates over duodenal pH as a factor in controlling gastrin release. Surprisingly, atropine in doses which blocked acid release and produced marked cardiac effects failed to inhibit the release of gastrin from the antrum on vagal stimulation. This suggests that, using this model, vagal release of gastrin, if cholinergic, is highly resistant to atropine.

Animals↗

Flunarizine limits hypoxia-ischemia induced morphologic injury in immature rat brain.

We examined the impact of pre-treatment with the calcium antagonist flunarizine on the development of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in the immature rat. Unilateral carotid artery ligation and subsequent exposure to 2 hours of 8% oxygen in 7-day-old rats was used as a model for perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This procedure leads to atrophy in the cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to carotid occlusion, with prominent foci of neuronal infarction in the caudate-putamen (striatum). The morphologic injury develops after 1 1/2 hours of hypoxia; and there is an equivalent time threshold for duration of hypoxic exposure needed to acutely stimulate dopamine release in the ipsilateral striatum. Parenteral administration of 30 mg/kg of flunarizine before hypoxic exposure limited both the release of dopamine acutely and the extent of morphologic damage observed two weeks after the insult. Oral administration of 30 mg/kg of flunarizine in a different vehicle prevented morphologic damage but had no effect on stimulated dopamine release. The drug vehicle for the parenteral preparation also prevented tissue injury, but to a lesser degree than flunarizine. However the parenteral vehicle was equipotent with parenteral flunarizine in limiting acute stimulation of dopamine release. The results demonstrate that flunarizine has potent neuroprotective properties against morphologic brain injury from hypoxia-ischemia, acting by a mechanism which is independent of effects on dopamine release.

Animals↗