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L Thunberg

Publications and source records attributed to L Thunberg.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Resolution studies on two regioisomeric chiral stationary phases: effects from reversed orientation of an amide group.

Two new polymeric chiral stationary phases, incorporating the selectors trans-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracene-11,12-dicarboxylic acid bis-allylamide, 1 (DEABA) and trans-11,12-diamino-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracene bis-butenoylamide, 2 (DDEBB), respectively, have been evaluated by chromatographic resolution of a series of structurally different racemates. For some groups of compounds, where large separation factors were obtained, more detailed studies were performed by the use of different retention modifiers. As an effect from the reversed orientation of the amide group in the two selectors, the enantiomers of the racemates investigated are separated in opposite order of elution on the two columns.

Amides↗

Solvent-dependent enantioselective interaction of some bis-allylamide chiral selectors studied by NMR.

A series of chiral selectors, all of them bis-allylamides of C(2)-symmetric dicarboxylic acids, were studied by NMR in different solvents in an attempt to affect the equilibria between free selector and the diastereomeric complexes formed by its interaction with the (+)- and (-)-forms of O,O'-dibenzoyltartaric acid (DBTA). The results show that by changing the polarity of the solvent the equilibria are displaced, as observed from changing chemical shift differences. Phase-sensitive (1)H[(1)H]-NOESY experiments revealed different interactions between the chiral selector and the analyte enantiomers. The individual equilibrium constants were determined by separate studies of the equilibria between the selector and the respective enantiomers of the chiral DBTA probe.

Journal Article↗

Teratogenic effect of diabetic serum is prevented by supplementation of superoxide dismutase and N-acetylcysteine in rat embryo culture.

Congenital malformations are more common in offspring of diabetic mothers than offspring of non-diabetic mothers. The precise cell biological mechanism leading to the increased incidence of congenital malformations in diabetic pregnancy is not known. In previous studies increased glucose and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations were found to cause embryonic dysmorphogenesis. We have previously shown that rat embryos, cultured in serum from insulin-treated diabetic rats, develop malformations, despite normalisation of glucose and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentration, thereby suggesting a multifactorial teratological nature of the diabetic environment. In the present study, therefore, we aimed to characterise the teratogenic activity of various components of diabetic serum and in addition to study the possible anti-teratogenic effects of supplementation of superoxide dismutase and N-acetylcysteine in rat embryo culture. We found that diabetic serum has a teratogenic effect on embryo development, a capacity residing in the alteration of several serum components in addition to glucose. Improving the embryonic capability to scavenge oxygen radicals, either by increasing superoxide dismutase activity or by supplying a rate-limiting precursor (N-acetylcysteine) for the enhanced synthesis of reduced glutathione, blocks the embryonic dysmorphogenesis.

Acetylcysteine↗

Correlations between maternal metabolism and deranged development in the offspring of normal and diabetic rats.

In an attempt to define the pathogenesis of congenital malformations in diabetic pregnancy, a number of serum factors were determined in normal and diabetic pregnant rats and correlated to the outcome of gestation with the aid of multivariate linear regression analysis. The animals were from two different lines of Sprague-Dawley rats with documented differences in rates of fetal dysmorphogenesis in diabetic pregnancy. The diabetic rats increased less in body weight than the normal rats, yet displayed increased liver and kidney weights. The serum concentrations of glucose, beta-hydroxybutyrate, triglycerides, the branched-chain amino acids, and asparagine, proline, alanine, citrulline, tyrosine, and ornithine were increased by diabetes. In contrast, IGF-I, glutamic acid, glutamine, cystine, and lysine were decreased in the serum of the diabetic pregnant rats. The maternal metabolic imbalance exerted profound effects on embryonic development. Thus, the embryos of the diabetic rats were smaller, had fewer somites, and contained less DNA and protein than the control embryos. In addition, the resorption and malformation rates were increased in the embryos of the diabetic rats. The regression analysis of the data revealed significant interrelationships between adverse embryonic outcome (rates of malformations and resorptions) and the maternal serum concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, beta-hydroxybutyrate, branched-chain amino acids, and creatinine. This suggests that the maternal metabolism of the three major classes of nutrients covariates with the embryonic development in diabetic rat pregnancy. The monitoring of only one of these maternal parameters, e.g. the serum glucose concentration, may therefore not adequately predict the developmental status of the offspring. Our results suggest that the pathogenesis of fetal malformations in diabetic pregnancy is multifactorial. Thus, maintaining metabolites from all nutrient classes at a normal level may be important in preventing adverse fetal outcome.

Animals↗

A monoclonal antibody-based immunodiagnostic assay for onchocerciasis.

Five murine monoclonal antibodies raised against Onchocerca volvulus cuticular extracts and termed MOVs (1-4 and 6) were selected based on reactivity with O. volvulus cryosections, and non-reactivity with cryosections of human skin and/or nodular tissue. Two others MOVs 5 and 7 reacted with both. Using the peroxidase-anti- peroxidase (PAP) histochemical method, the target epitopes of MOV 1 were located in the cuticle's basal and cortical layers, those of MOV 2 in the cortical layer; whilst MOV 3-7 stained the basal layer. A sandwich ELISA was then developed. The trapping polyclonal antibody was raised in rabbits utilising the same antigens as for preparation of the MOVs. Once captured on microtiter plates, target antigens were identified by the sequential binding of a MOV, followed by a goat anti-mouse globulin/peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase conjugate that catalysed a colorimetric reaction in the presence of appropriate substrates. In this system, MOV 1 emerged as the most specific and potent reagent capable of recognizing antigens of Onchocerca sp. with a minimal detection limit of 78 ng per test. MOV 1, failed to react with extracts of Loa Loa, Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum in the test. The developed assay relied on the use of MOV 1, required only 1 ml of urine or 0.05 ml serum. About 97.8% of the 47 urines and 50% of the 20 sera from patients studied gave positive results. Only 1 (3%) of 32 control urines and up to 80% of the 10 control sera studied tested positive, suggesting urine as a better specimen source.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Effects of interrupted insulin treatment on fetal outcome of pregnant diabetic rats.

Streptozocin-induced diabetic female rats became normoglycemic after subcutaneous insertion of insulin-releasing osmotic minipumps. These female rats were mated with normal males from the same Sprague-Dawley substrain. In this substrain, the offspring of diabetic rats show a markedly increased congenital malformation rate compared with fetuses of nondiabetic rats. The pregnant diabetic rats were subjected to removal and insertion of pumps at defined gestational days that marked the beginning or end of a 2- or 4-day period of insulin withdrawal. Evaluation of the offspring on day 20 of pregnancy included fetal/placental weights, estimated number of implants, resorptions, and morphological assessment of congenital malformations. Resorptions occurred in all interruption groups, but malformations were found only in animals with insulin withdrawal on gestational days 4-8, 6-8, 6-10, 8-10, and 8-12. The highest resorption (42%) and malformation (17%) rates were found in the rats subjected to insulin withdrawal during gestational days 6-10. Because manifestly diabetic rats with no insulin treatment showed similar resorption (39%) and malformation (17%) rates, this study suggests that a teratogenic period in diabetic rat pregnancy occurs during gestational days 6-10, a period corresponding to postconceptional wk 2-4 in human pregnancy. Interruption of insulin treatment induced similar maternal weight loss and similar maternal serum concentrations of D-glucose, cholesterol, urea, and creatinine in rats with and without malformed offspring.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Extension and structural variability of the antithrombin-binding sequence in heparin.

Oligosaccharides with different affinities for antithrombin were isolated following partial deaminative cleavage of pig mucosal heparin with nitrous acid. The smallest high-affinity component obtained was previously identified as an octasaccharide with the predominant structure: (Formula: see text). The interaction of this octasaccharide, and of deca- and dodecasaccharides containing the same octasaccharide sequence, with antithrombin was studied by spectroscopic techniques. The near-ultraviolet difference spectra, circular dichroism spectra, and fluorescence enhancements induced by adding these oligosaccharides to antithrombin differed only slightly from the corresponding parameters measured in the presence of undegraded high-affinity heparin. Moreover, the binding constants obtained for the oligosaccharides and for high-affinity heparin were similar (1.0-2.9 X 10(7) M-1 at I = 0.3). In contrast, two hexasaccharides corresponding to units 1-6 and 3-8, respectively, of the above sequence showed about a 1000-fold lower affinity for antithrombin, and also induced considerably different spectral perturbations in antithrombin. Since the 1-6 hexasaccharide contains a reducing-terminal anhydromannose residue instead of the N-sulfated glucosamine unit 6 of the intact sequence, these results strongly support our previous conclusion that the N-sulfate group at position 6 is essential to the interaction with antithrombin. The low affinity of the hexasaccharide 3-8 provides further evidence that a pentasaccharide sequence 2-6 constitutes the actual antithrombin-binding region in the heparin molecule. Structural analysis of the various oligosaccharides revealed natural variants with an N-sulfate group substituted for the N-acetyl group at position 2. The preponderance of N-acetyl over N-sulfate groups at this position may be rationalized in terms of the mechanism of heparin biosynthesis, assuming that the D-gluco configuration of unit 3 is an essential feature of the antithrombin-binding region.

Animals↗

Low-affinity heparin potentiates the action of high-affinity heparin oligosaccharides.

Previous studies have shown that high-affinity (HA) heparin oligosaccharides, with molecular weights of 3,000-5,000, were less effective than unfractionated heparin in preventing serum-induced venous thrombosis in rabbits, using a Wessler stasis model. In the present study, a larger high-affinity fragment (M.Wt. 6,000-6,500) was also found to be less effective than unfractionated heparin as an antithrombotic agent. However, addition of 80 micrograms/kg low affinity (LA) heparin to 80 micrograms/kg of this HA fragment significantly potentiated its antithrombotic activity, and the antithrombotic action of the mixture was equivalent to that of unfractionated heparin. Significant potentiation of antithrombotic activity was also observed on the addition of LA heparin to a HA decasaccharide (M.Wt. 3,000-3,500) with anticoagulant activity only against Factor Xa. The LA heparin content of low molecular weight heparin fractions appears to be an important determinant of their antithrombotic activity.

Affinity Labels↗

Anticoagulant activities of heparin oligosaccharides and their neutralization by platelet factor 4.

Oligosaccharides of well-defined molecular size were prepared from heparin by nitrous acid depolymerization, affinity chromatography on immobilized antithrombin III (see footnote on Nomenclature) and gel chromatography on Sephadex G-50. High affinity (for antithrombin III) octa-, deca-, dodeca-, tetradeca-, hexadeca- and octadeca-saccharides were prepared, as well as oligosaccharides of larger size than octadecasaccharide. The inhibition of Factor Xa by antithrombin III was greatly accelerated by all of these oligosaccharides, the specific anti-Factor Xa activity being invariably greater than 1300 units/mumol. The anti-Factor Xa activity of the decasaccharide was not significantly decreased in the presence of platelet factor 4, even at high platelet factor 4/oligosaccharide ratios. Measurable but incomplete neutralization of the anti-Factor Xa activities of the tetradeca- and hexadeca-saccharides was observed, and complete neutralization of octadeca- and larger oligo-saccharides was achieved with excess platelet factor 4. The octa-, deca-, dodeca-, tetradeca- and hexadeca-saccharides had negligible effect on the inhibition of thrombin by antithrombin III, whereas specific anti-thrombin activity was expressed by the octadeca-saccharide and by the larger oligosaccharides. An octadecasaccharide is therefore the smallest heparin fragment (prepared by nitrous acid depolymerization) that can accelerate thrombin inhibition by antithrombin III. The anti-thrombin activities of the octadecasaccharide and larger oligosaccharides were more readily neutralized by platelet factor 4 than were their anti-Factor Xa activities. These findings are compatible with two alternative mechanisms for the action of platelet factor 4, both involving the binding of the protein molecule adjacent to the antithrombin III-binding site. Such binding results in either steric interference with the formation of antithrombin III-proteinase complexes or in displacement of the antithrombin III molecule from the heparin chain.

Anticoagulants↗

The antithrombin-binding sequence in heparin. Identification of an essential 6-O-sulfate group.

An octasaccharide with high affinity for antithrombin, isolated after partial deaminative cleavage of heparin, was previously found to have an L-iduronosyl-N-acetylglucosaminyl-6-O-sulfate nonreducing terminal disaccharide unit. After digestion of this octasaccharide with alpha-L-iduronidase and N-acetylglucosamine-6-sulfate sulfatase, two fractions, with high and low affinity for antithrombin, respectively, were isolated by affinity chromatography on antithrombin-Sepharose. Structural analysis showed that the high affinity fraction contained intact octasaccharide, whereas the low affinity fraction consisted of the expected heptasaccharide, lacking a 6-sulfate group on the terminal N-acetylglucosamine residue. Digestion of the octasaccharide with alpha-L-iduronidase only yielded heptasaccharide which was identical with the low affinity species except for the presence of this 6-sulfate group. This less degraded heptasaccharide retained high affinity for antithrombin. It is concluded that the 6-sulfate group on the N-acetylglucosamine residue is of critical importance to the interaction between heparin and antithrombin.

Animals↗

Binding of platelet factor 4 to heparin oligosaccharides.

Heparin fractions of differing Mr (7800-18 800) prepared from commercial heparin by gel filtration and affinity chromatography on immobilized anti-thrombin III had specific activities when determined by anti-Factor Xa and anti-thrombin assays that ranged from 228 to 448 units/mg. The anti-Factor Xa activity of these fractions could be readily and totally neutralized by increasing concentrations of platelet factor 4 (PF4). That these fractions bound to immobilized PF4 was indicated by the complete binding under near physiological conditions of 3H-labelled unfractionated commercial heparin. An anti-thrombin III-binding oligosaccharide preparation (containing predominantly eight to ten saccharide units), prepared by degradation of heparin with HNO2 had high (800 units/mg) anti-Factor Xa, but negligible anti-thrombin, specific activity. The anti-Factor Xa activity of this material could not be readily neutralized by PF4, and the 3H-labelled oligosaccharides did not completely bind to immobilized PF4. A heterogeneous anti-thrombin III-binding preparation containing upwards of 16 saccharides had anti-thrombin specific activity of just less than one-half the anti-Factor Xa specific activity. This material was completely bound to immobilized PF4 and was eluted with similar concentrations of NaCl to those that were required to elute unfractionated heparins from these columns. Furthermore, increasing concentrations of PF4 neutralized the anti-Factor Xa activity of this material in a manner similar to that of unfractionated heparin. It is concluded that heparin oligosaccharides require saccharide units in addition to the anti-thrombin III-binding sequence in order to fully interact with PF4.

Antithrombins↗

Enzymatic depolymerization of heparin-related polysaccharides. Substrate specificities of mouse mastocytoma and human platelet endo-beta-D-glucuronidases.

Two endo-beta-D-glucuronidases acting on heparin-related polysaccharides were investigated: a mouse mastocytoma enzyme previously implicated in the postbiosynthetic modification of the heparin proteoglycan and a human platelet-derived enzyme, capable of degrading heparan sulfate as well as heparin (with elimination of anticoagulant activity). The mastocytoma enzyme was found to depolymerize a heparin precursor polysaccharide containing both N- and O-sulfate groups to fragments somewhat smaller in molecular size than commercially available heparin. In contrast, another heparin precursor species, containing N- but no O-sulfate groups was resistant to degradation. Furthermore, incubation of the mastocytoma endoglucuronidase with a heparin octasaccharide having high affinity for antithrombin failed to cleave the beta-glucuronidic linkage in the antithrombin-binding region. Previous studies established that the platelet endoglucuronidase can degrade the exclusively N-sulfated as well as the N- and O-sulfated heparin precursor polysaccharides (Oldberg, A., Heldin, C.-H., Wasteson, A., Busch, C., and Höök, M. (1980) Biochemistry 19, 5755-5762). This enzyme has now been found to attack also the beta-glucuronidic linkage in the antithrombin-binding region of the heparin molecule. The loss of bio-affinity resulting from cleavage of this linkage in the antithrombin-binding heparin octasaccharide was utilized to construct a sensitive, specific, and simple assay method for the platelet endoglucuronidase. It is concluded that the platelet endoglucuronidase has a lower degree of substrate specificity than has the mastocytoma enzyme, in reflection of the surmised functional roles of the two enzymes.

Animals↗

Effects of heparin oligosaccharides with high affinity for antithrombin III in experimental venous thrombosis.

The in vitro and in vivo characteristics of two oligosaccharide heparin fragments have been compared to those of unfractionated mucosal heparin. A decasaccharide fragment had essentially no activity by APTT or calcium thrombin time assays in vitro, but possessed very high specific activity by anti-Factor Xa assays. When injected into rabbits at doses of up to 80 microgram/kg, this fragment was relatively ineffective in impairing stasis thrombosis despite producing high blood levels by anti-Xa assays. A 16-18 monosaccharide fragment had even higher specific activity (almost 2000 iu/mg) by chromogenic substrate anti-Xa assay, with minimal activity by APTT. When injected in vivo, this fragment gave low blood levels by APTT, very high anti-Xa levels, and was more effective in preventing thrombosis than the decasaccharide fragment. However, in comparison with unfractionated heparin, the 16-18 monosaccharide fragment was only partially effective in preventing thrombosis, despite producing much higher blood levels by anti-Xa assays. It is concluded that the high-affinity binding of a heparin fragment to antithrombin III does not by itself impair venous thrombogenesis, and that the anti-Factor Xa activity of heparin is only a partial expression of its therapeutic potential.

Animals↗

Further characterization of the antithrombin-binding sequence in heparin.

An octasaccharide with high affinity for antithrombin, isolated after partial deaminative cleavage of heparin and previously found to have the following predominant structure (see formula in text) has been studied further. High-voltage, paper electrophoresis of the 3H-labelled disaccharides obtained by deamination with HNO2 (pH 1.5) followed by reduction with Na[3H]BH4 showed approximately 25% of mono-O-sulfated components, in addition to L-iduronic acid(2-O-SO3)-2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]mannitol (6-O-SO3). The monosulfated disaccharides were identified by high pressure, ion-exchange chromatography as L-iduronic acid(2-O-SO3)-2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]mannitol, L-Iduronic acid-2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]mannitol(6-O-SO3). and D-glucuronic acid-2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]-mannitol L, iduronic acid 2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]mannitol(6-O-SO3), and D-glucuronic acid-2,5-anhydro-D-[3H]-mannitol. These components originated from the reducing, terminal disaccharide residue (units 7 and 8), as indicated by selective labelling with Na[3H]-BH4. The structural variability within this region suggests that it is not part of the antithrombin-binding sequence. Neither enzymic removal of the non-sulfated L-iduronic acid unit 1 nor N-deacetylation (by hydrazinolysis) at unit 2 had any significant effect on the affinity of the octasaccharide for antithrombin. However, removal of the disaccharide corresponding to units 1 and 2, by selective deamination of the N-deacetylated octasaccharide, yielded a low-affinity hexasaccharide. In addition, a high-affinity deamination product was formed, presumably an octasaccharide containing a 6-sulfated 2-deoxy-2-C-formyl-D-pentofuranosyl unit due to ring contraction in unit 2. These results suggest that the 6-sulfate group in unit 2 may be involved in antithrombin binding. It is concluded that the antithrombin binding site in heparin is represented by the pentasaccharide sequence extending from unit 2 to unit 6 of the octasaccharide studied.

Animals↗