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Biomedical subjects

S Fabro

Publications and source records attributed to S Fabro.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Antepartum evaluation of the high-risk fetus: problems and prospects.

The chief obstetrical problems encountered today in the prenatal evaluation of the high-risk fetus are presented. Advantages and pitfalls or recent techniques utilized in the management of the high-risk pregnancy are discussed. They include: a prenatal scoring system for identifying the high-risk population; examination of the karyotype of cells in amniotic fluid, and quantitation of alpha-fetoprotein levels in maternal plasma and amniotic fluid for the early prenatal detection of birth defects; ultrasonography for the intrauterine diagnosis of fetal growth retardation and assessment of fetal maturity; the use of maternal urinary estriol excretion, maternal plasma human placental lactogen levels and the oxytocin stress test for the early detection of fetal distress; estimation of fetal maturity by amniotic fluid analysis of lecithin or lecithin-sphingomyelin ratios, creatinine and Blue Nile fetal cell staining. Newer, still experimental, techniques (e.g., fatal breathing movements, fetoscopy, and dehydroepiandrosterone plasma clearance) are viewed in light of further possible decreases in maternal and perinatal mortality.

Amniocentesis↗

Accumulation of nicotine in the uterine fluid of the six-day pregnant rabbit.

In 6-day pregnant New Zealand White rabbits dosed intravenously with 3H-nicotine, the 3H-activity in the uterine fluid was approximately 5 to 11 times greater than that in the plasma at the corresponding times; 3H-nicotine itself accounted for most of this radioactivity. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) also accumulated in the uterine luminal fluid of 6-day pregnant rabbits, but to a lesser extent. However, nicotine or DDT accumulation did not occur in similarly treated, nonpregnant rabbits. The radioactivity in the uterine fluid of rabbits treated with 14C-isoniazid, salicylic acid, barbital, antipyrine, and caffeine was not different from that in the plasma (uterine fluid to plasma radioactivity ratios ranged between 0.67 and 1.85) in both 6-day pregnant and nonpregnant rabbits. No differences in regard to nicotine metabolism, volume of distribution, plasma disappearance, plasma protein binding, or urinary excretion were found between 6-day pregnant and nonpregnant rabbits. Accumulation of nicotine took place in the uterine luminal fluid of nonpregnant does pretreated with either progesterone or human chorionic gonadotropin, but did not occur in does pretreated with estrogen. It is possible that the accumulation of nicotine in uterine fluid of pregnant does and in human chorionic gonadotropin- or progesterone-pretreated nonpregnant does is due to the binding of nicotine to specific uterine fluid proteins.

Animals↗

Physiological disposition of pentobarbital in tumor-bearing mice.

Pentobarbital depressed macromolecular synthesis in Ehrlich ascites cells in vitro, and this depression was proportional to a decrease in oxygen consumption. However, survival time of animals bearing Ehrlich ascites cells was unaffected by pentobarbital. The acute toxicity of the drug was greatly enhanced by the presence of the tumor. Sleeping time was prolonged in mice carrying the following tumors: Ehrlich ascites, Sarcoma 180 ascites, and Yancy plasma cell solid. Seven-day Ehrlich ascites tumor-bearing animals treated with pentobarbital slept about three times longer than normal mice, but both groups awoke at the same plasma levels of the unbound drug. The plasma half-life of unchanged pentobarbital was about four times as long in tumor-bearing mice as it was in controls. No qualitative difference in catabolism other than rate was detected. Renal excretion of unchanged pentobarbital in tumor-bearing animals was 50% of control animals during the first 4 hr. In tumor-bearing mice the sleeping time of the nonmetabo ble barbiturate, barbital, was identical with that in normal animals. These data suggest that the tumor affected mainly pentobarbital metabolism. Tumor-bearing mice still responded to the pharmacological challenge of phenobarbital with the apparent induction of drug metabolizing enzymes. The prolonged pentobarbital sleeping time in tumor-bearing mice required the development of some type of tumor-host relationship.

Animals↗

The fate of[14C]thalidomide in the pregnant rabbit.

1. The fate of [(14)C]thalidomide orally administered to pregnant rabbits at the beginning of the sensitive phase of pregnancy has been studied. 2. After the oral administration of [(14)C]thalidomide on the 192nd hour of pregnancy about 68% of the radioactivity appears in the urine and 22% in the faeces. 3. The urinary (14)C is made up as follows (% of dose): thalidomide (2); alpha-(o-carboxybenzamido)glutarimide (16); 2- and 4-phthalimidoglutaramic acids (11); 2-phthalimidoglutaric acid (0.2); 2- and 4-(o-carboxybenzamido)glutaramic acids and 2-(o-carboxybenzamido)-glutaric acid (29). 4. The plasma (14)C concentration is maximal at 12hr. after dosing and the radioactivity persists for more than 58hr. At 4hr. the main compound in the plasma is thalidomide, but its concentration steadily declines while the concentration of its hydrolysis products increases. 5. At 12, 24 and 58hr. after dosing radioactivity is present in the embryo and the maternal tissues examined. The (14)C concentration in the embryo is at nearly all times higher than that in the plasma, brain, skeletal muscle and fat but lower than that in the liver and kidney. 6. At 4hr. after dosing the mother on the tenth day of pregnancy the specific activities of the embryo and the yolk-sac fluid are similar. 7. Thalidomide is found in the embryo together with seven of its hydrolysis products for more than 24hr. after dosing. The accumulation of radioactivity in the embryo is due to retention of the polar hydrolysis products.

Adipose Tissue↗

The fate of the hydrolysis products of thalidomide in the pregnant rabbit.

1. The fate in the pregnant New Zealand White rabbit of oral doses of four (14)C-labelled hydrolysis products of thalidomide, namely alpha-(o-carboxybenzamido)-glutarimide, 2-phthalimidoglutaramic acid, 2-phthalimidoglutaric acid and 2-(o-carboxybenzamido)glutaramic acid, administered on the 192nd hour of pregnancy has been studied. 2. About 60-95% of the administered (14)C of each compound appears in the urine in 58hr. and the remainder is found in the faeces and in the gut and its contents. 3. Radioactivity is present in the plasma, liver, kidney, brain, muscle, fat and embryo. 4. The (14)C-labelled substances in the plasma and embryo consist of the unchanged compounds and their further hydrolysis products. 5. Since the above four thalidomide hydrolysis products are found in the rabbit conceptus together with their further hydrolysis products after their oral administration to the pregnant rabbit, it appears that the teratogenic activity of thalidomide is due to the compound itself rather than to one or more of its hydrolysis products.

Adipose Tissue↗