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Biomedical subjects

S H Koslow

Publications and source records attributed to S H Koslow.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Biogenic amines in carotid body of adult and infant rats--a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay.

A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method was used for the determination of biogenic amines in carotid body of adult and 10 days old rats. The method is ideally suited for this measurement since only small amounts of tissue were available (dry weight carotid body: adult 8.3 mug; infant 5.6 mug). In adult carotid body large amounts of dopamine (1 950 pmol/mg protein) and norepinephrine (1 140 pmol/mg protein) were found together with a comparatively small concentration of serotonin (505 pmol/mg protein). The carotid bodies of infant rats contained 1 065 pmol dopamine/mg protein and 410 pmol norepinephrine/mg protein. Epinephrine could not be detected. Surgical sympathetic denervation and chemical sympathectomy (6-hydroxydopamine) of adult carotid bodies did not significantly change the catecholamine content as compared to the controls. Reserpine depleted the catecholamines dosedependently. Administration of L-Dopa and pargyline (a monoamineoxidaseinhibitor) drastically increased the concentration of catecholamines. Treatment with a dopamine-beta-hydroxlase-inhibitor resulted in a decreased amount of norepinephrine without a simultaneous increase of dopamine. This may indicate that certain storage sites in this tissue may store dopamine while in other sites dopamine is a precursor of norepinephrine. Probably most of the dopamine and norepinephrine are stored in different cells.

Age Factors↗

Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay of four indole alkylamines of rat pineal.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to quantitate serotonin, N-acetylserotonin, 5-methoxytryptamine, and melatonin in single rat pineal glands. After gas chromatographic separation, the ion density of specific fragments of each indole was measured with mass spectrometry. Sensitivity of this indole assay is of the order of 10(-12) to 10(-13) mole. Routinely, specificity is based on gas chromatographic retention time and the recording of the ion density generated by specific fragments. Absolute identification of the extracted indoles was based on multiple ion detection.

Animals↗

Norepinephrine and dopamine: assay by mass fragmentography in the picomole range.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry makes possible the simultaneous measurement of norepinephrine and dopamine in concentrations of 0.1-milligram tissue samples. Specificity of the assay is confirmed both by the retention time of the compound and by the mass to charge ratio of the fragments recorded. The sensitivity is of the order of 0.5 picomole, and linearity of the response is maintained up to at least 200 picomoles.

Animals↗

Onset of antidepressant activity: reexamining the structure of depression and multiple actions of drugs.

The question of when antidepressant drugs (AD) initiate significant clinical actions in depressed patients is still unsettled. Findings from early studies on whether there is a lag in the onset of therapeutic actions were in disagreement. More recent results with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other new ADs indicate that clinical actions occur within the first 2 weeks. In this paper, evidence from efficacy studies with the ADs is reviewed and the methodologic and conceptual obstacles to achieving definitive results about the onset issue are analyzed. Depression, formerly viewed as a homogenous disorder, is now seen as heterogenous and multifaceted in structure. Such major structural components as anxiety and disturbed psychomotor functioning can be as significant to the core of the disorder as depressed mood itself. Further, the ADs have been shown to act initially on different facets of the clinical disorder which then result in multiple clinical actions, e.g., an initial reduction in anxiety followed by stimulation of motor activity. Data from the NIMH Collaborative Study of the Psychobiology of Depression are used to illustrate: (1) the componential structure of severe depressive disorder; (2) the sequence of change in the major behavioral components of the disorder associated with the tricyclic drugs; (3) the consequent "multiple" onsets of clinical actions; and (4) measurement of the clinical significance and visibility of the early behavioral changes. Recent results describing new behavioral and methodological approaches, the use of early clinical changes to predict outcome, and strategies for designing sound studies of onset are discussed.

Affect↗