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Biomedical subjects

T Aung

Publications and source records attributed to T Aung.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A study of glucose handling by Buddhist monks.

Fourteen Buddhist monks and comparable male subjects were studied in relation to their handling of glucose after a meal (consisting of 1190 kcal, 29 g protein, 21 g fat and 221 g carbohydrate) and afterwards subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT). The time course of blood glucose levels after the meal indicated that the monks had enhanced absorption and utilization of glucose. The monks were also found to have increased tolerance to glucose on oGTT. In addition the mean total serum cholesterol level in the monks (157.2 +/- 5.53 mg/dl) was found to be significantly higher than that of the control subjects (117.4 +/- 2.85 mg/dl).

Adult

Lysosomal enzyme activities in normals and in patients with chronic liver diseases.

The maximal activities of liver lysosomal enzymes (acid phosphatase and cathepsin D) were found to be increased in patients with chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma. The ratio between maximal and basal activity (an expression of the degree of retention of the enzymes to lysosome) of acid phosphatase was significantly decreased in patients with chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis whereas that of cathepsin D did not show any significant changes between normal and various liver disorders. Serum levels of both the enzymes were elevated significantly in patients with cirrhosis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma.

Acid Phosphatase

Pupil abnormalities on the first postoperative day after cataract surgery.

Most, if not all, ophthalmologists strive to achieve a round pupil after cataract surgery with posterior chamber lens implantation. The presence of pupil abnormalities and iris modifications is cosmetically undesirable and may affect the quality of postoperative vision. The pupillary motility may be changed which will in turn affect both pupillary light reflexes and pupillary dilatation during fundus examination. In this paper, we prospectively studied 2 groups of patients who underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery with posterior chamber lens implantation; 100 patients who had planned extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE), and 130 patients who underwent phacoemulsification. On the first postoperative day, we found a 16% rate of pupil abnormalities in the group which underwent ECCE surgery while only 5.3% of the phacoemulsification group had pupil abnormalities. There were different causes in which the two groups. The most common cause of pupil abnormality after ECCE was due to iris sphincter rupture, whereas the most common cause after phacoemulsification was due to iris trauma during phacoemulsification. These pupil abnormalities are the direct consequence of factors in surgery and we suggest ways to minimize the occurrence of such abnormalities in cataract surgery.

Cataract Extraction

A newly developed three-layer agarose microcapsule for a promising biohybrid artificial pancreas: rat to mouse xenotransplantation.

We examined the effectiveness of an improved version of a three-layer agarose microcapsule in islet xenotransplantation. The microcapsule is composed of a mixture of 5% agarose and 5% polystyrene sulfonic acid. The other two outer layers are polybrene and carboxymethyl cellulose. The agarose/polystyrene sulfonic acid membrane is for the purpose of immunoisolation, suppression of complement activity and reinforcement of the microcapsule. The polybrene layer suppresses the polystyrene sulfonic acid leakage by forming a polyionic complex at the surface of the agarose/polystyrene sulfonic acid membrane. The outermost layer, a carboxymethyl cellulose coating, improves the biocompatibility of the microcapsule. In vitro static incubation study showed that the insulin secretion from rat islets in microcapsules in response to 16.7 mM glucose stimulation was more than four times higher than that on 3.3 mM glucose stimulation (n = 8). In an in vivo study, 500 rat islets in microcapsules were xenogenically implanted in the abdominal cavity of mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The graft survival times ranged from 2 to 5 mo, the average being 75 days (n = 5). Our results demonstrate that the improved version of the three-layer agarose microcapsule can effectively prolong the xenograft survival time without employing immunosuppressants, suggesting that this microcapsule could provide a promising biohybrid artificial pancreas for future clinical applications.

Animals

Application of a novel B cell line MIN6 to a mesh-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel tube and three-layer agarose microcapsules: an in vitro study.

This study examines the function of a novel B cell line (MIN6) enclosed in hybrid bioartificial pancreas with mesh-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel tube (MRPT) or with improved, three-layer agarose microcapsules. MIN6 was established from insulinomas obtained by targeted expression of the simian virus 40 T-antigen gene in transgenic mice. MIN6 retains the ability to secrete insulin in response to physiological glucose concentrations. The MRPT and the three-layer agarose microcapsules, which were developed to act as an artificial pancreas, were readily permeated by insulin, glucose, and other nutrients. Both can immunoisolate enclosed MIN6 cells from the recipient's humoral and cellular immunosystems, which causes a xenogeneic rejection response. MIN6 cells (5.0 x 10(6) or 1.5 x 10(6)) were enclosed in MRPT or in a hundred three-layer microcapsules and subjected to an in vitro perifusion study or a static incubation study to observe the insulin release from each bioartificial pancreas in response to glucose stimulation. In vitro study revealed that the insulin secretion in response to 16.7 mM glucose stimulation was twice that with 3.3 mM glucose stimulation with both MRPT and the three-layer agarose microcapsules. The present study demonstrates that MIN6 effectively functions as a bioreactor for the hybrid bioartificial pancreas. The application of MIN6 cells to the hybrid bioartificial pancreas may offer a solution to the current serious dearth of organs.

Animals

Insulin release from a bioartificial pancreas using a mesh reinforced polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel tube. An in vitro study.

Islet transplantation with a bioartificial pancreas is a potential alternative to whole pancreas transplantation. The authors constructed a bioartificial pancreas using mesh reinforced polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel tubes (MRPT), in an attempt to clarify the in vitro responsiveness to glucose of islets seeded in the MRPT. When the MRPT were perfused in a small chamber with buffer containing 3.3 mmol or 16.7 mmol glucose, insulin release from the MRPT began to increase at 9 +/- 3 min, reaching a plateau at approximately 40 min after the glucose concentration in the perfusate increased from 3.3 to 16.7 mmol. When MRPT seeded with islets were subjected to static incubation in buffer containing 3.3 mmol or 16.7 mmol glucose, insulin release from the MRPT remained elevated for 3 hr of high glucose stimulation, the amount of secreted insulin depending upon the number of islets seeded. Although pre incubation of semipermeable membranes in culture medium containing fetal bovine serum prior to seeding with islets has recently been reported to improve insulin release, the authors found that such pre treatment of the MRPT did not have a beneficial effect. Their in vitro findings in this study suggest that the bioartificial pancreas using MRPT could be a promising therapeutic approach to human diabetes mellitus.

Animals