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Biomedical subjects

V Silani

Publications and source records attributed to V Silani.

61 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Plasma exchange ineffective in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The effectiveness of plasma exchange in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) was tested in four patients. Electromyography (EMG) and clinical examinations were carried out before, during, and after the treatment. The EMG data showed a progressive unaffected motor neuronal decay. Clinically the course of the disease was not dissimilar to that usually encountered, although a momentary improvement was observed in two patients after the first procedure. Plasma exchange appears to be of no value in treating ALS.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Metabolic impairment and membrane abnormality in red cells from Huntington's disease.

The following aspects have been investigated in 10 patients affected by Huntington's disease )HD): --extensive haematological investigations; --red cell enzyme activities and level of the most important glycolytic intermediate compounds; --protein, lipid and carbohydrate composition of the erythrocyte membrane and membrane polarity; --effects of in vitro aging on red cell membranes. Lack of 4.5 protein band in SDS-PAGE and 14-fold decrease in membrane-bound catalase were found in the in vitro aged red cells from the 10 HD patients examined. Na+ + K+ATPase was slightly higher than normal in all the patients. Red cells from 5 out of 8 patients showed a decrease in reduced glutathione and phosphoenolpyruvate levels and/or an increase in hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, pyruvate kinase and glutathione reductase activities. The haematological investigations, the protein lipid and carbohydrate composition of the fresh red cells, the membrane polypeptide aggregates and the membrane polarity evaluated by microspectrofluorometric analysis were normal.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1979

Erythrocyte spectrofluorometric abnormalities in Duchenne patients and carriers. A new approach to carrier detection.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a disorder whose pathogenesis is attributed, according to the most recent theories, to generalized membrane abnormalities, including red cell membrane. The study of erythrocyte ghosts in patients affected by DMD showed alterations in ion transport and in various enzymatic activities. Employing a spectrofluorometric method using 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sufonate (1.8-ANS) we have tried to characterize the erythrocyte ghosts of DMD patients, definite DMD carriers and normal controls, matched for age and sex. We found an increase of membrane polarity in DMD and definite DMD-carrier erythrocyte ghosts. Using this new method we were able to: - confirm by means of a different technique the previous observations of many authors on erythrocyte ghost alterations in DMD - find a new technique useful in detecting the DMD carriers. It is noteworthy that in such a way the detection rate of definite DMD carriers was higher than with the CPK test.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Morphological differentiation of astroglial progenitor cells from EGF-responsive neurospheres in response to fetal calf serum, basic fibroblast growth factor, and retinol.

Procurement of multipotential neuroglial stem cells is possible with the addition of epidermal growth factor (EGF). Stem cells will differentiate into neurons and glia upon the removal of EGF from the culture medium. We have previously characterized the neuronal differentiation of stem cells derived from long-term cultured nonpassage neurospheres. In the current study, we (1) characterize the morphological differentiation of the astroglial progenitor cell from 3-mo-old neurospheres, (2) examine whether the astroglial progenitor cells from neurospheres of different brain areas exhibit different differentiation responses to the same exogenous signals, and (3) test the effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and retinol on differentiation. Cerebral cortex, striatum, and mesencephalon cells were obtained from Embryonic Day 14 (E-14) rat fetuses and were dissociated for the procurement of neurospheres in chemically defined medium supplemented with EGF. After 3 mo in culture, the neurospheres, derived from each of the three brain areas, were subcultured into three groups on chamber slides: (1) basal medium, (2) the basal medium plus 20 ng/mL bFGF, and (3) the basal medium plus 10 muM retinol. Phenotypic expression of astroglial cells was examined after 14 days subculture. Our findings indicate that the 3-mo-old cultured nonpassage neurospheres contained numerous multipotential stem cells that stained positive with nestin, and that environmental factors played an important role in influencing the differentiation of astroglial progenitor cells. As detected by glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), astroglial progenitor cells turned into protoplasmic astrocytes in the FCS-containing basal medium, fibrous astrocytes in the presence of bFGF, and spindle-shaped astrocytes in the presence of retinol. There were no noticeable differences in differentiation among astroglial progenitor cells of the various brain region-derived neurospheres in any of the three medium conditions. Peculiar varicosity-and growth cone-like structures on the long slender GFAP-positive processes suggest that neuroblasts and glioblast may share common morphologies, features, or common progenitor cells during initial differentiation in vitro.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Apoptosis induced by proteasome inhibition in human myoblast cultures.

Dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome system has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of some untreatable myodegenerative diseases characterized by the formation of ubiquitinated inclusions in skeletal muscles. We have developed an in vitro model of proteasomal dysfunction by applying inhibitors of the proteasome to primary adult human skeletal muscle cultures. Our data show that proteasome inhibition causes both cytoplasmic accumulation of ubiquitinated inclusions and apoptotic death, the latter through accumulation of active caspase-3.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maintained cellular function of adrenal medullary cells in parkinsonian dysautonomia.

Adrenal gland involvement in Parkinson's disease was reported by different authors. Further studies became relevant after adrenal was proposed as dopaminergic donor for neurotransplantation. Chromaffin cells were grown in culture and the effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) tested: no differences were observed between parkinsonian and control cells. The expression of the beta-NGF mRNA in the parkinsonian adrenal was analyzed: a specific cDNA was synthesized and a 168 bp portion amplified using PCR. The products were identified and the identity of the fragment was confirmed by sequencing. Quantitative PCR demonstrated a beta-NGF mRNA concentration exceeding 5 fg/micrograms of total adrenal RNA. These findings demonstrate the retained functional capacity of the parkinsonian adrenal to respond to NGF and express the beta-NGF mRNA.

Adrenal Medulla↗