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Biomedical subjects

Y Kim

Publications and source records attributed to Y Kim.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Inhibition of alternative complement pathway opsonization by group A streptococcal M protein.

Group A streptococcal M protein is known to be antiphagocytic; however, the exact basis for this property has not been established. In this study the hypothesis was tested that cell wall--associated M protein inhibits phagocytosis by interfering with bacterial opsonization. Two strains of group A Streptococcus pyogenes, CS44 (M+) and CS64 (an M- variant of CS44), were radiolabeled, and after incubation in serum these organisms were exposed to human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Phagocytosis was quantitated by measurement of leukocyte-associated radioactivity. The contributions of complement and of immunoglobulin to streptococcal opsonization were evaluated by use of serum from a variety of sources. The results revealed that the M- strain was efficiently opsonized via the alternative complement pathway in a relative absence of immunoglobulins. In contrast, the M+ strain was poorly opsonized by all sera tested. These findings suggest that streptococcal M protein in some way prevents bacterial opsonization via the alternative complement pathway and that this property of M protein may partly explain its antiphagocytic characteristic.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1979

Effect of level of protein intake on calcium metabolism and on parathyroid and renal function in the adult human male.

Mechanisms involved in the hypercalciuria caused by high levels of protein intake were investigated. Six healthy males participated in a 20-day metabolic study. During the first 10-day period, all subjects were given a 47 g protein diet and during the second 10-day period, a 142 g protein diet. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus intakes were kept constant at 515, 320 and 1,110 mg daily, respectively. Urinary calcium was elevated significantly when the protein intake was increased. Glomerular filtration rate and calcium clearance were increased significantly when the high protein diet was fed; the fractional tubular reabsorption of calcium was decreased from 98.4 to 97.4%. Thus, the increase in urinary calcium caused by the high protein diet appears to be due in part to an increase in the filtered load of calcium by the glomeruli and in part to a decrease in calcium reabsorption by the renal tubules. The level of protein intake had no effect on the fasting serum concentrations of parathyroid hormone, total calcium, magnesium or inorganic phosphorus or plasma ultrafiltrable calcium.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Chemotaxigenesis by cell surface components of Staphylococcus aureus.

In an attempt to delineate the staphylococcal cell surface components of importance in chemotaxigenesis, we incubated intact Staphylococcus aureus H, crude cell walls, purified cell walls, peptidoglycan, teichoic acid, and cell membranes with human sera. The results reported indicate that both crude cell walls and purified cell walls, as well as peptidoglycan, were potent chemotaxigens. These particles led to the generation in normal human serum of a factor that was chemotactic for human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Cell wall peptidoglycan and teichoic acid both appeared to play a role in chemotaxigenesis. Kinetic studies employing C2-deficient serum and immunoglobulin-deficient serum revealed that optimal chemotaxigenesis required the presence of an intact classical complement pathway, as well as antibody. Granulocyte aggregometry studies showed that significant levels of C5a were generated in normal serum and that this activated complement component appears to be a major chemotactic factor produced in serum upon interaction with staphylococcal cell wall components.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1979

Opsonic activity of normal human cerebrospinal fluid for selected bacterial species.

The opsonic activity of normal human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has not been well defined. In this study, the opsonic activity of normal CSF for laboratory and blood culture isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Hemophilus influenzae type b, and Neisseria meningitidis was measured by a quantitative assay employing radiolabeled bacteria and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. All isolates of S. aureus, except the Wood 46 strain, were opsonized in undiluted CSF (>50% uptake by polymorphonuclear leukocytes.) There was heat-stable and heat-labile opsonic activity in CSF for S. aureus. Only one blood culture isolate of E. coli was moderately well opsonized in undiluted CSF (26% uptake). None of the remaining laboratory or clinical isolates were opsonized in undiluted CSF. The S. aureus isolates were more readily opsonized in dilute normal serum than were the other bacterial species, and complement appeared to be the heat-labile opsonin in serum. However, complement may not be the heat-labile opsonin in normal CSF for S. aureus. In contrast to serum, complement C3 was not visualized on the staphylococcal cell surface by immunofluorescence microscopy and chelation of CSF did not diminish opsonic activity. This study demonstrates that normal CSF is opsonic for S. aureus but not for bacterial species that more commonly cause meningitis. These species differences in opsonic requirements may be important in the pathogenesis of meningitis.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1979

Localization of the third component of complement on the cell wall of encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus M: implications for the mechanism of resistance to phagocytosis.

Encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus strains are more virulent than unencapsulated staphylococci, and this phenomenon has been associated with decreased opsonization of encapsulated bacteria by normal human serum. Peptidoglycan, a major cell wall component of S. aureus, has been shown to promote opsonization of this bacterial species by certain components of the serum complement system. However, when the processes of complement activation and opsonization of encapsulated staphylococci have been studied, it has been found that encapsulated bacteria activate complement efficiently and C3 is bacteria associated, yet these organisms are not efficiently phagocytized by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. In this study, the hypothesis was tested that opsonically active molecules are not on the true external surface of encapsulated organisms but rather are cell wall associated and thus "hidden" from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. By using immunoelectronmicroscopy, C3 was found to be localized on the cell wall of an encapsulated S. aureus strain after incubation of the organism in normal human serum. When shrinkage of the capsule was prevented by treatment with anticapsular antibody, the C3 was again shown to be cell wall associated and located beneath the bacterial capsule. These results suggest that encapsulated S. aureus may resist phagocytosis because opsonically active C3 molecules are not exposed at the true external surface of the bacterium.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

L-asparaginase-induced hypocomplementemia in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) of childhood.

Serum complement studies were carried out in five children with acute lymphocytic leukemia. During therapy with L-asparaginase, prednisone and vincristine, hypocomplementemia developed in all patients, and disappeared within 2 weeks after the discontinuation of L-asparaginase. Complement breakdown products were not present in plasma. The changes of serum complement levels paralleled those of plasma fibrinogen. These findings suggest that the hypocomplementemia observed in these patients may be related to impaired protein synthesis induced by L-asparaginase.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Immunofluorescence studies of dense deposit disease. The presence of railroad tracks and mesangial rings.

Immunopathologic analysis was carried out on renal tissue from patients with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, nine with type I and nine with type II (dense deposit disease). A specific finding in all patients with type II, but not type I, was the presence of C3 along the margin but not within the central portion of dense deposit material in the glomerular basement membrane giving a double linear appearance (railroad tracks); C3 was also present within the mesangium, outlining numerous circular structures (mesangial rings). By phase contrast, electron microscopy, and dual label fluorescence studies, the railroad tracks and mesangial rings were shown to outline dense deposit material. Mesangial rings contained properdin (four of nine patients); railroad tracks contained properdin (five of nine patients) and C4 (four of nine patients); no other complement components or immunoglobulins were present. Studies using rhodamine-conjugated rabbit antibody to human glomerular basement membrane demonstrated no reactivity with the dense deposit material itself. In type I and to a lesser extent in type II, granular deposits of C3, C4, properdin, IgM, and IgG were present along the glomerular basement membrane, suggesting that immune complexes play a role in both diseases. Dense deposit transformation of the glomerular basement membrane may be a consequence of a highly specific injury.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1978

Delayed auditory feedback and aphasia.

The effect of Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF) was evaluated in three groups of subjects: 10 normal controls, 10 non-fluent aphasics, and 10 fluent aphasics. Speec production tasks consisted of (1) repeating sound and words; (2) naming objects; (3) producing sentences from given stimulus words; (4) answering questions; (5) reciting nursery rhymes; and (6) reading. Two delays were used, 180 and 360 msec. Two independent judges rated patients' responses for changes in intensity, duration, and quality of speech. Inter-judge reliability was considered satisfactory. Contrary to some previous reports, all subjects, including all the fluent aphasics, showed some DAF effect. Fluent aphasics, however, showed a significantly smaller DAF effect than non-fluent aphasics. Patient with conduction aphasia appeared to be the least impaired. Overall DAF effect was greater with 180 msec. than with 360 msec. The largest DAF effect occurred during answering question, followed by repeating, reading, nursery rhymes, sentence production, and naming, in that order. Repetition of a complex word produced a greater DAF effect than repetition of a simple sound. Finally, we found a differential effect of DAF on the three measures used in the study. We hypothesize that DAF effects result from changes in two separate monitoring systems. One systems is related to changes in the intensity of speech and does not appear to be affected by aphasia. The other is responsible for duration and qualitative changes in speech and is differentially affected in relation to pathology producing aphasia.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Influence of encapsulation on staphylococcal opsonization and phagocytosis by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

In previous studies, encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus strains have been shown to resist phagocytosis. In this investigation, the nature of the interference with phagocytosis by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes was examined by studying the opsonization of two pairs of unencapsulated (Smith compact and M variant) and encapsulated (Smith diffuse and M) S. aureus strains. The uptake of [3H]glycine-labeled bacteria by normal leukocytes was quantitatively measured after incubation of bacteria in pooled serum, C2-deficient serum, immunoglobulin-deficient serum, and serum from a rabbit immunized with S. aureus M. The presence of a capsule was found to interfere with opsonization by both the classical and alternative pathways of complement as well as by heat-stable opsonic factors in nonimmune human serum. This interference was significantly greater in the case of the S. aureus M strain than in the case of the Smith diffuse strain. The only effective opsonic source for S. aureus M was immune rabbit serum. It is proposed that encapsulation of S. aureus strains interferes with phagocytosis by preventing effective bacterial opsonization.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1978

Activation of complement by cell surface components of Staphylococcus aureus.

The abilities of intact Staphylococcus aureus H, crude cell walls (CCW), purified cell walls (PCW, peptidoglycan [PG] and covalently linked teichoic acid), peptidoglycan, and cell membranes (CM) to activate the complement system in normal human serum, C2-deficient serum, and immunoglobulin-deficient serum were compared. On a weight basis, PCW was the most active fraction; intact organisms and CCW were about equally effective; and PG was least active in causing complement consumption in normal serum. CM also activated complement but did not give a clear dose-response relationship in the concentrations used. Kinetic studies revealed that C3-C9 consumption occurred at a significantly slower rate in C2-deficient serum, indicating that intact organisms, PCW, and PG may activate the complement system via the classical and alternative pathways in normal serum. C3-C9 consumption was also slower in immunoglobulin-deficient serum than in normal serum, implying that immunoglobulins play a role in attaining maximum rates of complement activation. In all sera studied, PG was less active in complement activation than PCW. These results indicate that a number of cell surface components of S. aureus can play a role in complement activation by this organism and that the presence of teichoic acid has a significant enhancing effect in this regard.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1978

Dichotomy between opsonization and serum complement activation by encapsulated staphylococci.

Previous studies have demonstrated that encapsulated Staphylococcus aureus strains are not effectively opsonized by the serum complement system. Encapsulated staphylococci thereby "resist phagocytosis." To test whether this phenomenon might be explained by an inability of encapsulated strains to activate complement, the relationship between staphylococcal opsonization and serum complement activation was studied. Although encapsulation was found to interfere with opsonization by pooled human serum (human polymorphonuclear leukocytes phagocytized significantly fewer encapsulated bacteria than unencapsulated bacteria after incubation in this opsonic source), encapsulated (S. aureus M and Smith diffuse) and unencapsulated (S. aureus M variant and Smith compact) strains had similar capacities for complement activation as measured by C3-C9 consumption. When C2-deficient and immunoglobulin-deficient sera were studied, again C3-C9 consumption was not influenced by the presence or absence of a capsule. In addition, C3 was detected on the surface of both S. aureus M and M variant strains after incubation in pooled serum and staining with fluorescein-conjugated anti-C3 antibody. Thus, encapsulated staphylococci are not effectively opsonized even though complement is activated and C3 is present on the bacterial surface. The exact mechanism by which the capsule interferes with opsonization is still not known; however, inhibition of complement activation appears not to be the explanation of this phenomenon.

Antibodies↗