PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

Y Yamasaki

Publications and source records attributed to Y Yamasaki.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Accurate and rapid detection of heterozygous carriers of a deletion by combined polymerase chain reaction and high-performance liquid chromatography.

We have developed a technique to detect accurately heterozygous carriers of a deletion. Specific target sequences were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the products subsequently were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Examples from four loci demonstrated that 24-27 cycles of amplification for a single-copy DNA, based on 50 ng of genomic DNA, results in excellent quantitation that readily permits the detection of heterozygous carriers of a deletion. We have demonstrated that triplex PCR (three targets in a single PCR) entails no loss of precision. We also have demonstrated that this method can accurately differentiate the heterozygous carriers of a deletion from normal individuals in four family studies, three for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and one for a hemophilia B patient.

Base Sequence

Possible involvement of interleukin-1 in ischemic brain edema formation.

To determine the contribution of interleukin 1 (IL-1) on ischemic brain edema formation, the effect of recombinant human interleukin 1 beta (rhIL-1 beta), or zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) as an IL-1 blocker, on brain edema was studied in rats. The animals were subjected to 60 min of ischemia in a middle cerebral artery occlusion model. Immediately after reperfusion, rhIL-1 beta at a dose of 10 ng/2 microliters, or ZnPP at doses of 1 and 10 micrograms/2 microliters were topically applied into lateral cerebroventricle. In rhIL-1 beta-treated rats, ischemic brain edema formation was significantly increased in the dorsal and ventral areas of the caudate putamen 24 h after reperfusion, compared to that of vehicle-treated control rats. Furthermore, in ZnPP-treated rats, brain edema was decreased in both caudate-putamen areas. This suggests that IL-1 plays an important role in pathogenesis for post-ischemic brain edema.

Animals

The role of GTP binding proteins in ischemic brain damage: autoradiographic and histopathological study.

Cerebral ischemia produces perturbation of signal transduction systems in neurons. In order to estimate the contribution of guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein) to hippocampal neuronal death, the effect of pertussis toxin (PTX) on the CA1 pyramidal cell damage after transient forebrain ischemia in rats was examined. PTX was administered 3 days before 20 min of transient forebrain ischemia. PTX injection into the CA1 subfield failed to alter the number of ischemic-damaged CA1 pyramidal cells. In contrast, ventricular PTX injection exacerbated CA1 pyramidal cell damage. We also studied postischemic alteration of GTP binding sites in the hippocampal formation using quantitative in vitro autoradiography. Autoradiographic imaging demonstrated predominant distribution of GTP binding sites in synaptic areas in the hippocampus. No significant change of GTP binding activity was observed in the hippocampus until 2 days after recirculation. Seven days after ischemia, when the CA1 pyramidal cells were depleted, the GTP binding sites of the strata oriens and radiatum in the CA1 subfield had reduced by 32% and 31%, respectively. In contrast, GTP binding in the CA3 subfield and the dentate gyrus remained unaltered throughout the reperfusion period. These results suggest that the amount of G-proteins as estimated by GTP binding remained unaltered in the hippocampus during the early recirculation period, when the CA1 pyramidal cells were morphologically intact, and that signal transduction pathways mediated by Gi and Go do not play a major role in delayed death of the CA1 pyramidal cells.

Animals

Decreased expression of neurotrophin-3 mRNA in the rat hippocampus following transient forebrain ischemia.

The expression profile of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) mRNA in the rat hippocampus after forebrain ischemia was investigated by Northern blot and S1 nuclease protection analyses. The NT-3 transcripts in the hippocampus immediately decreased after ischemic insult, became undetectable within 3 h and remained at undetectable levels for at least 7 days. In contrast, the expression of c-fos and c-jun mRNA transiently increased both in the cerebral cortex and in the hippocampus. These results suggest that brain ischemia triggers dynamic changes in gene expression including a neurotrophic factor, which may cause functional and/or morphological changes of the neuronal network.

Animals

Glomerular extracellular matrices in rat diabetic glomerulopathy by scanning electron microscopy.

Characteristic pathological changes in the glomeruli in diabetic nephropathy include expansion of the mesangial matrix and thickening of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). Using an acellular digestion technique combined with scanning electron microscopy, the three-dimensional ultrastructural changes in glomerular extracellular matrices were studied in rats with diabetic glomerulopathy. Diabetes was induced by the intravenous injection of streptozotocin and morphological analyses were performed 3, 6 and 11 months after the injection. Expansion of mesangial area and GBM thickening became evident with time. After treatment with the series of detergents, all cellular components were completely removed leaving the extracellular matrices intact. In normal controls, the mesangial matrix appeared as fenestrated septa with oval or round stomata between the glomerular capillaries. In diabetic glomerulopathy, expansion of mesangial matrix and narrowing of the mesangial fenestrae were observed. These changes in the mesangial matrices seem to play a vital role in the progression of glomerulosclerosis in rat diabetes. A subendothelial thin layer of the GBM was continuous with the mesangial matrix. One cause of GBM thickening in streptozotocin diabetes may be expansion of the mesangial matrix into the peripheral GBM.

Animals

Normoglycemia per se but not normoinsulinemia is responsible for suppressing endogenous insulin secretion after oral glucose load in NIDDM.

It is well known that intensive insulin treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetics (NIDDM) suppresses endogenous insulin secretion and thereafter improves it. To determine whether 'peripheral normo-insulinemia' or 'normoglycemia' established by the treatment is responsible for this suppression, the following five experiments were conducted on 15 well-controlled non-obese NIDDM patients. Experiment 1: a 100 g oral glucose load (OGL) was performed and blood glucose was monitored by an artificial endocrine pancreas (AP). Experiment 2: a 100 g OGL was done and blood glucose was normalized by AP-controlled insulin infusion. Experiments 3 and 4: a 100 g OGL was conducted while 'hyperglycemia' seen in experiment 1 was mimicked by AP-controlled glucose infusion with pre-programmed insulin infusion at the same rates as those in experiment 2 ('normoinsulinemia') or at rates 1.5 times higher than those in experiment 2 ('relative hyperinsulinemia'), respectively. Experiment 5: a 40 g OGL was conducted while AP-controlled insulin and glucose infusions were administered to make the plasma insulin level lower than in experiment 2 ('hypoinsulinemia') and to mimic the normoglycemic profile observed in experiment 2, respectively. In experiments 3 and 4, neither 'normoinsulinemia' nor 'relative hyperinsulinemia' suppressed the increase in plasma C-peptide after a 100 g OGL. In experiment 5, where the plasma insulin level showed a significantly (P less than 0.05) lower level than in experiment 2 and glycemia was normalized, C-peptide did not show a significant rise after OGL. These results indicate that 'normoglycemia' rather than 'normoinsulinemia' attained during exogenous insulin therapy, is responsible for suppressing endogenous insulin secretion against orally administered glucose.

Blood Glucose

Alteration in the immunoreactivity of the calcineurin subunits after ischemic hippocampal damage.

Dephosphorylation processes of target proteins are critical to the reversible regulation of intracellular signal transduction systems. Further, brain damage such as ischemic insult induces marked changes in protein kinase activity. To study these changes more thoroughly, specific monoclonal antibodies of the A and B subunits of calcineurin (protein phosphatase 2B) were raised, and regional alterations in the immunoreactivity of calcineurin in the rat hippocampus were investigated after a transient forebrain ischemic insult causing selective and delayed hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cell damage. In normal rats it was found that both the calcineurin A and the B subunits showed high immunoreactivity in the dendritic fields of the hippocampal formation. The immunoreactivity of subunit A in the strata oriens, the radiatum of the CA1 subfield and in the stratum lucidum of the CA3 subfield was most intense, whereas the immunoreactivity in the other CA3 subfields and in the dentate gyrus was relatively low. In contrast, the dendritic fields of the hippocampal formation were equally immunoreactive to calcineurin subunit B, although the stratum lucidum of the CA3, where the mossy fibers from the dentate granule cells terminate, showed a very high immunoreactivity of the B subunit. After transient forebrain ischemia in the CA1 subfield, where selective pyramidal cell death occurred two days after this ischemia, a marked loss of immunoreactivity in both subunits was observed, along with morphological pyramidal cell damage. A recovery of the immunoreactivity of A and B subunits in the strata oriens and radiatum was later noted 30 days after ischemia. In the stratum lucidum of the CA3, the immunoreactivity of both the A and B subunits was transiently depressed from 6 to 24 h, followed by a marked immunoreactivity enhancement from four to 30 days after ischemia. Further, in the histologically intact dentate gyrus, both the immunoreactivity of the A and B subunits in the molecular layer were transiently enhanced from four to 14 days after ischemia, particularly in the supragranular layer. The results clearly indicate that the protein dephosphorylation systems were markedly altered in the whole hippocampal formation during the recirculation period following ischemia. Further, the transient depression in the calcineurin immunoreactivity seen in the mossy fiber terminals may reflect modulated synaptic activity of the dentate granule cells, which may play a pivotal role in the delayed and selective death of the CA1 pyramidal cells. Thus, calcineurin appears to be an excellent marker enzyme for the detection of neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity after brain damage, such as an ischemic insult.

Animals

Discrepancy between estimated and actual time elapsed after death of a severed head.

A severed head which had been wrapped in seven plastic bags and set in concrete in an airtight insulated plastic box was found approximately 22 months after the occurrence of death. Ammonium magnesium phosphate had formed and on the basis of this and other observed postmortem changes, time elapsed after death was estimated to be from 2 weeks to 6 months. The absence of oxygen is thought to have contributed significantly to the great discrepancy between estimated and actual time elapsed after death.

Adult

The binding of basic fibroblast growth factor to ischaemic neurons in the rat.

Transient occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for 15 min produced a small ischaemic lesion in the dorsal portion of the right striatum in rats as seen on days 3, 7 and 14 post-operatively. The lesions consisted mainly of reactive astrocytes and 'ischaemic neuron's with chromatin-condensed (pyknotic) nuclei and homogenously eosinophilic cytoplasm. The incubation of tissue sections with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) followed by anti-bFGF, or with biotinylated bFGF without anti-bFGF, labelled virtually all ischaemic neurons, indicating that bFGF had bound to the latter. The pretreatment of sections with heparitinase prevented the binding of bFGF to these cells, suggesting that the chemical substrate for the bFGF binding was heparan sulphate. In light of the findings that many normal-looking neurons were observed in the corresponding portion of the right striatum in most rats on post-operative days 28 and 90, the appearance of bFGF-binding sites in ischaemic neurons may contribute to the repair process of injured neurons.

Animals

A case of nephrotic syndrome and renal dysfunction in a pregnant woman with diabetes mellitus.

A 29-year-old diabetic woman who developed severe anaemia, nephrotic syndrome, and hypertension before the 28th week of gestation, had residual evidence of toxaemia and renal dysfunction more than 1 month following delivery. The histopathological findings of renal biopsy specimens were considered most consistent with toxaemia of pregnancy complicated by diabetic glomerulosclerosis. We consider that rapid acceleration of renal dysfunction may have been induced by: (1) poor control of diabetes before pregnancy; (2) glomerular hyperfiltration of the remnant nephrons throughout pregnancy; (3) hypercoagulopathy associated with pregnancy; (4) appearance of hypertension following these three conditions.

Adult

Temporal profiles of nerve growth factor beta-subunit level in rat brain regions after transient ischemia.

To determine the role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in ischemic brain damage, we measured the temporal and regional changes in the level of NGF in the hippocampal subfields, the cerebral cortex, the striatum, and the septum at 1, 2, 7, and 30 days after transient forebrain ischemia using a highly sensitive sandwich-type enzyme immunoassay system for the beta-subunit of mouse 7S NGF (beta-NGF). We also analyzed glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity in the hippocampus to ascertain the contribution of reactive astrocytes to NGF production after an ischemic insult. In the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus, the level of beta-NGF decreased slightly 2 days after ischemia (not significant), at which time CA1 pyramidal cell loss began to occur, and increased by 40% 30 days after ischemia (p less than 0.05). A marked increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes in the CA1 subfield 2-30 days after ischemia suggests that the reactive astrocytes participated in a gradual increase in the level of beta-NGF after recirculation. The level of beta-NGF in the dentate gyrus decreased transiently 2 days (p less than 0.05) and 7 days (p less than 0.01) after ischemia, followed by recovery to the level of control animals 30 days after ischemia. The level of beta-NGF in the septum gradually decreased 7 days (-27%, p less than 0.05) and 30 days (-43%, p less than 0.01) after ischemia. The levels of beta-NGF in the cerebral cortex and striatum remained unaltered throughout the observation period.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Continuous chitosan hydrolyzate production by immobilized chitosanolytic enzyme from Enterobacter sp. G-1.

Chitosanolytic enzymes from Enterobacter sp. G-1 were immobilized on various carriers to continuously hydrolyze chitosan. Four different carriers were tested: FE-3901 (strong basic anion exchange resin, ionic binding), glutaraldehyde-treated FE-4612 (weak basic anion exchange resin, cross-linking), Chitopearl (chitosan beads), and alginate calcium. Glutaraldehyde-treated FE-4612 and Chitopearl immobilized more protein than the others. The enzyme immobilized on FE-3901 had the greatest activity. The activity of enzyme immobilized on FE-3901 decreased rapidly when exposed to a continuous flow of 1% chitosan. The enzyme immobilized with Chitopearl retained more than 50% of its original activity after 17 days, and the activity was fully restored by re-immobilization.

Anion Exchange Resins

Ultra-high-resolution scanning electron microscopic studies on the sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of the rat intrafusal muscle fibers. Part II: The extracapsular region.

The three-dimensional structure of the transverse-axial tubular system, sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and mitochondria in the extracapsular region of the intrafusal muscle fibers of the rat lumbrical muscle was observed by ultra-high-resolution scanning electron microscopy after removal of the cytoplasmic matrix by the osmium-DMSO-osmium procedure. Nuclear chain fibers possessed thick to moderately sized column-forming mitochondria with occasional I-band branches. The transverse tubules (T-tubules) running at the level of the A-band side of the A-I junction were sandwiched between two large terminal cisternae for most of their length, forming triads. The sarcotubules arising from the terminal cisternae formed single-layered networks at the A-band level, and well developed, double-layered, three-dimensional networks at the I-band level. Nuclear bag1 fibers possessed slender column-forming mitochondria devoid of I-band branches. The T-tubules were located at the level of the A-I junction. Both the T- and the axial-tubules were occasionally coupled with small terminal cisternae, forming dyads or triads. At the I-band level, the SR was well developed and formed single layered networks, but at the A-band level only a few longitudinally arranged sarcotubules and axial tubules were observed. Nuclear bag2 fibers contained medium to large diameter column-forming mitochondria without I-band branches. The T-tubules ran at the level of the A-band adjacent to the A-I junction, and were coupled at some intervals with terminal cisternae of various lengths. Swollen, large terminal cisternae were frequently seen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Ultrasound high-resolution B-mode imaging on carotid arteries.

OBJECTIVE: To quantitatively assess atherosclerosis of the carotid artery in subjects with and without diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ultrasound high resolution B-mode imaging of carotid arteries was conducted on 71 nondiabetic subjects without hyperlipidemia or hypertension and 295 diabetic patients to determine IMT of the arterial wall. RESULTS: IMT was linearly related with age in nondiabetic (IMT = [0.0087 x age] + 0.3318) and diabetic subjects (IMT = [0.0155 x age] + 0.32450). The regression coefficient for age was significantly greater in diabetic than nondiabetic subjects. IMT (mean +/- SD) of diabetic subjects aged 20-29 was significantly greater than that of nondiabetic subjects aged 20-29 (0.73 +/- 0.27 vs. 0.52 +/- 0.07 mm, P less than 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis of 275 NIDDM patients indicated smoking, hyperlipidemia, duration of diabetes, hypertension, and age were factors determining thickness of the carotid arterial wall. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes, along with age, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and hypertension, aggravates carotid atherosclerosis.

Arteriosclerosis

Possible contribution of free radicals and lipid peroxidations on pathogenesis of post-ischemic brain damage.

It has been widely accepted concept that peroxidate decomposition of membrane lipids contribute cellular damage in cerebral ischemia, and varieties of putative cascading reactions has been proposed in this regard as the underlying detrimental processes. But little is known about existence and significance of the blood born chemical mediator. In this communication, the authors tried to emphasize the prospective role of leukocyte invasion to the ischemic brain tissue. Effectiveness of some clinically applicable antioxidants against ischemic brain damage was also discussed.

Antioxidants

[Study of postgastrectomy fatty liver].

Fatty liver was often found concomitantly by the ultrasound during the follow up study of the gastric cancer operation. By ultrasound, development of postgastrectomy fatty liver was seen in 29 out of 176 patients (16.5%) with several gastrectomies. The number of the patients with postgastrectomy fatty liver was 12 out of 104 patients (11.5%) with distal partial gastrectomy with B-I reconstruction, while that was 17 of 72 patients (23.6%) with total gastrectomy with several reconstructions. The incidence of postoperative fatty liver change was significantly higher in the patients under 59 years old compared to the elders. Seventy-five g oral glucose test induced oxyhyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia in patients with gastrectomy, especially with total gastrectomy. Integrated plasma insulin and triglyceride responses during first one hour in postgastrectomy patients were significantly higher than preoperative values. Moreover, plasma insulin and blood sugar in response to oral glucose test were significantly higher in patients with postgastrectomy fatty liver, compared to those in patients without fatty liver. These results suggested that the postgastrectomy fatty liver was resulted from the abnormality of the glucose metabolism.

Age Factors

Neutrophil as a mediator of ischemic edema formation in the brain.

We investigated the contribution of neutrophils to brain edema formation using a transient focal ischemia model in rats. Rats were given anti-neutrophil monoclonal antibody (RP3) intraperitoneally to deplete circulating neutrophils. In RP3-treated rats, ischemic brain edema formation 1 day after reperfusion was significantly decreased compared to that of saline-treated control rats. We speculate that chemical mediators released by infiltrating neutrophils alter vascular permeability and play an important role in post-ischemic brain edema formation.

Animals