Hydrogen peroxide activates mitogen-activated protein kinases and Na+-H+ exchange in neonatal rat cardiac myocytes

Reperfusion of cardiac tissue after an ischemic episode is associated with metabolic and contractile dysfunction, including reduced tension development and activation of the Na+-H+ exchanger (NHE). Oxygen-derived free radicals are key mediators of reperfusion abnormalities, although the cellular mechanisms involved have not been fully defined. In the present study, the effects of free radicals on mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase function were investigated using cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. Acute exposure of spontaneously beating myocytes to 50 micromol/L hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) caused a sustained decrease in contraction amplitude (80% of control). MAP kinase activity was measured by in-gel kinase assays and Western blot analysis. Acute exposure to H2O2 (100 micromol/L, 5 minutes) resulted in sustained MAP kinase activation that persisted for 60 minutes. Catalase, but not superoxide dismutase, completely inhibited MAP kinase activation by H2O2. Pretreatment with chelerythrine (10 micromol/L, 45 minutes), a protein kinase C inhibitor, or genistein (75 micromol/L, 45 minutes) or herbimycin A (3 micromol/L, 45 minutes), tyrosine kinase inhibitors, caused significant inhibition of H2O2-stimulated MAP kinase activity (51%, 78%, and 45%, respectively, at 20 minutes). Brief exposure to H2O2 also stimulated NHE activity. This effect was completely abolished by pretreatment with the MAP kinase kinase inhibitor PD 98059 (30 micromol/L, 60 minutes). These results suggest that low doses of H2O2 induce MAP kinase-dependent pathways that regulate NHE activity during reperfusion injury.

An archaeal aerotaxis transducer combines subunit I core structures of eukaryotic cytochrome c oxidase and eubacterial methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins

Signal transduction in the archaeon Halobacterium salinarum is mediated by three distinct subfamilies of transducer proteins. Here we report the complete htrVIII gene sequence and present analysis of the encoded primary structure and its functional features. HtrVIII is a 642-amino-acid protein and belongs to halobacterial transducer subfamily B. At the N terminus, the protein contains six transmembrane segments that exhibit homology to the heme-binding sites of the eukaryotic cytochrome c oxidase. The C-terminal domain has high homology with the eubacterial methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein. The HtrVIII protein mediates aerotaxis: a strain with a deletion of the htrVIII gene loses aerotaxis, while an overproducing strain exhibits stronger aerotaxis. We also demonstrate that HtrVIII is a methyl-accepting protein and demethylates during the aerotaxis response.

Methadone maintenance and drug-related crime

Using data from an evaluation of methadone maintenance treatment, this study investigated factors associated with continued involvement in crime during treatment, and in particular whether there appeared to be differences in effectiveness of treatment between different methadone clinics. The methodology was an observational study, in which 304 patients attending three low-intervention, private methadone clinics in Sydney were interviewed on three occasions over a twelve month period. Outcome measures were self-reported criminal activity and police department records of convictions. By self-report, crime dropped promptly and substantially on entry to treatment, to a level of acquisitive crime about one-eighth that reported during the last addiction period. Analysis of official records indicated that rates of acquisitive convictions were significantly lower in the in-treatment period compared to prior to entry to treatment, corroborating the changes suggested by self-report. Persisting involvement in crime in treatment was predicted by two factors: the cost of persisting use of illicit drugs, particularly cannabis, and ASPD symptom count. Treatment factors also were independently predictive of continued involvement in crime. By both self-report and official records, and adjusting for subject factors, treatment at one clinic was associated with greater involvement in crime. This clinic operated in a chaotic and poorly organized way. It is concluded that crime during methadone treatment is substantially lower than during street addiction, although the extent of reduction depends on the quality of treatment being delivered.

Localization of HIV-1 co-receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 in the brain of children with AIDS

The chemokine receptors CCR5 and CXCR4 are co-receptors together with CD4 for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 entry into target cells. Macrophage-tropic HIV-1 viruses use CCR5 as a co-receptor, whereas T-cell-line tropic viruses use CXCR4. HIV-1 infects the brain and causes a progressive encephalopathy in 20 to 30% of infected children and adults. Most of the HIV-1-infected cells in the brain are macrophages and microglia. We examined expression of CCR5 and CXCR4 in brain tissue from 20 pediatric acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients in relation to neuropathological consequences of HIV-1 infection. The overall frequency of CCR5-positive perivascular mononuclear cells and macrophages was increased in the brains of children with severe HIV-1 encephalitis (HIVE) compared with children with mild HIVE or non-AIDS controls, whereas the frequency of CXCR4-positive perivascular cells did not correlate with disease severity. CCR5- and CXCR4-positive macrophages and microglia were detected in inflammatory lesions in the brain of children with severe HIVE. In addition, CXCR4 was detected in a subpopulation of neurons in autopsy brain tissue and primary human brain cultures. Similar findings were demonstrated in the brain of adult AIDS patients and controls. These findings suggest that CCR5-positive mononuclear cells, macrophages, and microglia contribute to disease progression in the central nervous system of children and adults with AIDS by serving as targets for virus replication.

Selective acceleration of arachidonic acid reincorporation into brain membrane phospholipid following transient ischemia in awake gerbil

Awake gerbils were subjected to 5 min of forebrain ischemia by clamping the carotid arteries for 5 min and then allowing recirculation. Radiolabeled arachidonic or palmitic acid was infused intravenously for 5 min at the start of recirculation, after which the brains were prepared for quantitative autoradiography or chemical analysis. Dilution of specific activity of the acyl-CoA pool was independently determined for these fatty acids in control gerbils and following 5 min of ischemia and 5 min of reperfusion. Using a quantitative method for measuring regional in vivo fatty acid incorporation into and turnover within brain phospholipids and determining unlabeled concentrations of acyl-CoAs following recirculation, it was shown that reperfusion after 5 min of ischemia was accompanied by a threefold increase compared with the control in the rate of reincorporation of unlabeled arachidonate that had been released during ischemia, whereas reincorporation of released palmitate was not different from the control. Selective and accelerated reincorporation of arachidonate into brain phospholipids shortly after ischemia may ameliorate specific deleterious effects of arachidonate and its metabolites on brain membranes.

Structural and functional investigations on the role of zinc in bifunctional rat peptidylglycine alpha-amidating enzyme

Bifunctional peptidylglycine alpha-amidating enzyme (alpha-AE) catalyzes the two-step conversion of C-terminal glycine-extended peptides to C-terminal alpha-amidated peptides and glyoxylate. The first step is the ascorbate-, O2-, and copper-dependent hydroxylation of the alpha-carbon of the glycyl residue, producing an alpha-hydroxyglycine-extended peptide. The second step is the ascorbate-, O2-, and copper-independent dealkylation of the carbinolamide intermediate. We show that alpha-AE requires 1.1 +/- 0. 2 mol of zinc/mol of enzyme for maximal (S)-N-dansyl-Tyr-Val-alpha-hydroxyglycine dealkylation activity. Treatment of the enzyme with EDTA abolishes both the peptide hydroxylation and the carbinolamide dealkylation activities. Addition of Zn(II), Co(II), Cd(II), and Mn(II) partially restores carbinolamide dealkylation activity to the EDTA-treated enzyme. Addition of Co(II) produces the greatest restoration of dealkylation activity, 32% relative to a control not treated with EDTA, while Mn(II) addition results in the smallest restoration of dealkylation activity, only 3% relative to an untreated control. The structure and coordination of the zinc center has been investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. EXAFS data are best interpreted by an average coordination of 2-3 histidine ligands and 1-2 non-histidine O/N ligands. Since catalytic zinc centers in other zinc metalloenzymes generally exhibit only O/N ligands to the zinc atom, a zinc-bound water or hydroxide may serve as a general base for the abstraction of the hydroxyl proton from the carbinolamide intermediate. Alternatively, the zinc may function in a structural role.

[Neuronal apoptosis in the central and peripheral nervous system in HIV infection]

Apart from the unique changes characteristic of "HIV encephalitis", the productive infection of central nervous system by HIV, which predominantly involves the white matter and basal ganglia, evidence is accumulating that the cerebral cortex may also be affected in AIDS patients. Neuronal loss, suspected at microscopic examination, has been demonstrated by a number of morphometric studies. However, the cause and mechanism of neuronal damage in HIV infection, are still unclear. In an attempt to look for an apoptotic process at the origin of neuronal loss in AIDS, we examined samples of frontal cortex, temporal cortex and basal ganglia from 12 patients who died from AIDS and 4 asymptomatic HIV-positive cases using in situ end labelling to demonstrate characteristic DNA fragmentation. These were compared with 5 asymptomatic seronegative controls, and 2 seronegative patients with Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrated neuronal apoptosis in all AIDS cases and in the Alzheimer's cases. Positive in situ end labelling was usually associated with morphological changes suggestive of neuronal apoptosis. Semiquantitative assessment of the density of apoptotic neurons showed that neuronal apoptosis was more severe in atrophic brains. In contrast, no correlation was found between the density of apoptotic neurons and the presence of HIV-encephalitis or a history of cognitive disorder. Only occasional apoptotic neurons were found in one asymptomatic, HIV-positive case. Apoptosis was never observed in asymptomatic seronegative cases. We also looked for apoptotic neurons in spinal ganglia of 20 AIDS cases, 5 of whom had a terminal sensory distal neuropathy, and 10 seronegative controls devoid of neuropathy. Apoptotic neurons were found in 6 of the AIDS patients and in none of the seronegative controls. However, no correlation was found between the severity of neuronal apoptosis in the spinal root ganglia and the presence of absence of a terminal distal sensory neuropathy. Experimental studies tend to support our in vivo findings. HIV-infection of primary cultures of human embryonic central nervous system induced frequent apoptosis of neurons. No apoptotic cell was identified in non infected control cultures.

Examination of the potential structure of human salivary cystatins based on computer modelling

The cystatin family of proteins exists in both excreted and intracellular forms, and appears to be involved in protective and regulatory roles, inhibiting a variety of bacterial, viral and intracellular proteases. The amino acid sequences of several human forms of cystatin are known, but currently only the structure of chicken cystatin (approx. 40% homologous to the human forms) has been experimentally determined. The objective of this study was to use the X-ray coordinates of chicken cystatin to construct computer models of the structures of three human salivary forms (SN, S and SA). These structures were energy-minimized and subjected to dynamic simulations. The resultant structures were compared to determine conformational differences. Global root mean square deviations between equivalent atoms ranged from 1.4 A to 3.9 A. The closest structural similarity to chicken cystatin involved cystatin SN, which also showed the highest (68%) functional sequence homology. Local secondary structure was examined in more detail. In comparisons of alpha-carbon position the third beta-strand (77% functional sequence conservation) and its preceding loop (60% conserved) showed the highest structural conservation in S, while beta-strand 4 showed the highest structural conservation in SN and SA. Throughout their structures, SN and SA were more structurally similar to chicken cystatin than to salivary cystatin S. There are two regions of conserved, negatively charged residues in the salivary cystatins, which appear to be spaced so that they are capable of interaction with hydroxypatite. It is concluded that not only does structural modelling by analogy provide detailed models of salivary cystatins that can be tested by future experimentation, but also that examination of the models has revealed potential sites of interaction with hydroxyapatite.

Pre-AIDS deaths in HIV infection related to intravenous drug use

We prospectively collected data on deaths in the Edinburgh City Hospital HIV cohort of patients (60-70% acquired via injection drug use) from October 1986 to September 1994. Sixty-four patients (25% of all HIV deaths or 2.5/100 person-years) had died without an AIDS diagnosis, and 42 (66%) of these had autopsy data available. Some pre-AIDS deaths (20% or 0.5/100 person-years) were the expected consequence of underlying medical conditions diagnosed during life: the remainder (80% or 1.98/100 person-years) were sudden or unexpected. Examining the underlying conditions, drug overdoses accounted for 45% or 1.1/100 person-years; bacterial sepsis, 25% or 0.6/100 person-years; liver disease, 26% or 0.6/100 person-years; and an undiagnosed AIDS condition, 9% or 0.2/100 person-years. Drug overdoses were the commonest cause of pre-AIDS death in this cohort of patients predominantly infected via IDU, but many of the sudden deaths had significant underlying pathology, which may have increased their susceptibility to an overdose of drugs. In future, death before an AIDS diagnosis should be classified into Medical or Expected Non-AIDS (MNA or ENA) and Sudden Non-AIDS (SNA).

The effect of dominant vestigial alleles upon vestigial-mediated wing patterning during development of Drosophila melanogaster

The vestigial gene product is required for the completion of wing development in Drosophila melanogaster. In the absence of vestigial gene expression, cells within the larval wing and haltere imaginal discs fail to proliferate normally thus producing adults with severely reduced wings. Of a large number of vestigial mutations that have been characterized, only two are currently known to exist, vestigial(U) and vestigial(W), which manifest a significant dominant phenotype. Both are associated with chromosomal inversions that fuse the majority of the vestigial coding regions to other genes; mastermind in vestigial(U) and invected in vestigial(W) Examination of vestigial expression in the presence of these dominant alleles shows alterations in the disc-specific expression of vestigial during later stages of larval development. These patterning disruptions are specific to cells of the wing imaginal disc, as significant suppression of total levels of vestigial expression within entire larvae could not be detected. This dominant interference of vestigial patterning appears to be mediated in part by the vestigial coding sequences that are within the gene fusions. Further evidence that the dominant phenotype is the result of disrupted vestigial patterning comes from observations that the dominant alleles can be partially suppressed by mutations within the Drosophila-epidermal growth factor receptor gene. Mutagenesis of vestigial(U) and vestigial(W) produced a series of alleles with partially dominant phenotypes that restored various amounts of the adult wing. These phenotypes can be correlated with alterations in specific portions of the vestigial sequences associated with the dominant alleles. In the presence of these partially dominant alleles, wing imaginal discs have significantly more cells which express vestigial compared with the number associated with the original dominant phenotype. Additionally, eliminating some of the dominant effect causes alterations in the patterns of early stage apoptotic cell death associated with dominant vestigial alleles. Utilizing these new vestigial alleles, it is possible to correlate the consequence of altered vestigial expression to subsequent changes in patterning of the wing disc.

Genetics of common disease: implications for therapy, screening and redefinition of disease

Susceptibility to most common human diseases is, at least in part, determined by genetic factors. Rapid progress is being made in defining these genetic determinants for a range of diseases including breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, arthritis and dementia. The ability to define susceptibility in genetic terms has already led to a reclassification of some of these diseases on genetic and mechanistic grounds. This information is likely to have a profound effect on our approach to human diseases as it will allow a better definition of these disorders, permitting more effective therapeutic intervention, and will lead to both a more precise understanding of the natural history of these diseases and the possibility of identifying populations at risk. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease susceptibilty will also improve our ability to develop rational therapeutic interventions for many of these diseases. The role of genetic screening in these common diseases will be discussed, particularly in regard to the application of health care in populations.

Increasing vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus spp. in Australia: facing the challenge in the laboratory

High level vancomycin resistance in enterococci (VRE) is increasing in Australia. If the spread of VRE is to be checked, then it is vital for laboratories to be able to detect it promptly and accurately. We have established a rapid and accurate screening method using Enterococcosel agar supplemented with 6 mg/l vancomycin. It can recover VRE from spiked feces, it may be used to screen feces for carriage of VRE and it is not subject to the confounding effects which feces introduce to broth enrichment culture.

Moclobemide in social phobia: a controlled dose-response trial

Although the monoamine oxidase inhibitor phenelzine has proven efficacious in social phobia, the risk of hypertensive crises has reduced its acceptability. The reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor moclobemide has less potential for such reactions, but its efficacy in this disorder remains unproven. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was undertaken to assess the efficacy and safety of fixed doses of moclobemide. After a 1-week placebo run-in, subjects with social phobia were randomly assigned to placebo or one of five doses (75 mg, 150 mg, 300 mg, 600 mg, or 900 mg daily) of moclobemide for 12 weeks. Although a trend toward greater efficacy of higher doses of moclobemide was observed at 8 weeks, no differences in response to various doses of the drug and placebo were observed at 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, 35% of subjects on 900 mg of moclobemide and 33% of those on placebo were at least much improved. Moclobemide was well tolerated, insomnia being the only dose-related adverse event observed with the drug. In this dose-response trial, moclobemide did not demonstrate efficacy at 12 weeks. Some other controlled studies have found moclobemide and brofaromine, another reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitor, efficacious in social phobia. Possible reasons for inconsistent findings are discussed.

p53 gene product expression in resected non-small cell carcinoma of the lung, with studies of concurrent cytological preparations and microwave antigen retrieval

AIM

To document the frequency and extent of p53 gene product expression in paraffin sections of resected non-small cell carcinoma of the lung and in cytological preparations of the same tumours; to determine the effect of microwave antigen retrieval on antigen detection.

METHODS

Representative paraffin sections of 50 non-small cell carcinomas were stained with an antibody to p53 gene product (DO-7) both with and without prior microwave antigen retrieval. Cytoblocks and cell smears obtained from 19 cases were similarly stained.

RESULTS

Using a histochemical scoring system (0-300) which takes into account staining intensity and extent, 78% (n = 39) of microwave pretreated paraffin sections and 52% (n = 26) of non-pretreated sections scored between 5 and 300; p = 0.001; 56% (n = 28) of microwave pretreated sections and only 2% (n = 1) of non-pretreated sections scored between 100 and 300 (p = 0.0001); 75% of direct smears of tumours and 80% of cytoblocks stained similarly to the paraffin sections of the resected specimens. No smears or cytoblocks stained positively when the sections of the resected specimen were negative.

CONCLUSIONS

As up to 78% of non-small cell lung carcinomas overexpress p53 gene product, this may prove to be a valuable diagnostic method in biopsy or cytological material when the morphological diagnosis is uncertain. Microwave antigen retrieval is effective on formalin fixed tissue.

Second primary cancers after cancers of the colon and rectum in New South Wales, Australia, 1972-1991

Data from the New South Wales Central Cancer Registry for the period 1972-1991 were examined to determine the risk of second primary cancers after an initial invasive cancer of the colon (ICD-9 153) or rectum (ICD-9 154). The expected numbers of cancers were obtained by assuming that subjects experienced the same cancer incidence as prevailed in the corresponding general population and by applying sex-, age-, and calendar-specific rates to the appropriate person-years at risk. The relative risk (RR) of a second primary cancer was taken to be the ratio of observed:expected numbers of second cancers. After colon cancer, there was an excess of cancers of the small intestine in both sexes (RRs of 4.5 and 4.4); prostate (RR = 1.4) and kidney (RR = 1.8) in men; and breast (RR = 1.3), body of uterus (RR = 1.9), ovary (RR = 2.8), and thyroid (RR = 2.7) in women. Lung cancer occurred less frequently in men than expected (RR = 0.7). After rectal cancer, men had increased risks of cancers of the colon (RR = 1.5) and prostate (RR = 1.3) and a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer (RR = 0.3). A reciprocal relationship of increased risk was seen between cancers of the proximal (but not the distal) colon and rectum. Shared luminal risk factors for proximal colon cancer and rectal cancer and three syndromes of hereditary predisposition to colon cancer seem to be the major contributors to second primary cancers in patients with an initial colon cancer. Sources of bias have been considered.