[Anhedonia and depressive symptomatology among HIV-infected patients with highly active antiretroviral therapies (ANRS-EN12-VESPA)]

INTRODUCTION

Anhedonia is defined as the loss of the capacity to feel pleasure and there is no consensus with its relationship with depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, no study has investigated the problematic of anhedonia in the context of HIV-infection, which concern a lot of patients with depressive symptoms. Depressive symptomatology presents a major challenge in the management of HIV-infection due to its central role in clinical progression.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to disentangle relationship between determinants of anhedonia, depression and anxiety in order to optimise mental management of HIV infection.

METHOD

In 2003, a face-to-face survey (ANRS-EN12-VESPA) was conducted among patients selected in a random stratified sample of 102 French hospital departments delivering HIV care. Eligible respondents were HIV-infected outpatients, aged 18 or older living in France and diagnosed for at least six months. Among solicited patients, 2932 agreed to participate (response rate: 59%) and data about anhedonia, anxiety and depression are available for 1427 patients. The face-to-face gathered information on sociodemographic characteristics, such as education level, gender, partner, children, financial situation or housing and also psychosocial and sociobehavioural characteristics, such as drug use. Self-reported side effects of treatment were also available.

ASSESSMENT TOOLS

Anxiety and depression were assessed using the hospital anxiety and depression (HAD) scale. Physical anhedonia was assessed using the French version of the Chapman scale. Three regression models were used to identify factors associated with anhedonia, anxiety and depression among demographic, psychosocial and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS

Factors independently associated with anhedonia were older age (>50), lower education level, unemployment and men HIV contaminated by heterosexual relation or injecting drug use. Women, with lower education level, unemployment, without steady partner, with a detectable viral load and who reported side effect of HAART presented more frequently anxiety. Unemployment, uncomfortable housing, no social support from friends, self-reported side effect and lipodystrophy were independently associated with depression.

CONCLUSION

Our results underline the multiplicity of factors associated with mental disorders related to depression. These results can be explained by the fact that the anxiety and anhedonia are two cardinal symptoms of depression. Determinants of anhedonia and anxiety reported in this study may provide the key to a more exact delineation of depressive disorders in the context of HIV infection in order to optimize long-term psychological follow up of concerned patients.

Identification of differential gene expression in in vitro FSH treated pig granulosa cells using suppression subtractive hybridization

FSH, which binds to specific receptors on granulosa cells in mammals, plays a key role in folliculogenesis. Its biological activity involves stimulation of intercellular communication and upregulation of steroidogenesis, but the entire spectrum of the genes regulated by FSH has yet to be fully characterized. In order to find new regulated transcripts, however rare, we have used a Suppression Subtractive Hybridization approach (SSH) on pig granulosa cells in primary culture treated or not with FSH. Two SSH libraries were generated and 76 clones were sequenced after selection by differential screening. Sixty four different sequences were identified, including 3 novel sequences. Experiments demonstrated the presence of 25 regulated transcripts.A gene ontology analysis of these 25 genes revealed (1) catalytic; (2) transport; (3) signal transducer; (4) binding; (5) anti-oxidant and (6) structural activities. These findings may deepen our understanding of FSH's effects. Particularly, they suggest that FSH is involved in the modulation of peroxidase activity and remodelling of chromatin.

Concentration of remifentanil needed for tracheal intubation with sevoflurane at 1 MAC in adult patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Inhalation induction with sevoflurane provides acceptable conditions for tracheal intubation. Opioids significantly decrease the alveolar concentration needed to achieve tracheal intubation. The purpose of this study was to determine the target concentration of remifentanil providing excellent conditions for tracheal intubation with sevoflurane at 1 minimum alveolar concentration without muscle relaxant.

METHODS

Twenty-four consecutive patients, aged 18-50 yr, ASA I or II, were studied. Induction of anaesthesia was performed with sevoflurane at age-adjusted minimum alveolar concentration. Remifentanil was simultaneously administered using target-controlled infusion with the Minto model. Target plasma concentration of remifentanil was selected for each patient according to an up-and-down method.

RESULTS

The mean target concentration of remifentanil for successful tracheal intubation was 3.3 ng mL(-1) (95% confidence interval: 2.6-3.9 ng mL(-1)). Arterial pressure, heart rate and bispectral index did not increase after tracheal intubation in the group of patients with successful intubation.

CONCLUSIONS

Remifentanil at 3.3 ng mL(-1) together with sevoflurane at 1 minimum alveolar concentration provides excellent conditions for tracheal intubation in 50% of patients.

[Occurrence of epileptiform crisis in child under sevoflurane anaesthesia]

A case report is presented of an unknown epileptic child, who developed convulsive movements during inhalation of 3.9% sevoflurane for 45 minutes associated with moderate hyperventilation. Epilepsy was discovered on the EEG, which was performed postoperatively.

Microsatellite Analysis of Genetic Diversity of the Vietnamese Sika Deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis)

The Vietnamese sika deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis) is an endangered subspecies of economic and traditional value in Vietnam. Most living individuals are held in traditional farms in central Vietnam, others being found in zoos around the world. Here we study the neutral genetic diversity and population structure of this subspecies using nine microsatellite loci in order to evaluate the consequences of the limited number of individuals from which this population was initiated and of the breeding practices (i.e., possible inbreeding). Two hundred individuals were sampled from several villages. Our data show both evidence for limited local inbreeding and isolation by distance with a mean F(ST) value of 0.02 between villages. This suggests that exchange of animals occurs at a local scale, at a rate such that highly inbred mating is avoided. However, the genetic diversity, with an expected heterozygosity (H(e)) of 0.60 and mean number of alleles (k) of 5.7, was not significantly larger than that estimated from zoo populations of much smaller census size (17 animals sampled; H(e) = 0.65, k = 4.11). Our results also suggest that the Vietnamese population might have experienced a slight bottleneck. However, this population is sufficiently variable to constitute a source of individuals for reintroduction in the wild in Vietnam.

[Subjective well-being and self-regulation in risk taking behaviors. The case of scuba-diving]

Nowadays, risk-taking behaviors category is a very fast growing domain, yet not well known. Recent studies point out the importance of emotional phenomenons in subjective risk-taking behaviors. According to this axis, on scuba-diving empirical field, we aim to depict the size and the role of psychological process in the realization of the behavior; our research links personality variables and emotional ones. The observation of scuba-Divers behavior lead us to construct a fitting of conceptual positions to give an account of that behavior and its subjective function. The self-regulation concept has been dimensioned through several factors and the scales in respect of: Thrill and Adventure Seeking (Zuckerman, 1980), Anhedonia (Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale, 1995), Subjective Well-being (Diener, 1992) and Differential Emotions (Izard, 1972). The population of this study is composed of 74 subjects. They are grouped in 2 categories depending of the risk-taking behavior, injured or injured less. The data have been statistically treated by classic methods (c2, Student t test) and logistic regression. It appears that Thrill and Adventure Seeking discriminate risk-taking in scuba-diving. The results especially support the weight of emotional variables. It turns out that risk-taking subjects are particularly sensitive to negative emotions. Negative well-being seems to be a central characteristic of the emotional functioning of these subjects. Moreover injured subjects tend to overestimate emotions linked to the behavior. Anhedonia is not a characteristic factor. So it introduces the notion of emotionality and sublines the interactions between risk-taking behavior and emotions through the self-regulation concept.

Efficiency of semi-automated fluorescent multiplex PCRs with 11 microsatellite markers for genetic studies of deer populations

Thirty bovine and eight ovine microsatellite primer pairs were tested on four tropical deer species: Eld's and Swamp deer (highly threatened) and Rusa and Vietnamese Sika deer (economically important). Thirty markers gave an amplified product in all four species (78.9%). The number of polymorphic microsatellite markers varied among the species from 14 in Eld's deer (47%) to 20 in Swamp deer (67%). Among them, 11 microsatellite loci were multiplexed in three polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) and labelled with three different fluorochromes that can be loaded in one gel-lane. To test the efficiency of the multiplex, primary genetic studies (mean number of alleles, expected heterozygosities and Fis values) were carried out on four deer populations. Parentage exclusion probability and probability of identity were computed and discussed on a Swamp deer population. These multiplexes PCRs were also tested on several other deer species and subspecies. The aim of this study is to establish a tool useful for genetic studies of population structure and diversity in four tropical deer species which with few modifications can be applied to other species of the genus Cervus.

Cytogenetic comparison between Vietnamese sika deer and cattle: R-banded karyotypes and FISH mapping

R-banded chromosomes of Vietnamese sika (VS) deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis, 2N = 66), a threatened subspecies of sika deer endemic to Vietnam, are presented for the first time and were compared with bovine R-banded chromosomes to define a standard karyotype. Nineteen VS deer autosomes (CNP) were identified on the basis of the banding pattern relative to bovine chromosomes (BTA), while hypotheses for the remaining thirteen were proposed from comparisons with the published deer genetic map, BTA 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9 each equivalent to two separate acrocentric CNP chromosomes and BTA 26 and 28 associated in a tandem fusion. To confirm these hypotheses, probes for the twenty-nine Texas nomenclature type I markers specific for each cattle autosome, sixteen other type I and fourteen microsatellite markers were used in FISH experiments on VS deer chromosomes. CNP7 presented the most complex rearrangement as compared with cattle chromosomes. A complete correspondence between VS deer and cattle chromosomes was established and it was extended with a comparison with the human karyotype to transfer human map information to this species of scientific and economic interest. Moreover, this work anchors the deer genetic linkage map to chromosome-specific markers.

A novel method to isolate the common fraction of two DNA samples: hybrid specific amplification (HSA)

Hybrid specific amplification (HSA) is a novel simple method elaborated in order to isolate the common fraction of two DNA samples while avoiding the background due to repeated sequences. The method is based on the suppressive PCR principle, associated with a Cot1 pre-hybridization step. In recent work we demonstrated that hyperprolificity observed in Booroola ewes is associated with a mutation in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor IB gene (BMPR-IB). We applied HSA between ovarian cDNA and DNA from four BAC clones containing BMPR-IB in order to test for the presence of other genes expressed in ovary and to isolate additional BMPR-IB exon sequences. Of the 460 clones obtained, none contained repeated sequences. We successfully obtained 37 clones representing the major part of BMPR-IB coding sequence, together with 5'- and 3'-UTR sequences. Here we have successfully applied HSA to a particular tissue, but it should be possible to trap the common fraction of two DNA samples, whatever their nature.

Characterization of GFP-MAL expression and incorporation in rafts

During myelin formation, membrane-associated proteins have to be sorted and transported in specified membrane regions such as compact and non-compact myelin membranes. One protein that may be involved in such a process is the Myelin and Lymphocyte protein MAL (VIP17/ MVP17). MAL was identified as a novel myelin membrane component expressed by oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells. Since MAL has been shown to be important in the apical sorting machinery of polarized cells, we have started to investigate the possible functional role of MAL in sorting myelin membrane-associated molecules. In this study, we have generated cDNA constructs with green fluorescent protein (GFP) either at the N- or C-terminus of MAL. Transfection experiments showed that GFP-MAL expression resembles that of normal MAL, whereas the MAL-GFP fusion construct was not properly transported within the cell. Furthermore, we could demonstrate that GFP-MAL is enriched in detergent insoluble glycolipid-enriched microdomains as already seen for untagged MAL. As a prerequisite for the generation of transgenic mice expressing GFP-MAL under the control of its own regulatory elements, we have generated a cDNA construct with an 8-kb MAL promotor fragment fused to GFP-MAL. Transfection experiments of the Oli-neu oligodendrocyte cell line showed that GFP-MAL was expressed, but only in cells, which were stimulated for differentiation with cAMP. In summary, the results confirm that the fusion protein GFP-MAL is incorporated into detergent-insoluble complexes and the 8-kb MAL promotor fragment is sufficient to be activated in oligodendrocytes.

Functional study and regional mapping of 44 hormono-regulated genes isolated from a porcine granulosa cell library

cDNA clones from a pig granulosa cell cDNA library were isolated by (differential hybridisation for follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) regulation in granulosa cells in a previous study. The clones that did not match any known sequence were studied for their expression in granulosa cells (treated or not by FSH) and in fresh isolated ovarian follicles mainly by comparative RT-PCR analysis. These results give functional data on genes that may be implicated in follicular growing. These ESTs have been localised on the porcine genome, using a somatic cell hybrid panel, providing new type I markers on the porcine map and information on the comparative map between humans and pigs.

Beta-keto-ester chemistry and ketolides. Synthesis and antibacterial activity of 2-halogeno, 2-methyl and 2,3 enol-ether ketolides

The effect of 2,3 modifications on the antibacterial activity of ketolides was evaluated by introducing substituents in position 2 and converting the C-1, C-2, C-3 beta-keto-ester into stable 2,3 enol-ether or 2,3 anhydro derivatives. Introduction of a fluorine in C-2 is beneficial with regard to the overall antibacterial spectrum whereas the enol-ether and 2,3 unsaturated compounds, as well as the bulky gem dimethyl or 2-chloro derivatives, are less active particularly against erythromycin resistant strains. A 2-fluoro ketolide derivative demonstrates good antibacterial activity and in vivo efficacy against multi-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Compared to azithromycin against Haemophilus influenzae, this compound is equivalent in vitro and slightly more active in vivo. These results demonstrate that within the ketolide class, to retain good antibacterial activity, position 2 needs to remain tetrahedral and tolerates only very small substituents such as fluorine.

Karyotype identity of two subspecies of Eld's deer [Cervus eldi (Cervinae, Artiodactyla)] and its consequences for conservation

Among the three subspecies generally recognized within the Eld's deer (Cervus eldi)--C. e. eldi, C. e. thamin, and C. e. siamensis--C. e. siamensis is considered to be particularly endangered following its disappearance from a major portion of its original range. The only captive breeding population of this subspecies is in the zoological parks at the Paris Museum of Natural History. Taking into account its low effective population size (Ne = 7) and the increasing levels of inbreeding, the continued breeding of this "micropopulation" in isolation from closely related subspecies and in particular from C. e. thamin, which is much more common in zoos as well as in the nature, is questioned. As an initial step in determining if crosses between these subspecies could be performed without risk of outbreeding depression due, in part, to gross differences in their karyotypes, a comparative chromosome banding analysis (RBG-bands) of C. e. siamensis and C. e. thamin was undertaken. No chromosomal differences were identified between the taxa at the level of resolution obtained. The study suggests that, at least from a karyotypic perspective, no obvious differences delimit the two subspecies, and hybridization between endangered C. e. siamensis and C. e. thamin is not likely to lead to impaired fertility in hybrid animals.

Facial reflex myoclonus induced by language: a neuropsychological and neurophysiological study

We studied a 53 year old right-handed patient who presented isolated myoclonus of right facial muscles induced exclusively by language. Twitching significantly hindered speaking and reading performance. MRI and CT-scan revealed no brain lesion. Conventional EEG showed a few spike-waves predominantly in the left hemisphere. Spike-waves increased during drowsiness. An EEG-EMG polygraphic study was performed during stimulation tests which included linguistic tasks and non-verbal/non-linguistic tests. Myoclonus was triggered by speaking and writing but not by non-linguistic tasks. The severity of myoclonus was dependent on the complexity of the language task. Back-averaging of right facial EMG bursts failed to show a reliable EEG-EMG correlation. However, the facial reflex myoclonus might have originated from the left rolandicopercular cortex, as it was triggered by complex language activities. Findings in this case are compared with those reported for other forms of reflex seizure and myoclonus.

beta-thymosin is required for axonal tract formation in developing zebrafish brain

beta-Thymosins are polypeptides that bind monomeric actin and thereby function as actin buffers in many cells. We show that during zebrafish development, β-thymosin expression is tightly correlated with neuronal growth and differentiation. It is transiently expressed in a subset of axon-extending neurons, essentially primary neurons that extend long axons, glia and muscle. Non-neuronal expression in the brain is restricted to a subset of glia surrounding newly forming axonal tracts. Skeletal muscle cells in somites, jaw and fin express beta-thymosin during differentiation, coinciding with the time of innervation. Injection of beta-thymosin antisense RNA into zebrafish embryos results in brain defects and impairment of the development of beta-thymosin-associated axon tracts. Furthermore, irregularities in somite formation can be seen in a subset of embryos. Compared to wild-type, antisense-injected embryos show slightly weaker and more diffuse engrailed staining at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary and a strong reduction of Isl-1 labeling in Rohon Beard and trigeminal neurons. The decreased expression is not based on a loss of neurons indicating that beta-thymosin may be involved in the maintenance of the expression of molecules necessary for neuronal differentiation. Taken together, our results strongly indicate that beta-thymosin is an important regulator of development.

[Areactive unilateral mydriasis after diagnostic celioscopy under general anesthesia]

A unilateral areactive mydriasis occurred in a 49-year-old ASA I woman after a coelioscopic procedure while anaesthesia was maintained for an associated procedure. The various causes of brain stem damage were considered. The inability to perform a complete neurologic assessment resulted in the indication of a cerebral computerised tomography (CT) scan. The diagnosis of Adie's tonic pupil was made a posteriori, taking into consideration: 1) complete recovery without neurologic deficit; 2) unremarkable CT scan; 3) previous transient episodes of unilateral areactive mydriasis.

Characterization of FSH-regulated genes isolated by mRNA differential display from pig ovarian granulosa cells

The present authors have isolated FSH-regulated genes from primary granulosa cell cultures with or without Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) treatment using mRNA differential display. mRNA differential display consists of amplification of partial sequences of cDNAs (150-400 bp) corresponding to 3' ends of cellular messenger RNAs, and thus, generates 3' expressed sequence tags (3' ESTs). Five thousand cDNA bands were examined, among which the present authors have isolated and sequenced 16 different FSH-regulated products. These sequences were compared with those available in databases. Three of the sequences showed similarity to identified genes from other species (bovine NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4, Xenopus chromosome sequence-associated polypeptide E and transformation-sensitive protein IEF SSP) and four others with human ESTs. Regulation of the corresponding genes has been checked by RT-PCR since most of these are expressed at a low level. FSH-regulation was confirmed for 12 mRNAs (four down- and eight up-regulated). The present authors have also mapped 12 of these ESTs on porcine chromosomes regions using a somatic cell hybrid panel.

A first catalog of genes involved in pig ovarian follicular differentiation

As a first step toward the characterization of genetic expression in pig ovaries, we have selected 238 clones by differential hybridization from a pig granulosa cell cDNA library, using probes prepared from RNA extracted from either untreated or FSH-treated cells and, in order to generate expressed sequence tags (ESTs), we have performed 3' and 5' single-pass sequencing of these clones. Sequences of the 3' end of the 167 clones that produced informative sequence data were first compared with each other, revealing a redundancy level of 21%. Sequences from the 136 unique clones were analyzed for similarities with sequence data included in Genbank and EMBL databases. Among these unique clones, 54 (40%) matched significantly with sequences from either Genbank of EMBL: 4 with known genes in pig, 35 matched with previously reported human genes, and 15 with other mammalian genes. Eighty-two clones (60%) showed no significant match with any gene or DNA sequence in the Genbank and EMBL databases and thus may represent new pig transcripts.

Inheritance of resistance to the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne arenaria in Myrobalan plum

The inheritance of resistance of the self-incompatible Myrobalan plum Prunus cerasifera to the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne arenaria was studied using first a diallel cross between five parents of variable host suitability (including two highly resistant clones P.1079 and P.2175, a moderate host P.2032, a good host P.2646 and an excellent host P.16.5), followed by the G2 crosses P.16.5 × (P.2646 × P.1079) and P.2646 × (P.16.5 × P.1079). A total of 355 G1 and 72 G2 clones obtained from hard-wood cuttings sampled from trees in the field experimental design, then rooted in the nursery and inoculated individually in containers (5-10 replicates per clone) under greenhouse conditions, were evaluated for their host suitability based on a 0-5 gall-index rating under a high and durable inoculum pressure of the nematode. In the crosses involving the resistant P.1079 and P.2175 and the hosts P.2646 and P.16.5: (1) all of the G1 crosses of P.1079 were resistant while the G2 crosses segregated 1 resistant to 1 host, (2) the G1 crosses between P.2175 and either P.2646 or P.16.5 segregated 1 resistant to 1 host, and (3) all of the G1 progeny between P.2646 and P.16.5 were host. These results indicate that resistance is conferred by a single major dominant resistance gene (homozygous) in P.1079, and the same, or an allelic or a different, major dominant gene (heterozygous) in P.2175, and that P.2646 and P.16.5 are recessive for this (these) major resistance gene(s). As expected according to the hypothesis of a recessive genotype for P.2032, all of its hybrids with P.1079 were resistant, all of its hybrids with P.2646 and P.16.5 were host, and its hybrids with P.2175 segregated for resistance. Nevertheless, the 3∶2 segregation ratio of these latter hybrids suggests that clones bearing the P.2175 gene would have a selective advantage. Both resistance genes are completely dominant and confer a non-host behaviour that totally prevents the multiplication of the nematode. This is the first reported evidence of major nematode resistance genes towards M. arenaria in a species of the subgenus Prunophora in the genus Prunus. The symbols Ma1 for the P.2175 gene and Ma2 for the P.1079 gene are proposed.

Effect of Cutting Age on the Resistance of Prunus cerasifera (Myrobalan Plum) to Meloidogyne arenaria

The response of softwood cuttings of Myrobalan plum infested after 50 and 105 days with 3,000 second-stage juveniles (J2) of Meloidogyne arenaria was compared to 15-month-old hardwood cuttings in 13 genotypes ranging from highly resistant to susceptible. Gall index and number of galls were recorded 30 days after infestation. Fifty-day-old cuttings rooted in perlite developed many rootlets, but had only incipient galls after infestation. In sand, rooting of 50-day-old cuttings not treated with indolebutyric acid (IBA) hormone was so variable that their resistance could not be assessed. Similar cuttings rooted with IBA developed more galls, but neither number of galls per plant nor gall index was a reliable criterion for determination of host suitability. Because of the better rooting results with IBA treatment, 105-day-old cuttings were first rooted with IBA in perlite and then transferred into sand for nematode inoculation. Known highly resistant genotypes of Myrobalan plum were gall-free and the responses of other genotypes paralleled that of the reference hardwood cuttings, although the test was less discriminating. Expression of M. arenaria host suitability in Myrobalan plum depends on root tissue maturation and cannot be reliably evaluated with 50-day-old cuttings.

Protein kinase C inhibition of in vitro FSH-induced differentiation in pig granulosa cells

In granulosa cells, growth factor IGF I plays a major role in both growth and differentiation, acting through an autocrine/paracrine mechanism, and its production is regulated by FSH, via cyclic AMP (cAMP). As protein kinase C is also involved in granulosa cell function, we investigated the possibility that its activation could balance the positive effects of FSH. Using pig granulosa cells cultured in vitro, we studied the effects of protein kinase C activation by tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA) on IGF I mRNA level. We also checked morphological modifications, cAMP production and steroidogenesis at the P450 side chain cleavage mRNA and progesterone levels. Our data demonstrate that protein kinase C activation antagonizes the in vitro FSH-induced differentiation, particularly morphological modifications and accumulation of IGF I mRNA. These inhibitory effects on FSH responses suggest that there could be a balance between protein kinase A and protein kinase C pathways in regulating differentiation in pig granulosa cells.

A fluorometric deoxyribonucleic acid assay for tridimensional lattice cultures of fibroblasts

A fast and sensitive in situ assay of deoxyribonucleic acid in miniaturized lattice cultures of fibroblasts is described. Tridimensional collagen and fibrin lattices prepared in 24-well plates were seeded with 50,000 to 200,000 cells. Cultures were fixed with formaldehyde, rinced with isopropanol, and dried. DNA assay was performed directly in the wells by addition of 3,5-diaminobenzoic acid (DABA) reagent. A calibration curve was prepared with calf thymus DNA. Fluorescence of DNA-DABA was evaluated after 45 min incubation (excitation wavelength 420 nm, emission wavelength 490 nm). The method showed linear results from 0.5 to 10 micrograms DNA and proved sensitive for low cell numbers (50,000 per dish). DNA assay in monolayers and in different types of lattices showed that comparable results were obtained in the different models without interference of the extracellular matrix. This technique is regarded as a costless and efficient tool for evaluating the number of cells in lattices in basal conditions or under pharmacological stimulation.

[Cesarean section, mitral valve disease and pulmonary hypertension. Implications of hemodynamic monitoring on anesthetic management]

We present the case of a 25-year-old woman with mitral valve disease and severe pulmonary hypertension scheduled for Caesarean section under general anaesthesia. General anaesthesia for such cardiac patients requires usually high doses of fentanyl prior to intubation, which favours maternal inhalation and neonatal ventilatory depression. Invasive haemodynamic monitoring allowed a rapid sequence induction, with an optimal drug titration and an early recovery.

P450scc regulation in pig granulosa cells: investigation into the mechanism of induction

P450scc catalyses the first and rate-limiting reaction in steroidogenesis and is hormonally regulated. By Northern analysis, using a bovine cDNA probe, we have studied the regulation of P450scc mRNA in pig granulosa cells cultivated in vitro. Using transcription and translation inhibitors, we show that the gonadotropin-induced accumulation of P450scc mRNA mainly results from increased transcription, and that this stimulation, at least in part, is protein synthesis-dependent. Although transcriptional regulation of P450scc gene expression is found in other steroidogenic cells, cycloheximide-sensitivity of this regulation is not widespread. Pig granulosa cells thus would constitute a useful model to study this mechanism of regulation.

Gonadotropins induce accumulation of insulin-like growth factor I mRNA in pig granulosa cells in vitro

Pig granulosa cells have been shown to synthesize insulin-like growth factor (IGF) I peptide in vitro, and this expression is regulated by gonadotropins via the cAMP pathway. By hybridizing an IGF I cDNA probe with total RNA isolated from pig granulosa cells cultured in vitro, we show that these cells contain two IGF I transcripts of about 0.9 kb and 9 kb in size. Treatment of the cells with gonadotropins (follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone) or cAMP agonists (dibutyryl-cAMP, forskolin) induces an accumulation of the transcripts which can be abolished by transcriptional inhibitors, but not by translational inhibitors. We thus provide new evidence that pig granulosa cells are a site of IGF I synthesis, and we conclude that (1) gonadotropins increase IGF I mRNA levels; (2) the accumulation of IGF I mRNA results from an increased transcription; (3) the stimulation of IGF I gene transcription does not require ongoing protein synthesis; (4) these effects of follicle-stimulating hormone can be mimicked by cAMP agonists.