[Primary study of iontophoresis of zinc ion in treatment of retinitis pigmentosa]

We report here the preliminary effects of zinc iontophoresis in treatment of 26 Rp patients who had decreased zinc serum level or abnormal ratio of serum copper to zinc. Through more than 20 to 30 times of therapy, the vision of 15.38% eyes increased more than "3 lines", 4% eyes increased more than 5 degrees in the visual field, 13.46% eyes improved in dark adaptation threshold (greater than 1.0), the visual functions of the rest eyes were slightly improved or unimproved. The fundus didn't change before & after treatment. There were no changes of ERG in 8 eyes of 4 cases. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages between Zn iontophoresis and Zn compound taken orally, the improvement of vision by direct electric current therapy, the relationship between the metabolism of Zn element and Vit A and influence of Zn over the mechanism of dark adaptation were also briefly discussed.

Roles of periaqueductal gray and nucleus raphe magnus on analgesia induced by lappaconitine, N-deacetyllappaconitine and morphine

In the rat tail flick test, ip LA 6 mg/kg, icv DLA 60 micrograms and icv or with morphine 5 micrograms exhibited significant analgesia. But with either LA 40 micrograms or DLA 60 micrograms was inactive. Naloxone (4 micrograms icv) which antagonized morphine analgesia failed to alter the analgesia induced by LA and DLA. Microinjection of DLA 20 micrograms or morphine 5 micrograms into the periaqueductal gray (PAG) or nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) produced markedly analgesic activity. The effects of electrolytic and kainic acid (0.8 micrograms) lesions of the PAG and NRM on the analgesia elicited in the rat from ip LA, icv DLA and morphine were also evaluated. No change in baseline tail flick latency was observed following lesions of the PAG and NRM. But lesions of the PAG and NRM significantly attenuated the analgesia mediated by LA, DLA and morphine. These results suggest that supraspinal sites, especially the PAG and NRM, are involved in the analgesic action induced by LA, DLA and morphine.

[Effects of reserpine and 5-HT on analgesia induced by lappaconitine and N-deacetyllappaconitine]

In the rat tail-flick test it was shown that ip lappaconitine (LA) 1-6 mg/kg, N-deacetyllappaconitine (DLA) 4-10 mg/kg or icv DLA 20-60 micrograms/rat exhibited a dose-dependent analgesic activity, but icv LA 20-40 micrograms/rat was inactive. The analgesic potency of ip LA was a little more potent than that of DLA and slightly weaker than that of morphine (P less than 0.05). Combined ip of subanalgesic doses of morphine and LA or DLA produced significant analgesic action. Analgesia mediated by LA was not antagonized by naloxone. The analgesic effect induced by LA or DLA was abolished and restored 3 and 120 h, respectively, after ip reserpine 3 mg/kg. Concomitant administration of 1-tryptophan or 5-HT as well as premedication of alpha-methyldopa prevented reserpine-induced decrease on LA or DLA analgesia. The elevation of brain 5-HT level by icv 5-HT significantly enhanced the analgesia of LA and DLA. LA- or DLA-induced analgesia was attenuated by pretreatment of p-chlorophenylalanine but this attenuation was reversed by icv 5-HT. p-Chloroamphetamine also markedly reduced LA- or DLA-induced analgesia. It is concluded that the central serotoninergic system is involved in the modulation of LA- or DLA-induced analgesia.

[Effects of central Ca2+ on analgesic action of lappaconitine]

Lappaconitine (LA), isolated from Aconitum sinomontanum Nakai, was characterized as analgesic principle by our laboratory. The analgesic effect of ip LA 6 mg/kg as measured in the rat tail-flick test was reduced by icv CaCl2 or MgCl2 0.1 or 1 mumol/rat. BaCl2 was inactive. The analgesic action induced by LA was potentiated by ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA, 0.2 mumol/rat icv) but not by ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA, 0.2 or 0.4 mumol/rat icv). The calcium antagonists nifedipine (5 mg/kg ip) and verapamil (1 mumol/rat icv) partially reversed the Ca2+ antagonistic effect on LA analgesia, although nifedipine did not enhance LA analgesic action and only at 15 min after medication did verapamil exhibit enhancement of LA analgesia. The analgesic activity of LA was reduced and augmented by microinjection of CaCl2 0.5 mumol and EGTA 50 nmol to periaqueductal gray (PAG) area, respectively. These results suggest that LA can produce analgesia, possibly through a decrease in cellular calcium availability and PAG may be involved in the Ca2+ antagonistic effect on LA analgesia.

Isochannels and blocking modes of voltage-dependent sodium channels

Our results support the existence of three different Na-channel subtypes or isochannels. These isochannels can be readily distinguished as the predominant Na-channel types in mammalian brain, skeletal muscle, and cardiac muscle. The sensitivity to mu-conotoxin GIIIA and tetrodotoxin is sufficient to classify these channels. The skeletal muscle channel is very sensitive to both tetrodotoxin and mu-conotoxin, the brain channel is sensitive to tetrodotoxin but insensitive to mu-conotoxin, and the heart and denervated muscle channels are insensitive to both toxins. In addition to block at the external receptor site for guanidinium toxins, several other blocking modes can be generalized for batrachotoxin-activated Na channels. One mode is peculiar to certain hydrophobic molecules so far represented by our studies of benzocaine and procaine. These molecules induce discrete blocking events with dwell times that apparently increase with anesthetic concentration and a blocking frequency that increases with negative voltage. This mode is quite distinct from the fast internal block by charged organic molecules that increases with positive voltage. These results imply that it is not possible to ascribe the diverse effects of local anesthetics to a single site in the interior channel mouth, as previously proposed by Hille. Our observations thus support the conclusions of other workers who used mixtures of two local anesthetics to show that the dose-response behavior does not fit single-site behavior, but requires at least two distinct sites. Two additional blocking modes can be distinguished for the interactions of cations at the internal and external mouths of the channel. Organic molecules can apparently enter the electric field from the internal but not the external side of the channel. This result suggests a wide internal entry way to the field and an external constriction that prevents the entry of molecules with a single methyl group but permits entry of divalent inorganic cations such as Ca2+ and Co2+.

Two-stage global search designs for linkage analysis using pairs of affected relatives

We investigate the two-stage procedure proposed by Elston [(1992) Proceedings of the XVIth International Biometric Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand, December 7-11, 1992, pp 39-51, and (1994) "Genetic Approaches to Mental Disorders." Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, pp 3-21] for performing a global search of the genome to locate disease genes by linkage analysis using affected relative pairs. The optimal design depends on the type of pairs studied, the effect of the disease locus, the relative costs of recruiting affected persons and typing markers, how informative the markers are, and the amount of genetic heterogeneity. It is specified by the initial number of markers to use, the number of affected relative pairs to study, the initial significance level alpha* to use at the first stage, and the number of flanking markers to use at the second stage around markers significant at the first stage. Asymptotically, the optimal design does not depend separately on either the desired final significance level or power, but rather on a function of the two. Both as the effect of the disease locus increases and as the relative cost of recruiting a subject increases, the optimal number of initial markers increases and the optimal number of pairs decreases. The expected cost of the study decreases as the effect of the disease locus increases, but increases as the relative cost of recruiting a subject increases. The optimal initial number of markers decreases but the number of pairs increases when there is genetic heterogeneity present; conversely, the optimal initial number of markers increases when markers are less than fully informative. Compared to a one-stage procedure, a two-stage procedure typically halves the cost of a study.