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Biomedical subjects

A Mukherjee

Publications and source records attributed to A Mukherjee.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

Metabolism of steroid acetates by Streptomyces albus.

Fermentation of 16-dehydropregnenolone acetate (1a) with Streptomyces albus yielded 16-dehydropregnenolone (1b) and 16-dehydroprogesterone (IIa). Similar incubation of pregnenolone acetate (Ic) with the strain afforded pregnenolone (Id), progesterone (IIb) and 20 alpha-hydroxy progesterone (IIc) while dehydroepiandrosterone acetate (IIIa) under the conditions was converted to dehydroepiandrosterone (IIIb), androstenedione (IVa) and testosterone (IVc). The strain was also capable of converting testosterone acetate (IVb) having the 17-acetoxy function in the 5-membered D-ring to testosterone (IVc) and androstenedione (IVa). All the products were identified by the application of various chemical and spectrometric techniques.

Androgens↗

Microbial transformation of testosterone by Aspergillus fumigatus.

Microbial transformation has been employed for the preparation of the potentially important 15 beta-hydroxytestosterone which was obtained by fermentation of testosterone with a typical strain of Aspergillus fumigatus. The metabolite was characterized by employing 1H and 13C NMR, mass spectrometry and i.r. analysis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to examine the purity of the product and formation of other minor metabolites.

Aspergillus fumigatus↗

Nitrendipine: effects on vascular responses and myocardial binding.

We have further defined the binding characteristics of [3H]nitrendipine to myocardial microsomal membranes of cats, dogs, rats, and rabbits and to canine coronary vasculature (1.5-3.0 mm OD), and we have studied nitrendipine's effect on contractile responses in isolated feline cardiac muscle and canine coronary arteries. [3H]nitrendipine binding is rapid, saturable, and reversible in all four species and in all of these tissues. Feline myocardium has a single binding site with a dissociation constant (KD) of 1.94 nM. Canine myocardium may have two classes of binding sites, with the high-affinity site having a KD of 0.17 nM. Nitrendipine depresses contractility in isolated feline cardiac muscle and canine coronary arteries in a dose-dependent manner [half-maximal dose (ED50) 0.20 microM in isolated feline cardiac muscle and 1.6-6.3 nM for potential dependent contractile responses in isolated canine coronary arteries] and severely blunts the contractile response to increases in extracellular calcium concentration in isolated feline papillary muscles. In contrast to verapamil and D 600, nitrendipine does not prevent the treppe phenomenon. In isolated feline cardiac muscle and large canine coronary arteries, the minimal nitrendipine concentration required for specific binding and for depression of contractile responses is similar. However, only in large canine coronary arteries is the ED50 for nifedipine's depression of contractility similar to the KD for [3H]nitrendipine binding in the respective tissue.

Animals↗

Autoradiographic characterization of beta adrenergic receptors in coronary blood vessels and myocytes in normal and ischemic myocardium of the canine heart.

This light microscopic autoradiographic study was performed to test the hypotheses that (a) the density of beta adrenergic receptors (BAR) may differ in various components of the heart and (b) BAR in certain components of the heart may exhibit a selective response to pharmacologic and pathological stimuli. Blocks of canine left ventricle were frozen and tissue sections cut and incubated in (-)[3H]dihydroalprenolol (DHA) to label the BAR. For total and nonspecific binding, serial sections were incubated with and without 10(-5) M (+/-)propranolol. Scintillation spectrometry of sections demonstrated rapid binding, saturability, stereospecificity, a dissociation constant (KD) of 3.2 +/- 0.5 nM (SD) (n = 3), and a maximal binding of 31.3 +/- 3.1 fmol/mg of tissue protein. Isoproterenol was 12.5 times more effective than norepinephrine in displacing DHA. Sections incubated with 10(-5) - 10(-8) M metoprolol, a beta one selective antagonist, demonstrated a KD of 0.7 X 10(-6) M. For autoradiography, emulsion-coated coverslips were attached to the slides. After exposure, the slides were developed and stained, and grain density quantified. Specific BAR binding (n = 4 dogs) was 1,047 +/- 131 (SEM) grains/10(-2) mm2 for myocardial arterioles, 219 +/- 30 for myocardial arteries, 31 +/- 12 for the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and 231 +/- 34 for cardiac myocytes. Specific binding in the presence of 10(-5) M metoprolol was reduced approximately 75% for both arterioles and myocytes. However, at 10(-6) M metoprolol, the percent reduction in specific DHA binding was greater for myocytes (50%) than for arterioles (0%), and at 10(-7) M metoprolol, the percent reduction in specific DHA binding was 17% for myocytes with no reduction over arterioles. After 1 h of LAD occlusion, a selective increase (18%) in BAR density occurred over cardiac myocytes, but not over blood vessels in the ischemic myocardium. Thus, (a) specific BAR binding was five times greater in arterioles than in small arteries and myocardium and 34 times greater than in the proximal LAD; (b) BAR of myocytes were more sensitive than those of arterioles to displacement by the beta one selective antagonist, metoprolol; and (c) a selective increase in BAR occurs in cardiac myocytes but not in blood vessels after 1 h of ischemia in this experimental model.

Animals↗

Leopard syndrome.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

Adherence and regulation of leukotaxis.

PMNs upon stimulation by a chemoattractant adhere to a substratum and then in amoeboid fashion migrate toward the source of the attractant. We have studied molecular events in both adherence and migration and have arrived at the following conclusions: 1) PMNs, like other motile cells such as highly metastatic tumor cells, can use laminin to attach to Type IV basement membrane collagen. PMNs may use this anchoring mechanism in their emigration from the vasculature. 2) Attached cells may be stimulated to migrate as a result of the chemo-attractant-induced inactivation of lipomodulin, a natural inhibitor of phospholipase A2, an enzyme that may be essential for chemotaxis. 3) The substrate for this enzyme is generated by both the CDP-choline and transmethylation pathways. These pathways may be regulated by another enzyme, transglutaminase (TGase). 4) Natural substrates of TGase, such as uteroglobin, inhibit leukocyte chemotaxis, again suggesting a regulatory role for TGase in chemotaxis. 5) Tumor cells also produce inhibitors of chemotaxis. In addition to protecting the tumor from the host's phagocytes, these inhibitors may be related to normal modulators of cell motility. Therefore, determination of their mode of action could increase our understanding of this type of cell behavior.

Annexins↗

Differences in myocardial alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptor numbers in different species.

In the present study, we tested the hypotheses that 1) different species have different myocardial adrenergic receptor numbers and 2) selected "slow-channel" calcium antagonists compete with alpha-adrenergic antagonists for binding to varying degrees in different species. The data obtained in the present study demonstrate that there is a markedly decreased number of alpha 1-adrenergic and increased number of beta-adrenergic receptors in canine compared with rabbit and rat myocardium. The differences in adrenergic receptor numbers exist without major differences in alpha 1-adrenergic receptor affinity in the species studied. There was no significant difference in left ventricular or plasma catecholamine content between the rat and dog. Selected slow-channel calcium antagonists compete for alpha 1-adrenergic receptor binding in rabbit, rat, and canine myocardium. However, only in rabbit myocardium does verapamil antagonize alpha 1-adrenergic receptor binding at moderate concentrations, whereas verapamil in canine and rat myocardium and 1) 600 in all three species antagonize alpha 1-adrenergic receptor binding only at relatively high concentrations. Nifedipine, a dihydropyridine-type slow-channel calcium antagonist, had no effect on prazosin binding to rat, rabbit, and dog myocardial membranes.

Animals↗

Involvement of subcutaneous veins in lepromatous leprosy.

Venous involvement in 31 patients with lepromatous leprosy has been studied in biopsies from clinically involved and clinically normal subcutaneous veins from the forearm. Twenty-nine of these showed histological evidence of leprous phlebitis. The earliest lesion was intimal cell hyperplasia with the presence of acid-fast bacilli in small groups in the intimal cells. This gradually progressed to total occlusion of the vein by lepromatous exudate. The results indicate much greater involvement of veins and possibly other components of the vascular system in patients with lepromatous leprosy than is generally accepted. The importance of such involvement in the pathogenesis of leprosy is also discussed.

Adolescent↗

Sequential histological study of lepromin reaction.

Skin testing with Dharmendra antigen was performed on 55 patients with TT, BT, BL, and LL types of leprosy and the reaction measured at different intervals from 24 hr to 28 days. At various time intervals, a biopsy specimen was taken from the reaction site. In TT and BT cases, the erythema was maximum at 48 hr; while the induration was maximum at 21 days. The sequence of the histological changes was built up on the observations made from different cases at varying intervals. The quantum of cellular exudate was high in TT and BT cases as compared to BL and LL cases. The cellular distribution showed loose scattering of cells in the LL and BL types and attempts to form tight clusters in the TT and BT cases. Neutrophils were predominant during the first 48 hr, particularly in the LL, BL, and BT types. By 72 hr the cells were mainly lymphocytic. A tendency for the lymphocytes to cluster around nerve twigs was seen in the TT and BT cases. In the early reaction the quantum of exudate correlated both with erythema and induration; while in the late reaction, it correlated with induration only. The intensity of the early lepromin reaction was more in BT than in TT leprosy, while the induration in the late reaction was more in TT than in BT types. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Adult↗

Induction of a reversible cardiac lipidosis by a dietary long-chain fatty acid (erucic acid). Relationship to lipid accumulation in border zones of myocardial infarcts.

Previous studies have demonstrated that cardiac myocytes in the border zone of acute myocardial infarction become markedly overloaded with neutral lipid during the transition from reversible to irreversible injury. To examine directly the role of these changes in neutral lipid metabolism in the development of irreversible cellular injury and associated increases in tissue Ca2+ content, the authors fed rats large amounts of a fatty acid (erucic acid) that is poorly oxidized by the heart and that subsequently accumulates as neutral lipid. Rats fed a high erucic acid (C22:1) diet in the form of 20% rapeseed oil for 3-5 days had a fourfold increase in triglyceride (49.5 +/- 3.8 SEM mg/g wet wt versus 13.6 +/- 13, n = 4) and a 60% increase in long-chain acyl CoA content (166.0 +/- 21.9 versus 91.5 +/- 9.0 nM/g wet wt, n = 4), compared with controls. However, there was no change in long-chain acyl carnitine or total phospholipid content. Histochemical studies showed accumulation of numerous lipid droplets in the myocytes, and electron microscopy revealed localization of lipid vesicles in direct contact with mitochondria, thus mimicking the lipid-laden cells in the border zone regions of acute myocardial infarcts. The acute lipidosis was reversible with either continued feeding of erucic acid for several weeks or conversion to a normal diet. It was not associated with an increased tissue Ca2+ content, nor with cell necrosis. However, continued erucic acid intake for 3 months was associated with focal myocardial degeneration and loss of myocytes. These results suggest that acute increases in neutral lipids, as found in the border zone of acute myocardial infarction, may not be the cause of progression to irreversible damage during acute myocardial injury, but that the persistent presence of similar lipid material over months may result in focal myocardial degeneration.

Animals↗