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Biomedical subjects

C J Wolf

Publications and source records attributed to C J Wolf.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Effects of two models of hypercalcemia on renal acid base metabolism.

The effects of two models of chronic hypercalcemia on renal acid-base metabolism were studied in rats. In the first series of experiments, rats were rendered hyperparathyroid by the autologous grafting of 20 to 24 parathyroid glands into a single recipient. Hypercalcemia (5.48 +/- 0.03 mEq/liter in high PTH animals, 4.96 +/- 0.06 mEq/liter in pair-fed controls, P less than 0.001) occurred as did metabolic alkalosis (plasma total carbon dioxide 25.44 +/- 0.47 mEq/liter vs. 23.84 +/- 0.57 in controls, P less than 0.05). The rise in total carbon dioxide was in part a renal tubular effect since urine pH was lower (6.77 +/- 0.04 vs. 6.95 +/- 0.04, day 5, P less than 0.01) bicarbonaturia less (165 +/- 26 vs. 283 +/- 28 mumoles/24 hr, day 5, P less than 0.01) and titratable acid (TA) excretion increased (164 +/- 43.4 vs. 48.2 +/- 2.53 mEq/24 hr, day 5, P less than 0.01) in hyperparathyroid animals vs. pair-fed controls. To test the specific role of hypercalcemia versus PTH in this effect, normoparathyroid animals were treated with 1.25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 or SHAM injected, Urinary cAMP was reduced in these animals (0.030 +/- 0.004 mumoles/8 hr) compared to hyperparathyroid rats (0.055 +/- 0.01 mumoles/8 hr P less than 0.05) suggesting differences i PTH levels. Hypercalcemia occurred in 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D treated animals as did increased plasma total carbon dioxide and urinary TA while urinary bicarbonate excretion and urinary pH were reduced. Because hypercalcemia was associated with elevated total carbon dioxide in both models, it is proposed that chronic hypercalcemia stimulated renal acid excretion and in a sustained manner results in metabolic alkalosis, at least in part, on a renal basis.

Acid-Base Equilibrium↗

Regulation of acid-base equilibrium in chronic hypocapnia. Evidence that the response of the kidney is not geared to the defense of extracellular (H+).

It is generally believed that the reduction in plasma [HCO3] characteristic of chronic hypocapnia results from renal homeostatic mechanisms designed to minimize the alkalemia produced by.the hypocapneic state. To test this hypothesis, we have induced chronic hypocapnia in dogs in which plasma [HCO3] had previously been markedly reduced (from 21 to 15 meq/liter) by the prolonged feeding of HCl. The PaCO2 of chronically acid-fed animals was reduced from 32 to 15 mm Hg by placing the animials in a large environmental chamber containing 9% oxygen. In response to this reduction in PaCO2, mean plasma [HCO3] fell by 8.6 meq/liter, reaching a new steady-state level of 6.4 meq/liter. This decrement in plasma [HCO3] is almost identical to the 8.1 meq/liter decrement previously observed in normal (nonacid-fed) animals in which the same degree of chronic hypocapnia had been induced. Thus, in both normal and HCl-fed animals, the renal response to chronic hypocapnia causes plasma [HCO3] to fall by approximately 0.5 meq/liter for each millimeter of Hg reduction in CO2 tension. By contrast, the response of plasma [H+] in the two groups was markedly different. Instead of the fall in [H+] which is seen during chronic hypocapnia in normal animals, [H+] in HCl-fed animals rose significantly from 53 to 59 neq/liter (pH 7.28-7.23). This seemingly paradoxical response is, of course, an expression of the constraints imposed by the Henderson equation and reflects the fact that the percent fall in [HCO3] in the HCl-fed animals was greater than the percent fall in PaCO2. These findings clearly indicate that in chronic hypocapnia the kidney cannot be regarded as the effector limb in a homeostatic feedback system geared to the defense of systemic acidity.

Acid-Base Equilibrium↗

Effects of environmental antiandrogens on reproductive development in experimental animals.

Chemicals that act as androgen receptor (AR) agonists and antagonists or inhibit fetal steroidogenesis can induce reproductive malformations in humans and laboratory animals. Several environmental chemicals disrupt development in rats and/or rabbits at fetal concentrations at, or near, exposure levels seen in some segments of the human population. In rats, fetal tissues concentrations of 10-20 p.p.m. of the DDT metabolite, p,p'-DDE, are correlated with reproductive abnormalities in male offspring. These concentrations are similar to those measured in first-trimester human fetal tissues in the late 1960s. The pesticides vinclozolin, procymidone, linuron and DDT are AR antagonists. They reduce male rat anogenital distance, and induce areolas at relatively low dosages. Hypospadias, agenesis of the sex accessory tissues and retained nipples are seen in the middle dosages, while undescended testes and epididymal agenesis are seen in the highest doses. Phthalate esters (PE) inhibit testosterone synthesis during fetal life, but do not appear to be AR antagonists. Prenatal administration of a single low dose of dioxin (50-1,000 ng TCDD/kg) alters the differentiation of androgen-dependent tissues at p.p.t. concentrations, but the mechanism of action likely involves interaction with a hormone-like nuclear transcription factor, the hormone-like receptor AhR, rather than AR. p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE, vinclozolin and di-n-butyl phthalate affect reproductive function in rabbits when administered during prenatal and/or neonatal life. Cryptorchidism and carcinoma in situ-like (CIS) testicular lesions were seen in male rabbits treated during development with p,p'-DDT or p,p'-DDE. Extrapolation of effects from rodents to humans would be enhanced if future studies incorporate determination of tissue concentrations of the active metabolites. Knowledge of the tissue concentrations of the active toxicants also would provide an important link to in-vitro studies, which provide more useful mechanistic information when they are executed at relevant concentrations.

Androgen Antagonists↗

The fungicide procymidone alters sexual differentiation in the male rat by acting as an androgen-receptor antagonist in vivo and in vitro.

Procymidone is a dicarboximide fungicide structurally related to the well-characterized fungicide vinclozolin. Vinclozolin metabolites bind to mammalian androgen receptors (AR) and act as AR antagonists, inhibiting androgen-dependent gene expression in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting AR-binding to DNA. The current study was designed to determine if procymidone acted as an AR antagonist in vitro and to describe the dosage levels of procymidone that alter sexual differentiation in vivo. In vitro, procymidone inhibited androgen from binding the human AR (hAR) in COS (monkey kidney) cells transfected with hAR at 3.16 microM. In vitro, procymidone acted as an androgen antagonist, inhibiting dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced transcriptional activation at 0.2 microM in CV-1 cells (cotransfected with the hAR and a MMTV-luciferase reporter gene). In vivo, maternal procymidone exposure at 0, 25, 50, 100, or 200 mg kg-1 day-1 during gestation and early lactation (gestational day 14 to postnatal day 3) altered reproductive development of male offspring at all dosage levels tested. Male offspring exhibited shortened anogenital distance (at 25 mg kg-1 day-1 and above), permanent nipples, reduced weight of several androgen-dependent tissues (levator ani and bulbocavernosus muscles, prostate, seminal vesicles, Cowper's gland and glans penis), and malformations (hypospadias, cleft phallus, exposed os penis, vaginal pouch, hydronephrosis, occasional hydroureter, epididymal granulomas, and ectopic, undescended testes). In addition, perinatal procymidone treatment had a marked effect on the histology of the lateral and ventral prostatic and seminal vesicular tissues of the offspring (at 50 mg kg-1 day-1 and above). These effects consisted of fibrosis, cellular infiltration, and epithelial hyperplasia. This constellation of effects is similar to that produced by perinatal exposure to vinclozolin. However, procymidone appears to be slightly less potent in inducing malformations than vinclozolin by a factor of about two. In summary, the antiandrogenic activity of procymidone was demonstrated in vivo and in vitro in cell lines transfected with hAR. Since the role of androgens in mammalian sexual differentiation is highly conserved, it is likely that humans would be adversely affected by procymidone in a predictable manner if the human fetus was exposed to sufficient levels during critical stages of intrauterine and neonatal life.

Androgen Receptor Antagonists↗