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Biomedical subjects

D Fraser

Publications and source records attributed to D Fraser.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Stimulation of 24R,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 synthesis by metabolites of vitamin D3.

Previously we have shown that the isolated perfused kidney from vitamin D-deficient rats converts [3H]25(OH)D3 into [3H]1 alpha,25(OH)2D3. When certain vitamin D metabolites were added to perfusate the same kidney began to synthesize [3H]24R,25(OH)2D3. In this study we investigated the structural requirements of the vitamin D molecule necessary to stimulate synthesis of [3H]24R,25(OH)2D3 in a 1-hydroxylating kidney. Kidneys were perfused with tracer [3H]25(OH)D3 (450 pM) alone and in the presence of a variety of hydroxylated metabolites and fluorinated analogues of vitamin D3 at concentrations of 450 pM to 25 microM. Tracer [3H]25(OH)D3 alone resulted in synthesis of only [3H]1 alpha,25(OH)2D3 during the 6-h perfusion period. 25-Hydroxylated metabolites [25(OH)D3, 25 nM; 1 alpha,25(OH)2D3, 25 nM; 24R,25(OH)2D3, 25 nM; 24(F)2,25(OH)D3, 50 nM] stimulated [3H]24R,25(OH)2D3 production at 2 h of perfusion. On the other hand, analogues without the 25-hydroxyl group [D3; 1 alpha(OH)D3; 25(F)D3; 1 alpha(OH),25(F)D3; 1 alpha(F)D3; 1 beta(F)D3]; did not stimulate [3H]24R,25(OH)2D3 synthesis. We conclude that the 25-hydroxyl group is an essential determinant of 24-hydroxylation.

24,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D 3↗

The effects of precision feeding on the behavior of adult cockerels.

The behavior of 15 precision-fed (PF) cockerels was compared with that of 15 normal (N) and 15 fasted (F) birds. In the 10 min after feeding, the PF birds had a higher incidence of beak movements (P less than .01) than N and F birds. Five PF birds retracted their heads and necks, and 3 made regurgitation-like movements, but the effects were generally slight and fleeting. When a flock of 48 PF birds was observed more casually, only 2 birds showed abnormal behavior. The low incidence of conspicuous abnormal behavior, after precision feeding, in contrast to that reported by Wehner and Harrold (1982), is probably due to the shorter time required to administer the feed.

Animals↗

Cancer mortality (1965-77) in relation to diesel fume and coal exposure in a cohort of retired railway workers.

A cohort study of 43,826 male pensioners of the Canadian National Railway Company was conducted. The cause of death of 17,838 pensioners who died between 1965 and 1977 was ascertained by computerized record linkage to the Canadian national mortality data base. The main finding was an elevated risk of lung cancer for those employed in occupations involving exposure to diesel fumes and coal dust, with highly significant dose-response relationships observed. That such association may be due in part to smoking cannot be excluded; but in view of the widespread exposure to diesel fumes, the finding warrants further investigation. The present study also demonstrated the utility and feasibility of large-scale occupational cohort studies conducted with the use of computerized record linkage to national mortality records.

Aged↗

Hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism in childhood.

Although relatively uncommon, the conditions of hypoparathyroidism and pseudohypoparathyroidism in childhood provide an exciting diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Knowledge of calcium-phosphate homeostasis has progressed rapidly over the past few years so that our understanding of the basic pathophysiological mechanisms has increased tremendously. However, further clinical and basic scientific research will, no doubt, unravel further variations of the various disease entities described.

Child↗

Inhibition of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-1-hydroxylase by chronic metabolic acidosis.

Chronic metabolic acidosis had been shown to influence the renal metabolism of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3. Using the isolated perfused rat kidney model, we evaluated the rates of synthesis of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] in vitamin D-depleted [D(-)] and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [24,25(OH)2D3] in vitamin D-replete [D(+)] rats. Metabolic acidosis was induced in both groups of rats by feeding aqueous ammonium chloride for 9 days. Kidneys isolated from D(-) acidotic rats (mean pH, 7.11) exhibited a decreased rate of 1,25(OH)2D3 synthesis (0.79 +/- 0.17 pmol produce . h-1 . g kidney-1) when compared with that (1.27 +/- 0.09) of D(-) nonacidotic (mean pH, 7.33) rats. There was a significant negative linear correlation between the rate of synthesis of 1,25(OH)2D3 and the hydrogen ion concentration of the animal (r = 0.79, P less than 0.005). The rate of synthesis of 24,25(OH)2D3 by the kidneys from D(+) acidotic (mean pH, 7.06) and nonacidotic (mean pH, 7.39) rats did not differ (0.81 +/- 0.21 vs. 0.60 +/- 0.12 pmol product . h-1 . g kidney-1). It is concluded that chronic acidosis suppressed 1-hydroxylase activity, but does not suppress 24-hydroxylase activity.

25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 1-alpha-Hydroxylase↗

Renal osteodystrophy in children with chronic renal failure: an unexpectedly common and incapactating complication.

The incidence, age at onset, and progression of the biochemical, radiographic, and histologic characteristics of renal osteodystrophy were studied in 50 children in whom chronic renal failure had been recently diagnosed. During a ten-year observation period, 19 patients progressed to end-stage renal failure and radiographic signs of renal osteodystrophy developed in 15 of these (79%). Renal osteodystrophy developed in all nine patients whose chronic renal failure was diagnosed before 3 years of age and in six of the ten children with later onset of failure. The mean interval from diagnosis of renal failure to development of osteodystrophy was 1.4 years. Radiographically, growth zone lesions predominated in the younger children, whereas cortical erosions were more prevalent in the older children. Histologic examination, performed in 38 patients, showed both defective mineralization and excessive resorption and was a more sensitive diagnostic index than radiography. Noticeable deformities developed in one third of the patients with osteodystrophy, despite medical treatment including vitamin D2 therapy. Deformities were particularly frequent and severe in patients whose renal failure developed in infancy. In all 13 patients whose growth patterns were studied before and after osteodystrophy developed, the onset of bone lesions was associated with a deterioration of growth, indicating that osteodystrophy plays a major role in causing the growth retardation commonly observed in children with chronic renal failure.

Adolescent↗

Calcific bridging of dental pulp caused by iatrogenic hypercalcemia. Report of a case.

A case of renal osteodystrophy treated with high doses of vitamin D is presented. The treatment, carried out when the patient was between 3 1/4 and 6 years of age, induced hypercalcemia (up to 13.9 mg./dl.) which resulted in dentinal bridging corresponding chronologically to the part of the root developing at this age. Dentinal bridging associated with iatrogenic hypercalcemia has not been reported previously.

Calcinosis↗

The etiology of enamel hypoplasia: a unifying concept.

In a study of children with chronic disorders of calcium and phosphate homeostasis, enamel hypoplasia was found in hereditary vitamin D-dependency rickets and in hypoparathyroidism, conditions characterized by hypocalcemia, and was not found in X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets, a condition in which the plasma calcium concentration is normal. The occurrence of enamel hypoplasia bore no relation to the plasma phosphate concentration. Enamel hypoplasia has also been reported in other pediatric disorders in which hypocalcemia is a major sign (for example, vitamin D deficiency, prematurity, and neonatal tetany). The existence of enamel hypoplasia in a hypoparathyroid or rachitic patient, when correlated with the chronology of enamel mineralization, helps to establish the time of onset of hypocalcemia. The observations led us to the hypothesis that a low serum calcium concentration during enamel formation is a specific determinant of enamel hypoplasia. This hypothesis may be relevant to the etiology of linear enamel hypoplasia, an endemic lesion of primary teeth in children of many Third World countries that predisposes the teeth to dental caries. The hypothesis may therefore be relevant also in explaining the prevalence of caries in the primary teeth of children in many underdeveloped countries.

Calcium↗

Glycogenosis due to liver and muscle phosphorylase kinase deficiency.

A four-year-old Israeli Arab boy was found to have glycogen accumulation in both liver and muscle without clinical symptoms. Liver phosphorylase kinase (PK) activity was 20% of normal, resulting in undetectable activity of phosphorylase a. Muscle PK activity was about 25% of normal, resulting in a marked decrease of phosphorylase a activity. Two sisters showed a similar pattern, whereas one brother had normal PK activity. The patient's liver protein kinase activity was normal Addition of exogenous protein kinase did not affect PK activity, whereas exogenous PK restored phosphorylase activity to normal. These findings indicate that these patients are affected by a rare variant of PK deficiency, which involves both muscle and liver and which apparently is not sex linked. It is possible that this defect represents an unusual mutation of a subunit of the phosphorylase kinase enzyme.

Child↗

Group fractionation and determination of the number of ribosomal subunit proteins from Drosophila melanogaster embryos.

Proteins were extracted from ribosomes and (for the first time) from ribosomal subunits of Drosophila melanogaster embryos. The ribosomal proteins were analyzed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The electrophoretograms displayed 78 spots for the 80S monomers, 35 spots for the 60S subunits, and 31 spots for the 40S subunits. On the basis of present information, we propose what we believe to be a reliable and convenient nomenclature for the proteins of the ribosomes and each of the subunits. A pair of acidic proteins from D. melanogaster appears to be very similar in electrophoretic mobility to the acidic proteins L7/L12 from Escherichia coli and L40/L41 from rat liver. The electrophoretogram of proteins from embryonic ribosomes shows both qualitative and quantitative differences from those of larvae, pupae, and adults previously reported by others. The proteins of the 40S subunit range in molecular weight from approximately 10,000 to 50,000, and those from the 60S subunit range from approximately 11,000 to 50,000.

Animals↗

Tubulin immunohistochemistry. Fixation methods affect the response of spinal cord cells in vitro.

We report here the results observed when tubulin fluorescence immunohistochemistry is performed upon dissociated cultures of nervous tissue, principally of chick embryo spinal cord. When fixation includes nonpolar solvents or detergents, a uniform fluorescence is seen in neuron perikarya (with the exception of their nuclei), and the processes to which they give rise. Fixation with formaldehyde or glutaraldehyde alone, however, results in a discontinuous staining of neurites, and a less regular staining of their perikarya. The former pattern of response can be elicited if aldehyde fixation is followed by exposure to non-polar solvents. Such results are obtained both in thinly spread regions of the cultures, where neurons and their processes can easily be seen, and in the cell aggregates that also characterise them. Possible interpretations of these results are discussed.

Animals↗

25-hydroxyvitamin D3 metabolism by isolated perfused rat kidney.

Kidneys of adult rats were removed and perfused with semisynthetic media with the object of elucidating the separate actions of factors implicated as modulators of renal metabolism of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3). During a 3-h perfusion with 3[H]25(OH)D3, the kidney produced high yields of 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (24,25(OH)2D3) or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) depending on whether the rat had previously been, respectively, normocalcemic, normophosphatemic, vitamin D-replete or hypocalcemic, hypophosphatemic, vitamin D-deplete. With longer perfusion (up to 12 h), kidneys from normocalcemic, normophosphatemic, vitamin D-replete rats mainly produced 24,25(OH)2D3 but also amounts of 1,25(OH)2D3. This pattern was unaltered by reducing Ca or Pi concentrations of perfusate or by adding parathyroid hormone. Kidneys of hypocalcemic, hypophosphatemic, vitamin D-deplete rats perfused with low Ca, low Pi medium for 12 h at first produced 1,25(OH)2D3 exclusively. However, 24,25(OH)2D3 appeared after 4 h and accumulated thereafter, whereas 1,25(OH)2D3 synthesis ceased after 7 h, a metabolic pattern unaffected by the concentration of substrate or end products in the perfusate or by addition of cyclic AMP. The model shows promise for studying regulation of 25(OH)D3 metabolism by the kidney.

Animals↗