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E Page

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Cat heart muscle in vitro. IX. Cell ion and water contents in anisosmolal solutions.

Cell contents of water, K, Na, and Cl have been determined in cat right ventricular papillary muscles immersed in solutions with and without NaCl when the external osmolality was varied with sucrose. The plot of cell water/kilogram dry weight (corrected for sucrose content) vs. (external osmolality)(-1) suggests that not less than 82% of water present in cells at physiological external osmolality is free to move across the cell membrane in response to an imposed osmotic gradient. Cells fail to increase their water content in very hypotonic solutions. For osmolalities greater than 5 times isosmolal, at which the mannitol space and the Cl(36) space are both equal to 100% of muscle water, rather large amounts of univalent cation appear to remain "bound" to the tissue.

Animals↗

Increased detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected blood donors by a multiple-antigen HCV enzyme immunoassay.

A new, multiple-antigen enzyme immunoassay (EIA-2) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies was evaluated in parallel with the previously available c100-3 HCV EIA (EIA-1) in 14,068 volunteer blood donors as well as in 25 cases of transfusion-associated hepatitis C for which recipient and donor samples were available. When compared to EIA-1, the EIA-2 was more sensitive in detecting HCV-infected blood donors. The EIA-2 detected an additional 1 in 1000 EIA-1-negative, surrogate marker-negative donors who were infected with HCV as demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The specificity of the EIA-2 was comparable to that of the EIA-1, but the two tests appear to detect different populations of false-positive donors. Recombinant immunoblot assay-indeterminate donors were detected five times more frequently by the EIA-2; PCR demonstrated that 21 percent of these donors were infected with HCV. The greater sensitivity of EIA-2 was also found in 25 transfusion recipients with non-A, non-B hepatitis; however, in 16 percent of these cases of posttransfusion HCV infection, the EIA-2 failed to detect an HCV-seropositive donor. These data indicate that EIA-2 testing will significantly reduce, but probably not eliminate, the risk of transfusion-associated HCV infection; we estimate this residual per-unit risk to be 1 in 2000 to 1 in 6000 units transfused. On a national level, it is projected that the replacement of the anti-HCV EIA-1 with the EIA-2 will initially prevent up to 40 additional cases of transfusion-associated hepatitis C per day.

Blood Donors↗

Muscle protein degradation in severely malnourished patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease subject to short-term total parenteral nutrition.

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often lose weight and muscle mass with progression of the disease. Muscle protein degradation in patients with COPD has never been examined before and during hypercaloric feeding. Eight severely malnourished patients with COPD were examined at home consuming their usual intake, in the hospital after 3 days of a meat-free regular oral diet (period B), and during a hypercaloric (55 kcal/kg) high-lipid (55%) parenteral formula (total parenteral nutrition [TPN]). During period B, 8 well-nourished patients and 10 malnourished cancer patients were used as control groups. Measurements included plasma assays, leg blood flow, leg exchange (of 3-methylhistidine [3MeH], glucose, lactate, and oxygen) and urinary measures of 3MeH, creatinine, and nitrogen. During period B, net release of 3MeH across the leg in patients with COPD was similar to that in well-nourished control subjects and cachectic cancer patients. In COPD patients, there was only a transient decrease in leg exchange values of 3MeH with administration of TPN. COPD patients demonstrated a reduction (p less than .01) in urinary 3MeH excretion and an increase in nitrogen balance (p less than .01) with TPN compared with period B. The decrease in muscle protein degradation with administration of TPN accounts for about 50% of the increase in nitrogen retention in patients with COPD. These data suggest that in severely malnourished patients with COPD the weight loss is not dependent on increased rates of skeletal muscle protein degradation; nevertheless, degradation rates attenuate with a positive nitrogen balance during nutrition repletion.

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