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Biomedical subjects

H W Murray

Publications and source records attributed to H W Murray.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Vancomycin serum levels and toxicity in chronic hemodialysis patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

The pharmacokinetics and toxicity of six week courses of vancomycin were assessed prospectively in 12 chronic hemodialysis patients who had 17 episodes of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. Patients were treated with 1 gram doses of vancomycin at weekly intervals for six weeks. Peak serum vancomycin concentrations ranged from 5.5-40.0 micrograms/ml and trough concentrations were 1.0-12.0 micrograms/ml at the time of the second dose. No patients demonstrated important drug accumulation at the time of the fifth dose. Pure tone audiometry demonstrated no auditory toxicity. Flushing and pruritus (two patients) were only adverse effects noted. In 16 episodes blood cultures were sterilized within 48 hours of therapy. This investigation demonstrates that in chronic hemodialysis patients with S. aureus bacteremia vancomycin is a safe and microbiologically effective antimicrobial agent. Peak and trough serum concentrations vary widely when 1 gram doses are given at one week intervals, and thus it is recommended that concentrations be measured for each patient, particularly if the minimum bactericidal concentration of vancomycin for the clinical isolate is greater than 1.0 microgram/ml.

Chronic Disease↗

Regulation of arachidonic acid metabolism by macrophage activation.

Levels of zymosan-induced arachidonic acid (20:4) metabolism by peritoneal macrophages elicited with inflammatory agents and resident macrophages were similar. Thyioglycollate (THIO)-elicited macrophages represented the exception; however, the diminished metabolism by these cells was reproduced by exposing resident cells to 5 mg/ml THIO broth in vitro. In contrast, reduced prostaglandin synthesis by macrophages from mice variously treated with the immunologic agents, Corynebacterium parvum or Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG), closely correlated with enhanced antitoxoplasma activity, one measure of macrophage activation. This relationship, although not causative, suggested that the capacity for 20:4 metabolism is a function of the macrophage activation state. Modulation of macrophage 20:4 metabolism in vivo apparently required factors in addition to lymphocyte-derived products. Treatment of resident macrophages in vitro with BCG lymphokine was without effect on 20:4 release or prostaglandin synthesis. Activated macrophages from animals inoculated i.p. with C. parvum exhibited reduced 20:4 release and also failed to metabolize 70% of the 20:4 released in response to a zymosan stimulus. Consequently, the quantities of 20:4 metabolites formed were significantly less than expected from 20:4 release. These activated macrophages displayed greatly reduced synthesis of prostacylcin and leukotriene C compared with other 20:4 metabolites. It appeared that factors that regulate macrophage 20:4 metabolism influence the level of the inducible phospholipase and synthetic enzymes for specific 20:4 oxygenated products.

Animals↗

Quinacrine-induced psychiatric disturbances.

We have described three patients who illustrate the broad clinical spectrum of quinacrine-associated neuropsychiatric disturbances. The toxic manifestations range from subtle changes of restlessness, insomnia, hyperirritability to frank psychosis and seizures. These symptoms may follow only a few doses of the drug, or they may occur well after the drug has been discontinued. Our patients reemphasize the importance of recognizing the variability of quinacrine-induced toxic reactions.

Adult↗

Effect of hydrocortisone on macrophage response to lymphokine.

To define the suppressive effects of corticosteroids on mononuclear phagocyte antiprotozoal activity, normal resident peritoneal macrophages were exposed to hydrocortisone (HC) before, during, and after in vitro activation with cell-free supernatants (lymphokines). The presence of pharmacological concentrations of HC before or during lymphokine activation prevented normal macrophages from acquiring the capacity to either respond oxidatively to Toxoplasma gondii ingestion or to inhibit intracellular toxoplasma replication. HC had no effect, however, on the cells fully stimulated by lymphokine or on macrophages previously activated in vivo. These findings indicate that although HC does not impair the ability of activated macrophages to control intracellular protozoan infection, it does compromise the antimicrobial activity of the cell-mediated immune system by rendering normal macrophages unresponsive to lymphokine.

Animals↗

Pretreatment with phorbol myristate acetate inhibits macrophage activity against intracellular protozoa.

To further document the role of toxic oxygen intermediates in mononuclear phagocyte antiprotozoal activity, microbicidal macrophages were depleted of the capacity to generate superoxide anion (O-2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by pretreatment with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), a soluble agent which triggers the macrophage respiratory burst. Treating cells for 90 min with 200 ng/ml of PMA inhibited the extracellular release of both O-2 and H2O2 by 90% upon subsequent restimulation with either PMA or opsonized zymosan. This effect persisted for 48 h, and could not be reversed by the addition of lymphokine. Intracellular nitro-blue tetrazolium reduction by PMA-treated cells was also inhibited by 66-95% upon rechallenge with either PMA or inert or viable particulate agents. In parallel, PMA pretreatment abolished or markedly impaired the ability of normal, lymphokine-stimulated, and in vivo activated macrophages to kill three diverse protozoa--Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania donovani, and Trypanosoma cruzi. These studies illustrate an additional technique for investigating the antiprotozoal effects of macrophage-derived O-2 and H2O2 and reemphasize the importance of an intact respiratory burst mechanism in killing of intracellular parasites.

Animals↗

An outbreak of community-acquired Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia: initial manifestation of cellular immune dysfunction.

Eleven cases of community-acquired Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia occurred between 1979 and 1981 and prompted clinical and immunologic evaluation of the patients. Young men who were drug abusers (seven patients), homosexuals (six), or both (two) presented with pneumonia. Immunologic testing revealed that absolute lymphocyte counts, T-cell counts, and lymphocyte proliferation were depressed, and that humoral immunity was intact. Of the 11 patients, one was found to have Kaposi's sarcoma, and another had angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy. Eight patients died. In the remaining three, no diagnosis of an immunosuppressive disease was established, despite persistence of immune defects. These cases of pneumocystosis suggest the importance of cell-mediated immune function in the defense against P. carinii. The occurrence of this infection among drug abusers and homosexuals indicates that these groups may be at high risk for this infection.

Adult↗

Interaction of Leishmania with a macrophage cell line. Correlation between intracellular killing and the generation of oxygen intermediates.

The promastigote form of Leishmania donovani and Leishmania tropica, the etiologic agents of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis, respectively, readily parasitize unstimulated J774G8 macrophage-like cells, whereas 80-95% of the same promastigotes are killed within resident macrophages from normal BALB/c mice. This striking difference in intracellular anti-leishmanial activity correlated closely with the capacity to generate toxic oxygen intermediates. Thus, after triggering with phorbol myristate acetate or phagocytosis of zymosan or promastigotes, 90% of the J774G8 cells failed to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium, and released 5-10-fold less O2- and H2O2 than BALB/c macrophages. Exposure to concanavalin A-stimulated lymphokine, however, effectively enhanced the oxidative response of J774G8 cells, and, similarly, induced intracellular anti-leishmanial activity. Inhibiting macrophage H2O2 production consistently decreased the killing of Leishmania by lymphokine-treated J774G8 cells. These observations illustrate the usefulness of examining homogeneous macrophage cell lines that are deficient in a particular effector function, and also serve reemphasize the important role of oxygen intermediates in the microbicidal response of mononuclear phagocytes to intracellular parasites.

Cell Line↗

Susceptibility of Leishmania to oxygen intermediates and killing by normal macrophages.

This study demonstrates that the promastigote form of virulent Leishmania donovani and Leishmania tropica are both deficient in endogenous enzymatic scavengers of H(2)0(2) (catalase, glutathione peroxidase) and susceptible to low fluxes of H(2)O(2) in a cell-free model. In addition, the killing of promastigotes by H(2)0(2) is markedly enhanced in the presence of a peroxidase and halide. Promastigotes also readily trigger the macrophage oxidative burst including the generation of H(2)0(2), and most intracellular promastigotes are killed within 18 h by unstimulated normal resident cells. Catalase, but not scavengers or quenchers of O(2)(-), OHx, or (1)O(2), protected promastigotes in a cell-free xanthine oxidase microbicidal system, and catalase also partially inhibited the leishmanicidal activity of resident macrophages. Thus, amongst various oxygen intermediates, H(2)0(2) alone appeared to be both necessary and sufficient for promastigote killing. Depriving macrophages of exogenous glucose, which inhibits the generation of oxygen intermediates, achieved effects similar to catalase treatment. These observations directly contrast with the intracellular parasite, T. gondii which is richly endowed with catalase and glutathione peroxidase, highly resistant to H(2)0(2), and requires products of O(2)(-)-H(2)0(2) interaction for effective oxidative killing. Toxoplasmas also fail to trigger the respiratory burst of normal macrophages, and readily multiply within these cells (1-5). Macrophages first activated by in vivo or in vitro immunologic stimuli, however, display an enhanced capacity to generate oxygen intermediates beyond O(2)(-) and H(2)0(2), and are able to kill toxoplasmas or inhibit their intracellular replication (1, 2). These studies illustrate the wide spectrum of susceptibility to oxidative products which appears to exist for virulent intracellular protozoans, and indicate that such differences may be reflected in contrasting fates of parasites within cell-free oxidative environments and the cytoplasm of normal resident macrophages. In addition, these observations also demonstrate that nonactivated phagocytes may display effective microbicidal activity against certain intracellular pathogens utilizing an oxygen-dependent mechanism.

Animals↗

Tumor cell anti-oxidant defenses. Inhibition of the glutathione redox cycle enhances macrophage-mediated cytolysis.

The basis of resistance to oxidative injury was studied in six murine tumor cell lines that differed 54-fold in their resistance to enzymatically generated H(2)0(2). The tumors varied 56.7-fold in their specific activity of catalase, 5.3-fold in glutathione peroxidase (GPO), 3.3-fold in glutathione reductase (GR), and 2.7-fold in glutathione. There was no correlation among the levels of the three enzymes, and tumor cell resistance to lysis by H(2)0(2). However, the logarithm of the flux of H(2)0(2) necessary to cause 50 percent lysis of the tumor cells correlated with their content of glutathione (r = 0.91). The protective role of glutathione was analyzed by blocking GR and GPO, the catalysts of the glutathione redox cycle. This was facilitated by the demonstration that the anti-neoplastic agent 1,3-bis-(2- chloroethyl)-l-nitrosourea (BCNU) was a potent inhibitor of GR in intact tumor cells. BCNU inactivated tumor cell GR with a 50 percent inhibitory dose of 11 muM and a t(l/2) of inhibition of 30 s. Complete inhibition of GR was attained with no effect on GPO or catalase. Tumor cells whose GR was inactivated by BCNU could be lysed by fluxes of H(2)0(2) to which they were otherwise completely resistant. They could be killed by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated, bacilli Calmette-Guerin-activated macrophages in numbers which were otherwise insufficient, and by nonactivated macrophages, which otherwise were ineffective. BCNU-treated target cells were also much more sensitive to antibody-dependent, macrophage-mediated cytolysis. However, such tumor cells were no more sensitive than controls to lysis by alloreactive T cells or by antibody plus complement. Next, we deprived tumor cells of selenium by passage in selenium-deficient mice. GPO was inhibited 85 percent in such cells, with no effect on GR or catalase. Tumor cells with reduced GPO activity were markedly sensitized to lysis by small fluxes of H(2)0(2) or by PMA-stimulated macrophages or granulocytes. In contrast, inhibition of catalase with aminotriazole had no effect on the sensitivity of three tumors to peroxide-mediated lysis, and had modest effects with two others. Thus, the oxidation-reduction cycle of glutathione serves as one of the major defense mechanisms of tumor cells against three related forms of oxidant injury: lysis by fluxes of H(2)0(2), by PMA-triggered macrophages, and by macrophages in the presence of anti-tumor antibody.

Animals↗

Ventriculoatrial shunting for hydrocephalus complicating tuberculous meningitis.

Relatively little attention has been focused on the management of increased intracranial pressure which develops in patients with tuberculous meningitis. In the acute phase of infection, cerebral edema is the most common cause; whereas in the subacute or chronic phases, hydrocephalus is most often implicated. Patients with tuberculous meningitis may fail to show neurologic improvement or deteriorate despite appropriate medical therapy, no matter what the pathogenesis of increased intracranial pressure. The patient we describe illustrates the usefulness of ventricular shunting in patients with hydrocephalus who fail to respond to the administration of antituberculous and pressure-reducing agents.

Aged↗

Susceptibility of Entamoeba histolytica to oxygen intermediates.

To explore the susceptibility of the extracellular protozoan, Entamoeba histolytica, to toxic oxygen intermediates, trophozoites were exposed to fluxes of O2, H2O2, and OH. generated enzymatically by the glucose oxidase and xanthine oxidase reactions. HM-1 trophozoites were resistant to O2, but were readily killed by H2O2 alone. OH. and 1O2 were not required for effective amebicidal activity. The addition of peroxidase and halide enhanced trophozoite killing by H2O2. Sonicates of amebae contained virtually no catalase and little glutathione peroxidase activity which may contribute to susceptibility to H2O2. Coupled with our previous studies with Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania spp. these observations indicate that there is a broad spectrum of susceptibility of intra- and extracellular pathogenic protozoa to killing by oxygen intermediates.

Animals↗

Macrophage oxygen-dependent antimicrobial activity. III. Enhanced oxidative metabolism as an expression of macrophage activation.

The capacity of 15 separate populations of mouse peritoneal macrophages to generate and release H2O2 (an index of oxidative metabolism) was compared with their ability to inhibit the intracellular replication of virulent Toxoplasma gondii. Resident macrophages and those elicited by inflammatory agents readily supported toxoplasma multiplication and released 4-20X less H2O2 than macrophages activated in vivo by systemic infection with Bacille Calmette-Guérin or T. gondii, or by immunization with Corynebacterium parvum. Immunologically activated cells consistently displayed both enhanced H2O2 production and antitoxoplasma activity. Exposure to lymphokines generated from cultures of spleen cells from T. gondii immune mice and toxoplasma antigen preserved both the antitoxoplasma activity and the heightened H2O2 release of toxoplasma immune and immune-boosted macrophages, which otherwise were lost after 48-72 h of cultivation. In vitro activation of resident and chemically-elicited cells by 72 h of exposure to mitogen- and antigen-prepared lymphokines, conditions that induce trypanocidal (5) and leishmanicidal activity (14), stimulated O2- and H2O2 release, and enhanced nitroblue tetrazolium reduction in response to toxoplasma ingestion. Such treatment, however, failed to confer any antitoxoplasma activity, indicating that intracellular pathogens may vary in their susceptibility to macrophage microbicidal mechanisms, including specific oxygen intermediates. In contrast, cocultivating normal macrophages with lymphokine plus heart infusion broth for 18H rendered these cells toxoplasmastatic. This in vitro-acquired activity was inhibited by scavengers of O2-, H2O2, OH., and 1O2, demonstrating a role for oxidative metabolites in lymphokine-induced enhancement of macrophage antimicrobial activity. These findings indicate that augmented oxidative metabolism is an consistent marker of macrophage activation, and that oxygen intermediates participate in the resistance of both in vivo- and vitro-activated macrophages toward the intracellular parasite, T. gondii.

Animals↗

Macrophage oxygen-dependent antimicrobial activity. IV. Role of endogenous scavengers of oxygen intermediates.

The activities of the endogenous O2- and H2O2 scavenging enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathionine peroxidase (GP), and catalase, were measured in lysates of the intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, and in various macrophage populations. During 72 h of cultivation in standard medium alone, the catalase activity of in vivo-activated toxoplasma-immune macrophages (IM) and immune-boosted macrophages (IB) progressively increased by eight- to ninefold, and correlated with the previously observed parallel decline in these cells' antitoxoplasma activity and capacity to release H2O2. SOD and GP activities either remained constant or decreased during this 3-d period. Lymphokine exposure, which preserved the antitoxoplasma activity and oxidative capacity of 48- and 72-h cultures of IB and IM cells, blunted the rise in catalase levels and had no effect on SOD or GP. Inhibition of IB and IM macrophage catalase by aminotriazole maintained toxoplasmastatic activity otherwise lost after 48 h of cultivation. In addition, IB and IM cells from acatalasemic mice contained 20- to 30-fold less catalase, and showed comparatively little decline in either H2O2 release or antitoxoplasma activity during 72 h in culture. In vitro-(lymphokine) activated resident macrophages from normal mice had the highest levels of SOD, GP, and catalase, and these cells failed to kill or inhibit T. gondii despite enhanced extracellular release of O2- and H2O2. Toxoplasmas were also found to contain all three enzymatic scavengers. Aminotriazole inhibition of lymphokine-activated cells' catalase or of toxoplasma catalase was effective in inducing these macrophages to display antitoxoplasma activity. Moreover, and in contrast to normocatalasemic resident cells, those from acatalesemic mice were readily induced by lymphokine to inhibit the replication of untreated virulent toxoplasmas. These results suggest that endogenous O2- and H2O2 scavenging enzymes, which function within both T. gondii and activated macrophages as host cell antioxidant protective mechanisms, may reduce the effectiveness of phagocyte antimicrobial activity. Thus, the presence of SOD, GP, and especially catalase within both target and effector cell may be important determinants of macrophage oxygen-dependent processes.

Animals↗