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Biomedical subjects

K Kamata

Publications and source records attributed to K Kamata.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Deranged concentrations of water-soluble vitamins in the blood of undialyzed and dialyzed patients with chronic renal failure.

Blood concentration of water-soluble vitamins were measured in patients with mild chronic renal insufficiency, uremic undialyzed and dialyzed patients and control subjects. The whole blood concentration of B1 was significantly lower in dialyzed patients. Plasma levels of B2 were elevated in uremic and dialyzed patients and plasma B6 was significantly increased in dialyzed patients. Serum levels of B12 and folic acid were elevated in uremic and dialyzed patients. The results of this study differ from those reported from Europe and the U.S.A. These geographical differences may arise primarily from differences in staple food, vegetable intake, and traditional methods of food preparation.

Adult↗

Contralateral circling behavior induced by intranigral microinjections of taurine and GABA in rats.

Circling behavior induced by unilateral microinjections of taurine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) into the substantia nigra zona reticulata (SNR) was studied in rats. Both taurine (10-100 micrograms/rat) and GABA (30-300 micrograms/rat) induced the contralateral circling behavior in a dose-dependent manner when they were microinjected into the SNR. Neither compound induced ipsilateral circling. An ipsilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the nucleus caudatus putamen (CPU) caused a reduction of the dopamine (DA) content in the injected side and decreased the circling behavior induced by taurine but not GABA. Electrolesion of the ipsilateral nucleus ventromedialis thalami (VM) decreased both taurine- and GABA-induced circling. In contrast, only GABA-induced circling was reduced by the electrolesion of the ipsilateral nucleus parafascicularis thalami (PF). Electrolesion of the ipsilateral nucleus accumbens (ACB) did not modify the circling behavior induced by GABA, but did decrease the circling induced by taurine. Electrolesion of the ipsilateral globus pallidus (GP) or nucleus entopeduncularis (EP) did not attenuate the circling behavior induced by either taurine or GABA. These results suggest that taurine-induced circling behavior may be mediated by the nigrostriatal-nigrothalamic system, and the ACB. In contrast, the nigrothalamic system may play an important role in GABA-induced circling behavior.

Animals↗

Nigral reticulata neurons: potentiation of responsiveness to amphetamine with long-term treatment.

Single-unit activity was recorded in the substantia nigra pars reticulata of rats in response to intravenous challenge injections of D-amphetamine. The animals were pretreated with saline or 5.0 mg/kg D-amphetamine twice daily for 6 consecutive days. Whereas the large majority of saline controls (6 of 8) showed no consistent responses to amphetamine at doses up to 2.0 mg/kg, amphetamine pretreated rats (7 of 10) responded with a progressive increase in firing rate. Both groups of animals responded to a subsequent injection of 5.0 mg/kg clozapine with a depression of firing rate. The remaining control rats were inhibited by amphetamine and this aberrant response was enhanced with long-term treatment. In these unusual cells, clozapine accelerated firing rate. Taken together, these results indicate that unlike dopaminergic neurons in the compacta region of the nigra, reticulata neurons increase their responsiveness to amphetamine with repeated administration.

Animals↗

Modification of antinociceptive action of morphine by dopamine agonist and antagonist in mice.

A marked potentiation of the antinociceptive action of morphine was produced by haloperidol, but apomorphine had no effect on the antinociceptive action of morphine in acute experiments. Following chronic treatment with haloperidol, the antinociceptive action of morphine was significantly suppressed by apomorphine, and apomorphine shifted the dose-response curve of morphine to the right and increased the ED50 value of morphine by 2.3-fold. These results suggest that the suppressive action of apomorphine on the antinociceptive effect of morphine in chronic haloperidol-treated mice may be due to an increased sensitivity of post-synaptic dopaminergic receptors to apomorphine.

Animals↗

Effects of methamphetamine on dopamine cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the ventral tegmental area.

The ability of methamphetamine to inhibit the firing rate of dopamine cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNC) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) was studied. Methamphetamine reduced the firing rates of the dopamine cells in a dose-dependent manner in the SNC and the VTA. The doses of methamphetamine required to produce a 50% inhibition of firing rate in the SNC and the VTA were 0.37 mg/kg and 0.28 mg/kg, respectively.

Animals↗

Characterization of antigens and antibody specificities involved in Heymann nephritis.

The present study was conducted to determine if Fx1A, a renal cortical extract used to induce Heymann nephritis, contains nephritogenic antigens in addition to the brush border-derived glycoprotein gp 330. Of 26 Lewis rats immunized with Fx1A, 24 developed abnormal proteinuria (greater than 20 mg/24 hr) by wk 10, whereas of 15 rats immunized with a partially purified gp 330 preparation (MVH), only one developed proteinuria. Immunofluorescence studies showed that all Fx1A rats developed large, diffuse, granular deposits along the glomerular basement membrane which stained brightly for IgG and C3; only 11 of the 15 MVH rats had definite deposits; in most rats, they were small and stained only moderately for IgG and faintly or not at all for C3. The Fx1A and MVH rats developed comparable levels of antibodies to MVH (gp 330) before the onset of proteinuria in Fx1A rats, after which serum IgG and antibody levels declined. In contrast, antibodies against soluble Fx1A antigens appeared earlier and rose more rapidly in Fx1A than in MVH rats. Larger amounts of IgG could be eluted from the glomeruli of Fx1A rats than from MVH rats. Eluates from the Fx1A rats contained antibodies that reacted with gp 330 and also a 95 kd antigen; the latter reactivity was not demonstrated in eluates of MVH rats. Immunoprecipitation studies showed that both gp 330 and the 95 kd antigen are components of normal glomeruli. The results show that immunization with Fx1A produces a more severe form of Heymann nephritis than does gp 330, and that Fx1A contains at least one nephritogenic antigen in addition to gp 330.

Animals↗

Studies with monoclonal antibodies against brush border antigens in Heymann nephritis.

The authors have prepared and studied three murine monoclonal antibodies that are reactive with antigens in brush border regions of proximal renal tubules of rats. Two of the antibodies, 14C1 and AG3, were derived from mice immunized with Fx1A and the third, 4H6, from a mouse immunized with isolated glomeruli obtained from rats with Heymann nephritis. Immunohistochemical, immunoelectron microscopic, and immunochemical studies showed that the three antibodies recognized different antigens. The antibody 14C1 recognized the previously described nephritogenic glycoprotein, gp 330, in microvillar brush border preparations, and reacted with material present on podocyte cell surfaces of normal rat kidneys, especially in coated pits, as well as with material in the glomerular deposits of rats with Heymann nephritis. The antibody 4H6 recognized a 110-kilodalton microvillar antigen and reacted with material in the glycocalyx of podocytes of normal glomeruli, but showed only equivocal reactivity with material in the deposits in Heymann nephritis. AG3 failed to immunoprecipitate a distinctive antigen in microvillar preparations and did not react with the glomeruli of normal rats or of rats with Heymann nephritis. All three antibodies reacted with epithelial cells in the intestine, epididymis, and placenta; 4H6 also reacted with thin loops of Henle as well as with endothelial cells or other cells in lung, lymphoid tissue, liver, and spleen. The results demonstrate that not all brush border antigens participate in Heymann nephritis and confirm that an antigen (gp 330) involved in the formation of glomerular deposits in Heymann nephritis is normally present on podocyte surfaces, especially in coated pits, but is not present in extracellular sites.

Animals↗

Effects of intracerebral morphine and enkephalins on the caudate-EEG spindle burst.

In an attempt to study the neural mechanisms of generation of the caudate-EEG spindle burst, effects of morphine, met-enkephalin and leu-enkephalin on the spindle were studied in gallamine-immobilized rats. The "caudate spindle" was significantly enhanced by microinjections of morphine and enkephalins into the lateral ventriculus, the thalamus, the midbrain reticular formation and the hippocampus but not the caudate nucleus, and the effects of these agents were completely antagonized by prior administration of naloxone. Intravenously administered morphine showed inhibitory actions on the neurons in the thalamus and the reticular formation and an excitatory effect on the hippocampal neurons. These results suggest that the enkephalinergic system may play an important role in the generation of the caudate spindle in the rat, i.e. as a positive modulatory system in the manifestation of the caudate spindle.

Animals↗

Iontophoretic evidence for subsensitivity of postsynaptic dopamine receptors following long-term amphetamine administration.

Neuronal activity was recorded from the anteromedial neostriatum of rats pretreated twice daily for 6 consecutive days with saline or 5.0 mg/kg d-amphetamine. Glutamate was applied in both groups of animals to increase spontaneous firing rates. Iontophoretic application of increasing currents of DA (20-120 nA) produced a progressive inhibition of unit activity in control animals that was significantly reduced in rats pretreated with amphetamine. These results support the view that long-term amphetamine treatment reduces the sensitivity of postsynaptic DA receptors in the neostriatum.

Animals↗

Nigral dopaminergic neurons: differential sensitivity to apomorphine following long-term treatment with low and high doses of amphetamine.

Twice daily injections of 1.0 or 5.0 mg/kg D-amphetamine for 6 consecutive days differentially affected the response of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta to challenge injections of apomorphine on the following day. Thus, whereas treatment with the high amphetamine dose produced a dramatic shift to the right of the apomorphine dose-response curve, rats treated with 1.0 mg/kg D-amphetamine responded to apomorphine in the same way as saline-treated controls. These results support the view that long-term treatment with relatively high amphetamine doses is required to produce autoreceptor subsensitivity in the substantia nigra.

Animals↗