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Biomedical subjects

M Aslam

Publications and source records attributed to M Aslam.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Retroperitoneal metastases from carcinoma of the bladder.

We report two patients of metastatic retroperitoneal tumours from carcinoma of the bladder, one presenting with a retroperitoneal mass and the other with retroperitoneal fibrosis. Both cases had been previously treated by radiotherapy for invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and had no evident of recurrent tumour in the bladder during follow up or at the time of presentation with secondary tumours. Literature reviews revealed that urothelial tumours from the bladder rarely metastasize to the retroperitoneal space.

Carcinoma, Transitional Cell↗

Verapamil as a hypotensive agent under general anaesthesia.

Thirty-six adult female patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy under general anaesthesia were evaluated for the haemodynamic effects of IV verapamil in bolus dose of either 50 micrograms/kg (group A), 60 micrograms/kg (group B) or 75 micrograms/kg (group C). The result showed a dose dependent fall in the mean arterial pressure and increase in the P-R interval. The fall in heart rate was marginally more in group A and B as compared to group C.

Adult↗

Role of nitrate and nitrite in the induction of nitrite reductase in leaves of barley seedlings.

The role of NO3- and NO2- in the induction of nitrite reductase (NiR) activity in detached leaves of 8-day-old barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings was investigated. Barley leaves contained 6 to 8 micromoles NO2-/gram fresh weight x hour of endogenous NiR activity when grown in N-free solutions. Supply of both NO2- and NO3- induced the enzyme activity above the endogenous levels (5 and 10 times, respectively at 10 millimolar NO2- and NO3- over a 24 hour period). In NO3(-)-supplied leaves, NiR induction occurred at an ambient NO3- concentration of as low as 0.05 millimolar; however, no NiR induction was found in leaves supplied with NO2- until the ambient NO2- concentration was 0.5 millimolar. Nitrate accumulated in NO2(-)-fed leaves. The amount of NO3- accumulating in NO2(-)-fed leaves induced similar levels of NiR as did equivalent amounts of NO3- accumulating in NO3(-)-fed leaves. Induction of NiR in NO2(-)-fed leaves was not seen until NO3- was detectable (30 nanomoles/gram fresh weight) in the leaves. The internal concentrations of NO3-, irrespective of N source, were highly correlated with the levels of NiR induced. When the reduction of NO3- to NO2- was inhibited by WO4(2-), the induction of NiR was inhibited only partially. The results indicate that in barley leaves in NiR is induced by NO3- directly, i.e. without being reduced to NO2-, and that absorbed NO2- induces the enzyme activity indirectly after being oxidized to NO3- within the leaf.

Enzyme Induction↗

Effect of difluoromethylornithine on the LH surge and subsequent ovulation in the rat.

Female Wistar-derived rats with regular oestrous cycles were injected s.c. at 15.00 h on pro-oestrus with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a specific inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase. The drug (10-100 mg/rat) caused a dose-related reduction in the concentration of LH in plasma taken at 19.00 h (the time of the peak of the LH surge in this colony). There was also a dose-related reduction in the pituitary content of total polyamines. The reduction in the plasma concentration of LH was not due to the shifting of the time of the peak of the surge, as concentrations were significantly lower than control from 17.00 to 21.00 h, the overall reduction in total LH release being approximately 50%. The number of ova in the oviducts at 06.00 h next morning was significantly reduced by treatment with 50 mg DFMO/rat, by an average of 70%. Injection of DFMO enhanced the fall in plasma oestradiol concentrations seen between 15.00 and 19.00 h, in a dose-related manner. It also prevented the rise in progesterone concentrations seen in control animals during this period. The ability of DFMO to prevent the rise in plasma concentrations of LH was not secondary to the effects of the drug on ovarian steroid production because DFMO also significantly reduced the LH surge in animals ovariectomized on dioestrus and given appropriate replacement injections of oestradiol and progesterone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Stearic acid and carcinogenesis.

Decreased membrane rigidity is one of the characteristics of malignant cells, resulting in part from the desaturation of stearic acid into oleic acid. In this study we investigated the influence of stearic acid on tumour cell inhibition in vitro and tumour development in vivo. Stearic acid inhibited the colony-forming ability of 4 out of 5 rat and two human tumour continuous cell lines in vitro. In contrast, the colony-forming ability of rat fibroblasts was not inhibited and that of human foetal lung fibroblasts was inhibited at a higher dose than that required to inhibit human tumour cell lines. Using a model of rat mammary carcinoma induced by nitroso-methyl urea (NMU) the subcutaneous injection of stearic acid at weekly intervals prevented tumour development in 5 to 10 rats. Using iodostearic acid twice weekly, 11 of 19 rats were alive and tumour free at week 22 whilst all of 14 animals injected with NMU alone had died of tumour by the 16th week. The ratio of stearic to oleic acids in erythrocyte membranes was significantly reduced in the tumour-bearing rats, but was normal in tumour-free animals treated with stearic or iodostearic acid. These preliminary data indicate that stearic acid inhibits tumour development in rats.

Animals↗

Protection from endotoxemia: a rat model of plasmapheresis and specific adsorption with polymyxin B.

Polymyxin B (PB), a cyclic polypeptide antibiotic, has potent antiendotoxin properties but is associated with significant toxicity when given parenterally. As an alternative, PB was immobilized on a solid phase (Sepharose 4B; Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden), and a system of plasmapheresis was developed in the conscious rat, with specific on-line plasma adsorption of endotoxin by a PB-Sepharose column. PB-Sepharose columns removed 94% of a challenge dose of 5 micrograms of endotoxin in vitro. Rats were pretreated with lead acetate so that they were sensitized to endotoxin and then given 10 micrograms of endotoxin/kg intraarterially. After 15 min plasmapheresis was begun and continued for 90 min. Animals whose plasma was perfused over PB-Sepharose were protected from endotoxin-induced leukopenia (P less than .01), thrombocytopenia (P less than .001), and death (four of four survivors compared with none of four controls). Thus plasmapheresis with on-line removal of endotoxin is a safe and highly effective means of protecting animals from the effects of endotoxemia.

Animals↗

Comparative induction of nitrate reductase by nitrate and nitrite in barley leaves.

The comparative induction of nitrate reductase (NR) by ambient NO3- and NO2- as a function of influx, reduction (as NR was induced) and accumulation in detached leaves of 8-day-old barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings was determined. The dynamic interaction of NO3- influx, reduction and accumulation on NR induction was shown. The activity of NR, as it was induced, influenced its further induction by affecting the internal concentration of NO3-. As the ambient concentration of NO3- increased, the relative influences imposed by influx and reduction on NO3- accumulation changed with influx becoming a more predominant regulant. Significant levels of NO3- accumulated in NO2(-)-fed leaves. When the leaves were supplied cycloheximide or tungstate along with NO2-, about 60% more NO3- accumulated in the leaves than in the absence of the inhibitors. In NO3(-)-supplied leaves NR induction was observed at an ambient concentration of as low as 0.02 mM. No NR induction occurred in leaves supplied with NO2- until the ambient NO2- concentration was 0.5 mM. In fact, NR induction from NO2- solutions was not seen until NO3- was detected in the leaves. The amount of NO3- accumulating in NO2(-)-fed leaves induced similar levels of NR as did equivalent amounts of NO3- accumulating from NO3(-)-fed leaves. In all cases the internal concentration of NO3-, but not NO2-, was highly correlated with the amount of NR induced. The evidence indicated that NO3- was a more likely inducer of NR than was NO2-.

Cycloheximide↗

Prolonged sensitisation of pituitary glands in vitro to repeated administration of luteinising hormone-releasing hormone: effects of pulse frequency, ovariectomy, estradiol and progesterone.

Anterior pituitary gland fragments were obtained from female Wistar-derived rats on dioestrus or pro-oestrus and perifused in Biogel columns in vitro. They were subjected at the beginning of each of 5 h of perifusion to a volley of 6 1-min pulses of luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH, 10 nM), given 4 min apart. Luteinising hormone (LH) was measured by radioimmunoassay in sequential 2-min fractions of the perifusate. Pituitary glands removed at 14.00 h on dioestrus showed a characteristic pattern of sensitisation followed by desensitisation to the repeated volleys of LHRH, whereas tissues removed at 10.00 or 14.00 h on pro-oestrus showed no evidence of desensitisation over the 5-hour period, the response to each LHRH volley being greater than the preceding one. Estradiol (E, 3-100 pg/ml) added to the medium from the start of perifusion had no significant effect on the pattern of response from tissues removed on pro-oestrus, but the highest concentration significantly enhanced the response of dioestrus pituitaries to all but the last of the LHRH volleys. Progesterone (P, 1-50 ng/ml) added to the medium produced a dose-related inhibition of the response of pro-oestrous tissues to the LHRH volleys. Groups of animals were ovariectomised (OVX) on dioestrus and used for experiment the next morning. OVX at 10.00 h on dioestrus produced the pattern of response characteristic of dioestrus the next morning, but with much higher levels of LH release, which were unaltered by the addition of E to the medium. OVX at 17.00 h on dioestrus produced an entirely different pattern of response the next day, with high basal and moderate LHRH-induced LH release, and no evidence of changes in sensitivity of the tissue.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Permissive role for ornithine decarboxylase and putrescine in the luteinising hormone surge.

Anterior pituitary gland fragments removed from Wistar-derived rats at 10.00 h on pro-oestrus were perifused with Krebs-bicarbonate medium in a column and exposed to hourly volleys of 6 1-min pulses of 10 nM luteinising hormone (LH)-releasing hormone (LHRH). LH release showed a characteristic pattern of prolonged (over 5 h) sensitisation to the releasing hormone, with the response to each volley becoming progressively greater. The addition of 2 mM difluoromethylornithine (DFMO; an inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase) to the perifusion medium completely inhibited the response to all volleys of LHRH. This effect of DFMO was reversed by the concurrent inclusion of 2 mM putrescine in the medium. Putrescine alone had a small but non-significant enhancing effect on LHRH-induced release, and no significant effect on basal LH release in this system. In a second series of experiments, tissues were loaded with 1-14C-ornithine and the radioactive carbon dioxide released into the medium during the perifusion monitored. Unstimulated pituitary tissues showed constant low levels of carbon dioxide release during 5 h of incubation, but those given hourly volleys of LHRH showed progressively increasing release of radioactivity, which was blocked by the addition of DFMO. No LHRH-stimulated increase in 14CO2 production from 1-14C-ornithine was seen from pituitary tissue removed at 10.00 h on dioestrus. Administration of DFMO (10-100 mg/rat) on the afternoon of pro-oestrus 4 h before the expected peak of the LH surge reduced the magnitude of the subsequent surge and the concentration of the hormone found in the anterior pituitary gland in a dose-related manner. In addition, the concentration of putrescine, but not of spermidine or spermine, was significantly reduced in treated animals (50 mg/rat) at the time of this attenuated surge.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

The effect of endotoxin on peripheral blood lymphocytes in the rat.

We have studied the effects on peripheral blood lymphocytes of the administration to rats of a single dose of endotoxin. Lymphopenia occurred during the first hour, and persisted during 24 hours. Lymphocyte subpopulations were examined by flow cytometry. T-lymphocytes were relatively resistant to the initial effects of endotoxin, but there were no differences in the responses of cells identified as T-helper or T-suppressor/cytotoxic lymphocytes. The effects of endotoxin on peripheral blood lymphocytes is less extreme but appears more persistent than the effects on granulocytes.

Animals↗