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Biomedical subjects

M Pazzagli

Publications and source records attributed to M Pazzagli.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Seminal plasma levels of testosterone and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone in azoospermic patients.

Testosterone (T) and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) have been measured in seminal plasma of sixteen azoospermic patients with tubular damage (germinal cell arrest or Sertoli cell only syndrome) and five patients affected by azoospermia of obstructive origin. In both groups T values were not significantly different from controls, while DHT was significantly lower in patients affected by azoospermia of obstructive origin.

Dihydrotestosterone↗
PubMed1978

Klinefelter's syndrome: a study of its hormonal plasma pattern.

Plasma testosterone (T), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 17 beta-estradiol (E2), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), androstenedione (delta), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), 5-androstene-3 beta-17 beta-diol (A-diol) and cortisol (F) have been measured in a group of normal males and in a group of patients with Klinefelter's syndrome (KS) before and after hCG stimulation. Significantly lower baseline levels of T and DHT and significantly higher baseline levels of E2 were found in patients with KS. No significant differences were found between baseline levels of 17-OHP, delta, DHEA, DHEAS, A-diol, and F. After hCG stimulation between T, DHT, E2 and 17-OHP levels showed a significant increase in the two groups of subjects. The percentage variation of T and DHT, however, was much less important in Klinefeiter patients, while E2 and 17-OHP did not show a significantly different pattern from that of normal controls, hCG administration did not produce any significant variation of delta, DHEA, DHEAS, and F in the two groups of subjects, while A-diol levels increased significantly in normal subjects, but not in Klinefelter patients. Our data may be consistent with the hypothesis that testicular steroidogenesis in Klinefelter patients is impaired below the 21-C-steriod level not only at delta 4 but also at the delta 5 pathway.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Plasma androgens in women with hyperprolactinaemic amenorrhoea.

Cortisol, androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHAS) and free dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) were measured in plasma of ten women affected by amenorrhoea with hyperprolactinaemia and eleven women affected by secondary hypothalamic amenorrhoea; twelve normal women at the second day of the menstrual cycle were used as controls. All subjects were hospitalized and 17-ketosteroids, 17OH-corticosteroids and total dehydroepiandrosterone were also measured in urine. Plasma DHAS was increased in all subjects affected by amenorrhoea with hyperprolactinaemia, while plasma DHA and urinary DHA were significantly increased in this group in comparison to other groups. Plasma cortisol, androstenedione and testosterone and urinary 17-oxosteroids and 17OH-corticosteroids were not significantly differnt in the three groups. In subjects affected by amenorrhoea with hyperprolactinaemia treated with bromocriptine a clear decrease of DHAS correlating with a decrease of plasma prolactin was observed. Since in wome DHAS sems to be almost exclusively secreted by the adrenal gland and most of the circulating DHA is dervied from adrenal secretion, these data suggest that human prolactin can stimulate DHAS production by the adrenal cortex.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMed1976

Dihydrotestosterone in human ovarian venous plasma.

Androstenedione (delta), oestradiol-17beta (Oe2), 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), progesterone (P) and testosterone (T) concentrations have been measured by radioimmunoassay in ovarian and peripheral venous blood from 15 women in the luteal phase of the cycle. The ovarian blood samples were obtained during surgical intervention from 15 ovaries containing the corpus luteum and from 5 contralateral ovaries. The mean concentration of DHT in ovarian venous blood was not higher than that found in the cubital vein. However in some cases with high concentrations of testosterone in ovarian venous blood, a small but significant DHT gradient was found.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Radioimmunoassay of plasma dihydrotestosterone in normal and hypogonodal men.

A radioimmunoassay for determination of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in man is described. After extraction from plasma, DHT is separated by paper chromatography. The radioimmunoassay is performed using an antiserum to dihydrotestosterone-3-oxime-BSA and a charcoal-dextran mixture is used to separate the free from the bound fraction. The reliability criteria of the method in terms of precision, accuracy, sensitivity and specificity have been evaluated. The mean level of DHT in plasma samples from young (age 21-37) and old (age 65-90) normal men is respectively (mean+/-SD) 54-7+/-19 ng/dl (n = 17) and 39-1+/-19 ng/dl (n = 14). The difference is statistically significant (P less than 0-01). The values found in seven patients with Klinefelter's syndrome (21-0+/-6 ng/dl) are significantly lower than normal young subjects (P less than 0-01). Lastly, the DHT levels found in a mixed group of male hypogonadism (azoospermia, due to tubular failure, germinal cell aplasia and anorchia) are reported.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Serum antioxidant capacity in healthy and diabetic subjects as determined by enhanced chemiluminescence.

Free radicals are considered to be important factors involved in many physiopathological processes. Several methods have been proposed for studying the mechanisms of antioxidant protection against free radical-induced injury, including the measurement of the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in body fluids, based on enhanced chemiluminescence. This technique is calibrated against Trolox and assay results are expressed as mumol/L of Trolox equivalents. Since many of the complications induced by diabetes appear to be mediated by oxygen free radical generation, we have investigated serum antioxidant capacity in a group of healthy subjects and in insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) subjects. A statistically significant difference was noticed in TAC values between the IDDM group and the young control group. Even if the biological meaning of this significant reduction in TAC remains to be explained, an overproduction of precursors of reactive oxygen free radicals and/or a decreased scavenger systems efficiency can be associated with the increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chimeric receptors as a tool for luminescent measurement of biological activities of steroid hormones.

Some applications of chimeric cellular models are presented to study the biological activities of steroid hormones. We have used several chimeric constructs encoding the DNA binding domain of Gal4 yeast protein fused to the hormone binding domain of various steroid receptors (MR, PR, GR and ER). Interactions of these chimeric receptors with a 17-mer DNA sequence, specific for Gal-4, control expression of the firefly luciferase as a reporter gene. Stable transfected cell lines expressing the firefly luciferase under the control of different steroids were established and an efficient and easy sub-cloning was allowed with the help of an imaging system using a single-photon-counting camera. In the cell lines obtained, the bioluminescent response can be easily measured and thus used to measure specific biological activities of steroid agonists or antagonists. We observed that the responses are effector-concentration-dependent and their biological activities will be compared to those of native receptors.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Image analysis in quantitative PCR. An application for the measurement of c-erbB-2 oncogene amplification in DNA from human tumours.

We present an application of image analysis for the direct quantification of PCR products after gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining of DNA. This procedure has been applied to the development of an assay based on competitive PCR for the measurement of the degree of amplification of c-erbB-2 oncogene in DNA from human tumours. In this method two DNA species (genomic and competitor) compete for PCR amplification. Since results are calculated from the final competitor/genomic ratio any variable affecting the rate of PCR amplification has no effect on the accuracy of the ratio measurement. Results are reported which show that even large variations in the experimental conditions (number of PCR cycles, sample volumes and extracted DNA quality) did not interfere with the precision of the measurement of the competitor/genomic ratio.

Binding, Competitive↗
PubMedDate not supplied

TCA-100 tumour chemosensitivity assay: differences in sensitivity between cultured tumour cell lines and clinical studies.

The BATLE LE TCA-100 tumour chemosensitivity assay has been used to evaluate chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity of cultured tumour cell lines. Studies were performed using test drug concentrations calibrated to discriminate sensitivity and resistance of clinical specimens. Strong sensitivity which appeared to be inconsistent with clinical experience was detected for some drugs and cell lines. Findings of strong sensitivity were consistent with basic differences between sensitivity testing cultured cell lines and clinical specimens. Results with cell lines frequently may not apply directly to clinical applications. Characterization of differences between cell lines and clinical specimens may assist in application of cell line findings to clinical trials.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

In vivo amino acid release from the striatum of aging rats: adenosine modulation.

The release of glutamate, aspartate, GABA, and taurine from the striatum of young (3 months), mature (12 months), and old (22 months), freely moving male rats was investigated by using a microdialysis fiber inserted transversally in the striatum. In old rats basal extracellular glutamate and aspartate levels were decreased vs. young rats (-38 and -49%, respectively). GABA and taurine levels were unmodified by age. In the presence of the adenosine receptor antagonist 8-phenyltheophilline (8-pT) at the concentration of 50 microM, both K(+)-evoked releases of glutamate and aspartate were more than doubled in young, but not in mature and old rats. 8-pT at the concentration of 500 microM significantly decreased glutamate basal levels and K(+)-evoked aspartate release in old rats only. GABA and taurine releases were not affected by 8-pT at either dose. Our findings indicate a modified adenosine modulation on glutamate and aspartate release in aged rats, that could result from a change in the balance between A1 and A2a adenosine receptor density or an alteration of A1 and A2a receptor-effector coupling.

Adenosine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Thrombin-antithrombin III complexes as an additional diagnostic aid in pulmonary embolism.

Plasma levels of selected coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters (activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, fibrinogen, antithrombin III, protein C, thrombin-anti-thrombin III complexes (TAT), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), plasminogen, alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor) were evaluated in 90 patients with clinical suspicion of pulmonary embolism (PE). Plasma levels of fibrinogen, PAI-1 and TAT were significantly higher in patients than in controls (p < 0.01): evaluation of TAT displayed a sensitivity of 96.1% and specificity of 30.8%, and positive and negative predictive values of 64.5 and 85.7%, respectively. The number of nonperfused lung segments correlated directly with TAT levels (p < 0.01) and inversely with arterial pO2 values (p < 0.01). No significant difference was found in the other parameters between patients and controls. Our results suggest that the finding of normal TAT plasma levels can help to exclude PE in patients with clinically suspected PE.

Aged↗