Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N S Khan

Publications and source records attributed to N S Khan.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Potent activation of nitric oxide synthase by garlic: a basis for its therapeutic applications.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is thought to have a variety of therapeutic applications including inhibition of platelet aggregation. Many of the therapeutic actions of garlic parallel the physiological effects of nitric oxide and may be explained by its ability to increase nitric oxide synthase activity intracellularly. Our studies showed that both water and alcoholic extracts of garlic are very potent inhibitors of platelet aggregation induced by epinephrine and ADP. Similar dilutions of garlic extract also activated nitric oxide synthase activity in isolated platelets in vitro. The same extract was also very effective in activating nitric oxide synthase activity in placental villous tissue. The addition of garlic extracts increased nitric oxide synthase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Nitrite levels in the supernatants of incubated placental villous tissue were similarly increased. Activation of calcium-dependent nitric oxide synthase and the subsequent production of nitric oxide is probably the most novel mechanism yet claimed by which garlic can exert its therapeutic properties.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗

Neonatal resuscitation.

All emergency departments should be adequately equipped and well prepared to handle a newborn delivery and resuscitation. It is important to remember that most neonates will respond to drying, warming, positioning, suctioning, and tactile stimulation and that overzealous and invasive resuscitation is not only unwarranted in most cases, but substantially increases the risk of iatrogenic complications. After the initial management, further therapy is based on assessment of respirations, heart rate, and skin and mucous membrane color. An algorithm outlining neonatal resuscitation is presented in Figure 6.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗

Smooth-pursuit initiation in the presence of a textured background in monkey.

Smooth pursuit eye movements in the monkey were studied by measuring the average eye acceleration in the first 100 msec of the ocular response to suddenly moving constant velocity discrete visual targets. The tracking target's motion was initiated on or eccentric to the fovea against a very dimly lit homogeneous background or an illuminated, highly textured, large-field background. The effect of the textured background was always to reduce the initial eye acceleration as compared to that present in the homogeneous background case. Movement of the background in the opposite direction to target spot movement also reduced the initial eye acceleration. In contrast, steady-state tracking measured several hundred msec after the onset of pursuit under the same conditions was only marginally reduced by the presence of the textured background.

Animals↗

Sensory transduction and neuronal transmission as related to ultrastructure and encoding of information in different labyrinthine receptor systems of vertebrates.

Mechano-electric transduction and neuronal transmission were studied in sensory systems ascending from and descending to single receptor cells of the labyrinth organs in submammalian vertebrates. The animals were young crocodiles (Caiman crocodilus), geckos (Gekko gecko, Tarentola mauritanica), and turtles (Pseudemys scripta elegans, Chinemys reevesii). Intracellular receptor potentials from the apical region of the hair cell (or from the ciliary surface) were recorded in the ampullar, macular, and papillar sensory cells. These single-cell responses are, within limits, proportional to stimulus amplitude, frequency, or phase and are bidirectional in that they show depolarization by kinociliopetal stereociliar displacement and hyperpolarization by kinociliofugal displacement. Synaptic potentials (presynaptic from the basal region of the hair cell, postsynaptic from the contacting nerve endings) were recorded in the utricular, saccular, and lagenar neuroepithelia with electron-optic localization of the in situ fixed microelectrode tip. As local excitatory or inhibitory processes, respectively, they follow the stimulus and receptor potential with latency and with nonlinear distortion. Action potentials (spikes), as synchronized by the excitatory synaptic potentials, were recorded from single nerve fibers or bipolar cells, related to ampullar, macular, or papillar receptor units. Unit responses and synaptic potentials were recorded from the first, second, and following centripetal and central neurons of the ascending systems, or from neurons of the descending systems in the brain stem or from centrifugal neurons. Such records were achieved during adequate mechanical or acoustical stimulation of the different receptor systems, with additional electrical stimulation, uni- or bilaterally. Thus, the influence of centripetal-centrifugal bilateral interaction on the receptor functions was measured, as inhibition or disinhibition, respectively. The input-output relations of these sequential stages of information transfer were plotted as histograms of different types, as characteristic curves, power spectra, or by correlation operations, with or without feedback, from the different systemic levels.U

Alligators and Crocodiles↗

Functions of different receptor systems in the reptilian labyrinth.

Different biopotentials, following a mechanical stimulus, were recorded from single hair cells of the reptilian labyrinth, with electronoptically circumscript localizations: 1. From the apical cell pole, the receptor potential, intracellular or from the ciliary surface, within the physiological range proportional to stimulus amplitude, frequency or phase, without delay, and with no real threshold of mechanosensitivity, as measured by ciliary displacement amplitude or velocity. 2. From the synaptic zone, in the basal region of the hair cell, or from contacting nerve endings, the synaptic potentials, local excitatory or inhibitory processes, respectively, with measurable latencies and with non-linear distortion. 3. From the (dendritic) endings of the first afferent neuron (or neurons), spike-shaped action potentials, synchronized by the (excitatory) synaptic potentials. Characteristic curves were plotted as a quantitative representation of the mechano-electric input-output relations of the different types of hair cells. For proceeding morphological and physiological system analysis, the comparison of the different submammalian inner-ear receptor systems gives us some new possibility of a closer correlation between ultrastructure and function.

Acoustic Stimulation↗