Cocaine and other drug interactions: strategy considerations.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R T Jones.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The glutamyl residue at G3(101)beta of normal hemoglobin (Hb A) is one of the alpha 1 beta 2 subunit contacts which are vital to O2 binding properties of the molecule. The O2 equilibrium properties of the four mutants with different substitutions at this site are studied in order to elucidate the role of this residue. Under stripped conditions with minimum chloride the order of O2 affinity is: Hb A (Glu) much less than Hb Rush (Gln) less than or equal to Hb British Columbia (Lys) less than or equal to Hb Potomac (Asp) less than or equal to Hb Alberta (Gly). The first Adair constants, K1, for the mutant hemoglobins are greater than that for Hb A whereas the fourth, K4, are similar, indicating that the allosteric constants (L) of these mutants are greatly reduced. Therefore, the G3(101)beta residue contributes intrinsically to the strengthening of the structural constraints that are imposed upon the deoxy (T) forms but not the oxy (R) form. On addition of 0.1 M Cl- and further addition of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate or inositol hexaphosphate, their O2 affinities and cooperativities are altered, reflecting different responses to anionic ligands. Hb Rush exhibits a stronger chloride effect than Hb A and the other variants and, as a result, an increased Bohr effect and a smaller heat of oxygenation at pH 6.5. These changes are consistent with an increased positive net charge in the central cavity of Hb Rush and subsequent extra anion binding in the deoxy form. The tetramer to dimer dissociation constants are estimated to be greater than normal for Hb British Columbia and less than normal for Hb Alberta. This comparative study of the G3(101)beta mutants indicates that the size and the charge of this residue may influence the switching of two neighboring interchain hydrogen bonds that occurs during oxygenation of normal hemoglobin.
The effects of cocaine on a human electroencephalographic event related potential (ERP) were measured. Forty-eight subjects received one of three IV doses (0.2, 0.4, or 0.6 mg/kg) and placebo. Thirty-three subjects received one of three oral doses (2, 3, or 4 mg/kg). All IV and oral doses reduced amplitude of the auditory ERP P200 and P300 components during the oddball task. P200 latency decreased. N100 amplitude was reduced only after IV administration. The changes in ERPs occurred during the period of peak cardiovascular and subjective effects. The amplitude reduction in ERP components occurring before the P300 component is consistent with decrements in attention, specifically selective attention. The P300 amplitude reduction after cocaine suggests a disruption of stimulus evaluation resources. The findings are inconsistent with the notion that stimulants affect only response selection and execution. The degree to which stimulants alter cognitive processes prior to response selection may depend on the magnitude of the cardiovascular, subjective, and probably other noncognitive effects.
The effects of cocaine by two routes of administration were studied on the resting, awake human EEG during a 2 min sequential subtraction task. Fifty subjects were given 1 of 3 intravenous cocaine doses (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/kg). Thirty-three subjects received 1 of 3 oral doses of cocaine (2, 3 and 4 mg/kg). The EEG was analyzed as spectral power for delta, theta, alpha and beta bands. At each dose for both routes of administration, cocaine increased beta power. The increase was observed at the 5 min post-drug test session for the subjects given intravenous cocaine and at both 45 and 75 min test sessions for subjects given oral doses. In addition, a decrease in delta power was found at the 5 min test for the intravenous group and theta power was decreased at the 45 min test session. The increase in beta power was correlated with the area under the cocaine plasma versus time curve, but not with the cardiovascular effects of cocaine. The increased beta activity observed with cocaine may be a consequence of the direct stimulation of a central noradrenergic arousal system.
An enzymatic radioimmunoassay (ERIA) has been developed for detecting Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona in porcine urine. Four grower pigs were experimentally infected with serovar pomona. A total of 39 urine samples was collected, and ERIA was compared with dark ground microscopy (DGM) and culture for demonstrating leptospiruria. Of 20 samples positive by at least one technique, leptospires were detected by ERIA in 14, by culture in 16 and by DGM in 13. ERIA, unlike the other 2 methods, was suitable for use with urine which had been stored frozen for several months.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Exocrine pancreas in vitro models are useful for the study of pancreatic differentiation, secretion mechanisms, cell injury, and lysosomal processing of secretory product. Syrian hamster pancreas in explant organ culture undergoes a series of morphologic changes which parallel in vitro acinar cell injury, differentiation, and phenotypic alteration. Within 48 hours, the cultured acinar cells show morphologic evidence of sublethal cell injury. Autophagy and crinophagy are particularly striking. The autophagic processes can be inhibited by the addition of the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide or by culture at lowered temperatures (20 degrees C). Acinar cells lethally damaged show pyknotic nuclei, high amplitude swelling, and necrosis. Approximately 25% of each explant is viable after 72 hr in culture and the viability remains constant at 25-35% for up to 60 days of culture. The morphological changes of the explants are consistent with many of the features of pancreatitis and carcinoma of the exocrine pancreas. There is an increase in the ductal elements and a decrease in acini over time in culture. This may be due to: (a) an increased replication of ductal epithelial cells concomitant with necrosis of acinar epithelial cells and/or (b) phenotypic alteration of acinar cells to ductal cells. Acinar cell necrosis and phenotypic alterations may in part be due to the activation of lysosomal degradation pathways. Processes which inhibit lysosomal activation proved protective against these alterations, while processes which promote zymogen activation were deleterious.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Hb Long Island was found in a diabetic man and his nondiabetic mother as the result of a routine clinical measurement of Hb AIc. It is present in amounts approximately equal to Hb A. Its alpha chains are normal but its beta chains have two alterations compared to the normal. A methionyl residue is attached to the usual NH2-terminal valyl residue. This valyl residue is followed by prolyl residue in place of the usual histidyl residue 2. The remaining sequence of the beta chain is normal. No hemoglobin or abnormal beta chain containing only the prolyl substitution could be detected by several different electrophoretic and HPLC procedures. We postulate that Hb Long Island is the result of a mutation in which a single nucleotide change causes the substitution of a prolyl residue for the normal histidyl residue at position 2 of the beta chain. We further postulate that this abnormal prolyl residue inhibits enzymatic cleavage of the initiator methionyl residue from the abnormal beta chain during posttranslational processing. Although the oxygen affinities of the whole blood, suspended cells, and hemolysate are normal, the affinity of the isolated Hb Long Island is slightly decreased and the effects of organic phosphates are reduced compared to normal. These changes are consistent with the loss of the normal histidyl residue 2 and the extension of the NH2-terminal end of the beta-chain molecule.
Syrian golden hamster pancreatic organ explants were treated with either methylnitrosourea (MNU) or N-methyl-N-nitroso-N'-nitroguanidine (MNNG). In control explants treated with only dimethylsulfoxide, there was evidence of autophagy and crinophagy in acinar cells. Carcinogen-exposed explants showed increased numbers of autophagic and crinophagic vacuoles. In long-term cultured explants there was an increase in the number of ducts over zero time control tissues. Eosinophilic cells similar to hepatocyte-like cells were seen in 90% of the carcinogen-treated explant experiments and in 45% of the controls. Nitrosamine exposure did not induce an increase in the overall amount of necrosis measured morphometrically. Nitrosamine exposure in vitro appears to lead to a sequence of events that follow carcinogen metabolism by the acinar cells. The changes that follow include altered cell morphology and toxic cell injury evidenced by autophagic and crinophagic processes, regeneration of ductal appearing cells, the appearance of hepatocyte-like cells and an overall increase in the amount of ductal metaplasia. Within some of these ductal foci, several ductules show atypical features.
A model of acute blood loss in rats with a reproducible mortality rate over a wide range of body weights was developed by withdrawing various amounts of fixed blood volume per 100 g body weight via the left common carotid artery and observing the survival of the animals. Younger (lighter) animals survived the bleeding longer than older (heavier) animals. As early as 70 min following the shock episode there was evidence of acute tubular necrosis in kidney proximal tubules and focal centrilobular necrosis in the liver. The 84%, 50%, or 16% body weight - mortality line was: V84 = -0.17 BW + 3.25; V50 = -0.18 BW + 3.16; or V16 = -0.18 BW + 3.01 in animals ranging from 250 to 400 g body weight (where V = bleeding volume ml/100 g body weight, BW = body weight in grams X 10(-2). To produce the same mortality rate, the bleeding volume per unit body weight decreased with increased body weight. On the other hand, the bleeding volume per total blood volume or per unit body surface area increased with increased body weight. The body weight-mortality line is a useful method to calculate the bleeding volume to produce predetermined mortality rate. This method can be easily applied to various pathophysiological and metabolic studies on the nature of acute blood loss as well as in the treatment of acute blood loss.
Supplemental nicotine gum reduced the intensity of smoking in six one-and-a-half to two-pack-a-day smokers. The study involved two 4-hour self-paced smoking sessions where nicotine and placebo chewing gum were administered in a double-blind fashion. Puff volume, puff duration, inhaled volume, inhaled duration, and interpuff interval were calculated for each puff on each cigarette. Blood was drawn for nicotine levels at regular intervals as well as before and after each cigarette. Cardiovascular measures were made at regular intervals. The nicotine gum reduced smoking frequency and intensity as predicted by the titration hypothesis. Precise titration (i.e., equal nicotine blood levels on both test days) was confounded by changes in smoked nicotine delivery produced by the gum. The gum, whether placebo or active, increased smoked nicotine absorption. However, while nicotine blood levels were slightly higher on nicotine gum day, the differences may not be biologically meaningful since heart rate and blood pressure increases were similar on both days. Difficulties testing the titration hypothesis are discussed.
Pregnancy in female carriers of abnormal hemoglobins with great avidity for oxygen provides a unique opportunity to assess the importance of the usual difference in oxygen affinity between fetal and maternal blood. Outcome of pregnancy was recorded for carriers of hemoglobins Bethesda, Osler, and Yakima, whose p50s (9.5, 9.1, and 12 mm Hg at pH 7.4) were far lower than that of a normal fetus (23 mm Hg at pH 7.3). Neither spontaneous abortions nor intrauterine growth retardation could be attributed to the presence of high oxygen affinity in the mothers. In vitro simulations suggested that neither maternal or fetal polycythemia alone was sufficient to adjust for perturbation of the normal situation, and increased uterine and/or fetal blood flow probably provided additional compensation.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Hemoglobin Wayne (Hb Wayne) is a frame-shift, elongated alpha-chain variant that exists in two forms, with either asparagine or aspartic acid as residue 139. Oxygen equilibrium studies showed that stripped Hb Wayne Asn and Hb Wayne Asp possessed high oxygen affinity (P 1/2 = 0.60 and 0.23 mmHg at pH 7, respectively), were non-co-operative and have a markedly reduced Bohr effect (-delta log P 1/2/pH (7 to 8) = 0.34 and 0.10, respectively). Adding organic phosphate results in a decreased oxygen affinity and increased Bohr effect for both Hbs Wayne. The overall rate of carbon monoxide binding at pH 7 (l' = 5.6 X 10(6) M-1 S-1) was similar for both stripped Hbs Wayne and was 25-fold more rapid than that of stripped Hb A. When organic phosphate was added, Hb Wayne Asn exhibited a homogeneous slower rate of carbon monoxide binding (l' = 2.6 X 10(6) M-1 S-1), whereas Hb Wayne Asp showed heterogeneous binding (l' = 6.1 X 10(6) and 2.6 X 10(6) M-1 S-1 for fast and slow phases, respectively). The rates of overall oxygen dissociation and oxygen dissociation with carbon monoxide replacement for both Hbs Wayne were found to be slow compared to Hb A and uniquely different from each other. Similarly, sedimentation velocity experiments indicated that, although Hb Wayne Asn and Hb Wayne Asp were both less tetrameric than Hb A, each hemoglobin exhibited a distinct degree of oxygen-linked subunit dissociation. These observed differences in the allosteric properties of Hb Wayne Asn and Hb Wayne Asp appeared to be directly attributable to residue 139. The equilibrium and kinetic data are consistent with the X-ray diffraction analysis of Hb Wayne Asp, which shows that the C terminus of the deoxytetramers are severely disordered, a condition that results in major destabilization of the T conformation and disruption of normal hemoglobin function.
Two types of embryonic hemoglobins (Hb) containing zeta chains have been identified in the blood of several neonates of Chinese origin with homozygous alpha-thalassemia. In addition to Hb Portland I (zeta 2 gamma 2) which was previously reported, another embryonic hemoglobin has been detected and found to contain zeta chains and beta chains. It is being designated Hb Portland II and has the formula (zeta 2 beta 2). It has a mobility slightly slower than that of Hb A on starch gel electrophoresis at pH 8.6 and has been found in the hemolysates of blood of some but not all hydropic infants. Another component with a mobility faster than that of Hb A2 on starch gel has been isolated from the blood of some hydropic neonates. This latter component is postulated to be zeta 2 delta 2. The occurrence of Hb Portland I and Hb Portland II in these hydropic neonates is consistent with the hypothesis that, in the absence of normal alpha chain production, zeta chains are continued to be produced at later states of development than normal and form tetramers with each of the beta-like globin chains. Because Hb Portland II has not been found in blood from all hydropic neonates, we postulate that the presence of this hemoglobin in these fetuses may be correlated with the gestational age of the fetus at the time of birth.
A rapid and sensitive gas chromatographic method is described for the determination of cocaine in plasma. A close structural analogue of cocaine, m-toluylecgonine methyl ester, is used as an internal standard. The simplicity of the extraction scheme and the use of an automatic sampler makes the method convenient for large numbers of samples generated in pharmacokinetic studies.