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S Garattini

Publications and source records attributed to S Garattini.

551 records · Page 31Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Pharmacokinetics of hexamethylmelamine and pentamethylmelamine in mice.

Plasma pharmacokinetics of hexamethylmelamine (HMM) and pentamethylmelamine (PMM) were investigated after ip administration of doses of 50 or 100 mg/kg to M5076/73A ovarian tumor-bearing C57BL/6J female mice. The half-life of HMM was 44.5-49 mins; the half-life of PMM was 7.6-8.7 mins. The area under the concentration-versus-time curve (AUC) was also much higher for HMM than for PMM. The AUC for the metabolite N2,N2,N4,N6-tetramethylmelamine (TMM) was seven to ten times higher than that of the parent compounds. After incubation with mouse liver microsomes and cofactors, the rates of metabolism of HMM and PMM were essentially the same. Plasma protein binding was 94%, 71%, and 50% for HMM, PMM, and TMM, respectively.

Altretamine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Differential pulse polarographic determination of BCNU pharmacokinetics in patients with lung cancer.

BCNU levels were determined by differential pulse polarography in 12 patients with lung cancer. A simple assay method for submicrogram quantities of nitrosoureas is described. The half-life of BCNU added to plasma in vitro was 1413 mins at 0 degrees C and 12 mins at 37 degrees C during incubation. BCNU kinetics in blood of treated patients was calculated using the two-compartment open model; the half-life of the drug was 1.4 mins in the first phase and 17.8 mins in the second. Mean distribution volume was 2.59 liters/kg and plasma clearance was 16.7 ml/min/kg.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuronal links in the CNS: focus on dopaminergic and serotonergic regulation of striatal cholinergic neurons.

The paper reviews the previous data of the authors on the links between dopamine and acetylcholine and serotonin and acetylcholine systems in the striatum. The results of studies in which the effects of alteration of dopaminergic and serotonergic transmission on striatal acetylcholine level were assessed, indicate the presence of two independent striatal cholinergic neuron populations, one of which is under inhibitory control of serotonergic, and another--of dopaminergic system.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The decalogue of the post-manual].

On the 1st January the Italian Health Ministry published a new Drug List, where marketed pharmaceutical products had been re-classified by the ad hoc Commission (CUF, Commissione Unica del Farmaco). Drugs were divided in three categories: A. effective drugs (drugs able to prolong life or improve quality of life), provided by the NHS without any charge for the consumer; B. drugs whose therapeutic role is less "critical", and or could be a second option, for which the consumer is expected to pay 50% of the price; C. compounds without any documented efficacy, not reimbursed by the NHS. H. drugs to be prescribed only by the hospital services. One of the key members of CUF proposed a comprehensive evaluation of the work done, which has been seen as a "revolution", with hot debates from all concerned parties (including the strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry and private pharmacists). Overall, the number of efficacious drugs freely available for the majority of patients has tripled, while the exclusion (into class C) of many (often very expensive) useless drugs is expected to decrease the overall public drug expenditure.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pharmacology of ingestive behaviour.

We have attempted to provide a progress report on current research on the role of catecholamines and serotonin receptor subtypes in feeding control. Recent evidence suggests that only some of the several catecholamine receptor subtypes are specifically involved in feeding control. They include the beta 1/2-adrenoceptors, the alpha 1-adrenoceptors and the D1 dopamine receptors: stimulation of these receptors reduces feeding in rats. Stimulation of serotonergic 5-HT1B and 5-HT2C receptors reduces feeding and perhaps enhances the satiating effect of food. Recently, an interesting reciprocal relation between serotonin and cholecystokinin has been discovered in relation to feeding control. The serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors are involved in stress-induced anorexia and regulate the hyperphagia induced by neuropeptide Y in the nucleus paraventricularis of the hypothalamus. Both effects may involve changes in the secretion of corticotropin-releasing factor. These findings may help elaborate neuronal models of feeding control and perhaps facilitate progress in the pharmacotherapy of human obesity and eating disorders.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Are me-too drugs justified?

The successful progress of pharmacology in the treatment of several diseases has led to the development of a powerful pharmaceutical industry with an estimated market of over $250 billion. It is therefore understandable that as drug development and marketing has become a major business it has adopted the rules common to other commercial fields. This is a potentially dangerous trend because it undermines what should be the main goal of drug development, i.e. to make active medicinal agents available to the patient with precise and reliable information, at the lowest possible cost, particularly when a national health system has to supply the drugs to patients who have too low an income to pay for them. The huge drug market has also set in motion a competition among pharmaceutical firms. This has meant that as soon as a prototype drug becomes available several other similarly active compounds immediately follow. These followers are usually called "me-too drugs". Me-too drugs can be broadly defined as chemically related to the prototype, or other chemical compounds which have an identical mechanism of action. This increasing marketing of me-too drugs has been questioned, so pharmaceutical firms are justifying the development of not-so-innovative drugs. The most common arguments can be summarized as follows: me-too drugs offer an improvement on the efficacy of the prototype; they show a different profile of adverse effects; they are effective in patients resistant to the prototype; they improve compliance in long-term treatment; they are less expensive than the prototype. It is the purpose of this paper to review the evidence substantiating these statements, giving some figures regarding me-too drugs and presenting a few examples.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors↗