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Biomedical subjects

S R Harris

Publications and source records attributed to S R Harris.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Relative effectiveness of 12-hourly fractionation and a non-uniform x-ray schedule in the optimum fractionation of C3H mouse mammary tumours.

In previous experiments the highest proportions of tumours controlled for 150 days at a particular level of skin reaction were obtained with five or nine fractions of X rays in nine or ten days respectively. Poor results were obtained for the same numbers of fractions given in 4 or 18 days respectively. The present work reports results of three "non-standard" fractionation schedules: two with equal doses given at 12-hour intervals over four or nine days and one with eight decreasing doses given at decreasing intervals over 11 days. The two 12-hour interval schedules gave results which were equal to the best obtained by any other schedule tested. The 8F/11d non-uniform schedule, however, gave mediocre results in spite of being close to the previously optimum overall time. When these results are compared with previously published results from the same tumour system two, phases of optimum fractionation are demonstrated. At short overall times, up to four days, the situation is finely balanced, so that fraction size and interval matter greatly and results of the schedules vary from good to bad. At longer overall times, of nine days or more in these tumours, the response is no longer so variable. Eighteen days (two to three times the average volume doubling time) is too long for any successful treatment with this system, presumably because of proliferation in the tumour.

Animals↗

Hereditary hemolytic anemia with human erythrocyte pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase deficiency.

A severe deficiency of a red cell pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase was found to be associated with hereditary hemolytic anemia in four members of three kindreds. The syndrome was characterized by marked increases above normal in red cell basophilic stippling, total nucleotides, and GSH and by a fairly severe deficiency of ribosephosphate pyrophosphokinase (EC 2.7.6.1.). Patient erythrocytes uniquely contained large amounts of pyrimidine 5'-ribonucleotides. In earlier studies, these were erroneously considered to be adenosine phosphates, since all previous investigations of the nucleotides of human red cells and reticulocytes have shown 97% or more to contain adenine. Total nucleotides in patient cells were present in amounts 3-6 times greater than normal, and approximately 80% contained pyrimidine. The ultraviolet spectral curves of deproteinized red cell extracts exhibited a shift in maximum absorbance from the usual 256-257 nm to approximately 266-270 nm, and absorbance at 250, 270, 280, and 290 nm, expressed as a ratio of that at 260 nm, differed greatly from normal. The spectral characteristics of extracts provide the basis of a readily performed screening procedure, which does not require enzyme assay. The nucleotidase activity in deficient red cells assayed less than 14%, and usually less than 10%, of normal and much less in terms of reticulocyte-rich blood, where it was consistently found to be increased. The enzyme has a pH optimum of 7.5-8.0, is inhibited by EDTA, and does not utilize purine 5'-ribonucleotides or beta-glycerophosphate as substrates. While comparatively few family members have been available thus far for study, initial data are compatible with an autosomal, recessive mode of transmission of the deficiency. The pyrimidine 5'-ribonucleotides are presumably derived from RNA degradation and, not being diffusible, accumulate when the enzyme catalyzing their dephosphorylation is deficient. It is postulated that the prominent basophilic stippling results from retarded ribosomal RNA degradation secondary to accumulation of degradation products, namely pyrimidine 5'-ribonucleotides. Ribosephosphate pyrophosphokinase deficiency is considered to be an epiphenomenon. The mechanism responsible for increased red cell GSH is unknown.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗