Biomedical subjects

W Voelter

Publications and source records attributed to W Voelter.

205 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

[Features of the modulating effect of complexes of ribosome-inactivating proteins type II with sugars on respiratory burst of neturophils, caused by a chemotactic peptide].

It was shown that agents inducing phagocytosis (zymosan, lectins) cause changes in the number of receptors responsible for fast neutrophil reaction (chemotaxis or respiratory burst) or inhibit the binding of the agonist to its receptor. Among lectins are ribosome-inactivating proteins of type II ricin and agglutinin ricin, which penetrate the cell by binding to mannose and galactose receptors. It was shown that ribosome-inactivating proteins of type II can exhibit the properties of the antagonist of the receptor N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine. Ricin is more effective in modulating the respiratory burst induced by the chemotactic peptide than agglutinin ricin. The modulating effect of ribosome-inactivating proteins of type II on neutrophils is likely to be mediated by their interaction with galactose rather than mannose receptors. Presumably, the affinity of ribosome-inactivating proteins to galactose receptors increases with increasing amount of saccharides bound to the protein molecule. The modulating effect of ribosome-inactivating proteins of type II on the respiratory burst of neutrophils induced the chemotactic peptide is due to the structural peculiarities of these proteins.

Carbohydrates↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immunoreactive relaxin in seminal plasma of man.

Relaxin in seminal fluid was determined radioimmunologically in 238 andrological patients with various ejaculate qualities. In 52 cases, a second ejaculate was examined 4 to 6 weeks later. Relaxin was found present in each ejaculate sample. There was no significant difference between the relaxin values of the reexamined cases and the original samples, indicating little fluctuation. Statistical correlations between relaxin levels in seminal plasma and clinical data, ejaculate, and hormonal parameters could not be established. Only cases with low fructose values showed some correlation with low relaxin levels in seminal plasma.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immunoreactive ubiquitin in human seminal plasma.

The polypeptide ubiquitin, up to now almost exclusively discovered in intracellular spaces, was measured immunologically in a total of 187 samples of human seminal plasma. The values were between 1.83 and 19.11 micrograms/ml. In spermatozoa ubiquitin was detected too; the values, however, were significantly lower than in the seminal plasma. The origin and function of ubiquitin in human seminal plasma is still unclear. The possible role of ubiquitin in reproduction is discussed.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Relaxin in amniotic fluid and serum of pregnant patients].

Relaxin was measured in serum and amniotic fluid of 136 pregnant women between the 12th and 38th gestational week by means of a new human relaxin-RIA. The pregnancies consisted of 111 pathology-free single fetuses, 10 with rhesus incompatibility, 7 with chromosomal aberration and 8 with sonographic diagnosed abnormalities. Relaxin could be detected in all samples tested the levels being ten times lower in amniotic fluid compared to serum. Serum relaxin levels showed a slight but not statistically significant decrease with increasing gestational age, in amniotic fluid relaxin values were consistent over the course of pregnancy. The ratio of amniotic fluid to serum relaxin displayed a statistically significant increase from the 12th to 23rd week of pregnancy. Individual courses of relaxin concentration in amniotic fluid revealed only low intra-individual variations but distinct inter-individual differences.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Synthesis and studies on the biophysical activity of human lung surfactant peptide SP-C and its N-terminal fragments.

Human lung surfactant peptide SP-C and two of its N-terminal fragments were prepared by SPPS and their biophysical activities investigated in vitro using a pulsating bubble surfactometer. These studies demonstrated that even low doses of the synthetic peptides with the natural human sequence of SP-C in combination with reconstituted lipid mixtures causes a drastic decrease of surface tension.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Application of capillary electrophoresis in clinical chemistry--developments from preliminary trials to routine analysis.

Since instruments performing capillary electrophoresis (CE) became commercially available in the late 1980s, information on this relatively new analytical technique has been increasing almost exponentially. At the beginning of the last decade, fundamental discoveries in the field were made mainly in the laboratories of analytical chemists; but now, this separation science is giving increasing impact to the laboratories of clinical chemists. This paper briefly reviews the history, instrumentation, different modes and theory of CE, and the prominent fields of its applications in clinical chemistry.

Amino Acids↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The prognostic value of alpha-thymosins in breast cancer.

The prognosis of breast cancer is of major clinical importance and several histopathological, biochemical and immunological variables have been reported to be useful prognostic factors. In the present study, we investigated the clinical significance of the levels of alpha-thymosins in relation to established prognostic factors, both in breast cancer and non-malignant breast lesions, alpha-thymosin levels were measured in breast tissue extracts by specific radioimmunoassays (RIAs) developed for human prothymosin alpha (ProT alpha) and parathymosin alpha (ParaT alpha) and were found to be significantly higher (up to 17.2-fold) in malignant but not in benign breast lesions, as compared to the values of the neighbouring tissues. When alpha-thymosin levels of the tumor samples were correlated with various known prognostic parameters a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05) was observed between the levels of ProT alpha in malignant tissues to the grade of cancer and the lymph node status of the patient. An association between ProT alpha levels with increase in risk of death from breast cancer was also noticed. These results suggest that the expression of alpha-thymosins in human breast cancer a) depends on the proliferation status of the tumor, b) associates with established prognostic factors describing the metastatic potential of the tumor and c) is related to the overall survival of the patient. The fact that such relationships hold only for cancer tissues encourages the future use of alpha-thymosins as potent prognostic factors in breast cancer.

Adult↗