All issues
Volume 183 (1997)
- Issue 4 Pages 243-
- Issue 3 Pages 159-
- Issue 2 Pages 83-
- Issue 1 Pages 1-
Volume 183, Issue 2
October
Displaying 1-6 of 6 articles from this issue
- |<
- <
- 1
- >
- >|
Review
-
Hiroyoshi Fujita1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 83-99
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSTwo of the major organs producing heme are bone marrow and the liver. δ-Aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS) plays the key role to regulate heme biosynthesis in hepatocytes as well as in erythroid cells. In the liver, nonspecific (or housekeeping) isozyme of ALAS (ALAS-N) is expressed to be regulated by its end product, heme, in a negative feedback manner. The way to regulate ALAS-N in the liver is suitable to supply a constant level of heme for a family of drug metabolizing enzymes, cytochrome P-450 (CYP). In erythroid tissues, not only erythroid-specific isozyme of ALAS (ALAS-E) but also ALAS-N are expressed, and regulated by distinctive manners. Although heme regulates ALAS-N in a negative feedback manner even in erythroid cells, ALAS-E is upragulated by induced heme concentration. ALAS-N in undifferentiated erythroid cells, therefore, is suggested to produce heme for CYP, whereas heme for accumulating hemoglobin (Hb) in cells undergoing differentiation is synthesized via ALAS-E. In this article, we describe the molecular mechanisms to regulate heme biosynthesis in non-erythroid as well as in erythroid tissues, and discuss the pathological significance of the mechanisms in patients with inherited disorders, porphyrias.View full abstractDownload PDF (1370K)
Regular Contributions
-
Tomoo Kobayashi, Motoyasu Ishii, Hirofumi Niitsuma, Kumiko Kikuchi, Ch ...1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 101-112
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSA recently discovered non-A non-B hepatitis virus has been designated hepatitis G virus (HGV). Blood contamination has been proposed as its mode of transmission. We studied the genoprevalence of HGV in Japanese people at high risk. HGV was identified in serum by a reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. HGV was detected in 16.0% of intravenous drug users (IDUs) (n=25), 16.2% of those with tattoos (n=37), 10.9% of IDUs with tattoos (n=55), 5.7% of chronic hepatitis (CH)-C patients (n=87), and in none of the CH-B (n=50) or CH non-B non-C (n=46) patients. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels of those infected with HGV alone (n=3) were all within normal range. In the patients with CH-C, serum ALT levels of those coinfected with HGV were similar to serum ALT levels of those without HGV infection. A phylogenetic tree of isolated HGV clones showed that the HGVs of these subjects bore only a distant-resemblance to clones reported from Africa and North America, and that variation in the phylogenetic index of HGV clones was small. These results suggest that HGV clones from different areas have genetic heterogeneity and that HGV causes no or mild hepatitis.View full abstractDownload PDF (693K) -
Yoichi Takeyama, Shigeki Uehara, Kunihiro Okamura, Akira Yajima1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 113-122
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSTo investigate the possibility of engrafting fetal liver hematopoietic cells by in utero intraperitoneal transplantation, we transplanted donor cells obtained from mouse fetuses at 13, 15 and 17 days of gestation to mouse fetuses at 15, 16 and 17 days of gestation. Engraftment was assessed by Sry gene amplification of DNA extracted from peripheral blood samples of transplanted mice six weeks after birth. In comparison, we performed an in vitro colony-assay of fetal liver cells at 13, 15, and 17 days of gestation. The incidence of engraftment was significantly higher in cells of 15 days of gestation than in cells of 13 or 17 days of gestation, whereas the colony forming activity decreased gradually from 13 to 15 days of gestation. From these results, we suggest that the 15 day liver contains hematopoietic progenitors which have the specific characteristics required for engraftment by intraperitoneal transplantation.View full abstractDownload PDF (2438K) -
Teruaki Iwahashi, Chang-Sung Koh, Atsushi Inoue, Nobuo Yanagisawa1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 123-133
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSWe demonstrated time course of the number of mononuclear cells (MNCs) isolated from spinal cords (SCs) correlates with the degree of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) of Lewis rats, and analyzed their tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β production by MNCs, using enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay and enzyme-linked immuno spot (ELISPOT) assay. The number of MNCs varied from 5 to 620×104 per SC of normal Lewis rat and Lewis rat with EAE. MNCs increased and reached a peak on day 2 post clinical onset (Day 2), and subsequently declined through the clinical course. The increase of infiltrating MNCs in SCs paralleled the severity of the disease development. TGF-β1 in plasma of rats with EAE significantly increased on Day 1 and reached the peak on Day 3. TNF-α levels in culture supernatants of MNCs from SCs increased on Day 1, and it decreased from Day 2, and declined on Day 4 when animals began to recover. TGF-β1 was not detected in culture supernatant during the whole clinical course. The number of TNF-α and TGF-β1 producing cells that were detected by ELISPOT assay increased on Day 0, and decreased rapidly after the onset of neurological symptoms. Thus, increase of TNF-α appeared in the early phase of the disease and then promptly decreased. In contrast, TGF-β1 was activated during the later recovering phase of the disease. We consider that TNF-α may play an important role in the pathogenesis of EAE and TGF-β may inhibit the development of EAE.View full abstractDownload PDF (760K) -
Reiko Taneike, Munekado Kojima, Masahito Saitoh1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 135-150
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe aim of the present study is to correlate transrectal ultrasonic planimetric parameters of the prostate in relation to age and urinary symptoms as evaluated by the American Urological Association (AUA) symptom index score for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In 647 examinees on a mass screening program for prostatic diseases using transrectal sonography (TRS) in Japan, prostatic volume, transition zone volume, transition zone index (transition zone volume/prostatic volume) and presumed circle area ratio (PCAR) were determined using transrectal ultrasonic planimetry and compared with age and AUA symptom score. Increase in age, prostatic volume, transition zone volume and PCAR were significantly correlated with AUA symptom score. However, multiple regression analysis demonstrated that age and PCAR were the only significant independent determinants of symptom score. In particular, PCAR was the only significant determinant of symptom score in men with an intermediately enlarged prostate (20-30 ml in volume). The most significant difference in AUA symptom score was found between subgroups divided by PCAR with a cutoff point of 0.8. Among the planimetric parameters obtained by TRS, PCAR was the most powerful for evaluating BPH in terms of the severity of lower urinary tract symptoms.View full abstractDownload PDF (1953K)
Case Report
-
Katsuya Takamatsu, Masahito Hatori, Shigeru Ehara, Shoichi Kokubun1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 151-157
Published: 1997
Released on J-STAGE: January 19, 2006
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSA case of diffuse lipomatosis is reported. A 54-year-old man presented with a large mass in the left gluteal region. Plain radiographs showed hyperostosis of the phalanx of the left third toe. The diagnosis was aided by magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography which clearly demonstrated a diffuse overgrowth of fatty tissue in the left buttock and the extremity involving the subcutaneous and gluteal muscular tissue.View full abstractDownload PDF (3513K)
- |<
- <
- 1
- >
- >|