Effect of short-chain fructooligosaccharides on intestinal calcium absorption and calcium status in postmenopausal women: a stable-isotope study.
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BACKGROUND: An enhancing effect of short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOSs) on intestinal calcium absorption has been shown in animals and in some short-term human studies. However, the long-term effect of scFOSs on calcium absorption in humans is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the long-term effect of a moderate daily dose (10 g) of scFOSs on intestinal calcium absorption in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: In a randomized, double-blind crossover protocol, 12 healthy, postmenopausal women received scFOSs or placebo for 5 wk. The treatments were separated by a 3-wk washout period. Subjects orally received (44)Ca (stable isotope) and a fecal marker. Feces were collected after the isotope intake for 5-7 d to measure unabsorbed isotope. Calcium-status indexes, calciotropic hormones, and bone turnover were also assessed. RESULTS: Mean (+/-SD) intestinal calcium absorption with scFOS treatment was not significantly different from that with placebo treatment (35.63 +/- 9.40% and 36.55 +/- 8.48%, respectively). However, a tendency for calcium absorption to be higher with scFOS treatment than with placebo treatment was observed in women who had been going through menopause for >6 y. CONCLUSIONS: scFOSs do not modify intestinal calcium absorption in postmenopausal women who do not receive hormonal replacement therapy. The results from a subgroup of women who had been going through menopause for >6 y (n = 6) suggest that scFOSs may influence calcium absorption in the late postmenopausal phase. The small number of subjects and the related P value warrant verification and further investigation with women in late menopause only. (+info)
Novel gene encoding a Ca2+-binding protein and under hexokinase-dependent sugar regulation.
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A cDNA encoding a predicted 15-kDa protein was earlier isolated from sugar-induced genes in rice embryos (Oryza sativa L.) by cDNA microarray analysis. Here we report that this cDNA encodes a novel Ca2+-binding protein, named OsSUR1 (for Oryza sativa sugar-up-regulated-1). The recombinant OsSUR1 protein expressed in Escherichia coli had 45Ca2+-binding activity. Northern analysis showed that the OsSUR1 gene was expressed mainly in the internodes of mature plants and in embryos at an early stage of germination. Expression of the OsSUR1 gene was induced by sugars that could serve as substrates of hexokinase, but expression was not repressed by Ca2+ signaling inhibitors, calmodulin antagonists and inhibitors of protein kinase or protein phosphatase. These results suggested that Os-SUR1 gene expression was stimulated by a hexokinase-dependent pathway not mediated by Ca2+. (+info)
Calcium flux in the mammalian ventricular myocardium.
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The exchange of Ca(45) was studied in dog myocardium by means of a newly developed perfusion technique whereby an excised papillary muscle was perfused through its own artery. This makes possible the sequential and simultaneous correlation of ionic flux with ventricular myocardial function with each muscle serving as its own control. Calcium exchange has the following characteristics: (a) The major component of calcium flux is independent of the frequency of contraction. It demonstrates a rapidly equilibrating phase (half-time, 4 to 6 minutes) and a more slowly equilibrating phase with a progressively decreasing rate constant. The flux characteristics of the more rapidly equilibrating compartment are determined by a factor or factors, in addition to simple diffusion, which increase the time required for this compartment to achieve a steady-state with respect to the vascular compartment. (b) A lesser component of exchange is stimulus-rate dependent and is characterized by an alteration in the rate of calcium turnover such that the altered influx: efflux ratio requires 20 to 25 minutes to achieve equilibrium. After this time, despite the higher stimulus rate, there is no evidence of change in total tissue calcium. (c) The initial rate of the transient response is approximately proportional to the change in stimulus rate. (+info)
Permeability of squid axon membrane to various ions.
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The permeability of the squid axon membrane was determined by the use of radioisotopes of Na, K, Ca, Cs, and Br. Effluxes of these isotopes were measured mainly by the method of intracellular injection. Measurements of influxes were carried out under continuous intracellular perfusion with an isotonic solution of potassium sulfate. The Na permeability of the resting (excitable) axonal membrane was found to be roughly equal to the K permeability. The permeability to anion was far smaller than that to cations. It is emphasized that the axonal membrane has properties of a cation exchanger. The physicochemical nature of the "two stable states" of the excitable membrane is discussed on the basis of ion exchange isotherms. (+info)
STUDIES ON INHIBITION OF INTESTINAL ABSORPTION OF RADIOACTIVE STRONTIUM. II. EFFECTS OF ADMINISTRATION OF SODIUM ALGINATE BY OROGASTRIC INTUBATION AND FEEDING.
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A method is reported that enables selective suppression of absorption of radioactive strontium from ingested food material, permitting calcium to remain available to the body. Studies were carried out by measuring blood levels and bone uptake of Sr(89) and Ca(45) at different time intervals after orogastric intubation of rats. The addition of sodium alginate, derived from brown marine algae, to the radioactive isotopes increased the overall physiological discrimination against strontium by amounts up to 60% after 24 hours. This discrimination was further increased by feeding sodium alginate mixed with standard diet in the proportions of 20:80 and 30:70. The observed ratio was reduced by administration of sodium alginate from 0.25 to 0.09.Determination of the limiting dosage in rats is restricted to the amounts which rats will consume. In the event of an inadvertent release of radioactive strontium, human subjects probably could increase their intake of alginate at will, permitting a greater effectiveness of sodium alginate than could be obtained in experimental animals. (+info)
STUDIES ON INHIBITION OF INTESTINAL ABSORPTION OF RADIOACTIVE STRONTIUM. I. PREVENTION OF ABSORPTION FROM LIGATED INTESTINAL SEGMENTS.
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A method is reported which permits selective suppression of absorption of radioactive strontium from ingested food material, permitting the calcium to be available to the body. Studies were carried out in vivo by injection of Sr(89) and Ca(45) in the presence of inert carrier into ligated intestinal segments in rats, and the amount of absorption was measured by standard monitoring techniques. The pattern of absorption of both ions is very similar but the rate of absorption is different. It was found that the polyelectrolyte, sodium alginate, obtained from brown algae (Phaeophyceae), injected simultaneously with radiostrontium effectively reduces the absortion of Sr(89) from all segments of the intestine by as much as 50-80% of the control values. No significant reduction in absorption of Ca(45) was observed in equivalent concentrations. The reduction in blood levels of Sr(89) and in bone uptake corresponded to the absorption pattern. The difference in the effect on strontium and calcium absorption may be due to differences in the binding capacity of sodium alginate from the two metal ions under the conditions present in vivo. (+info)
THE EFFLUX OF SUBSTANCES FROM FROG VENTRICLES TO SUCROSE AND TO RINGER'S SOLUTIONS.
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The frog ventricle in sucrose solution contracts for several hours at 25 degrees C, and for as long as 24 hours at 5 degrees G. The possibility that a fraction of the extracellular fluid remains outside of the excitable membrane was examined by measuring the efflux of tracers. The half-time for the efflux to sucrose solution at 25 degrees C of C(14) sucrose is about 1 minute, for Na(24) is 6.5 minutes, and for Cl(86) is 4 minutes. There is no evidence for the retention of an extracellular Na fraction. The Q(10) for Na and Cl efflux is about 1.3. The half-time for K(42) efflux is about 180 minutes; the Q(10) is 1.7. The efflux rates of Na(24), Cl(36) and K(42) to sucrose and to Ringer's solutions are quite similar. Ca(45) efflux is only one-fifth as fast to sucrose solution as to Ringer's; the retention of Ca(++) may be important for maintaining excitability in sucrose solution. P(32) efflux is five times faster to sucrose solution than to Ringer's solution, and there is a similar increase in the rate of inosine loss to sucrose solution. The Q(10) for efflux to sucrose solution is 2.2 for P(32)O(4) and 2.4 for inosine. We suggest that energy metabolism is abnormal in ventricles in sucrose solution and that low temperature prolongs excitability by slowing the metabolic change. (+info)
SOME ASPECTS OF CALCIUM METABOLISM IN MALIGNANT DISEASE OF BONE.
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The rate of calcification of new bone (accretion rate) was measured by a radioisotope technique in 20 patients with carcinoma of the breast, 14 patients with multiple myelomatosis, five patients with Paget's disease of bone, and in six patients with solitary, non-osseous tumours. The rate of bone destruction was assessed in these patients by the measurement of the rate of urinary calcium excretion. In the patients with carcinoma of the breast and bone metastases there was a marked increase both in the accretion rate and in the urinary calcium excretion suggesting an osteoblastic response to bone destruction. An osteoblastic response was also present in the patients with multiple myelomatosis but was not correlated with the urinary calcium excretion. In patients with Paget's disease of bone, high values of accretion rate were found indicating very active new bone formation. (+info)