Tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein, a rel-like protein that stimulates transcription in response to hypertonicity.
(1/748)
Hypertonicity (most often present as high salinity) is stressful to the cells of virtually all organisms. Cells survive in a hypertonic environment by increasing the transcription of genes whose products catalyze cellular accumulation of compatible osmolytes. In mammals, the kidney medulla is normally hypertonic because of the urinary concentrating mechanism. Cellular accumulation of compatible osmolytes in the renal medulla is catalyzed by the sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter (SMIT), the sodium/chloride/betaine cotransporter, and aldose reductase (synthesis of sorbitol). The importance of compatible osmolytes is underscored by the necrotic injury of the renal medulla and subsequent renal failure that results from the inhibition of SMIT in vivo by administration of a specific inhibitor. Tonicity-responsive enhancers (TonE) play a key role in hypertonicity-induced transcriptional stimulation of SMIT, sodium/chloride/betaine cotransporter, and aldose reductase. We report the cDNA cloning of human TonE binding protein (TonEBP), a transcription factor that stimulates transcription through its binding to TonE sequences via a Rel-like DNA binding domain. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses of cells cultured in hypertonic medium reveal that exposure to hypertonicity elicits slow activation of TonEBP, which is the result of an increase in TonEBP amount and translocation to the nucleus. (+info)
Evaluation of lidocaine as an analgesic when added to hypertonic saline for sclerotherapy.
(2/748)
PURPOSE: The efficacy of sclerosing agents for the treatment of telangiectasias and reticular veins is well established. The injection of these agents is often associated with pain, and it is not uncommon for sclerotherapists to include lidocaine with the sclerosants in an attempt to reduce the pain associated with treatment. However, there are concerns that this may reduce the overall efficacy of the treatment because of dilution of the sclerosant. Patient comfort and overall outcome associated with treatment using HS with lidocaine (LIDO) versus that using HS alone was compared. METHODS: Forty-two patients were prospectively entered into the study and randomized blindly to sclerotherapy with 23.4% HS or 19% LIDO. Study subjects and treating physicians were blinded to the injection solution used. Injection sites were chosen for veins ranging in size from 0.1 to 3 mm. Photographs of the area to be treated were taken, and the patients rated their pain. They were then observed at regular intervals for four months, and clinical data was collected. Thirty-five subjects completed the full follow-up period, and photographs of the injected area were taken again. Three investigators blinded to the treatment assignment then evaluated the photographs and scored the treatment efficacy according to a standardized system. RESULTS: In the HS group, 61.9% (13 of 21) patients rated their pain as none or mild, whereas 90.5% (19 of 21) of patients in the LIDO group had no or mild discomfort. This difference is significant, with a P value of.034. There was no difference in the overall efficacy of treatment between the two groups. The groups had similar rates of vein thrombosis and skin necrosis. CONCLUSION: Although lidocaine is often used with sclerosing agents, there are no previous reports in the literature to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing the pain experienced by the patient. In this study, patients receiving LIDO experienced significantly less discomfort at the time of injection than patients who received HS alone. There were no differences in the effectiveness of treatment or in the incidence of complications between the two groups. (+info)
Effect of individual or combined ablation of the nuclear groups of the lamina terminalis on water drinking in sheep.
(3/748)
The subfornical organ (SFO), organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT), and median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) were ablated either individually or in various combinations, and the effects on drinking induced by either intravenous infusion of hypertonic 4 M NaCl (1.3 ml/min for 30 min) or water deprivation for 48 h were studied. Ablation of either the OVLT or SFO alone did not affect drinking in response to intravenous 4 M NaCl, although combined ablation of these two circumventricular organs substantially reduced but did not abolish such drinking. Ablation of the MnPO or MnPO and SFO together also substantially reduced, but did not abolish, drinking in response to intravenous hypertonic NaCl. Only near-total destruction of the lamina terminalis (OVLT, MnPO, and part or all of the SFO) abolished acute osmotically induced drinking. The large lesions also reduced drinking after water deprivation, whereas none of the other lesions significantly affected such drinking. None of these lesions altered feeding. The results show that all parts of the lamina terminalis play a role in the drinking induced by acute increases in plasma tonicity. The lamina terminalis appears to play a less crucial role in the drinking response after water deprivation than for the drinking response to acute intravenous infusion of hypertonic saline. (+info)
Hypertonic saline test for the investigation of posterior pituitary function.
(4/748)
The hypertonic saline test is a useful technique for distinguishing partial diabetes insipidus from psychogenic polydipsia, and for the diagnosis of complex disorders of osmoreceptor and posterior pituitary function. However, there is little information concerning its use in childhood. The experience of using this test in five children (11 months to 18 years) who presented diagnostic problems is reported. In two patients, in whom water deprivation tests were equivocal or impractical, an inappropriately low antidiuretic hormone (ADH) concentration (< 1 pmol/l) was demonstrated in the presence of an adequate osmotic stimulus (plasma osmolality > 295 mosmol/kg). In two children--one presenting with adipsic hypernatraemia and the other with hyponatraemia complicating desmopressin treatment of partial diabetes insipidus--defects of osmoreceptor function were identified. Confirming a diagnosis of idiopathic syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion (SIADH) was possible in a patient with no other evidence of pituitary dysfunction. The hypertonic saline test was well tolerated, easy to perform, and diagnostic in all cases. (+info)
We investigated whether hyperosmolar saline (HS), applied via paper disk onto the septum of one nostril, induces a nasal secretory response. Furthermore, we examined whether this response is accentuated in patients with active allergic rhinitis (AR) compared with healthy volunteers. Unilateral HS produced significant nasal secretions both ipsilateral and contralateral to the site of challenge in the AR group and only ipsilaterally in the healthy group. The HS-induced nasal secretions were significantly greater in the AR vs. the healthy subjects. In a separate study, we ascertained that the nasal response to HS is neurally mediated and found that ipsilateral nerve blockade with lidocaine significantly attenuates the HS-induced secretions bilaterally. In another group of AR subjects, we determined whether nociceptive fibers were involved in this response and found that sensory nerve desensitization with repeated application of capsaicin attenuated the HS-induced nasal secretions. Finally, we determined whether the secretory hyperresponsiveness in AR is attributable to increased reactivity of submucosal glands rather than of nerves. We found that the dose response to methacholine, which directly stimulates the glands, was identical among AR and healthy subjects. We conclude that, in AR, nasal challenge with HS induces significantly greater reflex secretions involving capsaicin-sensitive nerve fibers, consistent with the notion of neural hyperresponsiveness in this disease. (+info)
A rapid feedback signal is not always necessary for termination of a drinking bout.
(6/748)
When a pig is deprived of drinking water, a deficit of body water develops that is corrected when the pig drinks to satiation. If food is available during the deprivation, the stimulus to drinking is plasma hyperosmolality. Because of the delay in correction of plasma hyperosmolality as ingested water is slowly absorbed, it has been thought that a rapid inhibitory signal from the digestive tract is necessary to prevent overdrinking. This concept was tested by measuring changes in plasma osmolality before and during drinking after such deprivation and also after infusion of hypertonic saline. As drinking began, there was a rapid fall of plasma osmolality to levels insufficient to drive drinking by the time drinking ended. This fall of plasma hyperosmolality to subthreshold levels while the pig is drinking seems to make a rapid inhibitory control signal from the digestive tract unnecessary to terminate the drinking bout under these conditions. (+info)
Identification and transcriptional analysis of new members of the sigmaB regulon in Bacillus subtilis.
(7/748)
Bacillus subtilis responds to various stimuli (heat, ethanol and salt stress, energy starvation) with the induction of general stress proteins (GSPs). Most of them belong to the stress and stationary-phase regulon controlled by the alternative sigma factor sigmaB. The majority of sigmaB-dependent proteins are thought to provide a precautionary general stress resistance in stressed or starved cells. In this report, the identification and transcriptional analysis of nine new members of the sigmaB regulon are described. The biochemical function was not determined for any of the proteins encoded by the nine new sigmaB-dependent stress genes, however, similarities to proteins in the databases allowed a distinction between proteins with putative (i-iv) and unknown (v) function. The putative functions of BmrU, YcdF, YdaD, YdaP, YhdN and YocK underline the suggested protective role of sigmaB-dependent GSPs and also elucidate new areas where sigmaB might play an important role. (i) The finding that the bmrUR operon is under sigmaB control indicates that the elimination of multidrug compounds might be a new function in multiple stress resistance. (ii) YcdF and YdaD resemble NAD(P)-dependent dehydrogenases. Both proteins could be involved in the generation of NAD(P)H and therefore in the maintenance of the intracellular redox balance under stress. (iii) The ydaP gene might belong to the increasing number of sigmaB-dependent genes whose orthologues are under the control of sigmas in Escherichia coli, indicating that both regulons may fulfil similar functions. (iv) YhdN shows weak similarities to potassium ion channel proteins and YocK shows resemblance to the DnaK suppressor protein DksA. (v) Three new sigmaB-dependent genes (ydaE, ydaG and yfkM) encoding proteins with still unknown functions were also described. Further analyses of corresponding mutants might allow a first prediction of their function within the framework of the general stress regulon. (+info)
Neuroimaging of genesis and satiation of thirst and an interoceptor-driven theory of origins of primary consciousness.
(8/748)
There are defined hypothalamic functions in the genesis of thirst, but little is known of the cortical processes subserving consciousness of thirst notwithstanding the medical disorders that occur in psychiatric illness, addiction, and the attested decline of thirst with aging. In 10 adult males, positron emission tomography scans were made (i) during genesis of moderate thirst by infusion of i.v. hypertonic saline 0.51 M, (ii) after irrigation of the mouth with water to remove the sensation of dryness, and (iii) 3, 14, 45, and 60 minutes after drinking water to fully satiate thirst. The correlation of regional cerebral blood flow with thirst score showed the major activation to be in the posterior cingulate. Maximum thirst sensation evoked 13 highly significant activations and 9 deactivations in cingulate and parahippocampal gyri, insula, thalamus, amygdala, and mesencephalon. It is possible that cingulate sites (Brodmann's areas 32, 24, and 31) that persisted with wet mouth but disappeared immediately after drinking to satiation may have an important role in the consciousness of thirst. Consciousness of thirst, a primal vegetative emotion, and satiation of thirst appear to be subserved by phylogenetically ancient brain regions. This is salient to current discussion on evolutionary emergence of primary consciousness. (+info)