[Comparison of the anti-miotic effect of 0.03% flurbiprofen with 1% indomethacin in cataract extraction]. / Comparaison de l'effet antimiotique du flurbiprophène 0.03% par rapport à l'indomethacine 1% pendant l'extraction extracapsulaire de la cataracte.

Maintaining successful mydriasis is essential during cataract extraction. The use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in order to inhibit trauma induced miosis has been advocated by many authors. Indomethacin 1% has proved his efficacy since many years. Flurbiprofen has been introduced more recently and has been accepted largely because of a better patient comfort. He proved his efficacy against placebo. We conducted a randomized double blind study in order to verify if there is any difference in efficacy between these two drugs. 40 cases were randomly assigned to a pretreatment, not known by the surgeons, with Indomethacin 1% (Indoptic) or Flurbiprofen 0.03% (Ocuflur). Measurements were taken at the beginning of surgery, after nucleous extraction and after irrigationaspiration of lens cortical material. Sodium hyaluronate and epinephrine were not used during this study. After nucleous extraction, the mean pupillary constriction was 1.53 mm in the Indomethacin group and 1.23 mm in the Flurbiprofen group (p greater than 0.1). After aspiration of cortical material, the mean pupillary constriction was 2.27 mm in the Indomethacin group and 2.00 in the Flurbiprofen group (p greater than 0.1). Cumulative results of patients who constricted the pupil more than 2 and 3 mm showed a better result in the Flurbiprofen group. Flurbiprofen has proved in this study his efficacy compared to an other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug in inhibiting trauma induced miosis.

Pyridoxal phosphate-sensitized photoinactivation of glutamate decarboxylase from Clostridium perfringens.

1. l-Glutamate decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.15) from Clostridium perfringens was inactivated by exposure to visible light at pH6.2. 2. Inactivation does not occur at pH4.6 or in the absence of bound pyridoxal phosphate. 3. On prolonged photo-oxidation six histidine residues per molecule of enzyme were destroyed. 4. The loss of six cysteine residues per molecule occurred both in irradiated samples and in controls oxygenated in the dark. 5. This dark-oxidation of cysteine residues is apparently required before the photo-oxidation process. 6. The absorbance, fluorescence and circular-dichroism properties of the enzyme as well as its elution volume during Sephadex gel-filtration were unaffected by prolonged irradiation. 7. However, an apparently homogeneous product of photo-oxidation could be separated from the control enzyme by ion-exchange chromatography. 8. The K(m) for l-glutamate was unchanged in an irradiated sample retaining 22% of control activity. 9. These data and the catalytic role of imidazole residues at the active sites of amino acid decarboxylases are discussed.