Circulating cytokines in active polymyalgia rheumatica.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the circulating cytokine profile and the cellular source of circulating cytokines in polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). METHODS: The study included 34 patients with active untreated PMR and 17 age-matched healthy controls (HC). Circulating cytokines were measured by cytometric bead array and ELISA. Intracellular cytokines were assessed in CD3+ and CD14+ cells by flow cytometry. Cytokines in cell culture supernatants were also determined after polyclonal stimulation of patients' peripheral blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS: Circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL6) were significantly higher in subjects with active PMR than in HC. Corticosteroid (CS) treatment was followed by a decrease in the level of IL6. Intracellular cytokine staining showed that circulating monocytes did not produce higher amounts of proinflammatory cytokines in patients with PMR than in HC. There was a discordance between serum levels and cytokine-producing monocyte and T cells, and it was not possible to demonstrate a Th1 bias in the peripheral compartment. CONCLUSIONS: Active PMR is characterised by increased serum levels of IL6, but not of other proinflammatory cytokines, that are rapidly suppressed by CS treatment. As circulating monocytes do not show increased production of proinflammatory cytokines, IL6 may be mainly produced in the inflamed tissue. A study of the circulating cytokine profile and its cellular source may provide a clue to new therapeutic options.

Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of phenolic drugs and carbamate pesticides by coupling with diazotized 2,4,6-trimethylaniline.

A flow-injection (FI) spectrophotometric system is proposed for the determination of phenols and carbamates. In the FI manifolds, the solutions of phenols or carbamates (the latter after hydrolysis with NaOH) were injected into a diazonium ion carrier stream at pH 9.5 (buffered with tetrahydroborate), which was formed by mixing 2,4,6-trimethylaniline (TMA) with nitrate in a sodium dodecyl sulfate aqueous micellar medium. Absorbance was measured at 550 nm. The system combines the advantages derived from the use of TMA for the coupling of phenols in basic micellar media, because of the inhibition of the self-coupling reaction of the reagent, with the precision and speed of the FI procedures. Other diazotized reagents produced excessive blank signals. The procedures were successfully applied to the determination of phenolic drugs (epinephrine, acetaminophen, and gualacol) in pharmaceuticals and carbamates (bendiocarb, benfuracarb, carbaryl, carbofuran, methiocarb, promecarb, and propoxur) in pesticide products and water samples.

Spectrophotometric determination of carbamate pesticides with diazotized trimethylaniline in a micellar medium of sodium dodecyl sulfate.

The spectrophotometric determination of the carbamate pesticides carbaryl, bendiocarb, carbofuran, methiocarb, promecarb and propoxur is proposed. The pesticides are hydrolyzed in alkaline medium to 1-naphthol or phenolates, which are coupled with diazotized trimethylaniline (TMA) in a sodium dodecyl sulfate micellar medium to form the azo dyes. The micellar medium increased the solubility of TMA and enhanced the sensitivity. The performance of TMA was compared with that of sulfanilic acid, which is the conventional reagent used in these determinations. Although the absorbance of the azo dyes of sulfanilic acid was also enhanced in the micellar solution, the sensitivity was still greater with TMA. Further, at the pH required for the coupling reaction (9.5), the absorbance of the blank was negligible with TMA but large with sulfanilic acid. Using TMA, the limits of detection were in the range 0.2-2 micrograms cm-3. The procedure was applied to the determination of carbaryl in spiked tap, river and pond water samples and to the evaluation of various carbamates in commercial pesticide formulations.