ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of musk-1, a glucoprotein component isolated from the water extract of musk, on some functions of rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes activated by IL-8 in vitro. METHOD: An in vitro incubation system was used. Superoxide anion production was determined by cytochrome C reduction. beta-glucuronidase and lysozyme release was quantitated by enzyme reactions in which phenolph-thaleinglucuronic acid and Micrococcus Lysodeikticus were as the substrates, respectively. RESULTS: In comparison with control, musk-1 at concentration 1-100 micrograms.ml-1 can increase superoxide anion production by 91.7%-291%, and decrease beta-glucuronidase and lysozyme release by 2.2%-58.1% and 3.9%-39.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Inhibition of lysosomel enzyme release might be considered as one of mechanisms of antiinflammatory action of musk.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology , Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated/pharmacology , Glucuronidase/metabolism , Materia Medica/pharmacology , Neutrophils/metabolism , Animals , Female , Male , Muramidase/metabolism , Oxygen/metabolism , Rats , Rats, WistarABSTRACT
Methods based on the measurement of beta-glucuronidase have been shown to be specific and inexpensive for the identification of Escherichia coli from bacterial colonies within 1 h. Recently, commercial systems incorporating beta-glucuronidase substrates were introduced. Rapid Identification Method E. coli (Austin Biological Laboratories, Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc., Houston, Tex.) and Rapid Detect E. coli (Organon Teknika, Morris Plains, N.J.) are single-tube test combinations to simultaneously measure beta-glucuronidase (fluorescence at 366 nm), o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (yellow), and indole (red). To determine the accuracy and utility of these two systems, we used them to test 169 E. coli and 150 non-E. coli and compared them with conventional substrate tests. The Rapid Detect test was more efficient than the Rapid Identification Method in demonstrating beta-glucuronidase activity, but the commercial systems were equal to each other and to the conventional tests for o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside and indole. There were no false reactions by either system.