[Serotoninergic and catecholaminergic indices in patients with neurotic and depressive disorders and changes in them as a result of reflexotherapy]. / Serotoninergicheskie i katekholaminergicheskie pokazateli u bol'nykh s nevroticheskimi depressivnymi rasstroistvami i ikh izmeneniia pod vliianiem refleksoterapii.

The status of the serotoninergic and catecholaminergic systems was studied in patients with neurotic depressive disorders before and after acupuncture (AP). The parameters studied included blood serotonin levels, monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in the blood serum, as well as urinary excretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, DOPA and 5-HOIAA. Prior to AP patients with anxiety-depressive, depressive-hypochondriac or asthenodepressive manifestations showed different changes in the parameters studied. Following a course of AP they presented a compensatory increase in MAO activity, normalization of blood serotonin levels and of the urinary excretion of noradrenaline, dopamine and DOPA. Improvement in biochemical parameters indicates that this type of therapy is an effective means of the treatment of patients with neuroses with the predominance of depressive disorders.

Automated on-line multi-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatographic techniques for the clean-up and analysis of water-soluble samples.

The application of an automated on-line multi-dimensional liquid-liquid chromatographic technique for the clean-up and analysis of water-soluble samples was investigated. The use of microparticulate aqueous-compatible steric exclusion columns as the primary separation step coupled to either reversed-phase, normal-phase or ion-exchange columns as the secondary step allowed the direct injection of complex samples without prior clean-up. The entire operation was automatically controlled by a microprocessor-based liquid chromatograph with time-programmable events which allowed precise switching of high-pressure pneumatically operated valves. Both heart-cutting and on-column concentration methods were used. The heart-cutting technique had the advantage of selectivity but lacked sensitivity; more successful was the on-column concentration technique, which, by the concentration of the solute from a larger volume of exclusion column effluent on to the secondary column, gave better sensitivity. The technique was applied to the analysis of theophylline and caffeine in biological fluids, catecholamines in urine, vitamins in a protein food supplement and sugars in molasses and candy bars.

[Certain mechanisms of the effect of acupuncture on the sympatho-adrenal system of tobacco smokers]. / O nekotorykh mekhanizmakh vliianiia akupunktury na simpato-adrenalovuiu sistemu u kuril'schchikov tabaka.

Daily excretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine and dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) was examined in smokers being treated by acupuncture. It was shown that the effect of the acupuncture treatment depended on the initial functional activity of the sympatho-adrenal system. A marked therapeutic effect was observed in patients in whom a 15- to 18-hour-long abstaining from smoking prior to the treatment let to a shift in the ratio between the excreted adrenaline and noradrenaline towards prevalent excretion of the former. It was believed that such a change in the excretion of the catecholamines was due to the emotional disturbances associated with the beginning of the nicotinic abstinence. The positive therapeutic effect of acupuncture consisting in giving up the smoking completely was combined with normalization of the catecholamine excretion.

Rapid procedure for chromatographic isolation of DOPA, DOPAC, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine from a single urinary sample at endogenous levels.

A three-step procedure has been investigated to extract 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), epinephrine (E), norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) from a single urinary sample with the object of obtaining extracts pure enough for specific fluorimetric assay. The procedure described in this paper results from the combination of urine purification on an aluminum oxide column, separation by ion-exchange chromatography of the DOPA-DOPAC fraction from catecholamines, and ether isolation of DOPAC from DOPA. The whole procedure is rapid and easily performed in one work day. Extraction recoveries were 72.4 +- 3.5%, 76 +- 2%, 85.7 +- 3.3%, 85.6 +- 1.4% and 92.4 +- 5.5% for DOPA, DOPAC, E, NE and DA respectively (n=6). The lowest amounts of the five catechols that could be detected in urinary samples by a combination of this extraction procedure and the methods of assay used in our laboratory were 15 ng for DOPA, 40 ng for NE, 20 ng for E, 152 ng for DA and 2.95 micrograms for DOPAC. Urinary volumes convenient for accurate estimation of each compound were 20 ml for healthy human subjects. For pathological or pharmacological purposes, 5 ml of human urine were sufficient. The daily excretion of DOPA, DOPAC, E, NE and DA found by this procedure agrees with data obtained by other authors in healthy subjects. In pathological samples, our three-step procedure led to lower amounts than methods using alumina purification only. The discrepancies between the two methods are discussed in terms of development of internal standards, relative specificity of fluorimetric assays, values of blank eluates, and the possibility of interference from unknown abnormal body metabolites or pharmacological drugs not eliminated by a single-step alumina purification.

Effect of supplemental ascorbic acid in a case of torsion dystonia.

Determinations of various catecholamines and their metabolites have been performed on 24-hr urine collecions obtained from a patient with torsion dystonia and compared to values obtained in a control population. This study was initiated following significant symptomatic worsening by the patient with supplemental ascorbic acid at a dosage of 2 g/day. Compared to base-line values, there resulted no significant alteration in urinary excretion of DOPA, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, or VMA for either the patient or a group of controls, receiving 1 g/day vitamin C. MHPG is the glycol metabolite of norepinephrine, and is produced both in central and systemic tissues, whereas VMA is not synthesized in brain. The MHPG excretion for the patient increased 150% with supplemental ascorbate, whereas the control individuals demonstrated a mean increase of 19.6%. It is possible that the symptomatic worsening by the patient and the increased excretion of MHPG in response to supplemental ascorbic acid are causally related. Ascorbic acid affects catecholamine biosynthesis at two metabolic loci; it is the necessary cofactor for dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and, by maintaining biopterin in reduced form, facilitates tyrosine hydroxylase holoenzyme activity. Thus, the vitamin may have effected increased central synthesis or turnover of norepinephrine, or both, with resultant clinical worsening.