Relationship between body mass index (BMI) and changes in plasma total and HDL-cholesterol levels during treatment of hypertension in African patients.

Eighty-one adult Nigerians with essential hypertension were randomly allocated to receive doxazosin, hydrochlorothiazide/amloride, or amlodipine. In each group, the patients were further classified as obese and non-obese, and total cholesterol as well as high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was determined before and after the 3-month treatment period. The total cholesterol level was significantly reduced in the non-obese patients, but did not show any significant change in the obese patients after doxazosin therapy, indicating the beneficial effects of doxazosin therapy in non-obese patients. The levels of total cholesterol increased and HDL cholesterol decreased in both the obese and the non-obese patients after hydrochlorothiazide/amloride therapy. Amlodipine treatment did not cause any significant change in the total and HDL cholesterol levels in both the obese and non-obese patients. These findings are worthy of consideration by clinicians and researchers when selecting the most appropriate drug for antihypertensive pharmacotherapy.

Effects of moduretic on plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels in hypertensive African patients.

Twenty patients with essential hypertension aged 39-70 years, underwent 20 weeks (short-term) and 30 weeks (long-term) lipid and lipoprotein assessment following moduretic (combination of hydrochlorothiazide and amloride) therapy. Moduretic caused adverse alterations in plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations at 20 weeks, characterized by increases in total cholesterol (TC) (9-23%), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (18-42%), Triglycerides (TG) (12-26%) and LDL-C/HDL-C (36-92%), as well as decreases in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (-14 to -26%) and HDL-C/TC (-23 to -39%). For 12 patients who were continued on the same therapy for the longer period of 30 weeks, the adverse effects were less pronounced when compared with the short-term effects. The increases in TC (9.6%), in LDL-C (21%), and in LDL-C/HDL-C (48%), and the decreases in the mean HDL-C (-20%), and in HDL-C/TC (-25%), were all significant. In contrast, the slight increase in TG noted during the long-term moduretic therapy was not significant. Our data suggest that moduretic therapy induces altered lipid-lipoprotein patterns in hypertensive patients. However, the possible influence of baseline cholesterol concentration and the duration of therapy, may be important factors in the lipid response to moduretic therapy.

Purification and immunohistochemical tissue localization of human xanthine oxidase.

Xanthine oxidase was purified 1600-fold from human liver cytosol. The purified enzyme was shown as a single band of 300 kDa on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and 150 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Using this purified enzyme, polyclonal antibody against xanthine oxidase was raised in a rabbit. On Ouchterlony's double immunodiffusion method, the raised antibody and the human liver cytosol made a precipitation line stained by activity stain and protein stain, respectively. With the raised anti-xanthine oxidase sera, the immunohistochemical localization of xanthine oxidase in human tissues was examined. Immunostaining of frozen hepatic tissue section showed that the cytoplasm of hepatocytes and endothelial lining cells were stained. In a number of other tissues, the xanthine oxidase antigen was detected only in the endothelial lining cells from heart, kidney, brain, aorta, lung and mesentery, except for the duodenal mucosa cells. A possible role for xanthine oxidase in the endothelial cells from various human tissues in the pathogenesis of reperfusion injury was suggested.

A xanthinuric family--the proposita having immunologically reactive xanthine oxidase but no xanthine oxidase activity.

The antibody was raised against purified human liver xanthine oxidase in a rabbit. In a xanthinuric patient, the double immunodiffusion method demonstrated the existence of an immunologically reactive duodenal mucosa xanthine oxidase which did not possess xanthine oxidase activity. These results indicated that xanthine oxidase protein is abnormal in structure and/or amino acid sequence.