Plasma homocysteine and liver tissue S-adenosylmethionine, S-adenosylhomocysteine status in vitamin B6-deficient rats.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate plasma homocysteine (Hcy), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) levels, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities and liver tissue S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) levels in control and vitamin B6-deficient rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two male rats with a weight of 65-75 g were used for the experiment. The rats were divided into control (n=16) and vitamin B6-deficient groups. At the end of the experiment, the animals were anesthetized with ketamine-HCl (Ketalar, 20 mg/kg, i.p.), and the blood was collected by cardiac puncture after thoracotomy. Plasma Hcy, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), liver SAM, SAH levels measured by an isocratic system with high performance liquid chromatography. Plasma GSH-Px, GSH activities and GSH, MDA levels were carried out using a spectrophotometer. RESULTS: Plasma Hcy, MDA, liver tissue SAH levels were significantly increased, whereas plasma GSH, PLP, liver tissue SAM levels, plasma GST, GSH-Px activities and SAM/SAH ratio were decreased compared to those of control group. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin B6 deficiency causes an increase in plasma homocysteine levels. Thus, we think that vitamin B6 supplementation could be used for therapeutic purposes in hyperhomocysteinemia condition.

Endurance training attenuates the oxidative stress due to acute exhaustive exercise in rat liver.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether an 8-week treadmill training attenuates exercise-induced oxidative stress in rat liver. Male rats were divided into untrained and trained groups. Endurance training consisted of treadmill running at a speed of 2.1 km/h, 1.5 h/day, 5 days a week for 8 weeks. To see the effects of endurance training on acute exhaustive exercise induced oxidative stress, untrained and trained rats were further devided into two groups: animals killed at rest and those killed after acute exhaustive exercise, in which the rats run at 2.1 km/h (10% uphill) until exhaustion. Acute exhaustive exercise increased malondialdehyde level in untrained but not in trained rats. It decreased the activity of glutathione peroxidase and total (enzymatic plus non-enzymatic) superoxide scavenger activity in untrained rats and catalase activity in trained rats. However, it did not affect glutathione S-transferase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase and non-enzymatic superoxide radical scavenger activities in both trained and untrained rats. On the other hand, endurance training decreased glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase activities. The results suggested that endurance training attenuated exercise-induced oxidative stress in liver, probably by preventing the decreases in glutathione peroxidase and total superoxide scavenger activities during exercise.

Effects of cigarette smoking on lipid peroxidation.

We monitored serum malondialdehyde (MDA), an indicator of lipid peroxidation, to determine whether active cigarette smoking causes oxidative damage. The results revealed that the concentration of serum MDA was higher in cigarette smokers than in nonsmoking control subjects. No relation was found between lipid peroxidation and the number of cigarettes smoked by an individual. This finding supports the hypothesis that oxidative damage in smokers is due to the number of hours of active exposure to cigarette smoke.

Left ear (right temporal hemisphere) advantage and left temporal hemispheric dysfunction in schizophrenia.

In this study, to investigate the right or left ear advantages in psychiatric patients. the durations of hearing for right and left ears were assessed in 61 psychiatric patients, 26 with schizophrenia, 17 with depressive disorder, 13 with bipolar affective disorder, and 5 with brief psychotic disorder, plus 24 controls. Diagnoses were made on the basis of information provided from clinical interviews and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). Schizophrenia was associated with a left ear advantage, and both depressive disorder and brief psychotic disorder were associated with right ear advantage as well as controls. These results suggest that their schizophrenia may be associated with a left temporal lobe dysfunction.

Levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and total sialic acid in serum of patients with laryngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Adhesion molecules have been implicated in tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to investigate serum soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and total sialic acid (TSA) levels in laryngeal carcinoma and correlate their levels with the cancer stage. METHOD: The sera from 35 patients with laryngeal cancer (10 at stage II, 12 at stage III and 13 at stage IV) were extracted before treatment. The concentrations of sICAM-1 and TSA were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay and the thiobarbituric acid method, respectively and compared with those from a healthy control group (n = 34). RESULTS: Mean serum sICAM-1 and TSA levels were found to be higher in the total patient group (the lowest level belonging to stage II) than in the control group (p < 0.001, control versus total patient group). As the stage of the disease increased, higher levels of sICAM-1 and TSA were determined. The correlations between TSA and sICAM-1 became more significant as the stage of the disease increased (r= 0.67, p < 0.05 in stage II, r= 0.86, p < 0.001 in stage III and r = 0.90, p < 0.001 in stage IV). CONCLUSION: These data reveal that the significant correlations between sICAM-1 and TSA in laryngeal cancer, more prominent at advanced stage, might reflect the similar nature of these molecules, which function as adhesion molecules.

Cell-mediated immune hypersensitivity is stronger in the left side of the body than the right in healthy young subjects.

More frequent appearance of herpes zoster infection on the left side of the body has been noted. In women, breast cancer occurs more frequently on the left side. It has been suggested that the left neocortex is involved in neuroimmunomodulation via the dopaminergic system. In this study, our purpose was to investigate the possible difference in cell-mediated hypersensitivity between right and left body sides using the tuberculin test with 22 male and 36 female healthy high school students. In the present study, the cell-mediated hypersensitivity was higher in the left side of the body than the right. This difference was slightly more apparent in the girls and may be related to brain asymmetry in neuroimmunomodulation.