23 research outputs found
The protective effects of L-arginine after liver ischaemia/reperfusion injury in a pig model.
No full textHepatic ischaemia/reperfusion is characterized by circulatory and metabolic derangement, liver dysfunction, and tissue damage. To evaluate the role of L-arginine, a substrate of nitric oxide, in ischaemia/reperfusion injury, total liver ischaemia was induced for 120 min in 22 Landrace x Large White female pigs, which were randomly assigned to a treatment group (10 animals) or a control group (12 animals). An L-arginine bolus (540 mg/kg i.v.) was administered to the treatment group 1 h before clamping the hepatic hilum, at clamping, at reperfusion, and at 1 and 2 h after reperfusion. The control animals received normal saline and an i.v. infusion. Liver function tests and analysis of serum, erythrocyte, and tissue malondialdehyde contents were performed at commencement of laparotomy, before reperfusion, and at 30 min and 7 days after reperfusion. Liver biopsies were taken at laparotomy, at 30 min, and at 7 days after reperfusion for histological and ultrastructural examination. Assessment of apoptosis included in situ end-labelling analysis and DNA gel electrophoresis. Survival at 7 days was better in the treated animals than in the controls (9/10 vs. 7/12). Tissue malondialdehyde content, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase levels were lower in the treatment group, in which morphological changes were significantly less evident than in the controls 30 min after reperfusion. At 7 days, differences between the groups with respect to cell integrity were apparent only on ultrastructural analysis. Glycogen content, 7 days after reperfusion, was higher in the treatment group than in the controls: 70.25 per cent vs. 21.66 per cent positive hepatocytes (score 3 vs. score 1). Multiparametric analysis showed fewer apoptotic cells in the treatment group at all times. Our data show that the administration of L-arginine reduces damage to liver tissue after ischaemia/reperfusion injury in a pig model. This may be explained not only by the known vasodilator, anti-aggregation, and superoxide inactivation effects of increased nitric oxide release, but possibly also by some other action of L-arginine, such as its influence on cellular metabolism
RETINOL-BINDING PROTEIN E PREALBUMINA: NUOVI INDICI DI FUNZIONALITA' EPATOCITARIA IN CHIRURGIA DIGESTIVA
No full text
Late nitrogen fertilisation in soybean (Glycine max. (L.) Merr.). Effects on some physiological and productive parameters.
No full textKidney preservation in pigs using celsior, a new organ preservation solution
No full textImpact Factor:0.44
Rapid determination of creatinine in serum and urine by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography
No full textWe report a simple and reliable high performance liquid chromatography method for measuring creatinine in serum and urine. The chromatographic run is performed on a C-18 column after protein precipitation with acetone and addition of cimetidine as an internal standard. The separation is carried out in 20 min at a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min, with a mobile phase consisting of 100 mmol/l sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution, containing 30 mmol/l sodium lauryl sulfate pH 3.0 and acetonitrile (60:36, v/v). The absorbance is monitored at 200 nm. The relationship between creatinine concentration and the creatinine/internal standard peak area is linear up to 1,088 mu mol/l. Within-run precision measured at three different creatinine concentrations ranges from 0.89% to 2.34% in serum and from 0.34% to 1.10% in urine. Between-run precision varies from 1.68% to 3.17% in serum and from 1.58% to 1.85% in urine over a wide range of concentrations. Analytical recovery is between 98.71% and 101.25% in serum and between 98.96% and 100.27% in urine. The detection limit is 3.24 mu mol/l for a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The method shows a good linearity with the reference isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry procedure (r=0.999), without interferences, even in the presence of high bilirubin concentrations
Urinary gonadotropin peptide: collection of specimens and cutoff levels.
No full textA low-molecular-weight form of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), urinary gonadotropin peptide (UGP), has been isolated from the urine of pregnant women and of patients with cancer, mainly of gynecological origin. The clinical value of UGP measurement in gynecological diseases is under investigation but a preliminary study is necessary in order to ascertain whether there is a circadian rhythm in UGP production, to clarify the best way to express the results, and to establish the cutoff and decisional values. In our work we demonstrated a significant correlation between the UGP output and the UGP excretion normalized for urinary creatinine. A very significant agreement was even found in 24-hr urine collections and UGP concentration of a single morning specimen from the same patients. No evident circadian rhythm was found, although some patients presented morning levels of UGP higher than in other collections. UGP postmenopausal levels were higher than premenopausal. The cutoff level, adopting the 95.0 percentile, was 200 pmol/mol creatinine
