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  • 1
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: The distribution of [3H]tryptamine binding sites, in autopsied brain tissue from cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and an equal number of age-matched control subjects free from hepatic, neurological, or psychiatric disorder, was investigated. Scatchard analysis demonstrated a heterogeneous distribution for this binding site, with the highest density being observed in hippocampus ≫ frontal cortex = caudate nucleus 〉 temporal cortex = cerebellum. When comparing [3H]-tryptamine binding site densities in control brain tissue with that in brain tissue from patients with HE, significant decreases in densities were observed in the frontal cortex (by 56%, p 〈 0.001), hippocampus (by 43%, p 〈 0.001), and caudate nucleus (by 41%, p 〈 0.01) of the HE group. Binding site affinities were within normal limits. The findings of decreased densities of [3H]tryptamine binding sites taken in conjunction with previous reports of increased CSF and brain tryptamine concentrations in HE suggest a pathogenic role for this neuroactive amine in HE resulting from chronic liver failure.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Journal of neurochemistry 56 (1991), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: To evaluate the effects of chronic liver failure on release of the excitatory transmitter glutamate, electrically stimulated Ca2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent release of glutamate in the absence or presence of NH4+ was studied in superfused slices of hippocampus from portacaval-shunted or sham-operated rats 4 weeks after surgery. Spontaneous and stimulation-evoked release of glutamate was higher in shunted rats in the presence of normal or low Ca2+ concentrations, and this release was depressed by 5 mM ammonium chloride. These findings suggest that portacaval shunting results in increased levels of extracellular glutamate in brain, probably due to a decreased reuptake of glutamate into perineuronal astrocytes, shown in previous studies to undergo neurqpathological changes following portacaval shunting. Changes in the inactivation of transmitter glutamate could be responsible, at least in part, for the neurological dysfunction resulting from sustained hyperammonemia and portal-systemic shunting resulting from chronic liver failure.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Excitatory amino acids have been implicated in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy. In the present study, kainate, quisqualate and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subclasses of l-glutamate receptors were measured in adult rat brain by quantitative receptor autoradiography following surgical construction of an end-to-side portacaval anastomosis (PCA). PCA resulted in sustained hyperammonemia and decreased binding of l-glutamate to the NMDA receptor when compared to sham-operated controls. Decreases in binding ranged from 17 to 39% in several regions of cerebral cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and thalamus. Binding to quisqualate and kainate receptor subtypes was not altered. PCA leads to astrocytic changes in brain but does not result in any measurable loss of neuronal integrity. It is therefore proposed that decreased glutamate binding to the NMDA receptor following PCA results from increased extracellular glutamate caused by decreased reuptake into perineuronal astrocytes and a compensatory down-regulation of these receptors. Such changes could be of pathophysiological significance in hepatic encephalopathy.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 4
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Journal of neurochemistry 52 (1989), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Pyrithiamine-induced thiamine-deficiency encephalopathy in the rat shows many neuropathologies and biochemical similarities to Wernicke's encephalopathy in humans. Treatment of rats with pyrithiamine resulted in moderate reductions of glutamate in thalamus and pons and in generalized severe reductions of aspartate in pons (by 89%, p 〈 0.01), thalamus (by 83%, p 〈 0.01), cerebellum (by 53%, p 〈 0.01), and cerebral cortex (by 33%, p 〈 0.05). Alanine concentrations were concomitantly increased. Activites of the thiamine-dependent enzyme α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (αKGDH) were decreased in parallel with the aspartate decreases; pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activities were unchanged in all brain regions. Following thiamine administration to symptomatic pyrithiamine-treated rats, neurological symptoms were reversed and concentrations of glutamate, aspartate, and alanine, as well as αKGDH activities, were restored to normal in cerebral cortex and pons. Aspartate levels and αKGDH activities remained below normal values, however, in thalamus. Thus, pyrithiamine treatment leads to reductions of cerebral αKGDH and (1) decreased glucose (pyruvate) oxidation resulting in accumulation of alanine and (2) decreased brain content of glutamate and aspartate. Such changes may be of key significance in the pathophysiology of the reversible and irreversible signs of Wernicke's encephalopathy in humans.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 5
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Journal of neurochemistry 51 (1988), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: Treatment of rats with the central thiamine antagonist, pyrithiamine, results in severe neurological symptoms such as loss of righting reflex. Measurement of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content of brain tissue from symptomatic pyrithiamine-treated (PT) rats revealed significant reductions in thalamus, cerebellum, and pons. GABA content of cerebral cortex, however, was unaltered. Activities of the thiamine-dependent enzyme α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (aKGDH) were reduced in parallel with the GABA changes. On the other hand, activities of the GABA-synthetic enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) remained within normal limits, with the exception of a small but significant decrease in thalamus of symptomatic PT rats. Affinities and densities of high-affinity [3H]muscimol binding sites on crude cerebral membrane preparations from symptomatic PT rats were unchanged. Thiamine administration to symptomatic animals resulted in correction of abnormal righting reflexes and in normalization of decreased GABA levels and reduced αKGDH activities in cerebellum and pons. Thalamic GABA levels and αKGDH activities, on the other hand, remained significantly lower than normal. These results suggest that the reversible symptoms of pyrithiamine treatment may result from impaired GABA synthesis in cerebellum and pons of these animals. Similar mechanisms may play a role in the pathogenesis of the reversible symptoms of Wernicke′s encephalopathy in man.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 6
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Science Ltd
    Journal of neurochemistry 63 (1994), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: The kinetics and distribution of [3H]tryptamine binding sites in human brain were investigated. Specific [3H]tryptamine binding in frontal cortex was of nanomolar affinity, reversible, saturable, and best fit to a single-site model. A heterogeneous distribution for this binding site was demonstrated, with the highest density observed in hippocampus, thalamus ≫ caudate nucleus, frontal cortex, pons, temporal cortex 〉 globus pallidus/putamen, cerebellum. The similarities in kinetics and distribution of the [3H]tryptamine binding site in human and rat brain indicate that these two binding sites represent homologous structures. However, the present displacement studies using various ligands (indoleamines and other tryptophan metabolites, phenylethylamines, and miscellaneous drugs) and salts (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+) indicate stereospecific displacement as well as a rank-order potency profile that is different from that reported for the rat [3H]tryptamine binding site. This suggests the presence of distinct species-dependent [3H]tryptamine binding site subtypes. Taken together with the documented electrophysiological and behavioral evidence of tryptamine-mediated effects in the rat and the recent report of a significant loss of these binding sites in human portal systemic encephalopathy, as well as the present demonstration of an effect of guanine nucleotides on [3H]-tryptamine binding affinity, these findings suggest that these binding sites might be functional receptors. The implied role of tryptamine in neuropsychiatric disorders is supported by this demonstration of a receptor for [3H]-tryptamine in human brain.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 7
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: Microdialysis in the awake, freely moving rat was used to determine the effect of pyrithiamine-induced thiamine deficiency on the levels of amino acids in the brain. Studies were carried out on (a) presymptomatic animals immediately before the development of behavioral changes and (b) acute symptomatic animals within 6 h following loss of righting reflexes. This latter stage precedes the appearance of histological lesions. The results were compared with pair-fed controls. Dialysis probes were implanted in one vulnerable structure [ventral posterior medial thalamus (VPMT)] and one nonvulnerable area [frontal parietal cortex (FPC)] on the contralateral side. In VPMT of acute symptomatic animals, the glutamate concentration was significantly increased (3.37 ± 0.64 μM; p 〈 0.005) compared with control values (0.93 ± 0.09 μM), whereas in FPC no change in glutamate content was evident. These results suggest that glutamate plays a significant role in the development of central thiamine deficiency lesions. The absence of any increase in glutamate levels in the nonvulnerable FPC suggests that a glutamate-mediated excitotoxic mechanism may be responsible for the selective cerebral vulnerability in thiamine deficiency.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 8
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: Regional and whole-brain tryptophan-hydroxylating activity and serotonin turnover were investigated in portacaval shunted (PCS) rats using an in vivo decarboxylase inhibition assay. To saturate tryptophan hydroxylation with amino acid substrate, rats were administered a high dose of tryptophan 1 h prior to analysis of brain tryptophan, 5-hydroxytryptophan, serotonin, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. The analysis revealed, as expected, higher brain concentrations of tryptophan and 5-hydroxyindoles and increased serotonin synthesis rate in PCS rats as compared with shamoperated controls. Saturating levels of brain tryptophan were achieved in both PCS and sham animals after exogenous tryptophan administration. The tryptophan load resulted in increased brain serotonin turnover in all regions and in whole brain compared with rats that did not receive a tryptophan load. Tryptophan-loaded PCS rats showed increased brain serotonin turnover compared with tryptophan-loaded sham rats. Regionally, this supranormal tryptophan-hydroxylating activity was most pronounced in the mesencephalon-pons followed by the cortex. It is concluded that, at least in the PCS rat, brain tryptophan hydroxylation is an inducible process. Since it is known that brain tissue from PCS rats undergoes a redox shift toward a reduced state and that the essential cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin is active in tryptophan hydroxylation only when present in its reduced form, it is hypothesized that this is the reason for the supranormal tryptophan-hydroxylating activity displayed by the PCS rats. The hypothesis further suggests that alterations in tetrahydrobiopterin availability may serve as a mechanism by which brain tryptophan hydroxylation, and therefore serotonin turnover, can be regulated with high sensitivity in vivo.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 9
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: Four weeks following portacaval anastomosis (PCA) in the rat, severe liver atrophy, sustained hyperammonemia, and increased plasma and brain tryptophan are observed. Administration of ammonium acetate (NH4Ac) to rats with PCA precipitates severe signs of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) (loss of righting reflex progressing to loss of consciousness and ultimately deep coma). To evaluate the relationship between the deterioration of neurological status in HE and serotonin (5-HT) metabolism, the levels of 5-HT, its precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan, and its major metabolite 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) were measured by HPLC with ion-pairing and electrochemical detection in three well-defined areas of the cerebral cortex: anterior cingulate, piriform and entorhinal, and frontoparietal; as well as in the caudateputamen, the raphe nuclei, and the locus ceruleus in rats with PCA at different stages of HE, before and after injection of NH4Ac, as well as in sham-operated controls. The results demonstrate increased 5-HIAA/5-HT ratios after PCA and NH4Ac loading, suggesting increased 5-HT turnover in the brains of these animals. However, these changes do not appear to be related to the precipitation of coma as no significant difference in 5-HT turnover was observed between precoma and coma stages of HE. Increased 5-HT turnover in brain of shunted rats may be related to early symptoms of HE such as altered sleep patterns and disorders of motor coordination.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 10
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd
    Journal of neurochemistry 51 (1988), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: Portocaval anastomosis (PCA) in the rat leads, within 4 weeks, to severe liver atrophy, sustained hyperam-monemia, and increased brain ammonia. Because brain is not equipped with an effective urea cycle, removal of ammonia involves glutamine synthesis and PCA results in significantly increased brain glutamine. Glutamine synthetase activities, however, are decreased by 15% in cerebral cortex and are unchanged in brainstem of shunted rats. Administration of ammonium acetate to rats following PCA results in severe encephalopathy (loss of righting reflex and, ultimately, coma). Glutamine concentrations in brainstem of comatose rats are increased a further two-fold, whereas those of cerebral cortex are unchanged. Consequently, ammonia levels in cerebral cortex reach disproportionately high levels (of the order of 5 mM). These findings suggest a limitation in the capacity of cerebral cortex to remove additional blood-borne ammonia by glutamine formation following PCA. Such mechanisms may explain the hypersensitivity of rats with PCA and of patients with portal-systemic shunting to small increases of blood ammonia. Disproportionately high levels of brain ammonia in certain regions, such as cerebral cortex, may then result in alterations of inhibitory neurotransmission and, ultimately, loss of cellular (astrocytic) integrity.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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