Adrenal aldosterone-producing adenoma: use of colonic potential in diagnosis and subtraction scanning technique for localisation.

Primary hyperaldosteronism is a potentially curable cause of hypertension, and much interest has been shown in methods of diagnosing the associated hypokalaemic hypertension and localising the adrenal adenoma. In two patients the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism was confirmed by colonic potential measurement and the adenoma localised by a new subtraction technique for early adrenal imaging applied to the use of 131I-19-iodocholesterol. Both patients underwent adrenalectomy and in each case an adenoma was removed. Blood pressure and electrolyte levels returned to normal after operation. In one patient bilateral adrenal phlebography had failed to show the tumour, and sampling of aldosterone concentrations in the adrenal veins had been unsatisfactory.     

Identification of novel cell surface epitopes using a leaf epidermal-strip assay system

Using indirect immunofluorescence with hybridoma supernatants on intact epidermal peels of the argenteum mutant of Pisum sativum L. and Commelina communis L. as a secondary screen, three monoclonal antibodies have been derived and characterized. The distribution of the antibody binding to the epidermal strips indicated restricted occurrence of the corresponding epitopes in the cell wall material exposed on the inner face of the epidermal tissue. The monoclonal antibody JIM18 bound to the lining of the stomatal pore in pea and the exposed surface of the epidermal tissue corresponding to the stomatal complexes, including the subsidiary cells, in C. communis. JIM19 and JIM20 bound to the exposed surface of non-guard-cell epidermal cells in pea and the exposed surface of cells other than the guard cells and subsidiary cells in C. communis. However, the JIM19 epitope was revealed in the wall in the regions of the stomatal complexes subsequent to a short treatment with wall-digesting enzymes. This indicates regulation of epitope occurrence within cell walls in relation to adhered and un-adhered plant cell surfaces and also in relation to wall architecture in the complex epidermal tissues. The JIM18, JIM19 and JIM20 epitopes/antigens have distinct biochemical properties. JIM18 recognized a low-molecular-weight component which was present at the dye-front of a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gel and which was soluble in chloroform, was periodate-sensitive and is likely to be a glycolipid. JIM19 and JIM20 recognized epitopes of hydroxyproline rich glycoproteins known to be regulated in relation to developmental anatomy. JIM19, in addition, as demonstrated in the companion report (Wang et al. 1995, 196, 271–276), has biological activity in relation to abscisic acid (ABA) interaction with ABA-sensitive barley aleurone cells.Abbreviations ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay - HRGP hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein We acknowledge support from the Agricultural and Food Research Council and the Nuffield Foundation. We thank Professor Keith Roberts (John Innes Institute, Norwich) for the generous use of his laboratory and, along with Drs. Nick Brewin and Silvia Perotto, for useful discussions.     

Hypoxia-mediated prior induction of monocyte-expressed HSP72 and HSP32 provides protection to the disturbances to redox balance associated with human sub-maximal aerobic exercise

HSP72 is rapidly expressed in response to a variety of stressors in vitro and in vivo (including hypoxia). This project sought a hypoxic stimulus to elicit increases in HSP72 and HSP32 in attempts to confer protection to the sub-maximal aerobic exercise-induced disturbances to redox balance. Eight healthy recreationally active male subjects were exposed to five consecutive days of once-daily hypoxia (2,980?m, 75?min). Seven days prior to the hypoxic acclimation period, subjects performed 60?min of cycling on a cycle ergometer (exercise bout 1—EXB1), and this exercise bout was repeated 1?day post-cessation of the hypoxic period (exercise bout 2—EXB2). Blood samples were taken immediately pre- and post-exercise and 1, 4 and 8?h post-exercise for HSP72 and immediately pre, post and 1?h post-exercise for HSP32, TBARS and glutathione [reduced (GSH), oxidised (GSSG) and total (TGSH)], with additional blood samples obtained immediately pre-day 1 and post-day 5 of the hypoxic acclimation period for the same indices. Monocyte-expressed HSP32 and HSP72 were analysed by flow cytometry, with measures of oxidative stress accessed by commercially available kits. There were significant increases in HSP72 (P?<?0.001), HSP32 (P?=?0.03), GSSG (t?=?9.5, P?<?0.001) and TBARS (t?=?5.6, P?=?0.001) in response to the 5-day hypoxic intervention, whereas no significant changes were observed for GSH (P?=?0.22) and TGSH (P?=?0.25). Exercise-induced significant increases in HSP72 (P?<?0.001) and HSP32 (P?=?0.003) post-exercise in EXB1; this response was absent for HSP72 (P?≥?0.79) and HSP32 (P?≥?0.99) post-EXB2. The hypoxia-mediated increased bio-available HSP32 and HSP72 and favourable alterations in glutathione redox, prior to exercise commencing in EXB2 compared to EXB1, may acquiesce the disturbances to redox balance encountered during the second physiologically identical exercise bout.