Expression of Clusterin by Angiotensin II Infusion in the Kidney and the Heart of Rats

PURPOSE: Clusterin is a heterodimeric glycoprotein and its expression is related with tissue injury and apotosis. Angitensisn II(ANG II) is known to be associated with the progression of renal disease by inducing renal fibrosis and cell proliferation. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between ANG II and clusterin expression in the kindey and the heart. We also attempted to discriminate the effect of ANG II-mediated hypertension by experimenting with two doses of ANG II-one is high enough to cause hypertension, and the other is not. METHODS: Three groups of Sprague-Dawley rats received ANG II infusion by osmotic minipump at a dose of 50ng/min, 100ng/min and placebo infusion, respectively. After 7 days, their kidneys and hearts were harvested and underwent immunohistochemical staining, RT-PCR, and Western blotting of clusterin. RESULTS: There were no differences in body weight nor organ weight/body weight among the three groups. Blood pressures of control and low-dose ANG group were not changed throughout the study, but that of high-dose ANG group was increased significantly at day 3 and 7. Staining for renal clusterin was diffusely distributed over the cortex and medulla in all 3 groups, but the intensity of staining was different notably in the medulla of control group which showed stronger staining than the ANG II infused groups. Staining intensity was not significantly different between the low and high ANG groups in the heart and kidney. In the kidney, expression of clusterin mRNA and protein were decreased in low-and high-dose ANG groups compared with control. In the heart, expression of clusterin mRNA was decreased in the low- and high-dose ANG groups compared with control. CONCLUSION: We conclude that ANG II decreases clusterin expression in the kidney and heart regardless of systemic hypertension induced by ANG II.

A clinical study on early diagnosis in neonatal sepsis

Neonatal sepsis is a major contributing factor for increased mortality and morbidity in the newbron and its successful outcome depends on early detection and prompt institution of an effective antimic robial therapy. Accurate diagnosis of the neonatal septicemia, however, is quite difficult because its early signs and symptoms are rather subtle. This study was conducted in an attempt to search for useful early markers for the clinical entity A total of 224 newborns, over a 17 month pcriod (1/90 5/91), who were evaluated for probable neonatal sepsis were analysed. The laboratory parameters that showed highest correlation with bacteriologically proves sopsis were as follows: Total WBC counts (0.2), elevated ESR(>15mm/hr), CRP(>6ng/ml). Of the 224 study subjects, 41 had two or more parameters of which 12 subjects had positive blood cultures(positive predictive value:29%), only 4 of the 183 newborns who had less than 2 parameters had positive blood cultures(false negative:2%). It is concluded that the presence of two or more of the above parameters can be used as a strong indicator for neonatal sepsis and its sensitivity is 75% while specificity is 86%.