effect of chronic exposure to organophosphorous insecticides on apoptosis in patients with liver diseases

The rapidly increasing use of organophosphorous compounds in everyday life obligate that greater attention should be paid to the toxic effect exerted by these compounds of human organism. To investigate the effect of chronic exposure to organophosphorous insecticides on liver at chronic hepatitis C virus infection and the chance of development to hepatocellular carcinoma, through studying apoptosis by the measurements of soluble Fas. This study was carried out on sixty subjects; they were divided into six groups: The first control group composed of 10 healthy subjects. The second group composed of ten patients with hepatocellular carcinoma associated with chronic hepatitis C virus and chronic exposure to organophosphorous. The third group composed of ten patients with hepatocellular carcinoma associated with chronic hepatitis C virus. The fourth group composed of ten patients with chronic hepatitis C virus and chronic exposure to organophosphorous. The fifth group composed of ten patients with chronic hepatitis C virus. The sixth group composed of ten patients with chronic exposure to organophosphorous. The time of exposure to organophosphorous was chosen to be over than 10 years. For all groups we do the following investigation: Detection of anti-HCV and HbsAg by ELISA technique, quantitative determination of HCV RNA by real time PCR, estimation of serum levels of bilirubin; albumin level and serum activities of aspartate and alanine aminotransferase; gamma glutamyl transferase activity [GOT]; and prothrombin time, determination of paraoxonase [PON] activity, and determination of sFas by ELISA. All patients show hyperactivity of AST, ALT, and GOT, hypoactivity of PON and high level of sFas. Chronic exposures to organophosphorous giving a high chance to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma by decreasing apoptosis and this risk is further exaggerated by the presence of previous chronic hepatic inflammation as chronic HCV

Effect of sex steroids on tryptophan and carbohydrate metabolism in female rats

The activities of L-tryptophan 2, 3-dioxygenase [EC 1. 13. 11. 11], pyridoxal phosphokinase [EC 2. 7. 1. 35], kynurenine transaminase [EC 2. 6. 17] and kynurenine hydrolase [EC 3. 7. 1. 2] were determined in female rats, following two weeks of sex steroid administration, to assess their effect on tryptophan metabolism. Steroid effect is also studied on carbohydrate metabolism, through an evaluation of blood glucose, liver glycogen and serum cortisol levels. Administration of testosterone propionate [TP] and combination of ethinyl estradiol plus progesterone [EE+P], resulted in a significant decrease in the activity of L-tryptophan 2, 3-dioxygenase. Pyridoxal phosphokinase was significantly inhibited by [TP], while [EE+P] caused a significant increase in its activity, [TP] and [EE+P] produced an inhibitory effect on kynurenine transaminase and kynurenine hydrolase. Liver glycogen content was significantly increased by [TP] and [EE+P], while blood glucose level and serum cortisol concentration were not changed significantly. In conclusion, male and female hormones produce a disorder in tryptophan metabolism. Some abnormalities in carbohydrate metabolism are also observed

effect of the fasciolicidal drug: bithionol, on the B6-dependent kynurenine metabolizing enzymes: kynurenine

The present study deals with the effect of the fasciolicidal drug: 2,2- thiobis, 4, 6-dichlorophenol [bithionol], on the B[6]-dependent kynurenine metabolizing enzymes: kynurenine hydrolase [KH], and kynurenine aminotransferase [KATE]. This investigation was carried out on the liver homogenates of normal and Fasciola gigantica [F. gigantica]-infected rabbits. It was found that bithionol induced an inhibitory effect on the KH. In contrast, the infection with F. gigantica an activating effect on the same enzyme in the host. The latter effect was attributed to a metabolic byproduct excreted from F.gigantica. Therefore, the normalizing effect on the activity of KH which was encountered when the drug was applied to F.gigantica-infected rabbits, was attributed to the antagonistic action of the drug to that of the metabolic byproduct from the flukes. However, neither bithionol, nor infection with F.gigantica have any detectable effect on the KATE in the host. Therefore, it was concluded that: Treatment of Fasciola gigantica infected rabbits with bithionol retains or restores the kynurenine hydrolase activity to the normal level and has no effect on the kynurenine transaminase