Evaluation of Antidepressant Drug Effect in a Depressive Animal Model by Proton MR Spectroscopy / 의학물리

In this study, we observed the alteration of choline signal intensity in hippocampus region of the depressive rat model induced by forced swimming test (FST). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antidepressant efficacy in the depressive animal model using MR spectroscopy. Fourteen experimentally naive male Sprague-Dawley rats weighting 160~180 g were used as subjects. Drug injection group was exposed to the FST except for control group. The drugs were administered subcutaneously (SC) in a volume equivalent to 2 ml/kg. And three injections were administered 23, 5, and 1 h before beginning the given test. 1H MR spectra were obtained with use of a point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) localization sequence performed according to the following parameters: repetition time, 2500 ms; echo time, 144 ms; 512 average; 2048 complex data points; voxel dimensions, 1.5x2.5x2.5 mm3; acquisition time, 25 min. There were no differences in NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratio between the right and the left hippocampus both normal control rats and antidepressant-injected rats. Also, no differences were observed in NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratio between the normal control rats and the antidepressant-injected rats both the right and the left hippocampus. In this study, we found the recovery of choline signals in the depressive animal model similar to normal control groups as injecting desipramine-HCl which was antidepressant causing anti-immobility effects. Thus, we demonstrated that MR spectroscopy was able to aid in evaluating the antidepressant effect of desipramine-HCl.

Conformational Transitions and Glycation of Serum Albumin in Patients with Minimal-Change Glomerulopathy

BACKGROUND: There has been a lack of study on the structural changes of serum albumin in patients with minimal change disease (MCD). To determine whether glycation and/or conformational transitions of albumin are involved in the pathogenesis of albuminuria, nine patients with MCD were enrolled in a prospective follow-up study for comparison of these parameters in serum albumin during the remission and relapse of nephrotic syndrome. METHODS: Circular dichroism measurements were made with purified albumin. Ellipticities at each wavelength were transformed to mean residue ellipticity. Monosaccharide composition was analyzed by high-pH anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. RESULTS: There was no difference in the proportions of alpha-helix, beta-conformation, and beta-turn of albumin between the sera of control patients and those with nephrotic syndrome. However, the proportion of the random configuration was slightly higher in the plasma albumin of patients in relapse than in those in remission. The proportion of the random configuration was lower in the albumin of the serum than in the urine of patients with nephrotic syndrome, but there was no difference in the proportions of alpha-helix, beta-conformation, and beta-turn of albumin between their plasma and urine. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that conformational changes in albumin are involved in albuminuria in patients with MCD.