MR imaging of the sellar and juxtasellar regions.

Multiplanar capability and superior tissue contrast differentiation render magnetic resonance (MR) imaging the preferred method for examining patients with pituitary axis dysfunction or visual field deficits. In a review of 131 sellar or juxtasellar abnormalities, 76% were common lesions with distinctive features that helped establish their diagnosis: macroadenoma (n = 51), microadenoma (n = 20), meningioma (n = 14), craniopharyngioma (n = 10), and aneurysm (n = 5). On T1-weighted images, microadenomas were usually hypointense relative to normal pituitary gland, and macroadenomas and meningiomas were isointense relative to gray matter. Both microadenomas and meningiomas were more conspicuous immediately after contrast material administration. Craniopharyngiomas were the most heterogeneous of all the sellar lesions due to their cystic and solid components. MR images of aneurysms showed flow void and heterogeneous increased signal intensity in areas of slower turbulent flow. Other characteristics such as extrasellar versus intrasellar location, nature of contrast material enhancement, the presence of cystic components, and clinical findings permitted differentiation among less common lesions, including granulomatous disease, metastases, chiasmatic glioma, arachnoid cyst, hypothalamic glioma, schwannoma, germinoma, epidermoid, Rathke cyst, chordoma, chondrosarcoma, colloid cyst, and hamartoma.

Changes in expression of a functional Gi protein in cultured rat heart cells.

The muscarinic cholinergic agonist, carbachol, and pertussis toxin were used to examine the functional status of the guanine nucleotide-binding protein that inhibits adenylate cyclase (Gi) in cultured neonatal rat heart myocytes. The isoproterenol stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity in myocyte membranes and adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation in intact cells (4 days in culture) were insensitive to carbachol (0.1 mM). However, in cells cultured for 11 days, carbachol (0.1 mM) inhibited isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP accumulation by 30%. Angiotensin II (ANG II) was also found to inhibit isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP accumulation in day 11 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Pertussis toxin treatment reversed the inhibitory effects of both ANG II and carbachol, suggesting a role for Gi in the process. Carbachol binding to membranes from day 4 cells was relatively insensitive to guanine nucleotides when compared with binding to membranes from day 11 or adult cells. Furthermore, pertussis toxin-mediated 32P incorporation into a 39- to 41-kDa substrate in day 11 membranes was increased 3.2-fold over that measured in day 4 membranes. These findings support the view that, although Gi is expressed, it is nonfunctional in 4-day-old cultured neonatal rat heart myocytes and acquisition of functional Gi is dependent on culture conditions. Furthermore, the ANG II receptor can couple to Gi in heart.

Angiotensin II increases spontaneous contractile frequency and stimulates calcium current in cultured neonatal rat heart myocytes: insights into the underlying biochemical mechanisms.

The effect of angiotensin II on cultured neonatal rat heart myocytes was studied by measuring changes in cell length, the magnitude and kinetics of the calcium current, and changes in cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) and phosphoinositide metabolism. Spontaneous beating frequency of multicellular networks was increased by angiotensin II with a maximal increase of 100% above control values at concentrations of 5 nM or greater. The half-maximal response occurred at 0.6 nM angiotensin II. Shortening amplitude, shortening velocity, and relaxation velocity decreased concomitantly with the increasing contractile rate. In voltage-clamped single myocytes, both steady-state and transient components of the calcium current were increased by the addition of angiotensin II. Angiotensin II had no effect on either control or isoproterenol-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in myocyte membranes. Neither the basal levels nor the isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP accumulation in intact cells was affected by addition of hormone. In myocytes labeled with [3H]inositol, angiotensin II stimulated the formation of [3H]inositol phosphates. One minute after addition of 5 nM angiotensin II, inositol monophosphate and inositol bisphosphate levels were increased to 73% and 99%, respectively, above control values and remained elevated at 10 minutes. Inositol trisphosphate levels were not significantly different from control values at either time point. Nifedipine (10 microM) had no effect on angiotensin II-induced increases in [3H]inositol phosphates. We conclude that the increases in both spontaneous beating rate and calcium current in angiotensin II-stimulated cultured neonatal heart cells are not dependent on cAMP or inositol trisphosphate levels but may involve sustained phosphoinositide hydrolysis.

Identification and characterization of functional angiotensin II receptors on cultured heart myocytes.

Cultured neonatal rat myocytes have been investigated as a potential system to study the molecular mechanism of angiotensin II (All) stimulation of heart contractile behavior. Intact cultured cells and the membranes from these cells bind [125I] All in a biphasic manner. The data were analyzed as two classes of binding sites on membrane preparations: Kd1 = 0.65 nM; maximum binding (Bmax1) = 245 fmol/mg of protein and Kd2 = 5.57 nM, Bmax2 = 720 fmol/mg of protein. The receptor on intact cells is specific as All peptide analogs were potent at inhibiting the binding of [125I]All. An All antagonist, [125I]Sar1,Leu8-All, recognized a single class of high affinity receptors on intact cells: Kd = 0.63 nM, Bmax = 318 fmol/mg of protein, or 45,300 sites per cell. Guanine nucleotides regulated the binding of All to membranes by shifting the receptor from a high affinity to a low affinity form without changing Kd2. Conversely, these nucleotides altered the high affinity binding of [125I]Sar1,Leu8-All by increasing Kd without changing Bmax. All was found to stimulate the contractile frequency of spontaneously beating myocytes with maximal effects (a 50% stimulation) observed at 5 nM hormone. The responses were reversible with half-maximal effects observed at doses around 1 nM. The antagonist, Sar1,Ala8-All, could inhibit the chronotropic stimulatory responses. It is concluded that these cultured myocytes express an All receptor system with properties consistent with a true hormone receptor system. Furthermore, studies on the pharmacology of the chronotropic responses of these cells to All demonstrate that these receptors are functional.