Leptin levels in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant ascites.

AIM: To evaluate the role of leptin levels in the differential diagnosis of ascites. METHODS: Ascitic leptin, TNFalpha and serum leptin levels were measured in 77 patients with ascites (35 with malignancies, 30 cirrhosis and 12 tuberculosis). Control serum samples were obtained from 20 healthy subjects. Leptin and TNFalpha levels were measured by ELISA. Body mass index (BMI) and percentage of body fat (BFM) by skin fold measurement were calculated for all patients and control groups. Peritoneal biopsy, ascites cytology and cultures or biochemical values were used for the diagnosis of patients. RESULTS: In patients with malignancies, the mean serum and ascites leptin levels and their ratios were significantly decreased compared to the other patient groups and controls. In tuberculosis peritonitis, ascitic fluid TNFalpha levels were significantly higher than malignant ascites and cirrhotic sterile ascites. BMI and BFM values did not distinguish between patients and controls. CONCLUSION: In patients with malignant ascites, levels of leptin and TNFalpha were significantly lower than in patients with tuberculous ascites.

Cisplatin-induced acute renal failure is ameliorated by erdosteine in a dose-dependent manner.

The aim of this study was to investigate the optimum dosage of erdosteine to ameliorate cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Three different doses of erdosteine at 25, 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) were studied in rats. Intraperitoneal administration of 7 mg kg(-1) cisplatin led to acute renal failure, as indicated by kidney histology and increases in plasma creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. At 5 days after cisplatin injection the BUN level was increased significantly from 15.1 +/- 4.3 to 126.7 +/- 152.6 mg dl(-1) and plasma creatinine levels increased from 0.37 +/- 0.005 to 1.68 +/- 1.9 mg dl(-1). When the rats were administered 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) erdosteine 24 h before cisplatin injection that was continued until sacrifice (total of 6 days), the BUN and creatinine levels remained similar to control levels and the grade of histology was similar. Erdosteine at doses of 50 and 75 mg kg(-1) ameliorates cisplatin-induced renal failure. The optimum dose of erdosteine may be 50 mg kg(-1) in this study.

The effects of erdosteine on the activities of some metabolic enzymes during cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.

Cisplatin is one of the widely used chemothrapeutic agents. One of the major side effects of the drug is renal toxicity. The aims of the presented study was (1) to investigate the effect of cisplatin on some renal metabolic enzyme activities such as hexokinase (HK), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in an experimental model of acute renal failure and (2) to examine the protective role of erdosteine, an expectorant agent which has also antioxidant properties on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and the enzyme activities mentioned above. Female Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups: sham operation group (n = 6), cisplatin group ( n = 9), erdostein + cisplatin group ( n = 8). All the chemicals used were applied intraperitoneally. Hexokinase, G6PD, LDH, and MDH activities were determined in the kidney supernatant at the end of the surgical procedures. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine the activities of above-mentioned enzymes in the kidney tissue. Hexokinase and G6PD activities were found to be increased in cisplatin group compared to control group. G6PD activities were found to be decreased in erdosteine + cisplatin group compared to cisplatin group. There were minimal changes in LDH and MDH activities of the two study groups compared with the control group. The results obtained suggested that the glucose metabolizing metabolic pathways of renal tissue were partially affected from cisplatin toxicity and erdosteine have some protective effects on these enzyme activities.