Indomethacin prevents the induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase in murine peritoneal macrophages and decreases their nitric oxide production.

Indomethacin (0.14-.5 mM concentration) inhibits nitric oxide production in murine peritoneal macrophages. This was evidenced by measuring both nitrite production or 14C-L-citrulline formation. The inhibition was caused by the diminution of de novo inducible nitric oxide synthase production as demonstrated by Western blotting experiment. The effect of indomethacin after 4 h treatment was irreversible. NO synthase and arginase activities and the uptake of arginine were not directly affected by the drug. Indomethacin also decreased uridine incorporation in macrophages. The effect of indomethacin on the induction of other enzymes (i.e. arginase) was weaker.

Efficacy and retention time of a new tear substitute.

The tear substitute Lacrozym has been compared with Tears Naturale in a double-blind study. Baseline tear film break-up time, efficiency by determining the maximum of the break-up time values after tear substitute administration, and retention time has been established. A similar increase of break-up time values were found after 10, 15, 20 and 30 min administration of Lacrozym and Tears Naturale, respectively. Retention times of both tear substitutes were found to be about two hours, more exactly 110 and 120 min for Lacrozym and Tears Naturale, respectively.

The possible role of tear fluid thyroxine in keratoconus development.

The normal thyroxine level in tears was found to be two orders of magnitude lower than in serum. In thyroxine function tests, keratoconus patients were found to be hypothyreotic, euthyreotic or hyperthyreotic. However, independently of their thyroid function, the tear thyroxine levels of keratoconus patients were 2-50 times higher than that of subjects free of ocular pathology. Tear thyroxine levels were higher during the progression of keratoconus and declined once corneal curvature reached a new steady value.

The significance of the arginine and arginase of tears in experimentally-induced herpes simplex corneae.

Experimental corneal herpes is always accompanied by the accumulation of arginine, the substrate of arginase, in tears, ensuring the multiplication of the herpes hominis virus. The main source of the large amount of arginine is the desquamating corneal epithelium, since after the epithelium of the cornea is abraded the arginine content of the tears again equals that of healthy tears. The low arginase content of rabbit tears can be supplemented by arginase applied as eyedrops, and this results in the cure of the herpetic process.

Tri-minocycline: a minocycline complex for parenteral use. I. Antibacterial activity and toxicity data.

Aqueous solutions of tri-minocycline (equivalent to 20--50 mg/ml minocycline HCl) and preconstituted ready-for-use injections were prepared at the pH of blood; these exert high antibiotic activities equal to those of the parent substance. The chloroform/water distribution coefficients of tri-minocycline in the different types of injections were somewhat lower, but in the same order of magnitude as that of the parent substance. The MIC values of tri-minocycline proved to be very low and the LD50 values very high, their separation covering more than 3 orders of magnitude.

Tri-monocycline: a minocycline complex for parenteral use. II. Blood levels, tissue contents and excretion of the antibiotic in animal experiments and after intravenous administration to humans.

Tri-minocycline prepared by mere dissolution of minocycline in an aqueous solution of a recommended complexing agent or using a preconstituted ready-for-use injection of the complex was administered intravenously to rabbits. Serum values were lower, tissue values higher than after injection of other tri-tetracyclines. Basing on these experimental quantitative data, single doses of tri-minocycline equivalent to 50-150 mg minocycline hydrochloride were administered once or twice daily to 13 adult patients during 1-6 days intravenously, without any serious or unusual side-effects. On average, 12% of the injected antibiotic was excreted in the urine, not later than 96 h after the last dose.

Local treatment of thoracic empyema with tri-tetracycline complexes.

In 13 patients with thoracic empyema of different origins, aqueous solutions of tri-metacycline or tridoxycycline were administered locally into the pleural cavity by puncture or through a drain-tube. Depending on the sensitivity of the causative agent, the former antibiotic was used in 12 cases and the latter in 1 only. The urinary output of the antibiotic was followed by chromatography. The local treatment cleared up the previously purulent exudate in 11 patients, while in the remaining two cases the efficacy of the therapy could not be evaluated.

[Indications and limits of local tri-methacycline therapy in pyogenic infections of the eye (author's transl)]. / Indikationen und Grenzen der lokalen Tri-Methacyclin-Behandlung von pyogenen Infektionen des Auges

In addition to the preoperative treatment of acute dacryocystitis local administration of tri-methacycline proved to be of benefit in cases of endophthalmitis consequent to injury. Its subconjunctival administration is the therapy of choice for serpentic ulcers of the cornea.

Lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme pattern in the eye muscles. Deviation in myopia.

The lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme patterns in 46 extraocular eye muscle samples removed at surgery for squint were determined by acrylamide-gel electrophoresis and reduction of NAD coupled with formazan reaction. Muscle type subunits predominated in the isoenzymes of the medial and lateral rectus muscles of emmetropic and hypermetropic eyes, whereas heart type subunits predominated in those of myopic eyes.

The parenteral application of a new metacycline preparation, tri-metacycline.

Tri-metacycline, one of the new tetracycline complexes (tritetracyclines), is prepared by mere dissolution of metacycline hydrochloride in an aqueous solution of the complexing agent. In vitro and in vivo studies show a high antibiotic activity. Significantly lower MIC values were found for tri-metacycline than for the parent compound. Parenteral administration resulted in high sera and tissue values, without signs of accumulation; excretion via the kidneys was proved.

The significance of tears' lactate dehydrogenase in health, and external eye diseases.

The normal values of the lactate dehydrogenase contents of tears in the presence of pyruvate and lactate as substrates were determined. The quotients of the LDH values measured in the presence of the two different substrates, and also the ratio of the subunits (H and M) of the isoenzymes, differ from the corresponding data of blood serum. In the event of external inflammatory diseases of the eye, LDHp/LDHl decreases in the tears; this deviation is enhanced by treatment with drugs inhibiting protein synthesis, primarily iododeoxyuridine. Conversely, in trachoma the ratio of the LDH isoenzymes containing mainly M (muscle) subunits are increasing. In diabetes mellitus the shift of metabolism toward the citrate cycle is reflected to a larger extent by the LDH values in the blood serum than by those in tears.