[Indication and effect of immunosuppression in patients with scleritis]. / Indikation und Wirksamkeit einer Immunsuppression bei Patienten mit Skleritis.

PURPOSE: The value of immunosuppressive drugs for the therapy of scleritis patients is unclear. The authors investigated the indications and effects of immunosuppression in a group of patients with scleral inflammation. METHOD: Retrospective study of patients treated for scleritis (n = 87) or episcleritis (n = 18). The demographic factors, clinical symptoms, visual outcome, course of inflammation, ocular complications resulting from inflammation, topical and systemic antiinflammatory medication, and associated systemic diseases were analysed. RESULTS: Only one patient with episcleritis, but 37 with scleritis presented with ocular complications (P = 0.003). The vision was impaired in 15 patients with scleritis, but not in episcleritis patients (P = 0.022). In the group of patients with episcleritis, only those with frequent relapses required more than topical antiinflammatory drugs, especially systemic non-steroidals. In contrast, systemic therapy was indicated in all of the scleritis patients. Ocular complications were found more often in patients with necrotising (n = 7/10) or posterior scleritis (n = 10/11) than in those with diffuse (9/39) or nodular (11/27) scleritis. Compared with the other patients, associated systemic autoimmune diseases were more common in patients with necrotising scleritis (P = 0.03). The need for immunosuppression was associated with vision-threatening complications (glaucoma, uveitis, peripheral ulcerative keratitis) (P < 0.01), systemic autoimmune disease, and necrotising and posterior form of scleritis (P < 0.01). Quiescence of scleritis was obtained in 59 of the scleritis patients, and improvement of inflammation was achieved in further 21. In 26 patients, scleritis did not improve with systemic steroid or non-steroidal treatment, but with immunosuppression. CONCLUSIONS: Scleritis is often associated with life-threatening systemic diseases and vision-threatening ocular complications. In patients with severe scleritis, especially with the posterior and necrotising form, improvement can often be achieved with immunosuppression.

Effects of quinine and quinidine on the transient outward and on the L-type Ca(2+) current in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes.

The effects of the enantiomers quinine and quinidine on the transient outward current (I(to)) and on the L-type Ca(2+) current (I(ca)) were investigated in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes using the patch-clamp technique. At a stimulation frequency of 2 Hz, both quinine and quinidine depressed the magnitude of I(to) and I(Ca); the half-maximal effects on I(to) were achieved at 11 and 15 micromol/l, respectively, and those on I(Ca) at 14 and 10 micromol/l, respectively. At 0.2 Hz, both drugs depressed the magnitude of I(to), but not that of I(Ca). A change in extracellular pH from 7.3 to 8.3 did not significantly influence the effects of the drugs(which are protonated to 98% at pH 7.3) on I(to) or I(Ca). It is concluded that neither the different chemical structure nor the amount of protonation of quinine and quinidine controls their effects on I(to) or I(Ca).