Postpartum myocardial infarction induced by methergine.

A 28-year-old woman presented to the emergency department for evaluation of acute chest pain. She lacked risk factors for coronary artery disease and her initial electrocardiogram (ECG) was nondiagnostic. Within 45 minutes of presentation she developed nausea, vomiting, restrosternal chest pain, and ECG changes compatible with an acute inferoposterior myocardial infarction. Emergent cardiac catheterization revealed three-vessel coronary artery ectasia and two-vessel occlusion. She underwent emergency coronary artery bypass grafting. Her myocardial ischemia was believed to have been induced by methergine, which she had been taking over the preceding 3 days. The etiology and pathophysiology of coronary artery ectasia, as well as the cardiovascular effects of methergine and a related drug, ergotamine, are discussed.

Altered cytokine regulation in the lungs of cigarette smokers.

Cigarette smoking is the major factor responsible for chronic obstructive lung disease, but it occurs in only a minority of smokers. Smoking is associated with increased susceptibility to pulmonary infections and with a neutrophil- and macrophage-rich inflammation of the small airways. We compared concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and measured the capacity of BALF macrophages to release TNF and IL-6 in vitro in nine smokers (19.1 +/- 4.2 pack-years; mean +/- SE) and nine nonsmokers. Compared with nonsmokers, BALF from smokers contained more cells (65.3 +/- 13.2 versus 27.2 +/- 4.8 x 10(6); p < 0.02), but much lower concentrations of IL-6 (1.8 +/- 1.0 versus 15.9 +/- 5.8 pg/ml; p < 0.05). The two smokers with the highest number of BALF cells had increased BALF concentrations of interleukin-8 (IL-8), but there was no difference in BALF IL-8 concentrations between the two groups (p = 0.08). Compared with BALF macrophages from nonsmokers, cells from smokers released less TNF (211 +/- 77 versus 1,406 +/- 348 units per 10(8) cells; p < 0.01) and IL-6 (5.8 +/- 2.6 versus 64.9 +/- 23.3 hybridoma units per ml; p < 0.02) during a 6-h incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We conclude that even in young, healthy smokers the pulmonary microenvironment is markedly abnormal, characterized by depressed levels of IL-6, macrophages that have a markedly depressed capacity for LPS-induced cytokine release and, in some smokers, increased concentrations of IL-8.

Isolation and characterization of a cytosol protein (64/7.2) present in large amounts in rapidly growing hepatomas.

Protein 64/7.2 (molecular weight/isoelectric point) is present in the cytosol of several hepatomas including the Novikoff hepatoma and Morris hepatomas 9618A, 7794A, and 3924A, but it is not present in liver or 18-hr regenerating liver. Quantitatively, its concentration was highest in Novikoff hepatoma (150 microgram/g tissue) and Morris hepatoma 3924A (550 microgram/g tissue), which are rapid-growing tumors, less in Morris hepatoma 7794A (72 microgram/g tissue), which is of intermediate growth rate, and least in the slow-growing Morris hepatoma 9618A (25 microgram/g tissue). Protein 64/7.2 was isolated from Novikoff hepatoma ascites cells in high purity as shown by its migration as a single band on one-dimensional acid-urea-polyacrylamide gels and a single spot on two-dimensional isoelectric focusing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. Its amino acid composition has an acidic to basic amino acid ratio of 1.6. Its amino-terminal amino acid is lysine, and its carboxyl-terminal amino acid is glycine. Interestingly, the amino acid composition is strikingly similar to that of the phosphorylated Novikoff hepatoma chromatin Protein Cg', partially characterized in our laboratory.

Enrichment of special Novikoff hepatoma and regenerating liver mRNA by hybridization to cDNA-cellulose.

Total polysomal poly(A)+ RNA of Novikoff hepatoma and of 18-hr regenerating rat liver were compared by analysis of their in vitro translational products on two-dimensional isofocusing/sodium dodecyl sulfate gels. This technique resolved the translated proteins sufficiently to permit detection of quantitative and some qualitative differences between the two mRNA populations. Excess cDNA from regenerating liver or Novikoff hepatoma, covalently linked to cellulose, was used to adsorb the complementary mRNA sequences from Novikoff hepatoma or regenerating liver. As shown by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, the translated products of the bound mRNA fractions contained proteins common to both tissues. Novikoff hepatoma mRNA which did not bind to regenerating liver cDNA was enriched in sequences encoding for proteins 11/5.1, 15/6.8, 40/8.2, and 65/5.1 (shown as molecular weight/pI). These polypeptides were not detectable in the translational products of regenerating liver mRNA. Regenerating liver mRNA that was not bound to Novikoff hepatoma cDNA was enriched in sequences coding for proteins 12.5/4.9, 13.5/7.4, 17/8.2, 24/5.5, and 46/6.4; these proteins were not found in the translational pattern from Novikoff hepatoma. These results show that adsorption of mRNA to solid-phase cDNA provides a valuable technique for differentiating mRNA species in related tissues and for corresponding enrichment of these specific mRNAs.

Adsorption of messenger RNA of Novikoff hepatoma, normal liver, and regenerating liver on complementary DNA-cellulose affinity matrices.

Complementary DNA (cDNA)-oligodeoxythmidylate-celluloses were prepared from cDNA copies of polysomal messenger RNA (mRNA) of Novikoff hepatoma, normal rat liver, and regenerating rat liver. cDNA synthesis with reverse transcriptase was approximately 46% with respect to input mRNA with oligodeoxythymidylate-cellulose primer. The cDNA's of normal liver, regenerating liver, and Novikoff hepatomas were used as affinity matrices for hybridization of different mRNA species. Under the conditions used, degradation of mRNA was not detected. After normalization for homologous hybridization efficiency, 53 and 65% of the Novikoff hepatoma mRNA bound to normal liver and regenerating liver cDNA's. Under these conditions an average of 82% of mRNA of normal liver bound to regenerating liver cDNA, and 92% of regenerating liver mRNA bound to normal liver cDNA. The bound and unbound mRNA's were analyzed by translation in the wheat germ system; 2-D gel analysis of the proteins synthesized in the wheat germ system indicated that the cDNA affinity columns selectively adsorbed some mRNA species.