Subject(s)
Craniocerebral Trauma/complications , Oculomotor Nerve Diseases/etiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , PrognosisABSTRACT
The authors examined the growth rate of mouse 203 glioma cells in vitro and found it to be markedly inhibited after exposure to ACNU for 5 minutes at a drug concentration of 100 micrograms/ml. Rats that had undergone intracranial implantation of T1 neurogenic tumor were treated by 5 mg/kg of ACNU administered either intravenously or intra-arterially. The median survival times for the control animals and the animals undergoing intravenous or intracarotid administration of ACNU were 23, 29, and 46 days, respectively. The difference in survival time between the intravenous and intracarotid administration groups was statistically significant (p less than 0.01) when examined by the Cox-Mantel test. In a clinical trial, 17 patients with glioblastoma were treated by ACNU, eight intravenously and nine by the intra-arterial route. The drug was given in doses of 2 to 3 mg/kg at least twice before and twice after a course of postoperative radiotherapy. Intra-arterial administration was performed over a period of 5 minutes under local anesthesia. The median postoperative survival time for the patients in the intra-arterial group was 12.5 months, compared with 9.0 months for those in the intravenous group. The survival rate for the intra-arterial group was slightly higher, although statistically not significant, probably because the number of cases was small. The degree of thrombocytopenia due to ACNU tended to be less marked in the intra-arterially treated patients. The theoretical advantages of the intra-arterial administration of ACNU are discussed.
Subject(s)
Brain Neoplasms/drug therapy , Glioma/drug therapy , Nitrosourea Compounds/administration & dosage , Adult , Animals , Brain Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Brain Neoplasms/mortality , Cell Line , Female , Glioma/diagnostic imaging , Glioma/mortality , Glioma/pathology , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Injections, Intra-Arterial , Injections, Intravenous , Male , Mice , Middle Aged , Nimustine , Nitrosourea Compounds/therapeutic use , Platelet Count , Radiography , Rats , Rats, Inbred StrainsABSTRACT
Experiments were designed to compare the nutritive values of L-, DL- and D-tryptophan in rats and chicks. Growing rats and chicks were fed for 19 and 21 days, respectively, diets containing amino acid mixtures with graded levels of either L-, DL- or D-tryptophan so that the regression of weight gain or protein retention on tryptophan intake could be established. After the end of the experiments, plasma free L-tryptophan was estimated by a microbiological method. The nutritive values of DL- and D-tryptophan relative to the L-isomer were 47 and 21%, respectively in chicks and close to 100% in rats. In chicks, plasma free L-tryptophan concentration increased with the increase of L- and DL-tryptophan levels in the diet, but remained at a low level regardless of the D-tryptophan level in the diet. In rats, however, a good correlation was observed between plasma free L-tryptophan and tryptophan level in the diet.
Subject(s)
Chickens/metabolism , Rats/metabolism , Tryptophan/metabolism , Animals , Body Weight/drug effects , Male , Nutritive Value , Proteins/metabolism , Species Specificity , Stereoisomerism , Structure-Activity Relationship , Tryptophan/bloodABSTRACT
The behavior of D-tryptophan in the blood plasma and the pattern of tryptophan excretion in the urine were studied in the rat and the chick. When D-tryptophan was administered orally to rats and chicks, both showed D-tryptophan in the plasma. Conversion of D-tryptophan to the L-isomer in the rat was found by an examination of plasma from the posterior vena cava and the portal vein, following stomach intubation of 100 micromoles D-tryptophan/100 g of body weight. The peak in the increase of L-tryptophan was approximately 150 nmoles/ml plasma when measured at 30 minutes after administration and the peak was 200 nmoles when measured 2 hours after administration. No conversion of D-tryptophan to the L-isomer was found in chicks. Under similar conditions, D-tryptophan was measured in the urine of rats and chicks. In rats the D-tryptophan excreted was at most 1% of the amount administered; while in chicks most of the D-tryptophan was excreted.
Subject(s)
Chickens/metabolism , Rats/metabolism , Tryptophan/metabolism , Animals , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Intubation, Gastrointestinal , Male , Portal Vein , Species Specificity , Stereoisomerism , Vena Cava, InferiorABSTRACT
The pancreatic secretory responses of dogs to various taste stimuli were examined in this study. Additionally, taste preferences were examined in 24-hour exposure tests to taste stimulus solutions as well as in short exposure tests to taste solutions mixed with commercial stock diet. The liquid and solid food preference tests produced quite different results. In dogs with cannulated gastric and duodenal fistulas, gustatory receptors were stimulated orally with 100 ml of taste stimulus solution (water 0.05 M monosodium glutamate (MSG), 0.05 M citric acid or 0.3 M sucrose) mixed with 25 g of a carrier (commercial stock diet, purified diet or cellulose). Pancreatic secretory responses to the taste stimuli varied with the type of carrier. Stock diet carrier was a better stimulant than the purified diet for both protein output and volume flow. Taste stimuli with a cellulose carrier did not produce any pancreatic response at all. The differences in responses to the different carriers were greater than the differences between taste stimuli when the same carrier was used. This experiment indicates that gustatory stimulation does influence the function of pancreatic secretion depending on the carriers used.
