ABSTRACT
Urinary aspartate-transaminase activity in the whole urine was found to be mean +/- S.D. = 8.46 +/- 0.69 l.U/l when measured immediately after urine collection. About 50% loss in enzyme activity was observed after 18 hours dialysis. An overall 176% increase in enzyme activity followed by Sephadex G-25 (fine) whole urine fractionation and a highly significant (P less than .001) partial inhibition by earlier Sephadex fractions and maximum inhibition by earlier Sephadex fractions and maximum inhibition of enzyme by fraction 7 have suggested the presence of both high and low molecular weight urinary inhibitors of aspartate-transaminase. Urea and ammonia presence and inhibitor activity in fraction 6 to 8 bear a close parallelism; both the substances produced 31% inhibition of partially purified goat liver GOT at concentrations approximating normal human urine. Therefore, low enzyme activity and its substantial loss in the whole urine and during dialysis may be due to the concomitant inhibitory effects of urea, ammonia and unidentified nature of high molecular weight substance(s). The present method may be effective in separating inhibitors and overcoming the disadvantages of dialysis in determining true urinary aspartate-transaminase activity.
Subject(s)
Aspartate Aminotransferases/urine , Adult , Ammonia/urine , Aspartate Aminotransferases/antagonists & inhibitors , Chromatography, Gel , Enzyme Inhibitors/urine , Humans , Male , Molecular Weight , Reference Values , Urea/urineABSTRACT
Nine healthy volunteers and 25 tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) patients were used to study circadian variations of absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and serum histaminase activity (SHA). A marked circadian variation was found in AEC for healthy volunteers and TPE patients with the worst symptoms in the late evening and morning hours only; no rhythm could be detected in SHA for healthy subjects. However, TPE patients with worst symptoms in the late evening hours did exhibit a significant rhythm in SHA. Increased SHA in all TPE patients at all time-points of the 24 hour day-night cycle, irrespective of the worsening hours of symptoms in comparison to healthy controls, could be due to increased histamine production in such situations.
Subject(s)
Amine Oxidase (Copper-Containing)/blood , Circadian Rhythm , Eosinophils , Leukocyte Count , Pulmonary Eosinophilia/blood , HumansABSTRACT
Circadian periodicity of plasma, breast milk and urinary calcium was studied in six lactating Indian women. Peak plasma calcium was recorded at 2000 with a progressive decline during the rest of the period reaching a minimum at 0800. Breast milk calcium was found to be maximum at 0200 and decreased consistently reaching a minimum at 2000. Maximum urinary calcium was observed at 0600 to 1200 with a minimum excretion at 1800 to 0000. A marked circadian variation during the 24 hour period was noticed in plasma, breast milk and urinary calcium confirming a definite rhythm of endogenous body calcium in lactating Indian women. Thus, there we found significant diurnal rhythm in body calcium at all levels and each of them might be initiating the other rhythm, partly governed by the day-night cycle in tropical conditions.
