Gastric acid hypersecretory states: recent insights and advances.

Gastric acid hypersecretory states are characterized by basal hypersecretion of gastric acid and historically include disorders associated with hypergastrinemia, hyperhistaminemia, and those of unknown etiology. Although gastric acid secretion is infrequently measured, it is important to recognize the role of gastric hypersecretion in the symptoms of these disorders because they share several features of pathogenesis and treatment. In this article, recent important articles reporting insights into their diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, because it has the most extreme acid hypersecretion of this group of disorders and because numerous recent articles deal with various aspects of the diagnosis, molecular pathogenesis, and treatment of the gastrinoma itself or the acid hypersecretion. Two new hypersecretory disorders are reviewed: rebound acid hypersecretion after the use of proton pump inhibitors and acid hypersecretion with cysteamine treatment in children with cystinosis.

Synthesis and antitumour effect of the melanogenesis-based antimelanoma agent N-propionyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol.

Chemotherapy of malignant melanoma is still a great challenge, as no effective drugs are available. The development of melanogenesis-based drugs is a promising area of research because melanogenesis is a unique biochemical pathway operating only in melanoma cells (and their normal counterparts) so that the tumour can be targeted. We have been using cysteinylphenol, a sulphur-containing analogue of tyrosine, and derivatives for that purpose. N-Acetyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol was found to have the best antimelanoma effect in cell culture systems and in mice bearing B16 melanoma tumours. It also caused depigmentation of the skin, suggesting the possibility of use as a hypopigmenting agent. To improve the efficiency of the drug, we thought of replacing the acetyl group in N-acetyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol with a propionyl group in the hope that increased hydrophobicity would increase the cellular uptake of the drug. N-Propionyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol was synthesized by condensing 4-hydroxythiophenol with 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline. The drug showed both cytostatic and cytocidal effects in a human melanotic melanoma cell line. The drug was found to be a good depigmenting agent for the black hair follicles of C57 black mice when given s.c. for 14 days. A 10-day treatment with N-propionyl-4-S-cysteaminylphenol at 300 mg/kg body weight reduced the growth rate of B16 melanoma s.c. tumours in mice by 36%. The propionyl derivative was found to increase the life span of mice bearing melanoma more effectively than did the acetyl derivative.

[Functional capacity of the kidneys in whole-body irradiated rats protected with gammaphos and merkamine]. / Izuchenie funktsional'noi sposobnosti pochek total'nogo obluchennykh krys pri zashchite gammafosom i merkaminom.

In experiments with Wistar rats it was shown that gammaphos promotes the recovery of the kidneys' filtration function at early times after 7.4 Gy gamma-irradiation and inhibits it after 210 days. Merkamine induces haemodynamic and functional disorders in the exposed rat kidneys within the first 30 days after irradiation.