Environmental cystine drives glutamine anaplerosis and sensitizes cancer cells to glutaminase inhibition.

Many mammalian cancer cell lines depend on glutamine as a major tri-carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle anaplerotic substrate to support proliferation. However, some cell lines that depend on glutamine anaplerosis in culture rely less on glutamine catabolism to proliferate in vivo. We sought to understand the environmental differences that cause differential dependence on glutamine for anaplerosis. We find that cells cultured in adult bovine serum, which better reflects nutrients available to cells in vivo, exhibit decreased glutamine catabolism and reduced reliance on glutamine anaplerosis compared to cells cultured in standard tissue culture conditions. We find that levels of a single nutrient, cystine, accounts for the differential dependence on glutamine in these different environmental contexts. Further, we show that cystine levels dictate glutamine dependence via the cystine/glutamate antiporter xCT/SLC7A11. Thus, xCT/SLC7A11 expression, in conjunction with environmental cystine, is necessary and sufficient to increase glutamine catabolism, defining important determinants of glutamine anaplerosis and glutaminase dependence in cancer.

[Pansinusitis of the face caused by Streptococcus milleri with cerebral thrombophlebitis after naso-sphenoid surgery of the pituitary gland]. / Pansinusite de la face à streptocoque milleri avec thrombophlébite cérébrale après chirurgie hypophysaire naso-sphénoïdale.

The authors report a patient operated on trans-nasosphenoidally for a pituitary adenoma (Cushing's disease) in whom a severe infection occurred with cavernous thrombophlebitis responsible for neurological complications.

[Anuric postoperative acute renal insufficiency in neurosurgery. Importance of continuous arteriovenous hemodialysis. Report of a case]. / Insuffisance rénale aiguë anurique post-opératoire en neurochirurgie. Intérêt de l'hémodialyse artério-veineuse continue. A propos d'un cas.

Post-operative acute oliguric renal failure was treated over a period of 17 days by continuous arterio-venous haemodialysis in man operated on for intracranial tumor. The Authors dwell on the advantages of this dialysis system in neurosurgery.

[Postoperative complications of trans-sphenoidal surgery]. / Complications post-opératoires de la voie trans-sphenoïdale.

One hundred and thirty three patients of both sexes were operated on for pituitary tumors with transphenoidal microsurgery. Postoperative complications are discussed.

[A prospective study of 180 percutaneous catheterizations of the axillary vein during resuscitation]. / Etude prospective de 180 cathétérismes percutanés de la veine axillaire en réanimation.

Central venous catheterization via the axillary vein was performed in 180 comatose patients with a success rate of 91%. The scarcity of serious nervous (none), thrombotic (6%), hemorrhagic (9.4%), infectious (1.8%), or thoracic (none) complications, the preservation of cerebral venous drainage, a longer distance between puncture site and tracheostomy or intubation tube make this safe and easy procedure perfectly convenient for comatose patients.

[Value of early auditory evoked potentials after neurosurgery]. / Valeur des potentiels évoqués auditifs précoces après neurochirurgie.

Recording brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) in post operative period after neurosurgery is easy. The presence of abnormal BAEP predicts unfavorable outcome in both cases with or without sedation. But in case of normal recording it is impossible to predict surely a favorable outcome.

[Hyperthermia in meningeal hemorrhage. Contribution of daily determination of inflammation proteins]. / Hyperthermie au cours des hémorragies méningées. Apport du dosage quotidien des protéines de l'inflammation.

This paper studies the causes of hyperthermias occurring after a subarachnoid hemorrhage by ruptured aneurysm in 54 patients, totalizing 66 febrils episodes. Only 29 episodes bacteriologically proved infections. The profile of thermic curve, the hemodynamical profile, and clinical examination are not convincing. The most convincing elements for the diagnosis of infection are the increasing number of the leucocytes counts, the increasing curve of CRP, and simultaneous decreasing curve of C4. The evolution of these parameters permit to follow the efficiency of antibiotics.

[Neurogenic pulmonary edema, complication of meningeal hemorrhage: report of 4 cases]. / Oedème pulmonaire neurogénique, complication de l'hémorragie méningée: à propos de 4 observations.

Neurogenic pulmonary edema (NPE) observed in 4 patients admitted in Neurosurgical Intensive Care au SAH by ruptured a vascular malformation. This complication is unusual (1.9%) and has been observed in comatose patients. For 3 patients, NEP resorption was rapid, from 12 to 72 hours with a treatment by CCPV with a P.E.E.P. and with restoring the hemodynamical parameter. The drug must be discussed according to eventual deleterous side effects on cardiac output and systemic resistances. The early hemodynamical study argues for an essentially hemodynamical mechanism due to the brutal symphatic discharge created by cerebral lesions and increasing. ICP, more than a toxic lesionnal edema, as the Weidner's study shows it in ultrastructural analysis of sheep lungs.

[A rare and severe complication of meningeal hemorrhage: spinal arachnoiditis with paraplegia]. / Complication rare et grave de l'hémorragie méningée: arachnoidite dorsale avec paraplégie.

This observation relates a case of spinal arachnoiditis with paraplegia, for a 56 year old patient hospitalized for a S.A.H. by a ruptured aneurysm of the P.I.C.A. This patient present some complications, requiring a prolonged ventilatory support with a tracheostomy, a ventricular shunt for hydrocephalus. The treatment is only surgical, and the corticosteroids delay the evolution, but without successful outcome.