Laser in situ keratomileusis for hyperopia.

PURPOSE: To examine the initial results of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for hyperopia. SETTING: Arzt für Augenheilkunde, Mannheim, and Photoingenieur, Wendelstein, Germany. METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated 43 eyes having hyperopic LASIK using the Automatic Corneal Shaper (Chiron Vision) and the MEL 60 excimer laser (model 94, Aesculap-Meditec). Patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 20 eyes with a refraction from +1.00 to +4.00 diopters (D) and Group 2, 23 eyes from +4.25 to +8.00 D. Objective refraction and visual acuity were measured over 12 months. RESULTS: One year after LASIK, Group 1 had a mean spherical equivalent of +0.33 D (range -0.79 to +1.45 D) and Group 2, +1.91 D (range -0.08 to +3.71 D). Best corrected visual acuity remained unchanged in 35.0% in Group 1 and 56.5% in Group 2. Five percent in Group 1 and 7.3% in Group 2 lost more than 2 lines of best corrected visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: Laser in situ keratomileusis for hyperopia resulted in less regression, minimal haze, and better predictability and stability than surface photorefractive keratectomy. Preoperative corneal radius appeared to be an important factor in eyes with high hyperopia.

Iron limitation and its effect on membrane proteins and siderophore transport in Neurospora crassa.

Cells of the fungus Neurospora crassa were grown under iron-deficient and iron-sufficient conditions and their plasma membrane proteins were compared. Three strains were studied: N. crassa 74A (wild type), a siderophore-free mutant N. crassa (arg-5 ota aga) as well as a 'slime' variant of N. crassa which lacks a cell wall. Plasma membranes were purified, solubilized and analyzed by one-dimensional SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis yielding approximately 50 distinct protein bands with molecular masses in the range 14-160 kDa. Iron-sufficient and iron-deficient growth resulted in nearly identical plasma membrane protein profiles in all strains. Although minor alterations in the proportion of certain proteins could be detected, significant overproduction of certain membrane proteins during iron limitation could not be observed. Transport of 55Fe-labeled siderophores seems to be correlated to the degree of iron limitation. For example, transport rates were enhanced fivefold after 16 h of growth in iron-deficient medium compared to growth in iron-sufficient medium. Extraction and HPLC measurement of siderophores from conidiospores yielded approximately 10(-15) mol/spore, indicating that germination tubes and young cells used for transport measurements are not iron-deficient. It is suggested that the putative transport systems for siderophores in fungal plasma membranes are constitutively expressed and enhanced uptake of siderophores during iron limitation is rather the result of cellular transport regulation mechanisms.

High-performance liquid chromatography of siderophores from fungi.

A reversed-phase HPLC separation of iron(III) chelates of 16 representative fungal siderophores including ferrichromes, coprogens and triacetylfusarinine C was established in order to investigate siderophore production of fungi. For comparison purposes, the widely used bacterial siderophore ferrioxamine B was included. Culture filtrates of the fungi Penicillium resticulosum, Fusarium dimerum, Aspergillus fumigatus and Neurospora crassa were quantitatively analyzed for the presence of known and unknown siderophores after growth in low-iron culture media and adsorption on XAD-2 columns using this HPLC separation system. Photodiode array detection allowed the distinction between siderophores and non-siderophores. According to their ultraviolet/visible spectra, a further classification of the siderophores into four types due to the number of anhydromevalonic acid residues per molecule (0-3) was possible.

Molecular recognition of siderophores in fungi: role of iron-surrounding N-acyl residues and the peptide backbone during membrane transport in Neurospora crassa.

Recognition of ferric siderophores in Neurospora crassa was found to depend on the number and kind of N-acyl residues that surrounded the iron coordination center. In the coprogen series, uptake decreased in the order of coprogen, neocoprogen I, and neocoprogen II, indicating that gradual replacement of the N-transanhydromevalonyl groups by N-acetyl groups had an adverse effect on uptake. The reverse effect was observed in the ferrichrome series, where uptake decreased in the order of ferrichrysin, asperchrome D1, asperchrome B1, and ferrirubin. Configuration of the anhydromevalonyl group (cis or trans) in ferrichromes was also an important determinant in the recognition process. On the basis of uptake and inhibition studies, it is proposed that in ferrichromes part of the molecule (iron configuration and the N-acyl groups) is responsible for binding, whereas another (cyclic peptide ring) is involved in the subsequent process of transport.

Evidence for a common siderophore transport system but different siderophore receptors in Neurospora crassa.

Uptake and competition experiments were performed with Neurospora crassa and Penicillium parvum by using 14C-labeled coprogen and 55Fe-labeled ferrichrome-type siderophores. Several siderophores of the ferrichrome family, such as ferrichrome, ferricrocin, ferrichrysin, and tetraglycyl-ferrichrome as well as the semisynthetic ferricrocin derivatives O-(phenyl-carbamoyl)-ferricrocin and O-(sulfanilyl-carbamoyl)-ferricrocin were taken up by N. crassa. The ferrichrome-type siderophores used vary in the structure of the peptide backbone but possess a common lambda-cis configuration about the iron center and three identical ornithyl-delta-N-acetyl groups as surrounding residues. This suggests that these ferrichrome-type siderophores are recognized by a common ferrichrome receptor. We also concluded that the ferrichrome receptor is lambda-cis specific from the inability to take up the synthetic enantiomers, enantio-ferrichrome and enantio-ferricrocin, possessing a delta-cis configuration about the iron center. On the other hand, we found that coprogen, possessing a delta-absolute configuration and two trans-anhydromevalonic acid residues around the metal center, was also taken up by N. crassa and was competitively inhibited by the ferrichrome-type siderophores. We therefore propose the existence of a common siderophore transport system but the presence of different siderophore receptors in N. crassa. In addition, ferrirubin, which is very slowly transported by N. crassa, inhibited both coprogen and ferrichrome-type siderophore transport. Contrary to the findings with N. crassa, transport experiments with P. parvum revealed the presence of a ferrichrome receptor but the absence of a coprogen receptor; coprogen was neither transported nor did it inhibit the ferrichrome transport.