Serological evidence of possible Borrelia afzelii lyme disease in Greece.

Suggestions that Lyme disease exists in Greece remain controversial and no study to date has definitively identified the presence of a Borrelia species that infects humans. We examined patients throughout Greece suspected for Lyme disease by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by western blotting for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species. We found one patient positive for Borrelia burgdorferi and two patients positive for Borrelia afzelii specific IgG antibodies. Both B. afzelii patients were suffering by neurological manifestations and had never traveled abroad. We provide serological evidence of two autochthonous Lyme disease cases in Greece, possibly caused by B. afzelii.

Effects of OKY-046 and nifedipine in cyclosporine-induced renal dysfunction in rats.

Cyclosporine (CsA) (37.4 mumol/kg per day for 7 days) treated female Wistar rats exhibited significantly decreased creatinine clearance (Ccr) and body weight loss (BWL), but had neither proteinuria (PU) nor alteration in their urine volume (V). Light microscopic (LM) sections of rat kidneys showed that all kidneys were affected by lesions, mainly diffuse vacuolization. These changes were associated with decreased urinary excretion ratios of 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha to thromboxane B2 (6kPGF1 alpha/TXB2) and prostaglandin E2 to TXB2 (PGE2/TXB2). When OKY-046, a TXA2-synthetase inhibitor or nifedipine (NFD), a calcium channel blocker and an antagonist of endotheline (ET), were administered in addition to CsA, they restored Ccr and increased urine V but they did not prevent BWL. LM sections showed that only 5 or 7 out of 9 kidneys of animals were affected, respectively. These changes were associated with prevention of the diminished ratios of urinary PGE2/TXB2 and 6kPGF1 alpha/TXB2 mainly in the OKY-046 treated animals. In conclusion, our results suggest that inhibitors of TXA2 or antagonists and/or inhibitors of endothelin play a protective role in the development of the dysfunction induced by CsA. However, the protection observed using OKY-046 and NFD did not reach that obtained by evening primrose oil (EPO) or Ketanserine (KTS), substances which prevented the fall of Ccr and BWL. Furthermore, with these protective agents only 5 out of 9 kidneys were affected and the lesions were of minor importance.